BOSTON (AP) -- Boston College used big plays to take a big step toward its first bowl berth in five years as Cedric Washington rushed for 181 yards in a 34-17 victory over West Virginia on Saturday.

	Jamal Burke outruns West Virginia's Richard Bryant for a first-quarter gain.

The Eagles scored third-quarter touchdowns on Pedro Cirino's 63-yard fumble return and Tim Hasselbeck's 66-yard pass to Dedrick Dewalt to break open a game they led 17-10 at halftime.

BC (7-2, 4-2 Big East) had four other plays covering more than 20 yards as it came back from a bye week to dominate the Mountaineers (3-7, 2-4), who nearly beat Virginia Tech a week earlier.

The Hokies won that game 22-20 on a last-play field goal and moved up one spot to the No. 2 national ranking while insuring a losing season for West Virginia.

The Mountaineers lost starting quarterback Marc Bulger in that game with a bone chip in his right thumb, and Brad Lewis replaced him against BC.

With road games remaining at Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, the worst the Eagles can finish in the regular season is 7-4.

Their 24-23 win at Syracuse two weeks ago broke a string of four straight losing seasons since they beat Kansas State in the 1994 Aloha Bowl. On Saturday, they beat the Mountaineers for the second time in their last nine meetings.

After going without a first down on its first two possessions, BC's offense dominated as the line opened huge holes for Washington. The Mountaineers led 7-0 after Lewis' 15-yard scoring pass to Anthony Becht before BC got rolling on its third series.

It had first downs on each of its five plays in the 88-yard march capped by Carlton Rowe's 12-yard touchdown run. Their other scoring drives covered 78 and 65 yards, ending in John Matich's 35-yard field goal and Hasselbeck's 1-yard run.

But the Mountaineers, outgained 291 yards to 134 in the half, cut the lead to 17-10 on Jay Taylor's 41-yard field goal on the last play. They drove again on the opening series of the third quarter, getting a first down at the BC 32-yard line.

It took them 10 plays to get there but only one for BC to turn the game around as Lewis fumbled trying to hand off to Avon Cobourne. Cirino scooped the ball up and ran untouched for the touchdown.

West Virginia punted on its next two possessions and BC needed only one play to scored again as Hasselbeck hit Dewalt at about the Mountaineers 35 and the receiver ran the rest of the way with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter. Matich added a 26-yard field goal with 2:06 left in the game.