W.Va. Offense Breaks Out
August 27, 2002 04:57 PM | General
By John Antonik for
MSNsportsNET.comSeptember 22, 2001
MORGANTOWN, W.VA. – Brad Lewis passed for 286 yards and two touchdowns and Avon Cobourne rushed for 181 yards to lead West Virginia to a 34-14 victory over Kent State Saturday at Mountaineer Field.
Lewis had career highs of 27 completions and 34 attempts and Cobourne matched his career high with 35 carries to help West Virginia to its highest scoring output of the season.
"(Avon) seems to get greased up after about 20 carries," said Mountaineer coach Rich Rodriguez.
Senior Antonio Brown returned to the lineup and caught eight passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. He was hobbled during West Virginia’s first two games with a sprained ankle. The Mountaineers produced 503 yards of total offense for the afternoon. It was WVU's highest offensive output since gaining 623 total yards against Pitt in 1999.
Despite West Virginia's season-high offensive output, Rodriguez was disappointed in his team's performance.
"I'm not real happy with the way we played today," said Rodriguez. "I was disappointed with our execution at the point of attack and we eased up a little bit on defense."
West Virginia got on the board first following a 33-yard field goal by Brenden Rauh with 8:42 left in the first quarter. The drive spanned 40 yards on nine plays, eating up 2:34 off the clock.
WVU had good field position for the entire first quarter, but penalties and dropped passes prevented the Mountaineer offense from scoring more. Kent State, meanwhile, managed just one first down for the quarter and showed only 21 total yards.
"It's hard to overcome those 10-yard penalties," Rodriguez said.
After forcing the Golden Flashes to punt at the start of the second quarter, West Virginia took over at its own 41-yard line. Brad Lewis hit Phil Braxton on a quick slant for 14 yards, and two Avon Cobourne runs out of a two tight end formation moved the ball to the Kent State 19-yard line.
Again the West Virginia offense sputtered inside the red zone and had to settle for another Rauh field goal from 20 yards out.
The Mountaineers expanded their lead right before the end of the first half when Cobourne blasted in from a yard out. The drive was aided by an interference penalty on Kent State defensive back Justin Baugham on a third-and-six pass play. The pass was intended for Braxton.
Lewis responded by hitting two key third down passes to Shawn Terry and Braxton to move the ball to the Golden Flashes three. After a Kent offside penalty moved the ball to the one, Cobourne found a crease off right tackle for his fourth rushing touchdown of the season. Brenden Rauh’s conversion made it 13-0, West Virginia.
West Virginia’s defense dominated the Golden Flashes in the first half, holding Kent to just 37 total yards while producing two turnovers.
WVU gained 223 total yards, including 121 through the air by Lewis. Cobourne had 81 yards on 19 carries.
After stuffing Kent State on its opening possession of the second half, West Virginia produced its most effective drive of the season. The 69-yard drive culminated with a pretty Lewis-to-Brown 40-yard strike down the middle of the field. It was West Virginia’s first passing TD of the season and the first touchdown by a WVU player other than Cobourne.
Rauh’s conversion increased West Virginia’s lead to 20-0.
The Mountaineers tacked on seven more points following a Richard Bryant interception at the WVU 23. West Virginia’s drive covered 79 yards on 11 plays, culminating with a Lewis 11-yard pass to Braxton.
"The difference was night and day for Brad Lewis in the second half," said Rodriguez. "He did some real nice things in the second half."
The Golden Flashes answered on their next possession when quarterback Joshua Cribbs broke free of the West Virginia defense and raced 84 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest TD run by an opposing player in Mountaineer Field history, topping Terrance Howard’s 80-yard run during last year’s 42-28 Notre Dame victory.
"Cribbs is a good player," said Rodriguez.
Shawn Terry returned the ensuing kickoff to midfield and six plays later, Lewis hit paydirt on an eight-yard touchdown run.
Cribbs kept the Mountaineer defense on its heels by directing Kent State to its second straight scoring drive. The freshman QB found David Alston out of the backfield for an 18-yard touchdown pass to close the gap to 34-14 with 13:25 left in the game. The drive covered 69 yards on five plays.
Cribbs led Kent State with 261 all-purpose yards, including 144 on the ground.
The victory gives West Virginia a 2-1 record, while Kent State falls to 1-2.
"We've got to get better with the games we've got coming up," Rodriguez warned. "We've got to get bigger plays from our running and passing game."
West Virginia is back in action next weekend at Maryland. Game time is noon. Kent State travels to Akron.
A reminder, Mountaineer fans can catch MSN’s replay of today’s game on stations throughout West Virginia. Consult your local listings.
Scoring Summary
WV – Rauh 33 FG
WV – Rauh 20 FG
WV -- Cobourne 1 rush (Rauh kick)
WV – Brown 40 pass from Lewis (Rauh kick)
WV – Braxton 11 pass from Lewis (Rauh kick)
KS – Cribbs 84 rush (Pavich kick)
WV – Lewis 8 rush (Rauh kick)
KS – Alston 18 pass from Cribbs (Pavich kick)
Statistical Summary
Rushing: KS -- Cribbs 20-144, Alston 14-30, Newton 1-3, Rozier 2-1, Murphy 2-0, Lundy 1-minus 2, Total 42-176; WV -- Cobourne 35-181, Lewis 6-20, Wilson 8-15, Brown 2-1, Total 51-217.
Passing: KS -- Cribbs 13-31-2-117-1, Daniels 0-2-0-0-0, Total 13-35-2-117-1; WV -- Lewis 27-34-0-286-2, Total 27-34-0-286-2.
Receiving: KS -- Kelly 3-35, Alston 2-16, Curry 2-15, Dowery 2-13, Buckosh 1-18, Quinn 1-10, Muprhy 1-6, Henriquez 1-4, Total 13-117; WV -- Brown 8-116, Nastasi 8-66, Terry 4-46, Braxton 4-41, Johnson 1-7, Frost 1-6, Cobourne 1-4, Total 27-286.
Attendance: 47, 458
