Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Nicco Marchiol completed 17 of 20 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown and ran 13 times for 56 yards and another score in leading West Virginia to a season-opening 45-3 victory over Robert Morris Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium.

A sun-soaked crowd of 57,093 watched today's game, coach Rich Rodriguez's first here since 2007 when he last coached the Mountaineers. It was Rodriguez's 61^st victory at West Virginia, tying him with Dana Holgorsen for second on the school's all-time win list. Rodriguez earned 60 of those during a seven-year period here from 2001-07.

"The crowd was unbelievable," Rodriguez said afterward. "West Virginia fans really showed up today.

"I'm blessed to be back," he added.

Marchiol played three full quarters and the beginning of the fourth before giving way to Jaylen Henderson, who immediately got West Virginia into the end zone. All 54 yards of Henderson's fourth-quarter scoring drive came on runs by him and Cyncir Bowers, who broke free at the 26 and raced into the end zone to make it 38-3 in favor of the Mountaineers.

True freshman quarterback Scotty Fox Jr. got into the game with 4:15 remaining and it took him just three plays to excite those still left in the stadium with a 59-yard touchdown run down the near sideline.

Fox accounted for all 71 yards of the drive, 63 on the ground and 8 on a pass to Logan Ramper.

Kahlil Wilkins finished the game behind center with a pair of rushes for 31 yards
before fumbling his second carry for West Virginia's fourth fumble of the game.

"If we could have played better, and coached better, those (backups) could have gotten into the game much earlier," Rodriguez observed.

It was a penalty-filled, turnover-marred contest in which West Virginia fumbled three times in a span of four plays late in the second quarter and was flagged a total of nine times for 69 yards. At times, it looked like a team with 81 new players.

"The fumble part, I probably should have had more live practices with the helmet on the ball, and that's my fault," Rodriguez said. "Lesson learned there."

Cam Vaughn led all receivers with seven catches for 127 yards, while Jahiem White rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries.

Eleven different Mountaineer players carried the ball 53 times for 393 yards, and West Virginia finished the afternoon with 625 yards of total offense.

Linebacker Chase Wilson led a long list of defenders with six total tackles, 1½ tackles for loss, a sack, a quarterback hurry and a forced fumble. 

The defense, which generated four sacks and two turnovers, would have pitched a shutout if not for Oran Singleton Jr.'s second-quarter fumble at the West Virginia 19 that led to Jayson Jenkins' 36-yard field goal. The Colonials managed just 123 total yards and eight first downs for the afternoon.

"Our defense gave up two third and 10s in the first half, which is uncharacteristic of them, but they couldn't run the ball and our front played pretty well," Rodriguez said. "I felt pretty good with the defense the entire game."

The game began according to script for the Mountaineers. After forcing a punt on Robert Morris' opening possession, West Virginia used tempo to march 83 yards in 10 plays, with Marchiol mixing in two completions to Vaughn and a 19-yard White run, to get to the Colonial 18 and force an RMU timeout.

Three plays later, Marchiol called his own number and ran the football in from the 10.

Two possessions later, early in the second quarter, West Virginia was back deep in Robert Morris territory at the Colonial 9, but Marchiol's third-down pass intended to Jeff Weimer fell incomplete in the end zone.

That required Kade Hensley to come on and kick a 27-yard field goal to give WVU a 10-0 lead with 11:44 showing in the second quarter.

West Virginia's next offensive possession appeared headed toward pay dirt when Marchiol completed a short pass to Vaughn on the near sideline. Vaughn made a quick move and took off toward the goal line before he had the football punched out of his arms by Xavier Styles and his fumble was recovered by the Colonials in the end zone.

The Mountaineers' final six offensive plays of the first half consisted of a White 3-yard run, a Singleton Jr. 15-yard reverse that he fumbled near the WVU sideline, a Grayson Barnes 11-yard catch that he fumbled, a White run for a 1-yard loss, a White pass reception for a 1-yard loss and a Marchiol sack for a loss of 7.

Rodriguez's decision to defer the opening kickoff paid dividends at the beginning of the third quarter when the Mountaineers gained possession at their own 36 after RMU's short kickoff.

White got 13 and 9 yards, followed by two Marchiol runs of 7 and 4 yards. A Marchiol pass of 20 yards to Barnes advanced the ball to the 18, and four plays later, White bulled in from the 1. Hensley's conversion kick made it 17-3, Mountaineers.

Penalties by offensive linemen Walter Young Bear and Ty'Kieast Crawford prematurely ended WVU's second offensive possession of the third quarter. 

Young Bear was flagged for being illegally downfield on Marchiol's 9-yard completion to Preston Fox, and then Crawford jumped offsides early on West Virginia's fourth-and-4 play at the RMU 45.

The second penalty forced Rodriguez to send the punt team out on the field.

The defense came up with its second turnover, this one a fumble recovery by linebacker Reid Carrico at the Robert Morris 24, and three plays later, White scored his second rushing touchdown of the afternoon on a 4-yard jaunt. Hensley's conversion kick gave West Virginia a 24-3 lead with 5:21 left in the third quarter.

Vaughn added six more on the Mountaineers' ensuing possession when he got behind the Colonial secondary for a 46-yard touchdown reception. The sophomore made a terrific adjustment on the ball, turning his head to his inside shoulder near the Mountaineer sideline and catching the ball in stride on his way to the end zone.

That catch, Vaughn's seventh of the game, capped a 10-play, 81-yard drive.

West Virginia (1-0) goes on the road next Saturday to play at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The Bobcats lost 34-31 at Rutgers on Thursday night.

"The self-inflicted mistakes we made today we've got to fix in a day and we're going to go play a good Ohio team in a challenging environment next week," Rodriguez said. "They will get our guys' attention."

It will be the Mountaineers' first visit to Athens since 1949. The game will kick off at 4 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPNU.