Mountaineers Get Respect and More : Big East: West Virginia stays perfect, gets into the national title picture with 17-14 upset of Miami.

To be in West Virginia on Saturday meant keeping an eye on the ‘eers and an ear on the rest of the country, to other college towns such as Ann Arbor and South Bend and Auburn. The future would be decided there as much as here.

The beloved Mountaineers needed help, a few assists to move up in the rankings and get a shot at the national championship. They needed to beat No. 4 Miami and have at least a couple of the top five teams lose. They needed something close to the perfect day.

They got it.

“The day was our day,” defensive end Steve Perkins said.

It was because No. 9 West Virginia, in its biggest game since Major Harris led the drive to the 1988 Fiesta Bowl, followed up losses by Notre Dame and Ohio State and beat Miami, 17-14, before 70,222 at Mountaineer Field on Robert Walker’s 100 yards rushing and 19-yard scoring sprint with 6:08 remaining.

The stadium became the largest city in the state for those three hours and four minutes, and many of those fans charged onto the artificial surface at the finish. That also made the Mountaineers--the ‘eers to the locals--10-0. And don’t you forget it.

“This was a statement game,” fullback Rodney Woodard said. “Everyone said they would come in and blow us out. We wanted to show people that was not going to happen. We’re a good football team. We’re no Cinderella. This was no fluke.”

The Mountaineers came in as nothing more than an afterthought as the race for No. 1 came into focus. Part of the problem was that they were unranked when the season began. They also had beaten no one better than Virginia Tech and Louisville.

Then came Saturday, complete with all the buildup befitting such an occasion, a big game in the standings but also loaded with the right cast. Miami, bravado in cleats, vs. West Virginia, the team that wants to belong.

This was unfamiliar territory for the Hurricanes, and not only because it was their first trip here since 1986. Their cheerleaders wore earmuffs and players opted for knee-length jackets and specially heated benches, protection against temperatures in the high 30s at kickoff. West Virginia stayed unbundled and unheated.

Then the game started, but the Hurricanes didn’t. Miami failed to get a first down until about 11 minutes remained in the second quarter. Miami stayed within 3-0 only because the Mountaineers missed field goals from 35 and 45 yards.

Through it all, the largest crowd in Mountaineer Field history roared with every public-address announcement. Alabama leading Auburn. Ohio State losing big to Michigan. Notre Dame losing to Boston College, West Virginia’s next opponent.

The Mountaineers kicked off to begin the second half at the same time Boston College kicked the field goal to beat Notre Dame. Pockets of the crowd, those close to a portable TVs, erupted in joy, which quickly spread down to the West Virginia sidelines. Players forgot the action in front of them and for an instant cheered a far-away game.

Miami scored on that first possession, going 80 yards in 16 plays. The Mountaineers countered when they got the ball back to regain the lead, 10-7. The Hurricanes answered with another 80-yard drive.

Both teams had drives stall, until West Virginia took over at the Miami 30 after a 28-yard punt return by Mike Baker. Two plays later, from the 19, Walker got the ball and headed toward left tackle, saw an opening and bounced outside for the winning score.

That may not even have been the worst of it for Miami (8-2). That may have been saved for the end of the game, when fans tore down the goal posts, and afterward, when Mountaineer cornerback Tommy Orr compared the Hurricanes to Louisville.

Ouch.

“The only time I’ve seen that happen was on TV,” Miami’s Chris T. Jones said. “That really hurt, seeing someone tear down the goal posts on the University of Miami.”

At that point, as one piece of the uprights was being passed up among fans on the lower deck and another was being jogged around the stadium floor in something of a victory lap, no one seemed to care that No. 6 Auburn had won. That couldn’t take away the glory of the moment any more than Miami could fluster the Mountaineers with punches at the bottom of a pile or trash talking.

“They tried,” Walker said. “But the points on the scoreboard speaks for itself. There was only so much they could say.”