Nehlen Goes Out a Winner

Finally, the biggest blemish on Don Nehlen’s record has been removed.

Nehlen avoided his ninth consecutive bowl loss heading into retirement as West Virginia defeated Mississippi, 49-38, in the Music City Bowl behind a record performance from oft-injured quarterback Brad Lewis and a wild finish.

“We’re pleased as the devil to have won. We’ve had a long dry spell,” Nehlen said. “If nothing else, the jokes will disappear in Morgantown for a while. This game was something.

And Nehlen won’t have to face any jokes at home.

“My wife will be able to serve me cereal in a bowl--and I won’t lose it,” said Nehlen, who finishes with a 202-128-8 record.

Lewis threw five touchdown passes in the victory after only eight during the regular season. West Virginia, which had not won a bowl game since the 1984 Bluebonnet, built a 49-16 lead after three quarters.

West Virginia (7-5) dominated the first three quarters to build its big lead before the Rebels (7-5) rallied behind Eli Manning to make it respectable.

The Mississippi fans among the crowd of 47,119 who stayed until the end had to be heartened by the performance of Manning, the redshirt freshman son of Archie Manning and brother of Peyton Manning, who threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, the first scores of his career.

Lewis was perfect in the first half, when he completed all seven of his passes for 216 yards and four touchdowns. He set up another score as West Virginia took a 35-9 halftime lead, and finished with 318 passing yards.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a quarterback with a better half,” Nehlen said. “I’ve never seen our offense execute that way.”

Any hopes the Rebels had of seizing momentum in the second half were damaged when Shawn Terry returned the second-half kickoff 99 yards to put West Virginia ahead, 42-9.