BC Upends WVU
November 13, 2004 04:11 PM | General
November 13, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Paul Peterson threw two touchdown passes, Ryan Ohliger kicked three field goals and the Eagles returned two punts for touchdowns to give No. 21 Boston College a 36-17 victory over No. 10-ranked West Virginia Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 |
||
| West Virginia's Adam Lehnortt wraps up a BC ball carrier during Saturday's 36-17 loss to the Eagles.
AP photo |
Boston College (7-2, 3-1) capitalized on some outstanding special teams play and a stingy defense to overcome a nearly two-to-one West Virginia advantage in total yardage.
“Special teams were embarrassing,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “It was ridiculous. It seemed like every time they started they had the ball past midfield. Every time we started with the ball it seemed like we had to go 90 (yards).”
Paul Peterson completed 18 of 30 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns and L.V. Whitworth carried 18 times for 84 yards to help the Eagles to 243 total yards. But the story of the game was exceptional Boston College special teams play, returning two punts for touchdowns, converting three long field goals and winning the field position battle the entire game.
Boston College finished the game with 230 return yards: 118 on punt returns and 112 on kickoff returns.
“We really never gave ourselves a chance,” said Rodriguez. “We were behind from the start.”
Poor West Virginia kick coverage haunted the Mountaineers all day. Not surprisingly it led to Boston College’s first touchdown. Brad Cooper’s kickoff to start the game was fielded by Will Blackmon at the 19 and he returned it 34 yards to the West Virginia 47. BC utilized the pass to move the ball to the Mountaineer 10, where Paul Peterson executed a perfect screen pass to L.V. Whitworth that he turned into a 10-yard touchdown.
Another special teams miscue resulted in the Eagles’ second score. Ridwan Malik was called for a personal foul on West Virginia’s first punt try, forcing the Mountaineers to punt again from their own 10. Phil Brady’s low line-drive punt was fielded on a dead run by DeJuan Tribble at the 41 and he outran the West Virginia defense for a touchdown. Ryan Ohliger’s PAT gave BC a 14-point lead.
The Mountaineers (8-2, 4-1) cut into Boston College’s lead on their following possession, driving 73 yards on seven plays. The big play was a 47-yard run first-down run by Kay-Jay Harris that moved the football to the Eagle 26. On third and three at the BC 19, Marshall found Chris Henry for 10 yards to the Eagle nine. Three plays later Marshall got past the goal line on a scrambling, two-yard run.
Ohliger tacked on a 44-yard field goal with 8:39 left in the second quarter culminating an 11-play, 43-yard drive.
A failed fourth-down try by West Virginia at the Boston College 33 with 1:13 remaining gave the Eagles an opportunity to score their third TD of the first half.
On third and five at 43 L.V. Whitworth took a draw play 22 yards to the West Virginia 43, giving Boston College great field position. On second and 10, Peterson broke containment and tossed a 29-yard pass down the near sideline to Larry Lester to the Mountaineer 14. The Eagles wisely used all of their timeouts and eventually got into the end zone when Peterson flipped a one-yard pass to tight end David Kashetta in the back of the end zone to put the Eagles up 24-7.
Things took a turn for the worse for West Virginia on the opening kickoff of the second half when Jamie Silva forced Vaughn Rivers to fumble the football and Silva scooped up the ball at the West Virginia 26.
West Virginia’s defense was able to hold Boston College to a Ryan Ohliger career-long 47-yard field goal. Ohliger’s previous career long was his 44-yarder kicked earlier in the game.
West Virginia had a chance to get great field position stopping Boston College inside its 15, but Johnny Ayers nailed a career-long 76-yard punt that BC downed at the West Virginia nine.
The Mountaineers put together their best drive of the game, going 91 yards on 18 plays. West Virginia converted a third and 10 at its own 31 when Marshall hit Miquelle Henderson and a quick slant for 14 yards to the BC 45. Five plays later, Marshall found Harris out of the backfield for seven yards on fourth and three to move the ball to the Eagle 17.
West Virginia again needed to convert a fourth down and got a gift when BC’s Tim Bulman was flagged for both offsides and roughing the passer on fourth and six at the Eagle 13. WVU accepted the roughing the passer penalty moving the ball to the seven. Two plays later Marshall completed a fade pass to Chris Henry for a six-yard touchdown.
Another shaky special teams play gave Boston College great field position when Blackmon took Cooper’s shot kick 27 yards to Eagle 42. However, the West Virginia defense was able to hold and forced a BC punt Pac-Man Jones fair caught at the nine.
On second and eight, Marshall threw deep to Chris Henry for 41 yards to the BC 48. Two plays later Marshall found Pennington for 16 yards over the middle on third and nine. The drive stalled at the BC 10 and West Virginia had to settle for a 25-yard Cooper field goal to cut BC’s lead to 27-17.
Boston College got great field position once again in the ensuing kick when Brian Toal picked up Cooper’s squib kick and ran 46 yards deep into West Virginia territory. BC was able to get one first down and get close enough for Ohliger to kick a 36-yard field goal to put the Eagles up 30-17.
Blackmon put the game away with a 71-yard punt return with 6:02 left. He made a quick move to his right and broke free of the kick coverage and ran down the far sideline to the end zone. Ohliger’s PAT attempt missed to the left.
“They did a nice job and made the plays when they had to,” Rodriguez said.
Marshall finished the game completing 21 of 35 pass attempts for 224 yards and a touchdown. Marshall also ran 20 times for 100 yards. Chris Henry caught eight passes for 118 yards and Kay-Jay Harris ran 19 times for 112 yards.
West Virginia closes out its regular season at Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving night. Boston College has regular season games remaining against Temple and Syracuse.
“We’ve got to refocus and get better,” said Rodriguez.
Scoring Summary
BC – Whitworth 10 pass from Peterson (Ohliger kick)
BC – Tribble 41 punt return (Ohliger kick)
WV – Marshall 2 run (Cooper kick)
BC – Ohliger 44 FG
BC – Kashetta 1 pass from Peterson (Ohliger kick)
BC – Ohliger 47 FG
WV – Henry 6 pass from Marshall (Cooper kick)
WV – Cooper 25 FG
BC – Ohliger 36 FG
BC – Blackmon 71 punt return (Kick failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: BC – Whitworth 18-84, Callender 8-27, Hazard 1-1, Team 1-0, Peterson 8-minus 31, Total 36-81; WV – Harris 19-112, Marshall 20-100, Williams 6-25, Henry 1-2, Colson 2-2, Hales 2-minus 3, Total 50-238.
Passing: BC – Peterson 18-30-0-162-2; WV – Marshall 21-35-1-224-1, Hales 0-2-1-0-0, Total 21-37-2-224-1.
Receiving: BC – Lee 5-42, Lester 3-66, Kashetta 3-10, Miller 2-15, Whitworth 2-15, Adams 2-10, Naples 1-4, Total 18-162; WV – Henry 8-118, Pennington 5-48, Harris 4-42, Henderson 3-16, Williams 1-0, Total 21-224.
Attendance: 58,113
