MORGANTOWN - West Virginia quarterback Pat White was knocked outof a second consecutive game Saturday, but this time it was a hit tothe head against Rutgers and not an aggravation of the left thumbinjury that sidelined him against Marshall.
"He's not in any kind of a concussion state at all," WVU CoachBill Stewart said. "If everything progresses as we think, he'll bein the lineup Saturday. He does not have a concussion. He's OK.(Taking him out of the game) was a precautionary measure."
Stewart said he was in regular contact with White's familySaturday night, but there was no cause for alarm. White was woozyafter leaving the game, but he suffered no memory loss, nausea orany other symptoms of a concussion.
White left the game after running for 10 yards on a third-and-nine in the third quarter. He tried to slide at Rutgers' 4-yard linebut was hit by Ryan D'Imperio. White went to the locker room andreturned a while later but didn't get back in the game.
White was 12-for-17 for 137 yards and two touchdowns and ran for59 yards on 11 carries before getting hurt.
An 18-yard run in the first quarter moved White into second placeon the NCAA's all-time career quarterback rushing list. He now has44 career touchdown passes, behind only Rasheed Marshall (45) andMarc Bulger (59) on WVU's all-time list. White jumped Oliver Luckand Chad Johnston with his second-quarter touchdown pass to JockSanders.
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REED WILLIAMS didn't play Saturday and won't play the rest of theseason.
Stewart said the senior middle linebacker from Moorefield willtake a medical redshirt.
"That's my call," Stewart said. "I'm not going to play anybodywho can't protect himself. I'll never play anybody that I don'tthink is in good enough condition or good enough physical shape toprotect himself on the field or can't play full-speed. If you can'tplay full-speed, you can't play the game. It's a fast, fast violentgame."
WVU's leading tackler last season and the most valuable defensiveplayer in the Fiesta Bowl, Williams missed the first two games thisseason and played in the past two. He had 17 tackles - No. 6 on theteam - and an interception and made the Big East's weekly honor rolllast week.
However, Stewart said early last week Williams was "questionable"and "hurting."
"If you guys had a chance to see him after a game, you'd knowexactly what he was going through," said one of Williams' roommates,kicker/punter Pat McAfee. "The kid is in tremendous pain after eachgame. He's such a big force for our defense and such a good leader.It sucks. We're going to miss him, but he made the right decision,for sure. I told him he had to be comfortable with his decision.Obviously, he's a competitor and wants to play, but I think he madethe right decision. He was bummed out for a few days, but I told himhe's got to get past it, and he's doing better."
Williams didn't meet with the media after the game.
WVU initially believed it needed to make a final decision about amedical redshirt before the Rutgers game, but it discovered later inthe week Williams could have played against Rutgers and again thisweekend against Syracuse.
The redshirt rule says a player can play in 30 percent of thegames in the first half of the season. In Williams' case, 30 percentwould have been four games.
McAfee said Williams decided to take the redshirt before he foundout about the exact interpretation of the rule.
"After he went through the emotional heartache and decided toredshirt, it was like, 'Hey, you could play two more games,'" McAfeesaid. "But he'd already been through all of it."
Sophomore Anthony Leonard made his second career start at middlelinebacker and had a team-high nine tackles. Senior outsidelinebacker Mortty Ivy played in the middle on many passing downs andhas started in the middle once this season.
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McAFEE'S FIRST-QUARTER extra point gave him 324 career points andmoved him into first place on the school's all-time kicker scoringlist.
He entered the game tied with Paul Woodside (1981-84) and hemight have left the game with no memento of the occasion.
After the kick, an official gave the ball to McAfee, only forMcAfee to give it back. The senior from Plum, Pa., didn't realizewhat happened until after the game.
"Oh, my God, you just explained that to me," McAfee said. "I wasso confused. He asked me if I wanted the ball. I thought he meantfor the kickoff. Wow, I'm so slow. He had to have given it tosomeone (from WVU). He must have looked at me like an idiot. Wow, Ididn't know that. And I don't know where the hell it is."
McAfee had two more extra points and a field goal against Rutgersand now has 329 career points, one shy of running back SteveSlaton's school record.
"It's more a compliment to the offenses I've been behind," McAfeesaid.
McAfee ranks No. 6 in all-time Big East scoring and is No. 3among kickers. He's in second place on the Big East's career extrapoints list with 188 in 190 attempts. He needs three to passVirginia Tech's Carter Warley.
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FRESHMAN TIGHT end Tyler Urban didn't run a pass route againstColorado and ran one last week against Marshall.
No wonder he was so open on his first-quarter touchdown againstRutgers.
"I think this one caught them completely off guard," he said. "Icame off and started blocking and went out and there was no one outthere."
On second-and-two at Rutgers' 25, Urban was on the left end ofthe line of scrimmage and White was in the I-formation in front offullback Will Johnson and running back Noel Devine. Receiver WesLyons came in motion from left to right when the ball was snappedand acted as a decoy.
White faked to Devine and rolled left. A safety stepped forwardto cover receiver Alric Arnett coming across the field and alinebacker followed Devine toward the left sideline.
Urban ran uncovered into the end zone, where he caught his firstcareer pass.
"It seemed like it was in the air forever," he said.
Mike Villagrana, who now is a WVU graduate assistant, was thelast tight end to catch a touchdown. He did so 37 games ago againstVirginia Tech in 2005. It was also Villagrana's first and onlycareer catch.
"You trying to say something?" Urban said.
