2008-2009
College Football Season
Meineke Car Care Bowl
Post-Game

White Ends West Virginia Career With 4-0 record In Bowls

by Mike Mitchell
December 27, 2008

Pat White threw 3 TD passes to lead West Virginia to a 4th straight bowl win and became the first QB to start four bowl games and go 4-0 in bowls. The 31-30 victory over North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl also raised Bill Stewart's bowl record to 2-0 as the Mountaineers' head coach and his inaugural season record to 9-4. (Stewart was the interim head coach in last year's Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma).

North Carolina fell to 8-5.

The see-saw battle started off at a blistering offensive pace with West Virginia owning a 21-14 lead after the first quarter. The Tar Heels blanked the Mountaineers 9-0 in the second quarter with a safety and a touchdown to grab a 23-21 halftime lead.

West Virginia retook the lead on a field goal with 9 minutes left in the third quarter, but North Carolina answered with a touchdown to go ahead 30-24.

The Mountaineers scored the final points of the game with 7:14 left after UNC fumbled at the WVU 31-yard line.

North Carolina's last chance for victory came to an end with an interception with 1:53 left.

White was 26-of-32 for 332 yards. He added 55 yards on the ground to finish as the NCAA's all-time rushing leading for quarterbacks. White is the Big East's all-time total offense leader with 10.529 yards in 50 games. USF quarterback Matt Grothe, a junior, is second with 10,214 in 39 games.

North Carolina's Hakeem Nicks had a monster game with 89 catches for 217 yards, including touchdowns of 73, 66 and 25 yards.