MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- No matter that it was an in-state foe whom they've clobbered, on average, by six touchdowns a meeting. No matter that a four-time Big East champion over the past five seasons was favored by a couple of touchdowns against a Conference USA also-ran.

The Mountaineers needed the victory.

"Huge," middle linebacker Reed Williams said of West Virginia's 27-3 slap-down of Marshall last night before 60,154 inside Mountaineer Field. "Huge."

"It was just a win under our belts that we needed right now," receiver Dorrell Jalloh said of the Mountaineers, who halted a two-game losing skid and were starved for any kind of triumph. "At a crucial part of our season."

Game 4. The end of September.

These suddenly unranked Mountaineers, missing from the polls for the first time in almost three full seasons, gulped down this Friends of Coal Bowl victory and felt a measure of their thirst quenched. They headed into the drizzly darkness focused on a Big East season that commences Saturday against Rutgers (1-3), a struggling team that earned its first victory yesterday against Division I-AA Morgan State.

West Virginia's first Division I-A victory since the Fiesta Bowl came as a result of an offense that appeared to find its groove against a warped defense of Marshall (3-2), which allowed the Mountaineers 493 yards for the Thundering Herd's fourth consecutive game of graciously permitting 400-plus. For the Mountaineers, who scored just two touchdowns in the previous nine quarters and nine minutes, it was not only a positive feeling but a relief to score on their opening possession, to average 7.6 yards per rush, to throw downfield with aplomb, to believe they were discovering their identity.

Quarterback Patrick White left in the third quarter with a bruised thumb -- "not as bad as last week," he said of the digit hurt at Colorado, but "I'm still kind of weak" -- but first rushed for 61 yards on 11 carries and completed 17 of 21 pinpoint passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Tailback Noel Devine added 125 yards and his first touchdown of the season on just 14 carries. Jock Sanders collected 73 yards rushing and receiving plus a touchdown, and Alric Arnett added five catches for 54 yards after finding just one for 5 yards in the previous two losses.

Even backup quarterback Jarrett Brown got into the action, rushing for 78 yards, passing for 44, engineering two drives for Pat McAfee field goals and working into the offensive rotation as an extra threat. He took a couple of direct snaps, converted three third-and-shorts with 25 yards rushing -- who needs a fullback when you have a 6-foot-4, 220-pound Slash? -- and further energized an offense that claims to have its mojo back.

"It seems like everybody is more comfortable out there," White said. "Coach [Jeff Mullen, the offensive coordinator] is more comfortable calling plays, knowing what we're good at. If we can execute every play, I don't think we can be stopped. If all 11 do what we're supposed to do, we have a good shot of winning every game."

"Coach Mullen, he has so many weapons," added Jalloh, who caught a dandy, 21-yard, double-move pass down the left sideline for West Virginia's second touchdown. "The defense has to pick its poison."

Even Woodland Hills' Wes Lyons and tight end Will Johnson chipped in with two receptions each, for Lyons his first of the season.

Meantime, the Mountaineers' defense trotted out three new starters: defensive end Doug Slavonic of Mt. Lebanon, subbing for a sick Pat Liebig; freshman safety Robert Sands; and cornerback Brandon Hogan, who switched from slotback seven weeks ago. Slavonic and Hogan each recovered a fumble, Gateway's Mortty Ivy added an interception, and the Mountaineers permitted just 158 yards to Marshall.

"They are actually better when the field shrinks," said Marshall coach Mark Snyder, whose team mustered just one field goal in drives to the West Virginia 17, 28, 35, 7 and 18.

With a couple of weeks' criticism still ringing in Mountaineers ears -- "our guys have been getting kicked in the teeth long enough" -- Mountaineers coach Bill Stewart lashed back at the critics.

"This program is in as good a shape as it's been in years," Stewart said. "It's going to be fine."

NOTES -- White's two scores pushed him past Brashear's Major Harris for fifth all time in Mountaineers touchdown passes, with 42. He remains 15 yards short of former Steelers receiver and Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El in second place among all-time NCAA rushing quarterbacks. ... Slavonic had four tackles and a sack on which he stripped Marshall quarterback Mark Cann, the ball landing in Slavonic's lap for the recovery. ... Hogan broke up three passes. ... McAfee, after missing in the Colorado overtime, converted field goals from 39 and 36 yards, plus he added two tackles on troubling kickoff returns of 75 and 64 yards.