West Virginia runs past Maryland

Steve Slaton was outstanding, as usual. No one, however, expected West Virginia’s running game to be so Devine.

Slaton ran for 137 yards and three touchdowns, Noel Devine amassed 125 yards on his first three carries, and No. 4 West Virginia cruised past Maryland 31-14 Thursday night in College Park, Md.

Slaton scored on runs of 22, 1 and 1 yards. He has 41 touchdowns at West Virginia, one short of the school record shared by Ira Errett Rodgers and Avon Cobourne.

The 5-foot-8 Devine served as a Slaton’s setup man. Early in the third quarter, Devine ran 31 yards to the Maryland 1, putting Slaton in position for his second TD run.

Late in the period, Devine rambled 76 yards to the Maryland 1. Slaton scored on the next play to put the Mountaineers up 28-7.

In the fourth quarter, Devine ran for 18 yards to place West Virginia (3-0) in position for a field goal.

Devine, a freshman, finished with 136 yards rushing on five attempts.

Keon Lattimore ran for 80 yards and a touchdown for Maryland (2-1). The Terrapins yielded a total of 350 yards in their first two games; West Virginia finished with 448.

West Virginia took the second-half kickoff and moved 63 yards in nine plays to go up 21-7. Three punts later, Devine’s 76-yard run – tied for the longest non-scoring carry in WVU history – helped put the Mountaineers up by 21.

It was 31-7 before Maryland’s Jordan Steffy threw his first career TD pass, a 22-yarder to Danny Oquendo with 5:50 left.

Air Force 20, TCU 17 (OT): At Air Force Academy, Colo., Ryan Harrison’s 33-yard field goal on second down gave the Falcons (3-0, 2-0 Mountain West) an overtime victory over the Frogs (1-2, 0-1), keeping the Falcons unbeaten under new coach Troy Calhoun.

The Falcons, who overcame a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit, were swarmed on the field by thousands of cadets who hadn’t had this much to celebrate in a long, long time.