The 2006 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University as a member of the Big East Conference during the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by sixth-year head coach Rich Rodriguez, the Mountaineers compiled an overall record of 11–2 with a mark of 5–2 in conference play, tying for second place in the Big East. West Virginia was invited the Gator Bowl, where the Mountaineers defeated Georgia Tech. The team played home games at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Schedule
Rankings
Game summaries
Marshall
Steve Slaton's sophomore season started the same way he ended last year—with a big performance. Slaton ran for 203 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead No. 5 West Virginia past Marshall 42–10. Slaton, the nation's top freshman in 2005 with 19 rushing TDs, had his second straight 200-yard game. Slaton tore up Marshall (0–1) in just the second meeting between the state's two Division I-A schools since 1923. Slaton's 33 carries were one shy of a career-high and Slaton surpassed 100 yards early in the second quarter and had 140 by halftime. He had a 14-yard TD run around right end midway through the first quarter and scored untouched from 16 yards out after making a hard cut to the right late in the half for a 28–7 lead. Slaton also had a 10-yard TD run negated by a holding penalty in the second quarter. West Virginia (1–0), which is 6–0 all-time against Marshall, scored on four of its first five possessions and totaled 312 rushing yards. Pat White completed 10-of-14 passes for 168 yards. He found Brandon Myles with first-half TD tosses of 8 and 18 yards as West Virginia built a 21–0 lead. It was the first career multiple TD game for Myles, a senior. Marshall, limited to just seven first downs in the first half, went to its passing game late in the second quarter for its only touchdown. Freshman tight end Cody Slate caught passes of 26 and 14 yards to give Marshall its best field position at the WVU 25. Matt Morris then made up for a dropped pass in the end zone earlier in the game by grabbing a 21-yard TD toss from Bernard Morris. The pass initially was ruled incomplete but Marshall challenged and the play was overturned for a touchdown. West Virginia fullback Owen Schmitt scored on a 3-yard run midway through the third quarter to cap a 66-yard drive that was set up by an interception by freshman Quinton Andrews. WVU backup quarterback Jarrett Brown closed the scoring on a 7-yard TD run with 1:13 left in the game.
Eastern Washington
Steve Slaton ran for 105 yards and two first-quarter scores and called it a day as No. 6 West Virginia went to its bench often in a 52–3 win over Division I-AA Eastern Washington. Pat White directed a second-quarter touchdown drive before the QB parade began. Jarrett Brown threw for a TD and ran for another, while Nate Sowers and Markell Harrison also ran for scores. By the time West Virginia (2–0) built a 21–3 lead early in the second quarter, Slaton and White were done for the day. Slaton followed up a 31-carry, 203-yard effort against Marshall with just eight carries Saturday, the fewest since he had 11 against Virginia Tech as a freshman.. West Virginia beat the Eagles by outgaining them 591–185, including 394 on the ground. Slaton needed just two carries for his first score and he went untouched on TD runs of 49 and 17 yards. He went to the bench afterward and didn't return, removing his uniform after halftime. White soon followed. On West Virginia's third series, he drove the Mountaineers 65 yards with Owen Schmitt covering the final 7 for a score. Jarrett Brown threw a 5-yard TD pass to Brandon Myles just before halftime and scored on a 7-yard run to start the second half for a 35–3 lead. Sowers and Harrison added TD runs of 8 and 1 yards, respectively, in the fourth quarter. The crowd of 59,504 was the largest ever to see Eastern Washington play, topping a 2002 game at Arizona State by more than 20,000.
Maryland
Steve Slaton rushed for 167 of his 195 yards in the first half, and the Mountaineers forced two turnovers in a 28–0 first-quarter blitz on their way to a 45–24 victory over Maryland. He scored twice in the opening quarter of his first game against Maryland, the school that offered him a scholarship, then withdrew it because they felt they had enough running backs. He had 149 yards against the Terrapins in the first quarter, when West Virginia scored on all four possessions. Slaton had early TD runs of 38 and 37 yards. Pat White threw for a TD and ran for another while Darius Reynaud scored twice, including a 96-yard kickoff return, for the Mountaineers (3–0), who extended their winning streak to 10 games, second in the nation to TCU's 12 in a row. With scouts from 15 NFL teams in attendance, West Virginia took a 38–10 halftime lead in beating Maryland (2–1) for the third straight year, the first time that has happened since 1996–98. The teams have met every year since 1980. Maryland, which had wins over Division I-AA William & Mary and unheralded Middle Tennessee State, watched as the Mountaineers compiled more than 300 yards rushing for the third straight game. West Virginia's young defense, pressed to force more turnovers, also delivered, finishing with five takeaways. Maryland's Sam Hollenbach was intercepted twice and the Terrapins fumbled the ball away three times, twice by Josh Wilson on kickoffs. After Slaton's early TD runs, a fumble recovery on a kickoff set up Reynaud's 5-yard scoring catch from White and Jay Henry's interception led to another first-quarter score for West Virginia. Lance Ball's 11-yard TD run early in the third quarter pulled Maryland within 38–17, but the Terrapins got no closer.
