Pat White , the West Virginia quarterback , ran for a career-high 247 yards and four touchdowns as the fifth-ranked Mountaineers defeated Syracuse 41 – 17 . Steve Slaton , who 's been the main focus of West Virginia 's Heisman hype , was no slouch either . He ran for 163 yards and a touchdown as the Mountaineers ( 6 – 0 , 1 – 0 Big East ) extended their winning streak to 13 games , matching the school record set in 1952 – 1953 . But White was the star against Syracuse . On 15 carries , he broke his own Big East and school records for rushing by a quarterback and nearly doubled his output for the season . He had 220 yards last year against Pitt . It was the fourth best effort by any back in school history . White scored three times early in the second half to break the game open . Syracuse ( 3 – 4 , 0 – 2 ) trailed 17 – 14 at halftime but managed only a field goal after that in losing its ninth straight Big East game . West Virginia , the nation 's second-best rushing offense , compiled a season-high 457 yards on the ground , the most since a 478-yard effort against ECU in 2004 . White , who entered the game with 270 rushing yards for the season , had a 69-yard TD run on West Virginia 's opening series of the game . His TD runs of 40 , 32 and 12 yards on WVU 's first three series of the second half put the Mountaineers ahead 38 – 14 late in the third quarter . White ( 105 yards ) and Slaton ( 101 ) became the first backs to surpass 100 yards against the Orange in the first half since Miami 's Frank Gore and Clinton Portis in 2001 . White and Slaton also surpassed 100 yards in the same game last year against Pittsburgh . Perry Patterson 's 47-yard TD pass to Mike Williams over three defenders on the game 's opening drive marked the first time West Virginia trailed in a game since Oct. 15 , 2005 , against Louisville . Slaton ran 52 yards around right end to put the Mountaineers ahead 17 – 7 midway through the second quarter . Patterson , who finished 9-of-21 for 146 yards , then found Williams behind the defense again for a 30-yard gain to the West Virginia 16 , setting up Patterson 's 3-yard TD run on third down late in the first half . The Mountaineers ' fifth-straight win over Syracuse is their longest in the 54-game series dating to 1945
Big East
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
2006 West Virginia Mountaineers football team