Just four games ago, the West Virginia football team sat at the bottom of the Big East Conference standings with a 1-2 record.

After a 35-14 victory against Rutgers Saturday, the Mountaineers clinched at least a share of the Big East title for the first time since 2007.

“We were 1-2 in the Big East at one time,” said WVU head coach Bill Stewart. “Now, we have come back as Big East champs, and I am very, very pleased.”

With a loss by the Huskies, WVU will win the title outright and complete a mission that in some people’s eyes was impossible over a month ago.

“All those two loses did was show us what type of team we really were,” said linebacker J.T. Thomas. “It wasn’t about what people write or say we are.”

With officials from both the Orange and Fiesta Bowls on hand, the Mountaineers came out sluggish and looked to be fumbling away their chances at a Big East title.

On three occasions, WVU turned the ball over via fumbles inside the Scarlet Knights 15-yard line.

“I am not pleased with the fumbles,” Stewart said. “Turnovers can just kill your football team.”

On its first possession, the Mountaineers drove 60 yards to the Rutgers’ 8-yard line, but the drive was cut short on a fumble by fullback Ryan Clarke, which was recovered by Scarlet Knights’ linebacker Manny Abreu.

“It is part of the game, and it happens,” Clarke said. “We just try to focus on what it to come after that.”

After a defensive stop, the Mountaineers went ahead for the first time in the game as slot receiver Tavon Austin took a quarterback Geno Smith pass to the end zone for his eight receiving touchdown of the season.

The 19-yard touchdown pass was Smith’s 23rd touchdown pass of the season.

The fumbles continued on WVU’s third possession of the contest, when slot receiver Jock Sanders coughed up the ball at the Rutgers’ 13-yard line.

The WVU defense again came through for to boost the offense, as Thomas forced, recovered and returned a fumble to the Scarlet Knights’ nine-yard line.

The Mountaineers’ offense wasted little time on getting back into the end zone after the turnover as Clarke redeemed himself with a bruising one-yard touchdown plunge.

Clarke was stopped on his initial burst up the middle, but he then took his path wide to find pay dirt.

Rutgers did cut into WVU’s 14-0 lead heading into halftime, however, as quarterback Chas Dodd found a wide-open running back Jordan Thomas for an 18-yard touchdown pass.

On the Mountaineers first possession of the second half, Clarke found the end zone again from one yard out on a drive that was highlighted by a 43-yard reception for Austin.

After stalling the Rutgers’  offense, WVU put the game away late in the third quarter when Austin lined up in the backfield and took a hand-off 46 yards for a touchdown.

“I complimented Geno because he kept wanting to keep the ball on that belly veer,” Stewart said. “But, finally he gave it to Tavon, and they took Geno instead of him.”

WVU added an insurance touchdown in waning moments of the fourth quarter when Clarke found scored from three yards out for his third and final touchdown of the contest.

“It is my job to finish off drives,” Clarke said. “I did my job today.”

Scarlet Knights’ wide receiver Mark Harrison closed out the scoring on the day when he hauled in a 44-yard touchdown pass from Dodd.