So even as White stands 198 yards away from breaking the all-time NCAA record for quarterback rushing yards, Stewart and the WVU coaches can't afford to simply run him ragged, especially at the end of the season when even normal bumps and bruises mount up.

"Pat White doesn't worry about records. Pat White will be just fine,'' Stewart said. "If we need to run him, we'll run him. If we need to throw him, we'll throw him. Our goal is to get him through 12 games. He's not going to do us any good on the sidelines.''

And then there is the status of Dent, who missed the Cincinnati game a week and a half ago after starting every game and making virtually every snap for almost two years.

"We just want to make sure his neck is OK,'' Stewart said.

The trouble is, while Dent has a chance to play this weekend, there is also a chance he might not play again this season. Stewart said the problem is that he has swelling in his neck around a disc and the reason just isn't clear.

"We could play him. He's doing great,'' Stewart said. "But what if he gets hurt? We're not going to take that chance.''

And so that leaves the job in the hands of sophomore Eric Jobe, who played admirably against Cincinnati and had no obvious bad snaps.

"Eric Jobe is good. He's just not Mike Dent,'' Stewart said. "But Mike Dent wasn't Dan Mozes until the second year. Mike Dent isn't good, he's great. We had two pro scouts in there [Tuesday] watching tape on him. He's got a chance to play at the next level.''

Of course, after three months what team doesn't have these same types of health issues? Some succeed despite them, others don't.

"This is the time the good ones separate, during the stretch run. This is when the good ones step up,'' Stewart said. "We've been pretty good at doing that. I hope we continue.''

Reach Dave Hickman at 348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.

MORGANTOWN - Having had a week to recharge its batteries, West Virginia's football team appears to be in decent shape for its closing stretch of games against Louisville, Pitt and South Florida.

But that's not to say the Mountaineers (6-3, 3-1 Big East) don't have some health issues heading into Saturday's ESPN-televised noon game against Louisville (5-5, 1-4) at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. The fact of the matter is they are better off than they were before a week off, but seven extra days hardly makes up for three months of wear and tear since practice began.

"If you're not hurting now, you're not playing very good football. You haven't been hitting anybody very hard,'' West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said. "We're dinged up, they're dinged up, I'm sure the whole league's dinged up.''

On the plus side, backup quarterback Jarrett Brown and special teams standout Jim Lewis should be close to 100 percent healthy by Saturday - Brown for the first time in a month and Lewis for the first time in two. Lewis certainly can't do anything but help when he returns to what is statistically the nation's worst kickoff coverage team - as well as most other special teams - and Brown should be ready to resume his role as a valuable utility back and short-yardage specialist.

"You're going to see him in the backfield,'' Stewart said of the 6-foot-4, 222-pound Brown. "I'm not going to tell you where. I'll let those guys [at Louisville] figure that out.''

But while the addition of those two - as well as the general upgraded health of others thanks to some down time - will certainly help, the fact of the matter is that neither Lewis nor Brown are starters. They won't add much at all to the majority of the offensive and defensive snaps West Virginia runs against the Cardinals.

Of perhaps more concern is the health of the two players who touch the ball on virtually every offensive play the Mountaineers run. Center Mike Dent remains questionable with a neck problem, while West Virginia's coaches continue to try to make sure quarterback Pat White remains as healthy as possible.

That's not to say there is anything wrong with White, who appears to be as healthy as he has been all season. But he has also missed parts of two games and all of another with thumb and head injuries and in recent seasons has missed other games because of an injured ankle and hip.

"People say, 'Run him, run him, run him,' '' Stewart said. "Well, our goal is to get him through 12 games.''

Oddly, though, despite criticism that West Virginia has gotten away from simply letting White run the ball, he is actually getting slightly more rushes per game this season than last. He carried the ball 197 times in 13 games in 2007, an average of 15.15. In eight games this season he has carried the ball 122 times in eight games, or an average of 15.25.

Granted, more of his runs this season have been scrambles as opposed to designed running plays, but the fact is that the more White runs the more he takes a chance on suffering the kinds of injuries that have plagued him on and off during his career, forcing him to miss all or part of seven games - Rutgers during his sophomore season; South Florida, Syracuse and Pitt last year and Marshall, Rutgers and Syracuse this season.

So even as White stands 198 yards away from breaking the all-time NCAA record for quarterback rushing yards, Stewart and the WVU coaches can't afford to simply run him ragged, especially at the end of the season when even normal bumps and bruises mount up.

"Pat White doesn't worry about records. Pat White will be just fine,'' Stewart said. "If we need to run him, we'll run him. If we need to throw him, we'll throw him. Our goal is to get him through 12 games. He's not going to do us any good on the sidelines.''

And then there is the status of Dent, who missed the Cincinnati game a week and a half ago after starting every game and making virtually every snap for almost two years.

"We just want to make sure his neck is OK,'' Stewart said.

The trouble is, while Dent has a chance to play this weekend, there is also a chance he might not play again this season. Stewart said the problem is that he has swelling in his neck around a disc and the reason just isn't clear.

"We could play him. He's doing great,'' Stewart said. "But what if he gets hurt? We're not going to take that chance.''

And so that leaves the job in the hands of sophomore Eric Jobe, who played admirably against Cincinnati and had no obvious bad snaps.

"Eric Jobe is good. He's just not Mike Dent,'' Stewart said. "But Mike Dent wasn't Dan Mozes until the second year. Mike Dent isn't good, he's great. We had two pro scouts in there [Tuesday] watching tape on him. He's got a chance to play at the next level.''

Of course, after three months what team doesn't have these same types of health issues? Some succeed despite them, others don't.

"This is the time the good ones separate, during the stretch run. This is when the good ones step up,'' Stewart said. "We've been pretty good at doing that. I hope we continue.''

Reach Dave Hickman at 348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.