Sep 5, 2005 3 min read

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) – Eric Wicks returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown and Pat McAfee kicked two field goals to lead West Virginia to a 15-7 victory over Syracuse on Sunday, spoiling the coaching debut of the Orange’s Greg Robinson. McAfee’s first field goal, a 33-yarder late in the third quarter, gave the Mountaineers (1-0) a 10-7 lead. Midway through the fourth quarter, West Virginia added a safety when Ernest Hunter sacked Perry Patterson in the end zone and McAfee then added a 26-yard field goal.

The game was far from a thriller, with 11 punts in the first half as the short passing game clicked for both teams but produced little yardage. The half ended at 7-7, and the teams combined to complete 18 of 29 passes for just 82 yards.

In the lone sustained scoring drive, WVU went 55 yards on 10 plays, with quarterback Adam Bednarik’s 21-yard pass to Brandon Myles setting up McAfee’s decisive field goal with 5:53 left in the third quarter.

“We have a lot of work to do,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. “But I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty.”

The win was the fourth straight for the Mountaineers over the Orange (0-1). The game was the first league matchup in the newly aligned Big East, which lost Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami to the ACC and picked up Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida.

Holding a precarious 10-7 lead, West Virginia moved deep into Syracuse territory early in the fourth. Jason Colson caught a 19-yard pass to the 11, but lost his third fumble of the game on the next play. After Hunter produced a safety, McAfee’s final field goal came with 3:26 left for an eight-point lead.

Syracuse’s new pass-oriented West Coast offense fizzled against the Mountaineer defense before a crowd of 45,418 fans desperate to see something positive after three straight years of mediocrity under former coach Paul Pasqualoni. Patterson was 15 of 31 for 85 yards and two interceptions.

_Syracuse failed to score any points off five defensive turnovers, was 0-for-15 on third down, managed seven first downs, and was called for 11 penalties for 71 yards.

“I don’t ever remember having five turnovers and still winning the game,” Rodriguez said.

The Orange gained a 7-0 lead early in the second after a personal foul on the Mountaineers gave them the ball at the West Virginia 18. Damien Rhodes scored in two plays, gaining 13 yards off tackle and scoring on a 5-yard run at 14:07.

Less than two minutes, Wicks returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown.

“Patterson tries to complete the pass instead of running the ball,” Wicks said. “So I was depending on him to throw the pass. It was a big read.”

“There’s a lot of disappointment,” said Robinson, who replaced Pasqualoni in January. “The place was wild. It was everything we could have asked for. We didn’t get it done. It starts with a rookie head coach, and it looks like it. I’d like to think we’d be better than that.”

The Mountaineers found a way to win without star quarterback Rasheed Marshall, the Big East offensive player of the year in 2004.

For one game, quarterbacks Bednarik and Pat White sufficed.

Bednarik was 14-for-21 for 104 yards and one interception, White went 3-for-6 for 63 yards, and both made big plays, even though the offense only managed two field goals.

“I’ve never won a game without an offensive touchdown. It was very frustrating to keep driving the ball and have the turnovers,” said Bednarik, a sophomore.

“But we had to block it out and just focus on coming back.”