Mountaineers Humble No. 3 Hokies
By Grant Traylor

MORGANTOWN, WV--As the undefeated Virginia Tech Hokies stepped onto
the field at Mountaineer Field, the prestige of being #3 and undefeated
at 6-0 shimmered on the shoulders of the scarlet and orange clad
players. Little did these undefeated Hokies realize what they were in
for on Wednesday night. This was a game to remember in Morgantown as
the muscle of the West Virginia Mountaineers helped them power their
way to a 28-7 win over the out-hustled Hokies.

Virginia Tech struggled all game long with their own mental
mistakes.
The Hokies committed 13 penalties for 115 yards and quarterback Bryan
Randall ended the game 14-22 passing with 3 INTs. WVU’s swarming
defense gave the Hokies all sorts of problems offensively as the Hokies
weren’t able to get any points on the stingy Mountaineer defense, who
was led by Brian King with two INTs. Also, the Mountaineers only gave
up 74 yards rushing which included 57 to Heisman candidate Kevin Jones.

West Virginia took advantage of two Hokie turnovers in the first
quarter by driving down the field for touchdowns on each. Running
backs Quincy Wilson and K.J. Harris carried the mail for West Virginia
who rushed for 264 yards in the game. Each of them scored on TD runs
early as the Mountaineers raced to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter.
Harris, who ran for 77 yards, took a TD in from seven yards out with
4:22 to play to mark the first score of the game.

Less than two minutes later after the Randall fumble was recovered
by
freshman Mike Morrello, it was Wilson rumbling in from five yards out
at the 2:01 mark to cap a three play, 36 yard drive which took only :40
off the clock. Wilson absolutely obliterated the Virginia Tech defense
by rushing 33 times for 178 yards and the early score.

The lone bright spot for VT came as it seemed the Mountaineers were
destined to go into the end zone again before halftime. However, a
handoff to Quincy Wilson never reached him; instead it found the
waiting arms of Hokie linebacker Vegas Robinson. Robinson returned the
ball to the 50 where it appeared as if he were down. The referee, who
was right in front of the play, ruled that it was a fumble and VT
cornerback Vincent Fuller returned the ball the rest of the way for the
Hokie’s lone score.

The third quarter really started slowly as both teams went three
and
out and it seemed like the Hokies might pick up some immediate momentum
due to a Mountaineer mistake. On Virginia Tech’s punt, Pac-Man Jones
fumbled the kick, but managed to recover at the Mountaineer six yard
line. This had the Mountaineers pinned deep and the Hokies smelling
blood.

One would think that with a change in momentum WVU would be content
to
run the ball and try and establish a drive to get the crowd back to
life. This was not the case as WVU caught the Hokies with man-to-man
coverage on the outside. Rasheed Marshall threw a beautiful play
action post to speedy receiver Travis Garvin. Garvin outraced burned
cover man Michael Crawford 93 yards to the end zone to give the
Mountaineers a 21-7 lead. Not only did Marshall and Garvin give the
Mountaineers a 14 point lead, they gave the team the longest TD pass in
WVU history and they gave the crowd a reason to cheer again.

With the crowd back in the game, the Hokies automatically had to
burn
a timeout on offense due to the noise. The timeout didn’t help as WVU
cornerback Pac-Man Jones atoned for his earlier miscue on the punt. He
intercepted Randall’s pass in WVU territory but managed to return it
all the way to Virginia Tech’s 37. However, a clip on the return and a
personal foul penalty pushed the ball back to the Mountaineer 32.
Still, it was Virginia Tech’s third turnover of the game and the miscue
gave WVU the ball back while nursing a 14 point lead.


The Mountaineers could not capitalize on the Hokie miscue, but
punter
Todd James did manage to pin VT at their own eight yard line. Virginia
Tech went three-and-out due to another personal foul and VT’s punt was
returned by Lance Frazier to the Hokie 37 yard line. The Mountaineers
immediately drove down the field to put the score 28-7 with 2:57 left
in the third as Rasheed Marshall ran the ball in from six yards out.
The Mountaineers, aided by two more Hokie personal foul calls, went 37
yards in seven plays.

The Hokies looked as if they might start a come back late in the
third
with Bryan Randall and Justin Hamilton hooking up on two straight
passes, but Randall went back to the bread basket one too many times as
Brian King intercepted the third pass intended for Hamilton. The
interception, King’s second of the game, killed any hopes the Hokies
had of coming back on this night. After the interception, the
Mountaineers ran the ball behind Quincy Wilson into the fourth quarter
and they never looked back from there winning the game convincingly
28-7.

With the loss, the Hokies drop to 6-1 and it doesn’t figure to get
any easier from here. Next week, the Hokies go back home to battle #2
Miami, who is also undefeated. The loss this week virtually takes
Virginia Tech out of the BCS picture making next week’s game a must-win
if they want to win the Big East. For West Virginia, the win takes
them into next week’s contest against MAC member Central Florida at
3-4.