Spread the word: West Virginia won't pass up the chance to run from a formation designed to air it out.(COLLEGE FOOTBALL)

No tight end, one running back, four receivers. What would Bear Bryant and Woody Hayes think of the spread offense? The thought makes West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez laugh.

"I bet they would say, 'What do you mean run the ball out of the shotgun?' " Rodriguez says. "You'd probably have to convince them for three days."

It might take only three minutes because Rodriguez doesn't run a typical "finesse" spread--West Virginia prefers to run rather than dink and dunk. It's like taking a Ferrari on an off-road course.

So you're thinking, Big East, big offense--big deal. But the evidence doesn't lie: West Virginia led the Big East in rushing each of the past three years and leads it again this season with an average of 236.8 yards per game--good for eighth in the nation.

West Virginia has plenty of wins to go with its stats; it has claimed a share of the past two Big East titles and a third is in its sights. The Mountaineers are 8-1 and poised to play in their first BCS bowl game. All that's left is a Thanksgiving date with Pitt in the "Backyard Brawl," the world's best-kept secret rivalry, and a matchup with South Florida.

What makes this year's edition of West Virginia unique is that a redshirt freshman, Pat White, is the starting quarterback and a true freshman, Steve Slaton, is the workhorse in this one-back attack. But it all comes back to Rodriguez, who has an instructional tape on sale about running from the spread and has been dubbed "the father of the running spread."

"That and 5 cents won't get you a cup of coffee," he says. Maybe not, but his attack has attracted a lot of interest. About 40 college staffs have visited to learn about Rodriguez's ...