2003 Season Review
December 05, 2003 09:14 PM | General
December 6, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia is beginning to make a habit of turning around seasons after getting embarrassed by Maryland.
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| Quincy Wilson moved into sixth place on the WVU all-time rushing list with 2,559 yards (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) | |
Last year, the Terps took West Virginia out to the woodshed, beating the Mountaineers to the tune of 48-17. That embarrassing loss forced West Virginia players and coaches to take a hard look at themselves and what they were doing.
The Mountaineers went on to win six of their final seven games to finish second in the Big East and face Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl.
This year, WVU was once again finding its identity in its first three games against Wisconsin, East Carolina and Cincinnati. A blowout win against the ECU Pirates wasn’t that awe-inspiring when you consider the year ECU had, and the fact that West Virginia lost close home games to Wisconsin and Cincinnati wasn’t encouraging either. Consider, too, that West Virginia blew late leads in both of those games.
So next came Maryland, West Virginia’s nearby nemesis to the East. The two schools have played each other 41 times since 1919 and have been annual combatants since 1980. An otherwise even series has been skewed somewhat in favor of the Terps since Coach Ralph Friedgen took over in 2001.
It was during that year that Friedgen defeated West Virginia 32-20 in College Park with a pair of Mountaineer transfer quarterbacks on the sidelines helping decipher West Virginia’s plays and giving him important intelligence.
And again last year it seemed Maryland was two steps ahead of West Virginia.
This year, intelligence probably had very little to do with West Virginia’s 34-7 loss to the Terps. Maryland’s very fine team made sure of that.
A smothering Terp defense held West Virginia to just 11 first downs and 156 yards of total offense. The Mountaineers didn’t reach the end zone until there was 4:02 left on the game clock when Kay-Jay Harris ran in from 12 yards against mostly backups.
Shortly after that game West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez decided to simplify his offense, taking out the plays that didn’t work, and juggling his offensive line and going to a younger front that would eventually feature three redshirt freshmen, a first-year junior college transfer and a junior guard who started the season at tackle.
After the Maryland loss, West Virginia had 10 days to regroup before facing No. 2-ranked Miami in the Orange Bowl for a Thursday night game on ESPN. It was a time to reflect on a 1-3 start and what needed to be done to turn the season around.
Prior to the game during his Tuesday afternoon news conference, Rodriguez was beginning to prepare Mountaineer fans for the possibility of a blowout loss. He was talking about winning one play at a time, not getting discouraged if Miami gets up early – things of that nature.
But inside the locker room, he was challenging his young team to grow up and become men. What better place to do that than in the rough and tumble environment surrounding the Orange Bowl?
West Virginia set the tone early when it scored on a short Quincy Wilson touchdown run, and was tied at the half 10-all. Three straight Jon Peattie field goals gave Miami a 19-10 lead, but WVU closed the gap with a Brad Cooper 36-yarder to make it 19-13.
Miami had the football with less than five minutes remaining with the intention of eating some time off the clock. But West Virginia linebacker Grant Wiley was able to strip the football from Miami ballcarrier Jarrett Payton and the Mountaineers recovered the ball near midfield.
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| Senior Brian King's move from cornerback to safety helped bolster West Virginia's defense (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) | |
Later, Quincy Wilson made the play of the year, catching a screen pass that didn’t fool Miami, juking three Hurricane tacklers and running over another at the 15-yard line on the way to a 33-yard go-ahead touchdown that will surely remain one of the most memorable plays in WVU history. Cooper’s extra point made it 20-19 in favor of West Virginia. Just two minutes remained on the game clock.
WVU had a great chance to win the game by stopping Miami on fourth down, but tight end Kellen Winslow made a long catch over the middle to keep the drive alive and Peattie converted his fifth field goal of the game to give the Hurricanes a 22-20 victory. The fact that Miami only scored one touchdown and rushed for 88 yards gave West Virginia little solace. The Mountaineers wanted to win this game badly.
“We’re not into moral victories,” said Rodriguez after the game.
And while the Maryland loss was like a cold splash of water in the face, the Miami game proved to West Virginia players and coaches that the Mountaineers could play toe-to-toe with the big boys.
Like last year, West Virginia’s road to recovery once again started with Rutgers, an improving team under third-year coach Greg Schiano. The Mountaineers were able to hold off the pesky Scarlet Knights 34-19, but it took a couple of bizarre plays to help them get there. Perhaps the wackiest play of the college football season took place right before the end of the half with WVU clinging to a 10-3 lead.
Facing a fourth and long at his own 17 yard line, Rodriguez was content to run out the clock and go into the locker room with a seven-point halftime lead. Schiano, thinking West Virginia was going to punt the ball, instructed his punt block team to go onto the field.
Rodriguez had no plans of punting and instead told his quarterback Rasheed Marshall to throw it long to Chris Henry. Even if the pass was intercepted, the four seconds left on the game clock would run out -- provided Marshall threw the ball high enough.
When West Virginia lined up with Henry split out to the near side of the field, there was no Rutgers player covering Henry. In their confusion, the Knights had completely left a player uncovered. And West Virginia was planning to throw the ball to him!
All Marshall had to do was make sure he didn’t overthrow Henry and all Henry had to do was make sure he caught it with no one within 20 yards of him. He did catch it and ran 83 yards untouched for a momentum-breaking touchdown.
Now 2-4, West Virginia faced Virginia Tech in another season-altering game.
In the summertime, the big, bad Hokies decided to take their ball and go home by joining the Atlantic Coast Conference -- a league they were suing just days before. Tech’s turnaround drew the ire of the East for trying to play both sides of the fence. In the end, it wasn’t what Virginia Tech did, but rather what Virginia state politics did that got it into the league.
