Three Memorable Wins
September 19, 2003 03:07 PM | General
September 19, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Three Maryland road games, three key victories for the West Virginia University Mountaineers.
The years were 1983, 1977 and 1973 and the wins rank among the more memorable triumphs in school history. In each instance, West Virginia went into the game as an underdog.
In 1983, West Virginia had two easy tune-up wins against Ohio and Pacific before going on the road for the first time against nationally ranked Maryland in College Park. The Terps, behind all-ACC quarterback Boomer Esiason, scored a come-from-behind 21-14 win at Vanderbilt before an ABC regional television audience to open the season.
Esiason completed 17 of 31 passes for 269 yards and one touchdown, and running backs Willie Joyner and Rick Badanjek combined for 154 yards on 26 carries.
“The only way to stop Esiason is to drop to your knees and pray,” said West Virginia coach Don Nehlen.
A TV audience once again tuned in to WTBS to watch Maryland jump out to a surprising 10-0 lead after a pair of Jeff Hostetler interceptions. Esiason fired a 28-yard touchdown pass for the first score, and Jess Atkinson’s 43-yard field goal made up the other.
“Our offense was spotty to begin the game but our defense kept us in it,” said Nehlen.
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MSN Media |
 Maryland 1973Danny Buggs takes a punt 69 yards for the winning touchdown with just eight seconds left
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The Mountaineers responded with a 45-yard field goal by Paul Woodside and an Esiason interception set up a Ron Wolfley short touchdown run to tie the game at 10 with just seconds left in the first half.
West Virginia claimed its first lead of the game with 8:19 remaining in the third quarter when running back Tommy Gray wiggled his way in from 17 yards out. A pretty Hostetler-to-Rob Bennett 42-yard touchdown pass started off the fourth quarter, and the Mountaineers sealed the game with a Hostetler-to-Gary Mullins 43-yard rainbow to give WVU an insurmountable 31-13 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game. WVU held on for a 31-20 triumph.
Six years earlier, West Virginia thought it had an insurmountable 24-0 halftime lead at Maryland, but had to hang on for dear life in the second half.
Maryland was in the midst of the Jerry Claiborne era during a period in which he led the Terps five bowl games in a span of six seasons. The ’77 Terps opened the season with a 21-14 win over Clemson and were ranked No. 11 by the Associated Press.
A year earlier in Morgantown, Maryland used a stifling defense and a powerful running game that produced 437 total yards to crush WVU, 24-3.
But Maryland came out flat and the Mountaineers capitalized. WVU pounced on a fumbled punt and took an early lead when David Riley scored from the two with 4:03 expired in the first quarter.
Two possessions later, Riley once again crossed the goal line when he broke free from the line of scrimmage, veered left and outraced the Maryland defense for 54-yard touchdown.
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| WVU coach Don Nehlen (MSN) |
Cedric Thomas tacked on another score when he broke free of the Maryland secondary, and quarterback Dan Kendra found him wide open down the near sideline for a 54-yard touchdown with 8:54 left in the half.
Bill McKenzie completed the first-half scoring with one second on the clock when he converted a record-setting 49-yard field goal.
A stunned Terrapin team regrouped in the second half and nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback.
Steve Atkins crossed the goal line first from four yards out with 5:16 gone in the third quarter, and Dean Richards tacked on another short TD run three minutes later.
West Virginia coach Frank Cignetti’s decision to take a late safety nearly backfired when Maryland returned the ensuing free kick inside the Mountaineer 10 yard line. With a chance to tie the game, the Terps were unable to cross the goal line on four consecutive runs and West Virginia escaped with a heart-stopping 24-16 victory.
"Even as things started to slip away in the second half, and we fumbled the punt in the end zone near the end, I still felt confident we would win," Cignetti stated.
The win snapped Maryland’s 15-game regular season win streak and boosted WVU into the national rankings for the first time in two years. However, reality set in a week later when WVU lost its national standing with a 28-13 defeat at Kentucky.
Undoubtedly West Virginia’s most memorable win at College Park came in 1973 when All-American Danny Buggs took a punt at the end of the game, changed directions, and out-ran the entire Maryland team for a 69-yard touchdown with just eight seconds left to break at 13-all tie.
Up until that point, neither team deserved to win the game. The two teams combined to commit nine turnovers and produced just 21 first downs.
West Virginia was guilty of four fumbles and two interceptions while Coach Bobby Bowden tried to break in new quarterback Ade Dillon.
Maryland had begun its football resurrection a year earlier under Claiborne, posting a 5-5-1 record in 1972 after enduring three-straight losing seasons under former WVU product Roy Lester from 1969-71.
Prior to playing Maryland, West Virginia’s last season-opening game on the road came at Duke in 1966 when the Mountaineers absorbed a 34-15 beating. Going into the game Bowden was concerned with Maryland’s physical strength and an awkward wide-tackle-six defensive alignment constructed by Claiborne.
West Virginia jumped out to a 6-0 halftime lead on a pair of Frank Nester field goals, but Maryland tied the game in the third quarter following a couple of three-pointers by Steve Mike-Mayer.
Maryland crossed the goal line first with 9:24 remaining in the fourth quarter when backup tailback Louis Carter plowed in from a yard away.
Twenty seconds later, West Virginia tied the game on a somewhat lucky 75-yard pass from Dillon to running back Dwayne Woods. It appeared that Dillon was looking for another receiver when Woods came out of nowhere, snatched the ball out of the air and raced untouched to the end zone.
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| Danny Buggs celebrates his game-winning 69-yard punt return. (MSN) |
The two teams battled for field position until Maryland regained possession with 5:16 remaining in the game and the ball sitting at the Terrapin 20 yard line. The Terps moved the football past midfield before the drive stalled at the West Virginia 45 yard line. On first and 10, Maryland quarterback Al Neville fumbled the snap resulting in a four-yard loss. A swing pass on second and 14 netted a loss of eight more yards and Maryland lost an additional four on a third-down draw play.
Faced with a fourth and 26 at his own 29-yard line, Claiborne had no choice but to punt the football back to West Virginia. With less than a minute to play, Claiborne could have instructed his punter to kick the ball out of bounds.
But instead Phil Wagenheim lofted a long spiraling punt toward Buggs, who was standing on the far side hash mark at the 31 yard line. Buggs caught the ball and ran to his left, changed directions and outraced the entire Maryland team 69 yards for an unbelievable touchdown.
Just eight seconds were left on the clock. It was estimated that Buggs ran about 100 yards in all to cover the 69 yards needed to score the touchdown.
“He's pure and simple a game-breaker,” said Bowden. “At any time, from any place on the field he can score. You can plot and scheme, but there's no way you can prepare a team to stop an individual like that.”
Remarked Maryland's shell-shocked Claiborne, “He is just as good as we were afraid he would be.”
Maryland recovered from that loss to post an 8-4 overall record including a 5-1 mark in ACC play, and faced Georgia in the Peach Bowl.
The 1977 Terrapin team also qualified for a bowl game against Minnesota (Hall of Fame) as did the 1983 team that lost to Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl.
Three Maryland road games resulted in three critical victories for West Virginia. Maybe the Mountaineers can come up with another big road win at Maryland this weekend.
