West Virginia Pulls Away to Beat Maryland

Backup quarterback Pat White directed three fourth-quarter touchdown drives, and West Virginia ripped Maryland's defense for 301 yards rushing in a 31-19 victory Saturday.

Freshman Jason Gwaltney scored two touchdowns for the Mountaineers (3-0), who had lost three straight at Maryland (1-2) since 1997. West Virginia let a 15-point lead dwindle to 21-19 before Gwaltney scored on a 15-yard run with 4:56 left.

The Mountaineers then recovered a fumble by Maryland quarterback Sam Hollenbach, and Pat McAfee kicked a 40-yard field goal to make it 31-19 with 2:18 remaining.

White went 3-for-5 for 29 yards, but guided an offense that amassed 24 points and 144 yards in the final 15 minutes.

White, a redshirt freshman, entered in the third quarter after starter Adam Bednarik was shaken up on a 5-yard run with the Mountaineers up 7-6. The drive stalled, but West Virginia received new life when Maryland's Conrad Bolston was offside on the punt.

The Mountaineers then covered the final 53 yards to go up 14-6. Darius Reynaud gained 27 yards on a reverse, and Owen Schmitt capped the march with a 3-yard TD run with 14:52 remaining.

Schmitt had runs of 20 and 34 yards on the Mountaineers' next series, and Pernell Williams scored from the 1 to make it 21-6.

The lead held up �?barely.

The Terrapins began their comeback with a 73-yard touchdown throw from Hollenbach to tight end Vernon Davis with 10:22 left. Davis caught the medium-length pass at the right sideline and easily outran the Mountaineers to the end zone.

Antonio Lewis fumbled away the kickoff, and Hollenbach converted the mistake into a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jo Jo Walker. But the conversion pass failed.

Hollenbach went 20-for-31 for 291 yards. Davis caught five passes for 158 yards, but the Terrapins could muster only 50 yards rushing against a defense that entered the game ranked No. 1 in the nation in yards allowed (128.5).

The Mountaineers led 7-3 at halftime despite accumulating eight penalties for 59 yards.

Faced with a third-and-10 from his own 3 on the first play of the second quarter, Bednarik completed a 48-yard pass to Brandon Myles. It was his only throw on the 15-play drive, which ended on a 1-yard touchdown run by Gwaltney for a 7-0 lead.

Walker returned the ensuing kickoff 57 yards to the West Virginia 36, but the drive fizzled when Hollenbach was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 from the 27.

Late in the half, a 27-yard completion from Hollenbach to Danny Melendez set up a 33-yard field goal by Dan Ennis.

Maryland closed to 7-6 in the third quarter when Ennis kicked a 34-yard field goal four plays after the Terrapins converted a fourth-and-6 from the West Virginia 35. Hollenbach was 3-for-3 for 40 yards on the 45-yard drive.