White rallies Mountaineers
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Patrick White was bruised and determined with the Gator Bowl hanging in the balance.
The quarterback played through ankle, hand and neck injuries to lead West Virginia back from an 18-point deficit in the second half for a 38-35 win over Georgia Tech on Monday.
“He kind of willed us to victory,” Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez said.
White was 9 of 15 for 131 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 22 times for 145 yards and a score. He handled the bulk of the carries with tailback Steve Slaton, the country’s third-leading rusher at 144 yards a game, limited with a badly bruised left thigh.
Slaton managed just 11 yards on three carries – all in the first half. Owen Schmitt ran 13 times for 109 yards and two TDs.
“I was hurting a lot, but I had to block it out. I had to play ball,” White said. “It makes me want to play harder – when I’m injured I get a little angry.”
The teams set a Gator Bowl record for scoring, breaking the mark set in Tennessee’s 45-23 win over Virginia Tech in 1994, and records for total yardage (928), most plays (121) and most first downs (40).
Georgia Tech (9-5) tried a 54-yard field goal on fourth-and-9 with 5 minutes left that, but Travis Bell’s kick fell well short. WV (11-2) ran out the clock.
It was an astonishing turnaround from the first half, in which Georgia Tech’s sophomore quarterback, Taylor Bennett, and All-America wideout Calvin Johnson picked apart West Virginia’s secondary.
It was Georgia Tech’s third loss in a row by three points.
Tashard Choice ran 27 times for 169 yards and two TDs for Georgia Tech. Johnson had 186 yards receiving and two TDs.
Bennett, starting for the second time in his career, was 19 of 29 for 326 yards. He was playing in place of Reggie Ball, a four-year starter ruled academically ineligible 10 days ago.
Tech opened the second half by recovering an onside kick at its own 46-yard line. Choice had a 17-yard run and Johnson jumped between two defenders for a 32-yard pass before Choice ran it in from 5 yards out to put the Yellow Jackets up 35-17.
White then caught Georgia Tech off-guard in the third quarter for a 57-yard TD pass.
On an apparent offsides by the Yellow Jackets, West Virginia snapped it but the offensive line didn’t move. The play wasn’t dead, and White rolled out and found Tito Gonzales racing down the field for the score. The Mountaineers declined the defensive penalty.
“It was a freeze play to get the defense offsides,” White said, adding it was the first time all year it had worked that well.
It brought the overwhelming West Virginia crowd back into the game, and the Mountaineers kept the momentum.