Senior Pat White, college football's most prolific running quarterback ever, registered the best passing day of his 4-year career Saturday (12-27-08) in leading West Virginia to a 31-30 victory over North Carolina in the Meineke Bowl.
While the game itself was close, Pat White has no peer while running the ball as a quarterback in college football, adding another 55 yards to bring his career total to 4,480 yards rushing. Add another 6,049 career passing yards and you have one of the very best to ever lace up his cleats for a college football game.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound senior is one of only a handful of players who have been able to both rush and pass for 3,000+ yards during their college career.
While better known for his running than passing, White put on a show in the Meineke Bowl that begs the question of whether he could play effectively on Sundays in the NFL. He completed 26 of 32 for 332 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception, and engineered a clutch, game-winning 4th quarter scoring drive with a 20-yard strike to Alric Arnett.
North Carolina had put 8 men in the box to stop White's feared running assault, and it worked as they held White to only 55 yards on the ground. When White was forced to go airborne, he delivered the best passing game of his college career.
White was selected as the MVP because West Virginia won the game. Had the North Carolina Tar Heels won, the MVP would likely have been junior wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, who had 8 receptions for 217 yards and 3 touchdowns, setting school records for all 3 categories in the process.
Tar Heel quarterback T. J. Yates had a decent enough game, completing 15 of 25 for 211 yards and 1 TD, but managed to get intercepted with less than 2 minutes to play, ending any North Carolina hopes of winning the game.
Tar Heel coach Butch Davis dearly wanted a Meineke Bowl victory to cap his turnaround season that saw North Carolina go from a 4-8 record last year to an 8-4 record this year. NC finished the year at 8-5. The win left West Virginia at 9-4 for the season.
The Mountaineers' win was super sweet for coach Bill Stewart. When West Virginia's super successful coach Rich Rodriguez defected to Michigan, Stewart was left to fill his shoes. West Virginia could have done a lot worse than 9-4 on the year. Stewart should get some props for his effort.
