2006 West Virginia Mountaineers football team
| 2006 West Virginia Mountaineers football | |
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Gator Bowl champion
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Gator Bowl, W 38–35 vs. Georgia Tech
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| Conference | Big East Conference |
| Ranking | |
| Coaches | No. 10 |
| AP | No. 10 |
| 2006 record | 11–2 (5–2 Big East) |
| Head coach | Rich Rodriguez (6th year) |
| Offensive coordinator | Calvin Magee (3rd year) |
| Offensive scheme | Spread |
| Defensive coordinator | Jeff Casteel (5th year) |
| Base defense | 3–3–5 |
| Home stadium |
Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium (Capacity: 60,000) |
| 2006 Big East football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #6 Louisville $ | 6 | – | 1 | 12 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #10 West Virginia | 5 | – | 2 | 11 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #12 Rutgers | 5 | – | 2 | 11 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Florida | 4 | – | 3 | 9 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cincinnati | 4 | – | 3 | 8 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pittsburgh | 2 | – | 5 | 6 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Connecticut | 1 | – | 6 | 4 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Syracuse | 0 | – | 6 | 0 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2006 West Virginia Mountaineers football team completed the season with an 11–2 record. The Mountaineers had a regular season Big East record of 5–2.
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.
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 beay 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.
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