Owls Upset West Virginia
August 27, 2002 05:09 PM | General
By John Antonik for
MSNsportsNET.comNovember 17, 2001
MORGANTOWN, W.VA. – Tanardo Sharps ran for 172 yards and Temple scored 11 third-quarter points to turn a four-point halftime deficit into a 17-14 victory over West Virginia Saturday afternoon at Mountaineer Field.
It was Temple’s first win in Morgantown since 1979, and the first since upsetting the Mountaineers, 19-17 in 1984. West Virginia’s five Big East losses are the most since it joined the league in 1991.
"This is one of the toughest losses I’ve ever had as a coach," said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. "I thought the team was bonding together and getting better and today’s performance was disappointing.
"We’re not going to have a pity party, we’ll feel bad today and get back to work on Monday," he added.
Temple got on the board first when Cap Poklemba converted a 33-yard field goal with 11:42 left in the first quarter. The field goal was set up when Raheem Brock recovered an Avon Cobourne fumble at the West Virginia 35-yard line.
Brock recovered his second fumble at the West Virginia 45 when Owl defensive back Jamal Wallace forced the ball out of Mountaineer tailback Cooper Rego’s arms.
Temple advanced the ball nine yards on a Mac DeVito pass to Sean Dillard, but a West Virginia personal foul penalty added 15 yards to move the ball to the West Virginia 21.
West Virginia regained possession two plays later when Shawn Hackett came on a blitz, sacked DeVito, and forced a fumble that James Davis picked up and ran to the 36-yard line. Davis injured his toe on the play but later returned to the game.
West Virginia converted a fourth and one play at the Temple 42 when Cobourne bounced outside for 20 yards to the Owl 22. Two plays later, West Virginia benefited from a pass interference call on Terrance Leftwich to give the Mountaineers a first and goal at the nine. Lewis was attempting to hit Shawn Swindall downfield.
Lewis had tight end Tory Johnson open in the end zone for a WVU touchdown, but Wallace broke up the pass at the goal line.
Todd James, subbing for regular kicker Brenden Rauh who was out with a sprained ankle sustained on Wednesday, missed a 24-yard field goal.
On West Virginia’s next series, Rasheed Marshall replaced Lewis and raced 31yards to the Owl 17 on his very first play. Two Cobourne runs gave West Virginia a first down at the Temple eight. On second and goal, Marshall appeared to score on a seven-yard run, but West Virginia was whistled for an illegal chop block that moved the ball back to the 23-yard line.
Marshall had Cobourne wide open for an apparent touchdown pass, but Cobourne fell down as Marshall’s pass fell incomplete.
West Virginia ended the first quarter when James missed another field goal, this time from 38 yards.
Temple regained possession but was stopped on three plays. The Owls gained new life when Amore was roughed by Michael Page on a punt attempt. The penalty gave Temple a first down at the 35. The Owls kept its drive alive on fourth and one at its 44-yard line when Lester Tramer gained two yards to the 46. Three plays later West Virginia forced Temple to punt.
The Mountaineers took over at its own 16 and marched 84 yards on 10 plays for the game’s first touchdown, mostly on passes and runs from Marshall. The quarterback completed four-of-six passes on the drive, including a 23-yard touchdown pass on third and 17. It was Marshall’s first career touchdown pass.
West Virginia got a big break right before the end of the half when tight end Dan Bosnic fumbled a first down catch and Kyle Kayden recovered the ball at the 30. But West Virginia couldn’t move the ball and turned it back over to the Owls on downs with 1:39 left.
Temple made its best drive of the day by advancing the football to the West Virginia 27, but Poklemba’s 45-yard field goal fell short.
After an exchange of possessions to start the second half, Temple was in business following a DeVito to Dillard pass that moved the ball to the West Virginia 32. A 15-yard penalty was tacked on to the end of the play when WVU defensive back Richard Bryant hit him out of bounds to move the ball to the 17.
Poklemba finished the drive with a 30-yard field goal to trim the Temple deficit to one with 4:32 left in the third quarter.
Temple benefited from a West Virginia personal foul and a face mask penalty at the end of a 42-yard Tanardo Sharps run to move the ball to the West Virginia four-yard line. Two plays later, Lester Tramer bounced in from two yards out to give the Owls its first lead of the game. DeVito’s conversion pass to Krishan Lewis was good to make the score, 14-7 Temple.
West Virginia answered on its next possession by driving 65 yards on 11 plays in 4:17. Marshall reached the end zone from four yards out on a third and one play. James’ extra point tied the score at 14.
Temple marched right back down the field on runs by DeVito and Sharps before a pass interference penalty on Bryant moved the ball to the West Virginia 27. On third and one, Temple tried to run wide with Sharps but Shawn Hackett forced him out of bounds short of the marker. However, Poklemba’s 35-yard field goal put the Owls back into the lead, 17-14.
West Virginia couldn’t move the ball on two possessions and Temple got the ball back with 4:22 to go. Three short runs left the Owls with fourth and inches at its own 48. Wallace opted for a quarterback sneak and DeVito’s surge gave the Owls a fresh set of downs at midfield. Temple couldn’t move the sticks and had to punt the ball back to the Mountaineers.
The ball was downed at the 18, but a 15-yard personal foul walked off against Temple moved the ball to the 33-yard line.
However on Marshall’s first pass, Jairo Almonte tipped the ball and Raheem Brock outbattled Seth Abraham for the ball at the West Virginia 35. It was West Virginia’s fourth turnover of the game.
At that point, Temple ran out the clock.
Temple (3-7) finished the game with 205 yards rushing and DeVito completed eight-of-19 passes for 85 yards.
Marshall hit 16-of-32 passes for 128 yards and one touchdown. He also gained 95 yards on 11 carries.
"I thought Rasheed competed well. He didn’t have a great game, but he was seeing the field and doing some things," said Rodriguez.
Cobourne added 103 yards on 22 carries, giving him eight 100-yard games this season. He had just one carry in the fourth quarter.
The Mountaineers were whistled for 10 penalties for 120 yards. Rodriguez wasn’t pleased with the penalties at the end of the game.
"We talked about keeping your poise, but today was embarrassing," he said. "We had a lot of stupid penalties and it cost us today."
West Virginia (3-7) finishes its regular season next Saturday against Pitt (4-5) at Mountaineer Field. The game will be televised by ESPN and will kickoff at Noon.
Scoring Summary
TU – Poklemba 33 FG
WV – Nastasi 23 pass from Marshall (James kick)
TU – Poklemba 30 FG
TU – Tramer 2 run (Lewis pass from DeVito)
WV – Marshall 4 run (James kick)
TU – Poklemba 35 FG
Statistical Summary
Rushing: TU - Sharps 22-172, Trammer 13-30, DeVito 11-7, Fenton 3-3, Dillard 1-minus 7, Total 50-205; WV - Cobourne 22-103, Marshall 11-95, Rego 2-12, Wilson 3-5, Smith 1-1, Lewis 1-0, Total 40-216.
Passing: TU - DeVito 8-19-0-85-0; WV - Marshall 16-32-2-128-1, Lewis 3-5-0-25-0, Total 19-36-2-153-1.
Receiving: TU - Dillard 5-60, Bosnic 1-13, McKie 1-8, Coles 1-4, Total 8-85; WV - Nastassi 9-82, Abraham 4-40, Terry 2-12, Henderson 2-10, Cobourne 1-6, Jones 1-3, Total 19-153.
Attendance: 37,120
