Sep 11, 2006 3 min read

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – The 2006 season has produced two routs and no competition so far for No. 5 West Virginia. After beating Marshall and Division I-AA Eastern Washington by combined scores of 94-13, the Mountaineers may finally get a test Thursday night at home against Maryland.

“The first challenge will definitely be Maryland,” said West Virginia center Dan Mozes. “They are an ACC opponent and a good team. I think the players are looking forward to it.”

To date, the best team West Virginia has seen is itself.

West Virginia got scores from four different quarterbacks and Steve Slaton had 105 yards and two TDs in only one quarter of work in Saturday’s 52-3 win over Eastern Washington.

“We need to jump out on every team and take them out of the game,” said Slaton, who ranks fifth in the nation at 154 yards per game.

“We have been tested the entire spring and fall by our defense,” he said. “Those guys can run, and they have really good quickness. Our team does a good job testing us every week.”

Opponents haven’t. West Virginia’s offense jumped to double-digit leads in the first quarter in both games.

The defense, with four new starters in the secondary, has given up an average of 258 yards.

Freshman Quinton Andrews has been the star so far with two interceptions.

“Any game is a challenge for us because we are going to take everybody’s best shot,” Andrews said. “That happens because of where we are ranked and all that. The challenges will just keep getting higher and higher.”

West Virginia and No. 7 Florida are the only Top 10 teams that have yet to play an opponent from a BCS conference.

Florida, which has outscored Southern Miss and UCF by a combined 76-7, plays No. 13 Tennessee on Saturday.

West Virginia will be looking for its third straight win over Maryland (2-0), which was outgained 321-274 in a 24-10 win over Middle Tennessee.

“We obviously haven’t had a game tight in the fourth quarter and we’re going to have some of those, I promise you that,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. “Guys who have been in the program know what the Maryland game means. For a couple of years, we couldn’t even get close to them.”

Mozes and others believe the key for West Virginia all year will be staying healthy and being prepared mentally for a lackluster schedule that includes only one ranked opponent, a Nov. 2 matchup at No. 12 Louisville.

“I think you circle every game,” Slaton said. “We don’t take any one lighter than another.”

Playing two overmatched opponents has made West Virginia one of the nation’s top offenses.

The Mountaineers have the second-best rushing attack at 353 yards per game, behind only Big East rival Connecticut.

West Virginia is sixth in scoring and fourth in total offense at 538 yards per game.