Morgantown, W.Va. ? West Virginia quarterback Pat White’s third fumble late in the game helped Louisville erase a 17-point deficit. His final carry kept the sixth-ranked Mountaineers in the thick of the Big East title race.
White scored on a 50-yard run with 1:36 remaining and threw two touchdown passes to help West Virginia beat Louisville, 38-31, on Thursday night.
“I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. “We certainly made enough mistakes today to last a full season, but we hung in there.”
Brian Brohm led Louisville’s comeback from a 31-14 deficit midway through the third quarter, with the Cardinals tying it on Art Carmody’s 37-yard field goal with 3:05 left.
White then went back to pass, found no one open and capped the 65-yard drive with his scoring run up the left sideline.
“They had everything covered in the passing game. That gave me a seam and the offense line did a good job of cutting the big boys down,” White said. “It was great blocking downfield and I got into the end zone.”
White finished with 24 carries for 147 yards and threw for 181 more in his third straight stellar game against the Cardinals.
Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe said he held his breath on White’s final run, hoping for a tackle that never came.
“That’s one of the things that’s so tough about this offense they run is the fact that their quarterback is such a dynamic player,” Kragthorpe said. “That’s one of the dimensions that he brings to the game.”
Brohm threw a desperation pass that Antonio Lewis intercepted at the West Virginia 7 as time ran out.
The sloppy win allowed West Virginia (8-1, 3-1) to remain on Connecticut’s heels for a berth in the Bowl Championship Series with three games left, including a key matchup next week at Cincinnati.
Louisville (5-5, 2-3) was eliminated from the conference title chase. The Cardinals need a win either at South Florida or at home against Rutgers to become bowl eligible for a 10th straight season.
Brohm broke his own Big East record with his seventh 300-yard passing game of the season. He was 27-of-46 for 345 yards, but was intercepted twice and sacked four times.
“When you play aggressive and throw the ball down the field, that’s the kind of stuff that’s going to happen,” Brohm said.
