MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Meet the new "Muntaineers." No "o" as in offense.

OK, so that's a joke somewhere between overstatement and oversimplification. This 2008 West Virginia version has compiled enough offense to win three games in a row heading into the Oct. 23 date with Auburn, a team so scoring-starved that it won one game, 3-2, and made the rare midseason move to fire its offensive coordinator a week ago. It's just that the West Virginia offense hasn't been what folks expected, with such key returning components as two-time Big East offensive player of the year Patrick White, former freshman sensation Noel Devine and a veteran starting line.

Under new coach Bill Stewart and first-time offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen, this offense thus far has:

• Scored the fewest points at West Virginia, 133, since the first six games of 2001, when the then-new Rich Rodriguez administration opened with just 108 points.

• Collected the fewest yards at West Virginia, with 2,053, since that same 2001 unit's start.

• Failed to manufacture as much as four touchdowns in any game against major-college competition, a first since the start of 1979.

• Just collected Saturday, against a Syracuse defense then-ranked sixth-to-last among 119 Division I-A teams, its second-fewest yards (268) and fewest offensive plays (52) in the past three years.

So what is with this West Virginia offense, whose opponents have outgained it in four of six games and averaged three more minutes per game in time of possession?

"What we're trying to do, [and] not doing a great job, is trying to control the ball and keep our young defense off the field," Stewart said.

So what is with this offense that owns 16 plays and six touchdowns of 20-plus yards contrasted to the 46 plays (nearly three times as many) and 11 touchdowns (almost twice as many) at this juncture last season?

"We have to understand every time we touch the ball, it's not going to be a big play or a touchdown," White said. "Coach Mullen's philosophy is: Every down is third-and-4."

So what is with this offense?

"Just basically we feel like coach Mullen tries to keep defenses off balance [with] shifts and motions and giving them a lot of formations. Always keep them guessing," said receiver Tito Gonzales. "I mean, you have similar things that we did in coach Rod's offense. But, for the guys who've been here four and five years, we had to learn a whole, new, different terminology and techniques. It was like I was a freshman all over again trying to learn the new system."

The I-formation, with the quarterback under center, was unveiled more often Saturday in the 17-6 defeat of Syracuse. It was a hit, too: Six plays gained a total of 122 yards.

"It is a change-of-pace thing," said Syracuse coach Greg Robinson, a longtime NFL defensive coach. "They dabble with it. I don't think it hurts them."

The offense's lack of firepower -- it's averaging barely half the 43 points per game it scored through six games last fall -- isn't merely attributable to the gone-pro absences of Steve Slaton, Owen Schmitt and Darius Reynaud. They constituted only 37 percent of the rushing yards, 42 percent of the scoring and 58 percent of the catches last fall. The same quarterback and three-fifths of the same offensive line (Ryan Stanchek, Greg Isdaner and Jake Figner) finished 2006 ranked No. 2 in rushing and No. 3 in scoring, last season ranked No. 3 in rushing and No. 9 in scoring, but are currently ranked No. 17 in rushing and No. 84 in scoring.

With White absent against Syracuse due to a concussion and missing the fourth quarters of the previous two games with other maladies, much of the offense lately has fallen on Devine, and he has delivered. He had 100-yard rushing efforts in three of the past four games. He had West Virginia's only play longer than 20 yards against Syracuse and three of its six longer than 10. He has seven of the offense's 16 big plays thus far.

"We like blocking whatever's called," said Stanchek, the standout tackle. "But our bread and butter is the zone and the belly [runs]."

"We've had the two most exciting people in college football the past three years," noted Plum's Pat McAfee, third nationally in net punting. His point: You might as well use Devine and White as you used Slaton and White.

But besides victories, appearance means something, too. On Sunday, the day after the Syracuse victory, top-10 quarterback recruit Tajh Boyd of Virginia informed Mountaineers coaches he was revoking his verbal commitment and scratching West Virginia off his list of candidates. His father, Tim, told ESPNU: "We gave it half the year to see how [the offense] would progress. Tajh wants to not only be an athlete, but also a passer that can throw the ball downfield, not just throw screens."

Stewart reiterated yesterday one thing about his offense: "No players will call the plays. And no player's daddy is going to call the plays."