SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Greg Robinson waited three decades to become a head coach. After his first game at Syracuse, he must be scratching his head.

West Virginia committed five turnovers (four fumbles and one interception), the offense did not score a touchdown, and the Mountaineers still beat Syracuse 15-7 on Sunday simply because the Orange's new offense was inept.

"I would have liked to have believed that we were going to be better than that," Robinson said. "As I told our team, it starts with a rookie head coach and it looks like it. The game management was poor, and that comes right to me."

Syracuse thrived on the run in 14 years under head coach Paul Pasqualoni, who was fired in December after a humbling 51-14 loss to Georgia Tech in the Champs Sports Bowl completed the team's third straight sub-par season.

Against the Mountaineers, the Orange were held to 18 yards rushing on 26 attempts, and junior quarterback Perry Patterson had an awful day. He played the whole game and was 15-for-32 for only 85 yards and two interceptions, one of which was returned for West Virginia's only touchdown. Patterson also was sacked three times - once for a safety - while losing 33 yards rushing, and Syracuse's longest drive in 17 possessions was 26 yards in the third quarter.

No wonder hundreds of the crowd of 45,418 - the largest attendance for a Carrier Dome opener since Central Michigan in 1999, the first home game after the departure of star quarterback Donovan McNabb to the NFL - started streaming for the exits midway through the fourth quarter.

"We were really excited," said Syracuse punter Brendan Carney, who honed his skills with 11 punts. "This was a hard and disappointing loss for all of us. It's hard to swallow, but we are going to bounce back. That's the type of guys we are."

West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez was at a loss but very happy after his fourth straight victory in the series.

"I don't ever remember having five turnovers and still winning the game," Rodriguez said. "I can't even remember the last time we fumbled in practice. Syracuse had a good defensive plan. We were scrambling all day on offense."

It was the first conference game of the newly aligned Big East, which lost Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami to the ACC and picked up Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida. And it was chock full of failures. The teams combined to convert 1 of 29 third downs, and there was only one sustained drive in the game.

"Any loss is disappointing," Syracuse linebacker Kellen Pruitt said. "We just hope the fans stick with us. I think we (the defense) played pretty well. It's just a shame we couldn't capitalize on some of those turnovers."

The Mountaineers found a way to win without star quarterback Rasheed Marshall, Big East offensive player of the year in 2004 before graduating. For one game, rookie quarterbacks Adam Bednarik and Pat White sufficed. Bednarik was 14-for-21 for 104 yards and one interception, White went 3-for-6 for 63 yards, and both made key plays, even though the offense only managed two field goals.

"I've never won a game without an offensive touchdown. It was very frustrating to keep driving the ball and have the turnovers," said Bednarik, a sophomore. "But we had to block it out and just focus on coming back."

Less than two minutes after Damien Rhodes scored on a 5-yard run to stake the Orange to a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter, Eric Wicks returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown.

"Patterson tries to complete the pass instead of running the ball," Wicks said. "So I was depending on him to throw the pass. It was a big read."

Pat McAfee kicked two field goals to give West Virginia (1-0) the lead for good. His first, a 33-yarder late in the third quarter, put the Mountaineers up 10-7. Midway through the fourth, West Virginia added a safety when Ernest Hunter sacked Patterson in the end zone, and McAfee added a 26-yard field goal in the waning moments.

"We have a lot of work to do," Rodriguez said. "But I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty."

In the lone sustained scoring drive, WVU went 55 yards on 10 plays, with Bednarik's 21-yard pass to Brandon Myles setting up McAfee's decisive field goal with 5:53 left in the third quarter.

West Virginia moved deep into Syracuse territory early in the fourth. Jason Colson caught a 19-yard pass to the 11 but lost his third fumble of the game on the next play.