Morgantown, WV -- (Sports Network) - Pat White ran for 186 yards and two touchdowns as fourth-ranked West Virginia secured the Big East title and an automatic BCS bowl bid with a 66-21 rout of 20th-ranked Connecticut at Milan Puskar Stadium.

White completed 9-of-13 passes for 107 yards with a score and Noel Devine ran for 118 yards and a TD for West Virginia (10-1, 5-1 Big East), which will likely vault into the national championship picture with the win. On Friday the BCS's top team, LSU lost, opening the door for the third-ranked Mountaineers, who conclude their season by riding a six-game win streak into next Saturday's game against Pittsburgh.

"We haven't played Pitt with more at stake," said West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez. "It's not only the 'Backyard Brawl' but it's our seniors' last home game...This week will be about focusing on the moment and the now. What's important right now is playing Pitt play-by-play."

Steve Slaton ran for two touchdowns and Darius Reynaud had five catches for 76 yards with a score for the Mountaineers, who secured their first outright Big East title since capturing the last of three straight crowns in 2005.

"I'm very excited," Rodriguez said. "Our guys took a shot from a good team and I'm proud of how we reacted. There is always another team challenging for the championship and our guys responded to that. WE want to finish the deal next week in a big rivalry game."

Donald Brown ran for 129 yards and a touchdown for the Huskies (9-3, 5-2), who would have captured their first Big East title with a win. Tyler Lorenzen ended 14-of-28 passing for 151 yards with one touchdown for Connecticut, which completed its most successful season since entering the FBS level in 2004.

"These kids worked their tails off to get to this position," said UConn head coach Randy Edsall. "I couldn't be more proud of out players and coaches, and we won't let this put a damper on the season. Back in August no one thought we'd stand where we are now."

The Huskies started the scoring by taking the opening possession of the game 92 yards on seven plays with Lorenzen hitting Brad Kanuch with a six-yard TD pass to end the drive.

That, however, was just about it for UConn, as the Mountaineers scored the next 24 points to take control.

White ended a five-play, 65-yard drive with a three-yard scoring run to tie the game 1:52 after the Huskies took the lead.

Then, after Jasper Howard fumbled a punt, WVU took over at the UConn 14-yard- line and one play later took the lead for good. This time White hit Reynaud with a TD pass, giving the Mountaineers a 14-7 lead with 7:01 left in the opening quarter.

West Virginia extended the lead to 10 points just 4:04 into the second quarter when Pat McAfee hit a 46-yard field goal.

Later, after Lorenzen lost a fumble to give the Mountaineers the ball at their own 40-yard-line, the Huskies found themselves down 17 points. On the fourth play of the drive, Slaton broke free and scampered 31 yards for a TD and a 24-7 cushion.

UConn went into the locker room down just 10 points, 24-14, when Brown scored on a two-yard burst with 20 seconds left in the half, but a huge third quarter by West Virginia put this game out of doubt.

Less than four minutes into the second half White scored on a 24-yard run to increase the lead to 17 points. Then, with 6:35 left, Devine ripped off a 25-yard TD run for a 38-14 cushion and a Reed Williams fumble recovery in the end zone made it a 45-14 contest.

Lorenzen fumbled the ball at the two-yard-line and the ball got knocked back into the end zone, where Williams jumped on it with 3:33 left in the stanza.

The fourth quarter saw Slaton score on a three-yard run, Jock Sanders burst in from one-yard out and Ed Collington also score on a one-yard run.

UConn rounded out the scoring when reserve QB Dennis Brown hit Anthony Davis with a one-yard TD pass.

Game Notes

Connecticut was seeking its first conference title since winning the Yankee Conference in 1973...WVU improved to 4-0 against UConn...Slaton ran for 54 yards...Slaton and White surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing plateau for the season.