MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — All West Virginia quarterback Pat White needed to have a career day against Syracuse was a little-used play that was put back into the offense.

West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez installed a counter run designed for White that had been used only once before this season.

White used the misdirection run to score three of his four touchdowns Saturday, and the sophomore finished with a career-high 247 yards on just 15 carries in the 41-17 win.

"That worked real well. The hole was there and I was hitting it," said White, who two years ago turned down a six-figure signing bonus with baseball's Anaheim Angels. "We have not run that play much, so it was something new for them and it worked."

White's effort was reminiscent of late last season after he took over as the starter. He surpassed 100 yards rushing in three of the final four games but had only 270 yards in the first five games of 2006 in taking a back seat to Steve Slaton, the nation's third-leading rusher.

The counter run helped an already complicated spread offense get the Mountaineers out of a potential rut against Syracuse, which last year held West Virginia to no offensive touchdowns and trailed only 17-14 at halftime Saturday.

"The counter is kind of a trick play where the defense reads one thing and Pat reads something else and cuts it," said West Virginia center Dan Mozes. "We knew how they were going to come out against us. We knew what they would do because it worked last year and we tried to counteract that."

With Syracuse focused on stopping Slaton, White scored on the Mountaineers' first three possessions of the second half to break open the close game.

"They keyed on everybody else except for him and he made them pay," said Slaton.