The Mountaineers meant business from the start with two quick touchdowns and should have led at the half 14-0. But a blown call on a Quincy Wilson fumble permitted the Hokies to score on a 50-yard fumble return. That was Tech’s only score.
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| Linebacker Grant Wiley is a finalist for the Nagurski Award as the nation's top defensive player (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) | |
The Mountaineers tacked on two more touchdowns – one an unforgettable 93-yard pass from Marshall to Travis Garvin – and West Virginia had a resounding 28-7 victory.
Tech wasn’t going to be the only Big East team going to the ACC with its tail between its legs. Boston College would be next, but first, West Virginia had to deal with the trash-talking Central Florida Golden Knights.
Central Florida battled West Virginia for three quarters and it wasn’t until a blocked punt by Jerry White was recovered in the end zone by Joe Hunter that West Virginia had placed enough distance between it and Central Florida.
Backup quarterback Charles Hales came on after Marshall was knocked out with a concussion, and fired a pretty 79-yard touchdown pass to Henry. West Virginia was able to come away with a 36-18 victory in what turned out to be the last game for several academically ineligible UCF players and its coach, Mike Kruczek, who was abruptly fired for his part in it.
The third and final stop on the 2003 Traitor Tour was Chestnut Hill, Mass. Unlike Virginia Tech and Miami, which really had no long-term attachment to the Big East or even a regional affinity, Boston College was a different story.
The Eagles were one of the original members of the Big East and the deception and double-dealing by their athletic director Gene DeFillipo provoked the most even-minded and reserved Eastern administrators to use terms like “spy,” “traitor” and “secret agent” when referring to BC’s pursuit of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Even a large number of Boston College fans didn’t know what to make of their school going to the ACC.
On the field, the BC players were undeterred by the emotions aroused by their administrators selling them on their move to the South and they quickly jumped on West Virginia, 14-0.
It wasn’t until a Lance Frazier interception and a subsequent 37-yard touchdown pass from Hales to Henry that West Virginia got back into the game. WVU eventually tied it up on a 49-yard interception return by Pac-Man Jones, who would also later seal the game on an 84-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
West Virginia was able to hold on to a 35-28 victory when linebacker Scott Gyorko batted down a Paul Peterson pass in the end zone with no time remaining on the clock.
A week later it was back to the regular Big East and the “Backyard Brawl” against Pitt. In the summer months leading up to the game, there was an uncomfortable alliance between Pitt and West Virginia fans precipitated by the ACC’s raid on the Big East. For sanity’s sake, that ended once Pitt Week started.
By the end of the first half, the two teams had played a marvelous game and were tied 24-all. The first half featured acrobatic catches by Larry Fitzgerald and an unlikely hero in 5-foot-9, 185-pound walk-on wide receiver John Pennington, who caught an indescribable fourth-down pass for a touchdown right before the end of the half that gave West Virginia’s engine the fuel it needed for the remainder of the game.
The Mountaineers picked off Pitt quarterback Rod Rutherford twice in the second half, sacked him three times, and completely shut down the Panther offense. On the flip side, Quincy Wilson ran for 208 yards and scored four touchdowns in one of his best games in a Gold and Blue uniform. Pitt was able to tack on a late score to make it a more respectable 52-31, though it was the third time since 1998 a Walt Harris-coached team has watched a West Virginia team put at least 50 on it.
The Pitt win got West Virginia back into the Top 25 and now West Virginia was off to Syracuse for an always-difficult game at the Carrier Dome. The Mountaineers last won at Syracuse in 1993 and needed a victory against the fired-up Orangemen to keep their hopes of sharing the Big East title alive.
Syracuse was up to the task and the two teams battled to a 17-17 halftime tie. West Virginia took control of the game in the second half with 10 straight points, but once again Syracuse came back when running back Walter Reyes, back in the game after injuring his knee in the first quarter, took a swing pass from R.J. Anderson and ran 67 yards for a touchdown. A missed extra point made the score 27-23 in favor of West Virginia.
Sensing a momentum change, Rodriguez reached into his medicine bag and pulled out an old play that seems to work best when things are at their worst. For those of us with untrained eyes the play is simply known as “Chris-go-deep.”
Once again, Marshall lobbed a pretty, high-arching pass that Henry ran under at midfield and took all the way into the end zone for a 67-yard touchdown. Game over: West Virginia 34, Syracuse 23.
All that was left between West Virginia and a share of the Big East championship was Temple, which despite a 1-10 record was a dangerous team with a very dangerous quarterback in Walter Washington.
Playing on Senior Day in front of 35,942 frozen fans, West Virginia got out to a 21-point first-quarter lead and then watched Washington begin to chip away at it. In the end, WVU’s patched-up defense was able to make enough plays to hold on to a 45-28 win.
It was a remarkable stretch of games for a West Virginia team that had overcome so much. Not only was WVU using a vastly inexperienced lineup, but it was also stretched thin due to several crippling injuries. It all started when WVU’s best offensive lineman Tim Brown went down three days before the Wisconsin game with an Achilles tendon injury.
A couple of weeks later, free safety Jahmile Addae was out for the year with a shoulder injury forcing cornerback Brian King to move to safety.
Defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich was almost out of band aids trying to repair a defensive line that was down to about five healthy players by the Temple game. In the end, West Virginia was able to hold up and secure its first Big East championship since winning the league outright in 1993.
It’s only fitting that West Virginia win the Big East in its first season of round-robin play in 1993 and also win it in the league’s last at full strength with Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
And once again, you can point to Maryland as the reason for the turnaround. Now, we’ll see if West Virginia can complete the reversal, facing Maryland in a rematch in the 2004 Toyota Gator Bowl.
