MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Syracuse found out the hard way how difficult it is to harness West Virginia's Rasheed Marshall.

When Marshall wasn't improvising for first downs with his legs, he was finding his receivers in the end zone. And now No. 15 WVU has sole possession of first place in the Big East.

"He's a running back who can throw the ball. He's elusive, a good arm, and he's able to find his guys open despite some scrambling," said Syracuse safety Diamond Ferri.

Marshall threw for three scores and ran for 87 yards to break Donovan McNabb's conference career rushing record for quarterbacks in the Mountaineers' 27-6 win Thursday night.

Marshall now has 1,605 career rushing yards, breaking McNabb's mark of 1,561. In 2002, Marshall set the single-season mark of 666 formerly held by Vick at Virginia Tech.

When asked if he should be considered as good a college quarterback as the pair, Marshall said, "Yeah. Heck yeah. If you ask me, I definitely do.

"Being mentioned in the same sentence as Vick or McNabb, those guys you see on Sundays making plays. Just to be in the same category and surpassing them is great."

It turns out Marshall was prophetic. He told a teammate at the start of the season he thought he would break the record against McNabb's former team.

"It makes it that much better. There is an extra sweetness to it," Marshall said.

Marshall set the record on a 24-yard TD run that was called back when receiver Chris Henry was flagged for holding. Marshall was credited with nine yards on the spot foul.

Henry made up for the gaffe on the next play, hauling in a 25-yard scoring pass for a 17-0 halftime lead.

Earlier, Henry scored from 27 yards out. It marked the second straight year he had two TD catches against Syracuse.

West Virginia (6-1, 2-0) amassed 279 yards on the ground against the league's worst defense, led by Jason Colson's 113 yards.

The Mountaineers held Syracuse to 66 yards rushing and stopped four Orange drives inside the 20-yard-line without points, including twice in the fourth quarter.

But West Virginia, which entered the game with touchdowns on 18 of 20 red-zone possessions, had its own troubles deep in Syracuse territory.

Three drives ended inside the Syracuse 10, resulting in two Brad Cooper field goals. Another Cooper attempt was partially blocked.

"When we put it all together, I will be happy," Marshall said. "We still have mental mistakes - blocking the wrong guy, throwing it to the wrong person, that type of thing."

Walter Reyes, Syracuse's leading rusher, was ill and missed his first game since the start of his freshman season, a streak of 42 contests. Reyes wore a jacket and a towel over his head on the sidelines.

"He was in bed all day with an antibiotic. There was no way he could play because he was sick as a dog," said Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni.

Reyes' replacement, Damien Rhodes, was limited to 67 yards on 20 carries, including a 2-yard TD run midway through the third quarter.

Syracuse (3-4, 1-1), which returns home to play Connecticut and Pittsburgh in the next two weeks, now must win three of its final four games to become bowl eligible. Each loss by the Orange has been to a ranked team.

"Every single week is a challenge playing the schedule we have," Pasqualoni said.