MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The Maker apparently provided the ultimate White-Out this night: flurries that made for a snow-globe effect and a light blanket across Mountaineer Field. Yet in the end the opposing quarterback may have contributed more to this West Virginia victory than the celebrated victors' quarterback, a Patrick White who near midnight last night scooted around in a golf cart for one, final victory lap to fans' cheers of, "Thank you, Pat."

But South Florida's Matt Grothe deserved most of their thanks.

Grothe overthrew a wide-open Jesse Hester in the end zone with 33 seconds remaining and passed off the mark most of the game, including two interceptions, in a 13-7 survival test that the Mountaineers' defense finally passed.

"It was good for us to finally get one," said defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, whose defense was on the field when West Virginia (8-4, 5-2 Big East) lost two of its previous three games, to Cincinnati in overtime and at Pitt on a last-minute touchdown.

This victory, tying the program record by a senior class with 41 triumphs, also earned the Mountaineers a trip to Charlotte, N.C., for the Dec. 27 Meineke Car Care Bowl in Bank of America Stadium. Their opponent likely will be North Carolina (8-4) of the Atlantic Coast Conference, a fact to be announced officially today.

"We're very proud to have West Virginia," said bowl executive director Will Webb afterward. "They absolutely showed a lot of grit on the field tonight."

Grothe, who finished with 11 interceptions in the past five games and a 1-4 record this season when throwing more than one in a game, showed a lot of spit. He was, for the record, 18 of 33 for 189 yards. More telling, he was 0 for 5 in the Red Zone with an interception and two badly overthrown passes in the end zone.

With 33 seconds left, he missed an open Jesse Hester in the right corner, got tipped at the line by a rushing Mortty Ivy of Gateway High School on third down and misfired into the end zone again on the final, fatal fourth down.

"I don't know what happened on that coverage," said cornerback Ellis Lankster, who went for an interception on that last play, "but I thank Grothe for overthrowing it, though."

That last pass, by the way, Lankster added, "It was up there for a minute." So it seemed.

After a 5-0 start, South Florida (7-5, 2-5) lost four of their final five regular-season games and five of seven. The Bulls' consolation prize: a date in the inaugural St. Petersburg Bowl, some 23 miles from campus.

Mountaineers fans, who bought up a sellout's worth of tickets but nearly 12,000 stayed away due to the conditions,

It was the fewest points scored in a West Virginia victory since 1996, some 151 games ago in the Don Nehlen administration.

White registered his 100th career touchdown and his 10,000th career yard -- both breaking Big East Conference barriers -- on a rare, opening-drive touchdown, only the Mountaineers' second of the season besides Marshall. Yet for the third consecutive time, South Florida held him at check. After 177 yards rushing as a redshirt freshman, he failed to surpass 100 yards -- with 93 total -- in the previous three games running on the Bulls. Last night, he completed 14 of 23 passes for 141 yards and his team's lone touchdown, on a 12-yard pass to Norwin High School's Tyler Urban to jump-start the game.

"He's done so much for the program and built it up," Mt. Lebanon defensive end Doug Slavonic said of White. "You know it's a special night with all the snow coming down. It was so much fun. I wasn't even cold most of the time."

"Got a win; they beat us two years straight," White added. "Feel pretty good."

Plum's Pat McAfee, with field goals of 45 and 42 yards, proved to be the difference. He could've salted the game with a 48-yarder with 5 1/2 minutes left, but pushed it left to end a streak of five consecutive kicks and 13 of 14. It was only his third miss in 19 attempts this season.

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart, who admitted "it's not fun your first year when you take over," said he benched Noel Devine for the first quarter after the sophomore's 12-carry, 17-yard effort at Pitt and because Jock Sanders won the starting nod after a competitive week.

"I'm not pleased with 8-4," said a visibly riled Stewart. "I'm a lot tougher than that."

Speaking about his trying to upgrade the passing game among other program changes, Stewart added, "There's a method to my madness. It'll show up in a year or two. ... We need a tougher football team at West Virginia. We're going to get there."