We may have just witnessed the demise of Tommy Tuberville Thursday night as West Virginia beat Auburn 34-17 in Morgantown before a nationally televised audience.

As the game wore on West Virginia (5-2, 2-0) got stronger as the Tigers (4-4, 2-3) unraveled. Had it not been for two first quarter interceptions the game may have been a route. Actually, after midway through the second quarter it was. There is no doubt the Tiger coach will be facing a hot seat when he returns home to the warm embrace of the fanatical Auburn fan base.

The Tigers had no answer for the Mountaineer running attack, especially Noel Devine who finished the game with 207 yards rushing and a touchdown on 17 carries. In fact, Auburn had no answer for anyone on the Mountaineer offense allowing 445 total yards and giving up 31 unanswered points after taking a 17-3 lead.

It wasn’t just Devine shredding the formerly 9^th ranked Auburn defense; Dorrell Jalloh scored two touchdowns, finishing with 53 yards on four catches. Jock Sanders averaged seven yards per carry and caught four passes for 31 yards. Alric Arnett caught three passes for 59 yards including a 44 yard touchdown grab. As a whole, the Mountaineers ran for 271 yards and 174 yards passing.

West Virginia moved right down the field on its first drive, looking much improved from the unit that just mustered 17 points against Syracuse. That is until Josh Byrnes intercepted Pat White at the 17 yard line. White was looking for running back Noel Devine and didn’t see the linebacker over the middle.

Auburn followed up with a massive 20 play, 81 yard drive that ended at the two yard line when the Mountaineer defense finally held. The Tigers settled for a 19 yard Wes Bynum field goal to take a 3-0 lead.

Earlier in the week Tuberville said the team would not abandon the spread after the firing of offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, but for most of the game the Tigers ran out of a pretty standard pro set and pounded the ball straight ahead with quarterback Kodi Burns getting the bulk of the carries. He finished with 82 yards on 15 carries.

West Virginia didn’t have the ball long, turning it over on just the second play of the second drive when Walter McFadden intercepted White at the WVU 46 and returned it to the 28. The Tigers capitalized with a 16 yard screen pass to Brad Lester for a touchdown to take a 10-0 lead.

West Virginia’s offense buzzed right back down the field with a 36 yard run by Devine on an option left and a facemask penalty put the Mountaineers in scoring position, but they still couldn’t put it in the end zone and had to settle for a 23 yard field goal from Pat McAfee.

Following the field goal Mario Fannin returned the kickoff 69 yards to set up a nine yard touchdown run by Kodi Burns which gave Auburn a 17-3 lead. However, it would be the last points the Tigers would score.

Auburn onside kicked the ball and it seemed the game could have gotten out of hand for the Mountaineers, but the defense held to a three and out, forcing a punt and shifting the momentum to West Virginia. White hooked up with Arnett on a 44 yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 17-10 at the half.

There were signs that the Mountaineers could move the ball, they just didn’t have very many opportunities. West Virginia only had the ball 8:31 of the first half’s 30 minutes, but out gained the Tigers 186-176.

Jalloh said the locker room was festive at the half and said a uniformed observer would have thought the Mountaineers were winning. It was a sign of things to come in the second half.

The Mountaineer swagger was back.

West Virginia rolled in the second half, resembling the past teams that put up huge amounts of points on a regular basis. The offense hummed right along as White threw two more touchdown passes to Jalloh and Devine ripped of big run after big run.

The defense also stiffened in the second half, after allowing Auburn to convert seven of ten third downs. In the second half the Mountaineers held Auburn to two of eight on third downs and just 84 total yards. Middle linebacker Anthony Leonard finished with 16 tackles to lead a defense that has not allowed more than 17 points a game since the second week of the season.

Up next for the Mountaineers is a trip to Connecticut on November 1^st. Kickoff is set for noon and will be the Big East Network game of the week.