RB Respect Month Vol. 3, Day 15: Steve Slaton's six-touchdown night vs. Louisville (2005)
The birth of the Steve Slaton/Pat White era in Morgantown.
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Welcome to day 15 of Running Back Respect Month! Yesterday, Edgerrin James showed the country that Miami was on its way to becoming the most dominant team in college football. Here's where we're at today, and how the rest of the month looks:
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Today: Steve Slaton vs. Louisville (2005)
RB Respect Month Vol. 3, Day 15: Steve Slaton's six-touchdown night vs. Louisville (2005)
Things looked dire for West Virginia with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter of their 2005 matchup with No. 19 Louisville. The 5-1 Mountaineers trailed 24-7 in a game with massive Big East implications, and just lost starting quarterback Adam Bednarik to injury. Facing a fourth-and-ten at the Cardinals' 28, backup freshman Pat White made a play that not only kept their slim hopes of winning the game alive, but changed the course of West Virginia Football history:
Two plays later, freshman running back Steve Slaton scored his second touchdown of the game. He had six by the end of the night, leading WVU to a stunning 46-44 triple overtime comeback win that served as the birth of the legendary Slaton/White era in Morgantown:
If you've followed the site for a while, you already know that Slaton's one of my favorite players ever. This is the third time I've written about him in RB Respect Month –you can read the first two here and here – and I also made a 25-minute highlight reel of his career a few years back. I even bought his jersey on eBay last month!
Slaton's 188 rushing yards against Louisville eclipsed the 139 he had against Rutgers in his breakout game the week prior, and were just the beginning of a dominant stretch to close out 2005. Despite playing in just nine games, Slaton finished the year with 1,128 yards rushing and 19 total TD:
