West Virginia scored in the final minutes of the game to prevent an embarrassing loss to the FCS school William and Mary, 24-17 on Saturday.
Wendell Smallwood scored on a 2-yard run with 3:22 left for the go-ahead winning touchdown.
The Mountaineers were down 10 points at halftime.
Houston transfer Charles Sims rushed for 120 yards and a score in his West Virginia debut and the Mountaineers mustered enough offense to earn their 10th straight win to start a season.
W&M fell short in trying for its first win over an FBS team since 2009 against Virginia.
The Tribe’s Michael Graham threw for one touchdown and ran for another. The Tribe built a 17-7 lead but were held out of the end zone after halftime on a hot afternoon.
West Virginia’s Paul Millard made his first start at quarterback and threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Ronald Carswell late in the third quarter that tied the score at 17-17.
A short punt gave West Virginia the ball at midfield with 7 minutes left. K.J. Myers caught a 15-yard pass from Millard at the Tribe 16 but fumbled and Daikiel Shorts recovered for the Mountaineers.
Two carries by Sims moved the ball to the 2 and Smallwood bulled up the middle for the go-ahead score.
Darwin Cook intercepted Graham at the W&M 40 on the next series and West Virginia ran out the clock.
Tribe wide receiver Tre McBride had three catches for 108 yards. West Virginia cornerback Ishmael Banks and safety Karl Joseph were victims of long catches by McBride in the first half that set up Graham’s short TD pass to Darnell Laws and Graham’s scrambling 5-yard scoring run on third down.
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