Back in the Win Column
October 11, 2003 05:15 PM | General
October 11, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Quincy Wilson ran 40 times for 177 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead West Virginia to a 34-19 victory over Rutgers Saturday afternoon in Morgantown.
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| West Virginia's Quincy Wilson scores one of his three touchdowns Saturday against Rutgers. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Wilson scored on runs of 20, and four yards twice to help West Virginia snap its three-game losing streak extend Rutgers’ streak Big East losing streak to 24 games.
“From our standpoint it was really ugly,” said Rodriguez. “There was a ridiculous amount of penalties and we were really poor in execution on both sides of the ball. We have to grind out wins it seems like this year.”
This game was much closer than the score might indicate and two long pass plays from Rasheed Marshall to Chris Henry made a difference in the game.
The first came with West Virginia (2-4) leading by just seven points with four seconds left in the first half.
Rutgers (3-3) had West Virginia stopped deep in Mountaineer territory with the clock winding down. The Scarlet Knights called a timeout with four seconds remaining to force West Virginia to punt the football.
When the two teams came back on the field, West Virginia came out in a passing formation and Rutgers left wide receiver Chris Henry completely uncovered. Inexplicably Rutgers coach Greg Schiano did not call timeout even though he had two remaining and Marshall lofted a high pass that Henry caught at midfield and ran 83 yards for a touchdown. With no Rutgers defenders near him, all Henry the only thing that could stop a sure TD was a Henry drop.
“We wanted to come after them and block the punt,” said Schiano. “Unfortunately, we did not re-adjust to their play call. I put that one on me. We got a little greedy when I should have been satisfied with taking a 10-3 lead at halftime.”
“The one at the end of the half was just lucky,” added Rodriguez. “We were going to throw it deep. I wasn’t going to punt and was going to run a play. We felt we could run any play in four seconds. I told Rasheed if nothing was there; just throw it out of bounds.”
Brad Cooper’s extra point turned what should have been a West Virginia 10-3 halftime lead into a 17-3 Mountaineer advantage.
“It was the biggest play because it gave us momentum going into the half,” said Rodriguez.
Henry’s second critical catch came on third and 10 at the West Virginia 45 at the start of the fourth quarter. Leading by just 12 and Rutgers gaining momentum, Marshall lobbed an arching pass that Henry managed to jump up and catch for a 28-yard gain. Five plays later West Virginia managed to convert a field goal to extend its lead to 15 points.
At the start of the game it looked like West Virginia was going to produce another blowout victory against the Knights.
West Virginia took the ball at its own 30 and drove 70 yards in seven plays on the game’s opening possession.
With the ball at the Rutgers 39 West Virginia benefited from a pass interference call that moved the football to the Scarlet Knights 24. Wilson ran the ball to the 20 and then broke free of the defense for a 20-yard touchdown run.
The Mountaineers tacked on three more points with 5:18 left in the quarter when Brad Cooper connected on a 27-yard field goal. The field goal was set up by a Grant Wiley interception and return gave the Mountaineers the ball at the Rutgers 24.
Rutgers got back into the game when Ryan Sands made a 37-yard field goal with 5:07 left in the half. A Ryan Hart to Tres Moses 38 yard pass was the key play for Rutgers on the drive.
Despite gaining 267 first-half yards, West Virginia had great difficulty completing passes and sustaining drives. Penalties also played a part in West Virginia’s first-half offensive struggles. WVU was whistled six times for 70 yards in the first half and finished the game with 10 penalties for 120 yards.
It looked like the Mountaineers were going to take control of the game at the start of the third quarter, but 10 straight Scarlet Knights points and two long TD drives kept Rutgers in the game.
After forcing Rutgers to punt on its opening possession of the third quarter, WVU took over the football on the RU side of the 50. A first-down run of 33 yards by Wilson put West Virginia in business at the Rutgers 15. Wilson carried two more times for nine yards and Marshall moved the sticks with a quarterback sneak. Wilson finished the drive with a four-yard touchdown run, his second of the game.
Rutgers responded with a nine-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a touchdown. Justise Hairston finished the drive with a one-yard touchdown run, but a West Virginia facemask penalty on third and seven aided the drive. Sands completed four passes during the drive for 58 yards.
Hairston finished the game with 115 yards on 27 carries.
A Wilson fumble on West Virginia’s ensuing possession led to three more points for Rutgers. Rutgers took over at the West Virginia 10 but the Mountaineer defense stiffened and was able to keep the Scarlet Knights out of the end zone. Ryan Sands’ 22-yard field goal closed WVU’s lead to 24-13.
The Mountaineers were able to distance themselves from Rutgers on their next possession, but not without the help of the Scarlet Knights. Three Rutgers penalties including an illegal participation call when it would have assumed possession of the football after a West Virginia punt gave WVU new life.
West Virginia eventually found the end zone when Wilson bounced in from four yards out to start the fourth quarter.
Rutgers executed its second long TD drive of the second half when it drove 77 yards on 11 plays. The Knights reached the end zone when Hart hit fullback Brian Leonard out of the backfield for an 11-yard touchdown. Rutgers tried to trim West Virginia’s lead to 10 but the two-point conversion was unsuccessful.
Hart completed 17 of 28 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown while also throwing two interceptions.
“Give Rutgers a lot of credit. They battled all the way to the end,” said Rodriguez.
Marshall completed seven of 15 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown for West Virginia. Henry caught four balls for 176 yards.
The Mountaineers finished the game with 441 yards of offense including 254 on the ground.
“When you play competition like West Virginia, who has great athletes, there’s a small margin for error,” said Schiano. “We had too many mistakes to overcome. That’s what it comes down to today.”
West Virginia now has 11 days to prepare for its next game against Virginia Tech on Wednesday night.
Scoring Summary
WV – Wilson 20 run (Cooper kick)
WV – Cooper 27 FG
RU – Sands 37 FG
WV – Henry 83 pass from Marshall (Cooper kick)
WV – Wilson 4 run (Cooper kick)
RU – Hairston 1 run (Sands kick)
RU – Sands 22 FG
WV – Wilson 4 run (Cooper kick)
RU – Leonard 11 pass from Hart (Conversion failed)
WV – Cooper 27 FG
Individual Statistics
Rushing: RU – Hairston 27-115, Leonard 4-4, Hart 1-minus 5, Total 32-114; WV – Wilson 40-177, Marshall 11-48, Harris 7-29, Team 1-0, Total 59-254.
Passing: RU – Hart 17-28-2-188-1, Facyson 1-1-0-minus 10-0, Total 18-29-2-178-1; WV – Marshall 7-15-1-187-1, Total 7-15-1-187-1.
Receiving: RU – Moses 5-72, Leonard 5-22, Pilch 3-30, Harris 2-34, Tucker 2-30, Hart 1-minus 10, Total 18-178; WV – Henry 4-176, Alston 1-12, Harris 1-6, Wilson 1-minus 7, Total 7-187.
Attendance: 50,896
