Badgers Rally in Opener
August 30, 2003 01:35 PM | General
August 30, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Anthony Davis' one-yard touchdown run with 2:57 left in the fourth quarter lifted No. 20 Wisconsin to a 24-17 victory over West Virginia Saturday afternoon at Mountaineer Field.
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| Running back Quincy Wilson looks for daylight during Wisconsin's 24-17 come-from-behind win over West Virginia Saturday at Mountaineer Field. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Davis' fourth-quarter score capped 17 unanswered second-half points by the Badgers.
"They've got a really good tailback and they're a talented bunch," said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. "I didn't see any of our guys dragging. I think they executed at the end of the game and we didn't."
All summer there was speculation that Wisconsin was going to open up the offense and use more spread offense, but in the end Coach Barry Alvarez hopped on Davis' back and rode him to Wisconsin's first season-opening road win since defeating San Diego State, 26-14 in 1998. Davis finished the game rushing 30 times for 167 yards.
At the outset, it took Wisconsin just 1:16 to get on the scoreboard when Todd James' punt was blocked and recovered in the end zone by the Badgers' Kareem Timbers. It looked like James might be able to recover the ball and take the safety, but he was unable to hang onto the ball.
"We just gave them seven points right off the bat," said Rodriguez. "We've worked as hard on the punting game as we ever have. We've tried to be creative with it and do everything we can. But we've got a few things to get solved and we'll keep working on it.
"It's not a fun way to start the game."
Prior to the block, Wisconsin forced West Virginia to a three-and-out on the game's opening possession.
West Virginia's Adam "Pac-Man" Jones brought life back into a shocked Mountaineer Field crowd with an electrifying 81-yard kickoff return that placed the football at the Wisconsin 19 yard line.
West Virginia advanced the ball to the Badger five before settling for a Brad Cooper 27-yard field goal.
Following a Wisconsin punt, West Virginia produced an impressive 13-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in a Quincy Wilson 10-yard touchdown run. West Virginia did it without starting quarterback Rasheed Marshall, who took a hard hit from Wisconsin linebacker Alex Lewis while completing a 16-yard pass to Dee Alston for first-down yardage. He left the game with an abdominal bruise and didn't return until late in the third quarter.
Backup Charles Hales came in and promptly led WVU down the field, completing passes of 10 yards to Aaron Neal and a yard to Erick Phillips. Wilson had a bigger part in the scoring drive, gaining 38 yards on seven carries.
"I thought Charles came in and competed well; I thought all of our young men competed well today," said Rodriguez.
In the second quarter West Virginia used some razzle dazzle to move the football deep into Wisconsin territory, but was unable to come up with any points.
On a first down play from the WVU 25, Rodriguez called for a reverse that Travis Garvin took 48 yards to the Badger 27 yard line. But the Mountaineers couldn't move the sticks and Quincy Wilson's fourth-and-one carry came up short.
Wisconsin had two opportunities to get points but came up short on both occasions. Wisconsin's first drive stalled at the West Virginia 34 and Campbell's field goal attempt from 44 yards sailed wide right.
Later, Wisconsin marched 53 yards to the WVU 29 before a Sorgi fourth-down pass to Lee Evans in the end zone fell incomplete. And right near the end of the half, Wisconsin once again failed to get points despite driving deep into West Virginia territory. The Badgers went 65 yards to the West Virginia 32 before the drive stalled. Campbell's field goal attempt from 42 yards missed the mark with 1:34 left in the half.
West Virginia forced Wisconsin to punt on its first possession of the second half and responded with a seven-play, 66-yard drive that was once again all Wilson. After a pair of WVU first downs, the senior broke free of the line and raced 36 yards to the Wisconsin five. Two plays later Wilson cracked the goal line from two yards out for his second touchdown of the game.
Wisconsin answered with a 69-yard drive that resulted in a Campbell 29-yard field goal to close its deficit to seven, 17-10. Sorgi hit Brandon Williams on two big pass plays that covered 54 yards during the drive.
At that point, Wisconsin took advantage of great field position when West Virginia failed to make a first down deep in its own territory and had to punt from its own goal line. Todd James' boot went to midfield, where Wisconsin's Jim Leonhard returned the ball 17 yards to the 33.
"It seemed like field position worked against us all day," said Rodriguez. "When they were on offense they played on a short field. The hidden yardsage stuff is hard to overcome when you've got four new guys up front on the offensive line."
Five plays later, a scrambling Sorgi worked his way free of West Virginia's pass rush on third and 12 and found an open Lee Evans at the WVU five. Evans took the pass, sidestepped West Virginia defensive back Lance Frazier, and ran into the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown. Campbell's extra point tied the game at 17 with 13:02 left on the clock. "Offensively we didn't really get into any kind of rhythm," said Rodriguez.
Wilson led West Virignia with 99 yards on 24 carries. Marshall completed 10 of 16 passes for 98 yards.
Sorgi finished the day 20 of 34 for 215 yards and a touchdown. It was the first time that Sorgi has won a game in six career starts.
"We didn't win and I think we should be disappointed, but to a man we played hard and competed," said Rodriguez. "Did they do it all of the time? No obviously not. But they're going to battle and compete and regroup. We've got to be more disciplined in our techniques and as coaches we've got to put them into more positions to make plays. "We've just got to get better. We're not a real good football team right now but we've got a chance to get better."
West Virginia (0-1) returns to action Saturday, Sept. 6 at East Carolina in a game that will kickoff at 7 p.m.
Wisconsin (1-0) opens at home against Akron on Saturday, Sept. 6.
Scoring Summary
UW -- Timbers 0 blocked punt return (Campbell kick)
WV -- Cooper 27 FG
WV -- Wilson 10 run (Cooper kick)
WV -- Wilson 2 run (Cooper kick)
UW -- Campbell 29 FG
UW -- Evans 20 pass from Sorgi (Campbell kick)
UW -- Davis 1 run (Campbell kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Wisconsin -- Davis 30-167, Sorgi 9-47, Smith 4-6, Bernstein 1-3, Total 44-223; West Virginia -- Wilson 24-99, Garvin 4-50, Hales 4-9, Phillips 3-6, Marshall 3- minus 4, Bailey 0-2, Total 38-162.
Passing: Wisconsin -- Sorgi 20-34-0-251-1; West Virginia -- Marshall 10-16-0-98-0, Hales 5-10-0-40-0, Total 15-26-0-138-0.
Receiving: Wisconsin -- Williams 7-89, Evans 7-70,Daniels 3-41, Smith 1-5, Bernstein 1-2, Total 20-215; West Virginia -- Neal 4-45, Garvin 3-34, Alston 3-28, Henderson 2-25, Wilson 1-5, Phillips 1-1, Pennington 1-0, Total 15-138.
