MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) _ West Virginia gave coach Don Nehlen the chance to postpone his retirement.

Brad Lewis threw for a career-high 290 yards and two touchdowns to lead West Virginia to a 42-24 victory over East Carolina on Saturday in Nehlen's final home game.

West Virginia's 42 points were a season high, although its total yards _ 395 _ were pale by comparison. The Mountaineers also got a defensive touchdown and some scoring help from East Carolina's special teams.

West Virginia (6-4) is now eligible for a bowl _ the main blemish in Nehlen's 21 seasons at West Virginia. Nehlen, who is retiring at the end of the season, has lost eight consecutive bowl games.

East Carolina (6-4), which erupted for 327 rushing yards against West Virginia a year ago, was held to just 1 on the ground Saturday.

With several bowl-eligible teams in the Big East and Conference USA, both teams can improve their chances this week. West Virginia heads to Pittsburgh on Friday and East Carolina is at No. 24 Southern Miss on Saturday.

Lewis, playing with a sore knee and throwing hand, completed 12 of 24 passes. He opened the scoring with a 49-yard TD pass to Antonio Brown and capped it with an 18-yard TD toss to Khori Ivy with eight minutes remaining.

Brown had six catches for 179 yards. Ivy has caught a pass in 38 straight games, the third-longest streak in Division I-A.

East Carolina's David Garrard was 25-of-41 for 280 yards and helped cut into a 19-point halftime deficit.

Marcellus Harris took a short pass from Garrard, broke three tackles and scored from 45 yards out to make it 29-17.

Later, backup quarterback Arnie Powell took a handoff from Garrard and threw a 33-yard TD toss to Aaron Harris for a 32-24 deficit. But West Virginia scored 10 straight points in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

The first half was full of scores off bouncing footballs.

ECU's Chris Howell recovered Lewis's fumble early in the game at the West Virginia 9, and Garrard eventually scored from 2 yards out.

In the second quarter, a snap sailed over the head of East Carolina punter Kevin Miller and he kicked the bouncing ball through the end zone. West Virginia was given possession at the 1, where Avon Cobourne scored for a 15-7 lead.

A minute later, Garrard threw a wild lateral pass at his own 20. The ball was batted around and West Virginia's Jason Davis fell on it in the end zone.

Late in the quarter, Lewis was hit as he threw but completed a 28-yard floating pass to Phil Braxton. That set up a 1-yard run by Wes Ours for a 29-7 lead.

The 29 first-half points were the most for West Virginia this season.