Mountaineers Prevail
November 06, 2004 05:29 PM | General
November 6, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Senior Kay-Jay Harris ran for two touchdowns and caught two more to lead No. 12 West Virginia to a 42-21 victory over Temple Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 |
||
| Kay-Jay Harris scored four touchdowns for West Virginia Saturday against Temple.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Harris scored on runs of two and four yards and caught passes of five and 29 yards to tie a Milan Puskar Stadium record he equaled earlier this season against East Carolina.
“I thought this week we were really focused,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “We preached of taking it one play at a time.”
Quarterback Rasheed Marshall completed 14 of 19 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns and also ran 12 times for 81 yards to help the Mountaineers improve to 8-1, 4-0.
“He’s a great quarterback,” said Temple coach Bobby Wallace. “He threw well today, too. As he goes they go.”
“I thought Rasheed played really well,” added Rodriguez. “He really controlled the game for us.”
WVU’s win set up an opportunity to clinch at least a share of the Big East title next Saturday against Boston College. West Virginia played the first half Saturday against Temple like its mind was already on next week’s BC game.
Owl quarterback Walter Washington piled up 211 yards of total offense in the first half in keeping Temple to within seven of the Mountaineers. Washington finished the game completing 16 of 24 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown and also ran 21 times for a game-high 117 yards. It is the second straight year Washington has run for more than 100 yards against West Virginia’s defense.
“Defensively we just couldn’t tackle,” said Rodriguez. “Their quarterback is very good and they have some good tailbacks.”
Both teams exchanged miscues before West Virginia got on the board first. Temple drove from its own 38 to the Mountaineer four where its drive stalled. Owl kicker Ryan Lux’ chip-shot 22-yard field sailed wide left.
West Virginia took over at its own 20 and got to the Temple one. A Marshall pass to Eddie Jackson took it the goal line, where Temple’s Ray Lamb stripped the ball from Jackson and linebacker Rian Wallace pounced on it at the four.
Temple couldn’t move the sticks and punted the ball back to West Virginia. Jake Hendry’s punt went off the side of his foot and traveled just 18 yards to the Temple 29.
West Virginia took advantage of the great field position and needed just three plays to reach the end zone. Marshall got 22 yards on a first-down run and after a short Harris run, Marshall hit Harris out of the backfield for a five-yard touchdown.
Safety Jahmile Addae set West Virginia up with its second touchdown, picking off a badly thrown Washington pass over the middle and taking it 47 yards to the Temple 33. Two plays later, Marshall hooked up with a wide-open Harris out of the backfield for a 29-yard touchdown on a wheel route. It was the first time since Adrian Murrell against Maryland in 1992 that a Mountaineer running back had two TD catches in the same game.
Temple answered on its next possession after Washington slipped out of the grasp of two West Virginia tacklers and hit Phil Goodman for 54 yards down the near sideline. Goodman reversed field and ran to the Mountaineer one. It took Washington two tries to get it in the end zone to pull Temple to within a touchdown, 14-7.
Washington was at it again on Temple’s next possession, guiding the Owls 51 yards on six plays. On third and four at the West Virginia 18, Washington called his own number on a quarterback draw and ran 18 yards past the West Virginia defense for his second touchdown. Lux’s PAT tied the game at 14, making it the second straight week West Virginia has blown a 14-point lead.
Temple rolled the dice and tried an onside kick that Mike Henshaw recovered at the Temple 48. The Owls gave West Virginia 15 yards to the 36 on a personal foul penalty flagged on Marcus Elbert. This coming after the Owls had Charles Hales bottled up for a two-yard loss on a reverse. An 11-yard run by Jason Colson took the ball to the Temple 25, and a pair of short gains and a Temple offside penalty moved the ball to the Owl 14.
Marshall hit Eddie Jackson for eight to the Temple six and three straight Harris runs got the ball into the end zone, the last coming from the two.
Temple was right back in West Virginia territory on its next possession getting all the way to the WVU 17 before Washington’s third-down pass attempt to Buchie Ibeh fell incomplete. Temple tried a 34-yard field goal that Danny Murphy missed wide right.
West Virginia took over at its own 20 and got to midfield on a 32-yard Jackson catch and run. Temple limited Colson to a short gain and then tripped up Jackson for a loss of five on a screen pass. On third and 14, Marshall’s deep pass down the near sideline to Rayshawn Bolden fell incomplete, forcing the Mountaineers to punt the ball back to the Owls with 40 seconds remaining on the clock.
Without any timeouts Temple chose to run out the clock.
In the third quarter WVU got its margin back to 14, taking its opening possession and driving 67 yards on seven plays. Marshall started things with a 17-yard run to the Temple 50. A Kay-Jay Harris 35-yard run put the ball at the Owl 15. West Virginia needed to convert a fourth and one at the Temple six when Marshall got to two up the middle to the Owl four. One play later Harris worked his way in for his fourth TD of the game.
The Mountaineer defense was able to finally stop Washington, sacking him twice, and forcing the Owls to punt. WVU took over at its 11 and produced one of its best drives of the season, taking 6:14 off the clock and making three third-down conversions.
Marshall got the first one scrambling 11 yards on third and 11 to the Mountaineer 21. On third and three at the West Virginia 28, John Pennington made a diving five-yard reception to keep the sticks moving. Then on third and two at the 41, Marshall hit Charles Hales for nine yards to midfield. Three plays later, Marshall went deep to a wide-open Chris Henry down the near sideline for a 40-yard touchdown. Henry sat out the first half as disciplinary action for his two unsportsmanlike penalties last week at Rutgers. After his TD catch – his tam-leading 11th of the year, Henry tamely tossed the ball back to the official.
Freshman Pernell Williams tacked on West Virginia’s sixth touchdown of the game with 8:05 remaining in the fourth quarter when he bulled in from the six. The Mountaineers were working from a short field after Wallace tried a fake punt that came up four yards short at the Temple 24.
“The big key for us were our long drives,” said Rodriguez. “We had some pretty good performances. It’s a win and we move on to the next round.”
Temple (1-8, 0-4) tacked on a late score when Washington found Goodman down the far sideline for a 33-yard touchdown with 1:33 remaining.
West Virginia returns to action next Saturday to face Boston College in a noon game that will be televised by ABC. The game has already been announced a sellout.
Temple plays at home against Syracuse before winding up the regular season against Boston College on Saturday, Nov. 20.
Scoring Summary
WV – Harris 5 pass from Marshall (Cooper kick)
WV – Harris 29 pass from Marshall (Cooper kick)
TEM – Washington 1 run (Lux kick)
TEM – Washington 18 run (Lux kick)
WV – Harris 2 run (Cooper kick)
WV – Harris 4 run (Cooper kick)
WV – Henry 40 pass from Marshall (Cooper kick)
WV – Williams 6 run (Cooper kick)
TEM – Goodman 33 pass from Washington (Lux kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: TEM – Washington 21-117, Ferguson 10-82, Brown 11-35, Bennett 1-3, Total 43-23; WV – Marshall 12-81, Williams 16-72, Harris 13-68, Colson 5-19, Hales 1-minus 3, Total 47-237.
Passing: TEM -- Washington 16-24-1-206-1; WV – Marshall 14-19-1-174-3.
Receiving: TEM – Goodman 4-102, Ferguson 3-29, Chuku 2-21, Allbrooks 2-20, Brown 2-13, Harris 2-11, Ibeh 1-10, Total 16-206; WV – Jackson 5-52, Henry 2-46, Harris 2-34, Hales 2-13, Henderson 1-28, Pennington 1-5, Thompson 1-minus 4, Total 14-174.
Attendance: 52,108
