Football News 

The Tulsa Game
September 26, 1998
Mountaineer Field

See Amos Notes

West Virginia (1-1) hosts the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (2-0) in a noon game on Saturday, September 26, 1998, at Mountaineer Field (63,500) in Morgantown. The game will be televised on a replay basis by the Mountaineer Sports Network.

It's Fall Family Weekend at WVU; no tickets remain for the Tulsa game. Updated parking and transportation information will be released on Tuesday.

On campus this weekend will be Mountaineer basketball great Hot Rod Hundley to autograph his new book, "You Gotta Love It, Baby!" at the WVU Bookstore, Mountainlair and Mountaineer Field on Friday and Saturday. A portion of the proceeds from book sales this weekend will benefit the Mountaineer Athletic Club.

The Rankings: West Virginia is ranked 19th in the Associated Press media poll and 20th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll this week. The Mountaineers were ranked 11th in the preseason AP poll and 12th in the preseason ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, WVU's highest ever preseason ranking. West Virginia was one of six teams in both polls to receive a preseason ranking after finishing the 1997 season unranked.

The Series: This will be the first meeting on the gridiron between WVU and Tulsa in the Mountaineers' 106-year football history. Against schools that are now part of the Western Athletic Conference, WVU holds a 6-5-1 all-time mark (3-1 under Nehlen against Colorado State, Hawaii and TCU).

Tulsa Report Card: Tulsa comes to Morgantown with a 2-0 record, with home wins over Southwest Missouri (49-14) and Oklahoma State (35-20). This will be the first road game for Tulsa in the 1998 campaign.

About Coach Nehlen: West Virginia's Don Nehlen, the winningest coach in Mountaineer history, is in his 19th season at West Virginia with a 131-78-4 (.624) record at WVU. Combining that mark with a 53-35-4 (.598) record in nine seasons as head coach at Bowling Green, Nehlen's career totals stand at 184-113-8 (.616) in his 28th season as a collegiate head coach. A 1958 Bowling Green graduate, Nehlen just finished a term as president of the American Football Coaches Association.

Tulsa's Dave Rader is in his 11th season as head coach at his alma mater and has a career record of 46-67-1. He has coached the most games of any Tulsa coach (113), surpassing the mark of the legendary Gloomy Gus Henderson (100 games from 1925-35).

Nehlen Versus: This will be Coach Don Nehlen's first meeting against Tulsa, and also Nehlen's first meeting with Golden Hurricane coach Dave Rader. At West Virginia, Coach Nehlen holds a 1-1 record versus teams from the state of Oklahoma, with a 41-27 win at Oklahoma in 1982 and a 35-33 loss to Oklahoma State in the 1987 Sun Bowl in El Paso.

West Virginia hasn't lost to a team from the Western Athletic Conference since falling to Hawaii 16-13 back on October 11, 1980 -- Don Nehlen's first year at West Virginia. Since then, WVU has faced just two current WAC schools, defeating Colorado State 49-3 in 1981 and topping Texas Christian (then a member of the SWC) 31-14 in the 1984 Bluebonnet Bowl.

Who Gives An S?: Everybody's been asked the famous trivia question of naming the colleges without nicknames that end with a S. Well, it just so happens that in 1998, West Virginia plays three of those schools in the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, Navy Midshipmen and Syracuse Orangemen. In the all-time records, WVU will be meeting Tulsa for the first time and is 1-5 versus Navy and 18-27 against Syracuse.

Identifying the Navy Midshipmen (1-5), Tulsa Golden Hurricane (0-0), Syracuse Orangemen (18-27), Alabama Crimson Tide (0-0), Stanford Cardinal (0-1), North Carolina State Wolfpack (5-4), Nevada-Reno Wolfpack (0-0), Marshall Thundering Herd (5-0), Notre Dame Fighting Irish (0-2) and Illinois Fighting Illini (1-1), West Virginia's all-time record versus teams whose nickname doesn't end with a S is 34-42.

Against Tulsa, the Mountaineers will be trying to break a two-game losing streak against teams whose nickname doesn't end with a S after defeats to Syracuse and Notre Dame last year. Also, 1998 marks the second straight season that three teams whose nickname doesn't end with a S have appeared on the West Virginia schedule; Marshall, Syracuse and Notre Dame were on the '97 slate and WVU was 1-2 in those games. Under Don Nehlen, West Virginia is 8-13 against teams whose nickname doesn't end with a S.

