By JOHN RABY
AP Sports Writer

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.(AP) -- Noel Devine's best performance helped
West Virginia overcome a second straight game of turnover
troubles.

Devine ran for a career-high 220 yards and a touchdown, leading
the Mountaineers to a 35-24 victory over Colorado on Thursday
night.

Jarrett Brown threw two touchdown passes and redshirt freshman
fullback Ryan Clarke ran for two fourth-quarter scores for West
Virginia (3-1).

Devine had a season-high 22 carries, and coach Bill Stewart
decided to use the 5-foot-8 junior more often when West Virginia
had difficulty handling Colorado's blitzing defense in the
second half.

"I got a little frustrated with the pass protection and Jarrett
running around in the third quarter and I said, that's it - it's
all on me," Stewart said. "I've been trying to wheel and deal it
and throw it deep and spread the field. I said let's put the
ball in No. 7's hands and win the football game and that's what
we did."

Both teams played sloppily despite having an extra week to
prepare and have plenty of problems to sort out heading into
their conference openers.

West Virginia's defense allowed another quarterback to pile up
the passing yards. The Mountaineers, who play at Syracuse on
Oct. 10, lost four first-half fumbles to Colorado and have 10
turnovers in the past two games.

"Offensively, we just couldn't get in synch," Stewart said. "If
we don't take care of turnovers, we will not have a banner
season like I'd hoped we would."

Colorado's Cody Hawkins threw two touchdown passes but was
intercepted three times and Colorado (1-3) managed three total
points on four other drives that went inside the 30.

"When you play a good football team, you have to maximize your
opportunities," Colorado coach Dan Hawkins said. "Bottom line,
could we have won the football game? Sure. And I think you've
got to leave it at that."

Colorado now faces the impossible task of meeting their head
coach's directive of "10 wins, no excuses." The Buffaloes would
have to win the remainder of their games, including a bowl,
starting next week at No. 2 Texas.

The Buffaloes kept Brown mostly in check, but couldn't match
Devine's speed.

"He showed me character and grit," Stewart said. "He quit the
cutback stuff and lowered his shoulder and he punished the guys
who tried to tackle him."

Devine professed his love for playing on Thursday nights but
refused to play up his performance, focusing on refusing to sour
on his team for its turnovers.

"There's always room to get better," Devine said. "I always kept
my hopes up. I knew we were going to play well. Once we
eliminated our mistakes, everything was good."

Devine went 77 yards for a score on West Virginia's second play
from scrimmage and ran 56 yards late in the second quarter that
set up Brown's 6-yard scoring pass to Jock Sanders.

Devine ran nine times during a 14-play drive midway through the
fourth quarter that ended in Clarke's 1-yard TD run for a 28-17
lead.

"I hope I never see that guy again," Dan Hawkins said of Devine.

After Colorado turned the ball over on downs deep in its own
territory, Clarke tacked on an 8-yard scoring run to put the
game out of reach.

Brown, sixth in the nation in total offense at 335 yards per
game, twice overthrew wide-open receivers far downfield and
finished 12 of 19 for just 148 yards. He was sacked three times.

Colorado's Rodney Stewart had another solid game against the
Mountaineers. Last year he rushed for 166 yards, the most ever
by a Colorado freshman. On Thursday, Stewart had a 36-yard TD
run in the first quarter and finished with 105 yards on 21
carries.

Cody Hawkins kept his cool at times, avoiding the blitz to hit
Scotty McKnight with a 29-yard scoring toss on fourth-and-7
early in the third that cut Colorado's deficit to four at 21-17.
But Colorado didn't score again until the final seconds of the
game.

Hawkins went 27 of 52 for 292 yards. Riar Geer caught eight
passes for 113 yards.

"Even though we lost this football game, that was our best
effort by far," Dan Hawkins said.

Colorado was outgained 405-392 after a 24-0 home win over
Wyoming on Sept. 19. The Buffaloes were making their second trip
East in three weeks. The other was a 54-38 loss at Toledo on
Sept. 12.

"We saw them get beat on film against Toledo," Bill Stewart
said. "Maybe I didn't do a good job of getting the press
clippings out of our head."