MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Forget, if you can, the closer-than-necessary final score. Disregard the crucial fourth-down throw batted by pass-covering lineman Scooter Berry on the first zone blitz this season.

Discount the Third-Down Jarrett Brown offense, the gutsy coach's calls on a fake punt that succeeded and a fourth-and-inches run that failed with just two minutes remaining.

The aftershocks that may linger from West Virginia's 24-17 defeat of struggling Rutgers were the injuries to its shining stars on both defense and offense.

Middle linebacker Reed Williams sat out yesterday and won't play again until 2009, shoulders permitting.

And quarterback Patrick White exited early with the first true concussion of his remarkable career.

The final tally: One victory, one loss, one still to be decided.

On a mostly overcast day above a Mountaineer Field before its smallest crowd in two years, at 59,122, the Mountaineers (3-2, 1-0 Big East) delivered a matching gray performance. The defense stiffened in the end, after the offense failed on the fourth-and-one sweep by Brown -- who lost nine yards on the play despite making good on four of five previous third-and-short runs, including the 1-yard touchdown that proved to be the difference. The offense still hasn't scored more than three touchdowns in a game against a Division I-A foe. And coaching decisions left some fans gray as well.

The Mountaineers, winning their second consecutive game after back-to-back losses and their 15th in a row against Rutgers (1-4, 0-1), collected just 175 yards rushing for their smallest output this year against major-college competition and their season-low average per carry, 3.5 yards. They possessed the ball 10 minutes longer than Rutgers and rang up two touchdowns on 14-for-19 passing, but didn't do much with it.

"We were [moving] the ball on them and all that," said junior receiver Wes Lyons, who started for a third career time and compiled a career-high four catches for 44 yards. "But the scoreboard said different."

West Virginia sported leads of 10-0, 17-3 and 24-10, yet couldn't pull away from visitors who have never won in the Mountain State.

"I'm frustrated," said Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, now 0-8 vs. the Mountaineers and the second-losingest coach (39-50) at the school. "I'm frustrated we aren't winning games."

So imagine how the Mountaineers feel that Rutgers gave them a closer game on the road than against Fresno State (a victor by 17 points) and North Carolina (32 points) at home inside Rutgers Stadium.

"The defense had to come through for us," Lyons said.

It was a defense that loses Williams, its pumping heart the previous two games and season, for 2008. His shoulders still haven't fully healed from winter surgery. "The kid is miserable after games. Absolutely miserable," said roommate Pat McAfee, the Plum punter-kicker. "He's a big force we're going to miss."

How will the Mountaineers fare without the senior? With McKeesport's Anthony Leonard replacing him and becoming the fourth starter in the middle this fall, the unit gave up a drive to a touchdown before halftime and a 13-play, 5:22 march to cut the Mountaineers' lead to 24-17 with 6:23 left. It didn't exactly stymie the Big East's worst offense.

Still, when Coach Bill Stewart called off McAfee and the punt team with fourth and inches just past midfield with two minutes left, Brown's attempted quarterback sweep around left end was squashed for a 9-yard loss. That gave the Scarlet Knights a chance: the ball at the Mountaineers' 45 with 1:54 left.

Mike Teel, overthrowing when his receivers weren't dropping five passes on a 14-for-32 day, completed just one pass for five yards in the first three downs. Then, with Berry drifting back into short-pass coverage, Teel threw seemingly to him on a desperate fourth down that went awry. It kept alive West Virginia's bowl hopes and mostly stomped out those of Rutgers.

Stewart teased that his third-quarter gamble on a third-and-two fake punt, with defensive end Zac Cooper rumbling 18 yards around left end, would've gone for a touchdown if the usual middle blocker had been in there: "I'm going to tell Zac, 'Reed [Williams] probably would've scored.' " Yet fans likely will debate Stewart's call on the fourth-and-inches, either going for it at all or running the sweep.

"I will always play to win," Stewart said in defense of the call.

As for White's injury, after a 10-yard run to set up Brown's touchdown, Stewart grew hushed at the subject. "Dinged" was all the coach said of White, who rushed for 59 yards and passed for 137 plus two touchdowns, including one to freshman Tyler Urban of Norwin for the first score by a tight end in 37 games. The head coach added quietly, "He's fine." But the tone of his voice wasn't resounding. It's a gray thing.

NOTES -- White earned second place behind Missouri's Brad Smith in all-time Division I-A quarterback rushing, with 3,934 yards, 356 short of the record. . . McAfee passed Paul Woodside of 1981-84 for the school's all-time scoring mark by kickers, with 329 points, but when the referee tried to hand him the football after the record-breaking extra point, the senior kicker refused it. "I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. I was so confused when he asked, 'Do you want the ball?' I'm an idiot."... Next foe is Syracuse, Oct. 11.