The Captains: Four seniors were elected as captains of the 1998 West Virginia University football team by a vote of the squad. They are Shawn Foreman, Bryan Pukenas, John Thornton and Gary Stills.

Three In A Row: West Virginia is opening the season with three consecutive home games for just the 15th time in Mountaineer history. A three-game opening homestand has happened three previous times under Nehlen; the last was during the 1991 season. WVU's first road contest for 1998 comes next week at Navy.

At Mountaineer Field: This is the 19th season of competition for West Virginia at Mountaineer Field. WVU holds a 79-31-4 (.714) all-time record at the facility, which opened in 1980. Last season, WVU averaged crowds of 52,854 per game at Mountaineer Field to lead the BIG EAST for the third consecutive season.

This season, WVU is averaging 60,344 per home date. Due to the interest in Ohio State tickets, West Virginia sold out its entire supply of season tickets for the first time in school history and sold its allotment for four other 1998 home games before the season started.

However, a limited number of tickets to the WVU-Miami game (October 24) and the WVU-Syracuse game (November 7) will go on sale Monday morning through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and all United National Bank ticket outlets statewide. Each school returned approximately 1,000 tickets for its game to WVU and those will be placed on sale to the general public. Tickets also remain for the WVU-Boston College game on November 21. For more information, call the Mountaineer Ticket Office at 1-800-WVU GAME or visit any United National Bank outlet statewide.

Against Maryland: Behind a stingy first half defense and an explosive offense, West Virginia gained its first victory of the season with a 42-20 defeat of Maryland.

Quarterback Marc Bulger was near perfect on the evening as he completed 20 of 25 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns. Receivers Khori Ivy (game-high 5 catches for 93 yards), Shawn Foreman and Pat Greene each pulled in touchdown passes on the day while tailback Amos Zereoue added two more rushing scores in the victory.

Zereoue also turned in his first 100-yard rushing effort of the season with 135 yards on 24 carries and now has rushed for a 100 yards in a school-record 14 games. His two touchdowns give him scores in 17 of 24 games played for his career at WVU.

Led by the inspired play of John Thornton, the West Virginia defense was outstanding in the first half and held the Terrapins to just 68 total yards (41 rushing, 27 passing). Thornton finished the evening with 10 tackles, three TFL and two quarterback sacks.

The Terrapins were led by the rushing of fullback Matt Kalapinski, who totaled 80 yards and two touchdowns, receiver Omar Cheeseboro had four catches for 67 yards while linebacker Eric Barton turned in 10 tackles. When the dust settled, West Virginia had amassed 468 yards of total offense to Maryland's 262.

Dynamic Duo: West Virginia's senior receiving duo of David Saunders and Shawn Foreman are the only two players in school history to record 70-catch seasons. Saunders, the team's leading receiver in 1996 with 76 catches for 1,043 yards, missed the 1997 season with an injured knee. The slack was taken up by Shawn Foreman last year, who went on to snare a school-record 77 passes for 928 yards. After the Maryland game, the two have combined to catch 241 passes for 3,311 yards, or more than a + mile of yardage.

Two For The Record Books: It will be a good idea to keep an eye on receiver David Saunders and running back Amos Zereoue on Saturday, as the pair has an excellent chance as teammates to accomplish one of the most rare and impressive feats in the history of Mountaineer football.

Saunders needs just two catches to pass Rahsaan Vanterpool (1993-96) for the WVU lead in career receptions. Vanterpool finished his Mountaineer career with 126 catches. If Saunders gets the school record Saturday, it will mark the first time since World War I that the current WVU career receptions and career rushing leaders have played on the same team.

Proficient Passer: Quarterback Marc Bulger's 80.0 completion percentage (20-25) against Maryland was the 10th time in 14 career starts that the junior has completed at least 60 percent of his passes in a game, including a current string of four straight contests dating back through last year. Bulger, who is 13 of 14 in games as a starter with at least a 50.0 completion percentage, has failed to complete half of his pass attempts just once during his career as a starter -- last season at Notre Dame (12-28).

Since that Notre Dame game, Bulger's numbers have been magnificent. He has completed 94 of 145 passes (64.8%) for 1,226 yards and eight touchdowns. He is averaging 306.5 yards per game in his last four outings.

