Slaton rushes Mountaineers past Bulldogs in Sugar Bowl

GDO Report

Slaton ended with a Sugar Bowl record 204 yards rushing for the Mountaineers (11-1), who scored the first 28 points of the game, but had to pull off a fake punt in the final minutes to secure their first BCS bowl win.

Pat White ended 11-of-14 for 120 yards with a touchdown for West Virginia, which captured its first Sugar Bowl title and its first bowl win under head coach Rich Rodriguez.

D.J. Shockley finished 20-of-33 for 277 yards with three touchdowns for Georgia (10-3), which scored 35 of the final 45 points of the game, but still came up short. Thomas Brown and Kregg Lumpkin each added a rushing touchdown for the Bulldogs, who were appearing in their second Sugar Bowl in four years, with this game taking place at the Georgia Dome.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina forced the game out of the Superdome and out of New Orleans for the first time in the game's history.

With West Virginia holding onto a slim 31-28 lead, Georgia pinned the Mountaineers deep in their own territory three minutes into the fourth quarter. Momentum appeared to be on the Bulldogs' side and a stop at this point would have been huge.

However, Slaton ended the 95-yard, eight-play drive with his second 52-yard touchdown run of the game to extend the lead to 38-28 with 8:32 remaining.

Georgia responded with a touchdown of its own on its next possession. Shockley hit Bryan McClendon with a 43-yard touchdown pass to again make it a three- point contest.

The Bulldogs, who took only three minutes off the clock with the 90-yard TD drive, then appeared to have the Mountaineers stopped on the ensuing possession.

West Virginia, though, pulled off the gutsiest play of the bowl season thus far. On 4th-and-6 at the Georgia 48, punter Phil Brady rushed for 10 yards and a first down with just 1:30 left on the clock. The Georgia defense pulled back from the line of scrimmage early and Brady had wide open land in front of him as he crossed the first-down marker.

"Going for the fake punt showed a lot of guts and great execution," said Georgia head coach Mark Richt. "You've got to give them credit."

The Mountaineers were able to run out the clock from there and secure the Big East's first bowl win of the season.

The victory was just the second in postseason play for WVU in 13 chances dating back to 1987.

"Even though they were coming back we didn't panic because our offense was still moving the ball," said Rodriguez. "We stubbed our toes a little bit with penalties, but we weren't getting three-and-outs. At least we were able to stem the tide with our offense getting some first downs."

Georgia, meanwhile, had a three-bowl win streak end, suffering just its second loss in nine postseason chances.

"It was a heck of a ball game," said Richt. "Unfortunately we dug ourselves a big hole. West Virginia did a phenomenal job of jumping on us early, running the ball extremely well and took advantage of our turnovers. When we were down 28 I didn't know if anything good was going to happen."

West Virginia scored the first 28 points of the game, before Georgia came storming back.

The Mountaineers scored on their first four possessions. On their first drive, Slaton gave the team a 7-0 lead with a 52-yard touchdown run less than three minutes into the contest.

White then threw a three-yard TD pass to Darius Reynaud midway through the first stanza for a 14-point edge.

Reynaud followed that with a 13-yard scoring run with 4:27 left in the quarter for a 21-point lead. The TD drive was setup when Georgia's Danny Ware lost a fumble at his own 26-yard line.

The Bulldogs' ensuing possession also resulted in a turnover. This time Shockley fumbled the ball to West Virginia, giving the Mountaineers the ball at midfield.

The result of the turnover was another TD, an 18-yard Slaton run for paydirt just 50 seconds into the second quarter.

Georgia woke up after that, scoring 28 of the game's next 31 points.

Lumpkin ended the Bulldogs' next drive with a 34-yard scoring run. Then, with 9:03 left, Brown broke free for a 52-yard rushing score to cut the deficit to 28-14.

The Mountaineers extended the lead to 31-14 on a Pat McAfee 27-yard field goal with 5:37 left in the half.

However, the Bulldogs went into halftime down just 31-21 when Shockley hit Leonard Pope with a four-yard TD pass with just 58 seconds left until the break.

Georgia drew within three points late in the third quarter when Shockley's 34- yard pass to A.J. Bryant capped a five-play, 68-yard drive. Prior to the scoring play, Shockley ripped off a 21-yard run on third-and-long to bring the ball into WVU territory.