Big East Thermometer: West Virginia

The Big East Thermometer is a weekly postgame feature that attempts to analyze the "hotness" or "notness" of a team's performance. It is based on a points system that contains no substantive guidance and is sure to be rife with errors, omissions, and inconsistencies.

West Virginia is pretty good at football. The Mountaineers are so good, in fact, that its 62-point outburst against Western Michigan does not even match the 80-point atomic bomb it dropped on Rutgers in 2001. The obvious question, therefore, is who and what contributed most to the Mountaineers success.

Pat White: +12
Pat White is 12 kinds of amazing. Tabbed as a rushing quarterback, White completed 10 passes on 18 attempts for 197 yards and two touchdowns. That's good for a 184.16 passer rating. To provide context to his efficiency against Western Michigan, White only eclipsed the 180.0 mark three times last season -- against Marshall, Eastern Washington, and South Florida.

In addition to his success as a passer, White also ran roughshod through the Bronco defense. Generating 97 yards on only nine carries, White also contributed two rushing scores, many in spectacular fashion. He was, for all intents and purposes, the ultimate weapon that put his Heisman campaign in solid focus.

The most important aspect of White's performance, however, was his decision making and contributive versatility. Western Michigan frequently put significant pressure on White, sending six men to the quarterback in order to contain the slippery junior. White, to his credit, deftly eluded the rush, tucking the ball and eating up yards and, in the alternative, rolling the pocket to distribute the ball to receivers. He showed great poise in and out of the pocket that brought back memories of such multidimensional quarterbacks like Michael Vick while at Virginia Tech (another left handed magician) and Donovan McNabb at Syracuse.

West Virginia Secondary: -4
The flip side to White's solid play is the performance turned in by the Mountaineers' secondary. Tim Hiller may be the best quarterback in the MAC, but he had not taken a meaningful snap since he was injured in 2005 against Northern Illinois. Despite this fact, Hiller put together a very respectable 160-yard effort. When all was said and done, Western Michigan tossed for 245 yards on the day and registered two total passing scores.

If West Virginia is going to seriously contend for a national championship the Mountaineer back five is going to have to play with a stouter attitude. The unit was burned badly on some first quarter tomfoolery -- the Broncos ran a lateral-wide receiver pass for a touchdown -- and Branden Ledbetter and Jamarko Simmons continually worked the seams and sidelines of the Mountaineer secondary. The unit managed to generate two interceptions, but this is probably more attributable to Hiller's accuracy issues and West Virginia's solid effort from its front six. Even Hiller attributed the interceptions to such play:

"I threw some balls into coverage and put our defense in some bad situations," Hiller said. "You have to keep your defense off the field when you're facing a great offense like that."

The situation is far from dire, but some improvement would certainly quell growing concerns.

West Virginia Defensive Front Six: +1
The 3-3-5 scheme was very "vanilla" today, but the Mountaineer front six still put constant pressure on the Western Michigan backfield. Holding the Broncos to only 32 yards rushing on 32 attempts, West Virginia stuffed the run and forced Western Michigan to move to a pass-oriented attack.

A terrific effort no matter how you slice it.

Rich Rodriguez: +3
As opposed to Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, Rodriguez did a great job of putting together a gameplan that emphasized the simple and promoted the value of only playing starters when necessary. White, Slaton, and Company had taken up residence on the bench in the third quarter as soon as the contest was put out of reach. Philosophically, Rodriguez relied almost exclusively on standard quarterback sprints and spread option draws, a mentality that allowed White and Slaton to carry the day while not allowing opponents to scheme against any new permutations to Rodriguez's offense.

TOTAL POINTS: +12
SEASON TOTAL: +12