Passing Trend: With the emergence of Bulger at quarterback, West Virginia has relied more heavily on his arm as defenses gang up on Heisman Trophy candidate Amos Zereoue. Though Bulger had his streak of 30 or more pass attempts snapped against Maryland, the passer had his best day as a West Virginia quarterback against the Terps. The Pittsburgh native set career highs in touchdown passes (3) and completion percentage (.800) while hitting 20 of 25 passes for 293 yards in just three quarters of action. It was the fourth straight game he has completed 20 or more passes.

Bulger's three TD passes mark the eighth time in his career that he has tossed more than one touchdown in a game. He had his fourth straight 200-yard passing day against Maryland and eighth overall. Bulger has also completed 11 or more passes in 12 straight games.

The quarterback, who has tossed two or more interceptions just twice in his career, has now had a streak of three straight games with at least two touchdown passes.

Bulger has also posted an impressive touchdown-to-interception ratio of 24-12, or two TD passes for every interception thrown.

And though West Virginia is 0-4 in games when Bulger attempts 30 or more passes, that statistic is a little misleading. In each game where Bulger attempted 30+, West Virginia had difficulty stopping the other team on defense, forcing Bulger to air out the football.

A Total Offense: West Virginia's output of 468 yards of total offense against Maryland was the 11^th straight game where the Mountaineers have produced at least 300 total yards, ever since WVU's 31-24 loss at Boston College last year. During that span, West Virginia has topped the 400-yard mark five times and has averaged 397.9 yards per game.

Spreading It Around: One of the main reasons for West Virginia's productive passing game is QB Marc Bulger's ability to get a number of receivers involved in the offense. Since he became the starter at the beginning of the 1997 campaign, Bulger has managed to complete passes to five or more players in 13 of 14 games. Bulger extended his streak of completing passes to five or more players to 12 games against Maryland last Saturday; the only game where Bulger failed to complete passes to at least five players was against East Carolina last year (three).

Spreading It Around, Part II: Another impressive factor in the passing game is West Virginia's ability to involve tight ends and running backs. Since the 1997 season opener, West Virginia has managed to complete at least one pass to a player other than a wide receiver in every game Marc Bulger has started, including three or more of those passes in four straight games. In the Maryland game, Bulger had a high of 87 yards passing to tight ends and running backs. In 14 career starts, Bulger has completed 48 passes for 580 yards and four touchdowns to running backs and wide receivers.

Within Reach: The following Mountaineers have milestone numbers within reach:

* Coach Don Nehlen needs six coaching wins for 190 career.

* QB Marc Bulger needs 158 passing yards to reach 3,500 career.

* WR Shawn Foreman needs 514 receiving yards to reach 2,000 career.

* WR David Saunders needs 176 receiving yards to reach 2,000 career.

* LB Gary Stills needs two sacks to reach 20 career.

* PK Jay Taylor needs 17 perfect extra point attempts for 100 career consecutive successful conversions.

* PK Taylor also needs just 19 field goals to reach 50 career.

* CB Nate Terry needs 95 kickoff return yards to reach 1,000 career.

* DT John Thornton needs 19 tackles to reach 150 career.

* RB Amos Zereoue needs 164 rushing yards to reach 3,000 career.

Defensive Improvement: West Virginia's defense showed considerable improvement during the Maryland win, particularly the first defensive unit. At halftime, West Virginia allowed Maryland's offense just one sustained drive and 68 total yards, including a meager 27 yards passing. It wasn't until the second half when West Virginia substituted freely that Maryland was able to mount two long scoring drives. Still Maryland, which rushed for nearly 200 yards against Virginia the week prior, managed just 262 total yards for the game.

CH-CH-Changes: Several key changes have taken place on the Mountaineer defense involving regulars who manned other positions in 1997. Strong safety Barrett Green has moved to willie linebacker, free safety Gary Thompkins has switched to strong safety, wide receiver Jerry Porter is now at free safety, fullback Mark Plants has moved to mike linebacker, mike linebacker Damon Cogdell has switched to sam linebacker and defensive tackle Kevin Landolt is now at defensive end. Tight end Antwan Lake moved to rush linebacker following two-a-days and is now backing up Mark Thurston with the injury to Gary Stills. John Thornton is now playing defensive tackle and Charlton Forbes is playing nose, a switch from the preseason. And Perlo Bastien, a starter at wide corner last season, will now move to short corner to replace the injured Nate Terry the rest of the year. These moves were necessitated by the rash of injuries that have plagued the WVU "D" and the fact that the Mountaineer defense allowed 1,285 yards in West Virginia’s final three losses of 1997 to Notre Dame, Pitt and Georgia Tech.

