Sunday, September 12, 1999

WEST VIRGINIA 43, MIAMI 27

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Sloppy Redhawks embarrass Hoeppner

BY JOHN RABY
Associated Press

Miami's Bob Petrovic chases West Virginia's Avon Cobourne. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A week after surrendering 327 rushing yards to East Carolina, West Virginia got six sacks and forced Miami RedHawks quarterback Mike Bath to throw four interceptions in a 43-27 victory Saturday.

        “Their defense did a great job getting pressure on him,” said Miami coach Terry Hoeppner. “Their defense set up 17 of their points and we lose by 16. You've got to give credit to their defense.”

        Said Hoeppner of his team: “Sloppy. We played a sloppy football game. I'm embarassed for our fans, but it's fixable things.”

        West Virginia's offense also got on track. Marc Bulger, who had a subpar season opener last week, threw for three touchdowns and redshirt freshman Avon Cobourne rushed for 142 yards in his second start.

        Miami, which held Northwestern to a field goal in its season opener, allowed the most points it has in five seasons and saw an eight-game winning streak snapped.

        Miami (1-1) also lost for the first time in 12 games when Travis Prentice exceeds 150 yards rushing. He had 163 yards on 29 carries, most of it after halftime.

        “We should have had more points on the board,” Prentice said. “We shot ourselves in the foot. They put a lot of pressure on us and forced us to make some mistakes.”

West Virginia's Cooper Rego dives for extra yardage as Miami's Versellias Hammond makes the tackle. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        West Virginia, which hasn't lost to a Mid-American Conference school since 1945, count ered with Bulger, the Big East's top quarterback, who wore a brace on a sore left knee.

        The career 62 percent passer started slow but hit 12-of-17 attempts and threw for 175 yards after halftime to stave off a Miami comeback. He finished 19-of-35 for 226 yards.

        “I didn't worry about my knee too much. It wasn't hurting,” Bulger said.

        Bulger credited his young offensive line, making just its second collective start.

        “They were blitzing so much from the outside. We did a good job spreading them out,” Bulger said.

        Bulger threw first-quarter scores of 2 yards to Anthony Green and 14 yards to Khori Ivy. He also found a wide-open Antonio Brown from 26 yards out in the fourth quarter.

        “He was a much better quarterback in the second half,” West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said.

        “Marc didn't have a good first half. He was probably favoring that leg a little bit. I think it loosened up in the second half.”

        Cobourne capped a 10-play drive with a short TD run late in the third quarter for a 29-14 lead, and Miami got no closer than eight points afterward.

        “I just tried to go out and show that I have some mobility,” Cobourne said. “We wanted to come here and let people know we can run the ball.”

        Prentice scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to pass Tony Dorsett for fourth place in NCAA career scoring with 366 points.

        Bath finished 16-of-38 for 312 yards, including first-half scores of 55 and 62 yards past blown coverage.

        “Had we not screwed up a couple of coverages and given up some big, big plays, it would have really been an outstanding effort,” Nehlen said.

        West Virginia avoided its first 0-2 start since 1979.

        “That's not a record I was trying to establish,” Nehlen said.

        Saturday's crowd of 43,799 at Mountaineer Field was the smallest for a West Virginia home opener since the two teams played to a 29-29 tie in 1992 when Miami's one-play wonder, Bobby Lee Coy, booted a 44-yard field goal that cleared the crossbar by inches in the final two minutes.

        “I thought we were ready to play,” Hoeppner said. “I think we did some good things. But ... too many turnovers, too many missed tackles, some blown things on defense that we don't normally do.

        Nehlen was impressed with Prentice. “He's a man. He's a big, strong guy. If they're in a tight game, he's going to win games for game. He just gets better, I think.”

        Overall, Nehlen, former Bowling Green coach, thinks Miami will give Marshall a stern test in the Mid-American Conference race.

        “Miami's a very experienced offensive team,” Nehlen said. “I have all the respect in the world for Miami, and I wish them well the rest of the their season.”

        Hoeppner was not surprised that West Virginia rebounded from last week's poor effort.

        The RedHawks play their home opener Saturday against MAC foe Eastern Michigan at 2 p.m. in Yager Stadium.

        Miami ....... 7  7  0 13—27

        West Virginia ....... 16  3 10 14—43

        First Quarter

        WVU—FG Taylor 29, 9:47

        Mia—Johnson 55 pass from Bath (Brumbergs kick), 6:48

        WVU—A.Green 2 pass from Bulger (Taylor kick), 5:26

        WVU—Ivy 14 pass from Bulger (kick failed), 0:02

        Second Quarter

        Mia—Gaylor 62 pass from Bath (Brumbergs kick), 14:05

        WVU—FG Taylor 35, 6:47

        Third Quarter

        WVU—FG Taylor 21, 10:08

        WVU—Cobourne 1 run (Taylor kick), 1:55

        Fourth Quarter

        Mia—Prentice 3 run (Brumbergs kick), 14:08

        WVU—A.Brown 26 pass from Bulger (Taylor kick), 12:47

        Mia—Prentice 81 pass from Gaylor (kick blocked), 12:20

        WVU—Porter 68 interception return (Taylor kick), 8:09

        A—43,799

        INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

        RUSHING—Miami, Prentice 29-163, Gaylor 1-2, Bath 12-(-13). WVirginia, Cobourne 18-142, Rego 16-77, A.Green 3-18, A.Brown 1-9, Bulger 3-(-28).

        PASSING—Miami, Bath, 16-38-4-312, Gaylor 1-1-0-81, WVirginia, Bulger 19-35-0-226.

        RECEIVING—Miami, Gaylor 6-153, Johnson 4-86, Buxton 4-54, Prentice 2-87, Branch 1-13. WVirginia, A.Brown 6-61, Greene 4-50, Ivy 4-83, Becht 2-16, Cobourne 1-8, Osegueda 1-6, A.Green 1-2.

                          Miami     West Va
First downs                  24          25 
Rushed-yards             42-152      41-218 
Passing yards               393         226 
Sacked-yards lost          6-25        2-14 
Return yards                  5          88 
Passes                  17-39-4     19-35-0 
Punts                    5-35.4      6-29.8 
Fumbles-lost                4-1         3-1 
Penalties-yards           11-96        4-48 
Time of possession        30:28       29:32 

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