West Virginia had no trouble winning its Big East opener, even without Heisman hopeful Amos Zereoue. That's because Temple is improving, but it's still Temple.

     Backup Alvin Swoope rushed for a career-high 141 yards and two touchdowns -- all in the first half -- as the 16th-ranked Mountaineers beat the winless Owls 37-7 on Saturday.

     West Virginia (4-1, 1-0 Big East) got some valuable rest for Zereoue and linebacker Gary Stills with tougher games against Miami, Virginia Tech and Syracuse coming up after an off-week.

     "I want you to understand, we did not rest Amos because we were playing Temple," Mountaineers coach Don Nehlen said. "He might have played a little if we were playing Miami or Syracuse, but he was not ready."

     Zereoue, the second-leading rusher in the Big East, was out with a bruised thigh. It was hard to notice a difference in the Mountaineers' offense, which amassed 481 yards.

     Swoope, shown at left, ripped off a 46-yard run on the second play of the game, WVU's longest of the season. He scored on runs of 1 and 7 yards in the first half.

     Temple (0-6, 0-2) showed signs of improvement under new coach Bobby Wallace, who won three straight Division II national titles at North Alabama. But the Owls made the kind of mistakes that have become a trademark of their troubled program during a string of 13 years with only one winning season.

     The most crushing was an inexplicable decision by backup quarterback Greg Muckerson, who threw a desperate pass right into the hands of West Virginia's Scooter Davis in the second quarter.

     "Why did he do it? I don't know," said Wallace, who was standing right in front of Muckerson on the sideline. "I wanted to grab him when I saw he was fixing to throw it. I wanted to knock it down. I don't know whether that's a penalty or not."

     Marc Bulger was 14-of-20 for 257 yards and three touchdowns for the Mountaineers. David Saunders had five catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns. Saunders became WVU's career leader in receiving yards, passing Rashaan Vanterpool. Saunders now has 2,075 receiving yards.

     It was West Virginia's eighth straight victory over Temple, with all but three coming by at least 20 points.

     "We could have put more points on the board," Nehlen said. "We could have thrown the ball all day, to be honest."

     Temple's Kenyatta Carter had two catches for 46 yards.

     Swoope didn't play in the second half because of a slight neck injury. That forced Nehlen to use third stringer Brannon Goins, who lost his redshirt status in the process. Goins rushed for 48 yards.

     The Mountaineers led only 20-7 at halftime. But Davis recovered an Owls' fumble on the second play of the third quarter. West Virginia quickly added a 31-yard field goal and a 52-yard TD pass from Bulger to Saunders to make it 30-7.

     Bulger hit Pat Greene for a 40-yard touchdown with 13:32 left, making it 37-7.

     This wasn't a bad game by any means. We wouldn't even call it "ugly" as some of the other Temple games have been. It just wasn't a "great" win. We managed to win with many second and third team members playing key positions and that's important. But now the party is over. The hors d'oeuvre have been served and now it's time to settle in for the main course. It's Showtime at the Apollo or whatever you want to call it. The next three games against Miami, Virginia Tech and Syracuse will make or break this season.

     This team hasn't come along nearly as good as we had thought. Maybe we weren't being realistic and most definitely we weren't counting on all the key injuries that the Mountaineers have had. But probably the most disturbing thing that we've seen all season is the sporadic play and slow starts in all 5 games. Against Ohio State, this team marched down the field with authority. Then they went into one of their usual funks until almost the end of the half when they scored again. They missed a key opportunity by not recovering a fumble on the second half kickoff and the rest is history. For the Mountaineers to win all or any of the upcoming games they can't play this kind of ball. And unfortunately, they show it is their tendancy as it is exactly the way they played the next four games and won. Hopefully, someone will hit them in the head these two weeks and get their attention.

     For our player of the game this week, we'll go with Alvin Swoope. His 2 TDs on 16 carries and 141 yards in the first half is outstanding. In fact, that's the best half of rushing by any WVU back this year. Even Amos. But more than the stats, we salute Alvin for what he has done and become as a Mountaineer. He sits in the shadows of Amos Zereoue week in and week out. Yes, it got to him and that's why he withdrew, but the kid is a gutsy competitor. We've needed to call on him several times throughout his career and for the most part this is the kind of game he gives us when we need him. CONGRATULATIONS and good job, Alvin.