Even West Virginia Can Run It Up, 80-7

West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez’s no-huddle, spread offense is designed to catch defenses off guard. But, this was ridiculous.

West Virginia scored a school-record 59 points in the first half of an 80-7 victory over Rutgers on Saturday.

It was the most scored by one team in a Division I-A game in at least two years and the most by the Mountaineers (3-5, 1-3 in the Big East) since an 89-0 victory over Geneva in 1951.

The most points ever scored against a I-A opponent came in 1968 when Houston beat Tulsa, 100-6.

“This was the first time all year that it became contagious. Everybody was into it. ,” Rodriguez said. “That emotion and enthusiasm is what we’ve been looking for seven weeks.”

Avon Cobourne rushed for 136 of his 147 yards in the first half and scored four touchdowns for West Virginia, which piled up more points in the half than their four previous games combined. Rutgers (2-6, 0-5) suffered its worst loss since a 98-0 loss to Yale in 1883.