East Carolina
Patrick White and Steve Slaton tore up their third opponent of the season in a row. White threw for a personal-best 216 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score, and the No. 4 Mountaineers overcame Slaton's least-productive game of the season and pulled away late in a 27–10 victory over ECU. White was 17-of-24 passing with touchdown passes of 3 yards to Owen Schmitt and 60 yards to Darius Reynaud. The Mountaineers (4–0) shook off some sloppy play—including White's three interceptions—to win their 11th straight game. The Pirates held Slaton, who entered as the nation's third-leading rusher, to 80 yards—less than half of his 168-yard average—and afterward he said he was bothered by cramps blamed on the hot, humid weather. West Virginia led just 17–10 early in the fourth quarter when White flipped a pass to Reynaud, who zigzagged 60 yards back across the field and through the Pirates' defense for the clinching touchdown. Reynaud finished with five catches for 110 yards and became the first West Virginia player with more than 100 yards receiving since November 2004, when Chris Henry had 118 against Boston College. The Mountaineers had just 153 yards rushing though–197 fewer than its nation-leading average of 350; a year ago, East Carolina held West Virginia to just 127 yards rushing. James Pinkney was 20-of-40 for 247 yards with a touchdown for the Pirates (1–3), and Aundrae Allison had four catches for 54 yards and a touchdown. But East Carolina couldn't get its ground game going, either—Brandon Fractious led the Pirates with 13 yards rushing, and the Pirates finished with 41 yards on the ground. West Virginia dominated the first half, holding three-touchdown underdog East Carolina to 2 yards rushing and gaining 221 yards to the Pirates' 87, but led just 14–7 at halftime largely because of two interceptions thrown by White in the end zone. White capped West Virginia's opening drive with a 5-yard touchdown run, then flipped his scoring pass to Schmitt early in the second quarter to snap a 7-all tie. Pinkney found his favorite target—Allison—behind the West Virginia defense for a 47-yard touchdown pass midway through the first, tying it 7–7. The Pirates closed to seven points early in the fourth on Robert Lee's 27-yard field goal.
Mississippi State
West Virginia committed 11 penalties and allowed a moribund Mississippi State offense to threaten several times in West Virginia's 42–14 win. Steve Slaton bailed out the Mountaineers (5–0) with 185 yards and a touchdown and Pat White rushed for two scores as West Virginia pulled away late to extend the nation's second-longest winning streak to 12 games. But the defense needed two late interceptions deep in Mountaineers territory to secure the win as West Virginia kept three drives by Mississippi State (1–5) alive with penalties. In all, the Mountaineers were flagged for 132 yards. However, the trio of White, Slaton and fullback Owen Schmitt got to work. White and Schmitt scored two touchdowns apiece and Slaton constantly stung what had been considered a stout Bulldogs rush defense with nine runs of 10 yards or more. The Mountaineers gained 406 total yards, including 314 on the ground. White added 76 rushing yards that included a game-clinching 46-yard run midway through the fourth quarter. But Mississippi State finished with an advantage of 7:30 in time of possession, keeping that high-powered rushing game on the bench. Schmitt capped the first with a 5-yard TD dive at 8:11, giving West Virginia a touchdown on its first drive in seven consecutive games. White capped the Mountaineers' second drive with another 5-yard run to make it 14–0 with 14:12 remaining in the second quarter. Mississippi State had no answer for West Virginia's blitz early in the game. But crucial penalties such as roughing the punter and roughing the passer kept the Bulldogs alive and quarterback Omarr Conner got them moving late in the first half with a pair of long passes to Tony Burks. A 45-yarder to Burks pushed Mississippi State deep into West Virginia territory. A 40-yarder to Burks got the Bulldogs to the 2. But he fumbled into the end zone where Lance Long picked it up for the score at 1:01 to cut West Virginia's halftime lead to 14–7. The Mountaineers opened the second half with a commitment to Slaton, who carried the ball five times and capped a 10-play scoring drive with a 10-yard touchdown that made it 21–7 with 10:22 left in the third quarter. Conner was injured late in the third quarter and replaced by Michael Henig, the team's original starter before he broke his collarbone in the season opener. Henig directed two crisp drives but was picked off in the end zone by Eric Wicks and at the 10 by Bobby Hathaway. After the second interception, White scored his second touchdown on a slithering run that put the Mountaineers up 28–7 with 8:02 left. The Bulldogs did manage a late score on a 1-yard dive by Anthony Dixon with 5:31 remaining in the game, but the Mountaineers answered with a long drive and Schmitt's second touchdown from 5 yards out to make it 35–14.
Syracuse