Making The Grade: Redshirt freshman Mark Thurston's debut as Gary Stills' replacement at rush linebacker was a success. The 6-3, 245-lb., Miami native graded out at 90 percent on his assignments, considered championship level by the WVU staff. Thurston had four tackles and one tackle for a loss while playing in 39 total plays. Saturday's game against Maryland was Thurston's first career start. And Thurston's backup Antwan Lake, playing his first-ever game at rush linebacker, also earned a positive grade in 32 snaps.

Taylor Still Impressive: If Don Nehlen had his druthers, he would rather have a separate placekicker and punter, but junior Jay Taylor has other plans. After two games of handling all the Mountaineer kicking duties, Taylor keeps clicking right along.

The Hershey, Pa., native punted four times against Maryland for 182 yards and a 45.5 average. His long punt of the day went for 54 yards, and he put one punt inside the Maryland 20. On the year, Taylor is now averaging 45.5 yards per punt

He also successfully converted all six PAT attempts versus Maryland, making him a perfect 83 for 83 in his WVU career. Taylor is now just two successful conversions shy of Paul Woodside's school record 85 consecutive PATs set from 1981-84. Taylor's 83 career PATs currently place him third on that WVU career list.

By adding six points to his scoring column against Maryland, Taylor now stands third in WVU career kick scoring points with 176.

Defensive Standouts: Top defensive performances from the Maryland games included tackle John Thornton (10 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks); linebacker Barrett Green (9 tackles, 1 PBU); cornerback Scooter Davis (7 tackles, 2 PBU); linebacker Mark Plants (6 tackles); free safety David Lightcap (5 tackles), strong safety Gary Thompkins (5 tackles) and defensive end Kevin Landolt (4 tackles, 2 TFL and 1 flush).

Streaking Receivers: The 1998 receiving corps is arguably among the best in school history. In the first two games, the big four of David Saunders, Shawn Foreman, Pat Greene and Khori Ivy have accounted for 34 receptions, 405 offensive yards and five touchdowns.

The big four also have streaks going between them. Not counting games missed with injury, Saunders has caught at least one pass in 23 straight games, Foreman 14, Greene 12 and Ivy seven.

Average Per Down: Here's a breakdown of the '98 offense to show how the unit operates after two games on first, second, third and fourth down.

On first down, the Mountaineers have run a total of 57 plays and have gained 505 yards for an impressive 8.9 yard average. On second down, the Mountaineers have run 37 plays for 153 yards to give them a 4.1 average. On third down, the Mountaineers have run 24 plays and have gained 109 yards for a 4.6 yard average on third down. West Virginia has tried two fourth down conversions and has gained seven yards for a 3.5 yard average on fourth down.

School Career Chart Movers: Several West Virginia players are advancing among the West Virginia career leaders (Amos Zereoue numbers on separate page):

Perlo Bastien: TIED WITH three other players for 10^th place in career passes broken up with 16 and needs two more to pass Tommy Orr and Preston Waters for seventh (17).

Marc Bulger: TIED FOR SECOND with Oliver Luck and Jeff Hostetler in career 300-yard passing games with two and needs three more to pass Chad Johnston for the school record with four; THIRD in career 300-yard total offensive games with three and needs two to match Chad Johnston and Major Harris for the school record with five; TIED FOR THIRD with Oliver Luck in career 200-yard passing games with nine and needs one to match Chad Johnston and Jeff Hostetler for the school record with 10; FOURTH in career 200-yard total offensive games with seven and needs three to pass Chad Johnston and Jeff Hostetler for third with nine; RANKS EIGHTH in career passing yards with 3,342 and needs 919 yards to pass Jeff Hostetler for seventh with 4,261 yards; RANKS EIGHTH in career pass completions with 254 and needs 56 to match Bernie Galiffa and Jeff Hostetler for sixth with 310; RANKS NINTH in career pass attempts with 427 and needs 29 to pass Darren Studstill for seventh with 456; TENTH in career total offense with 3,241 yards and needs 186 yards to pass Fred Wyant for ninth with 3,426 yards.

Shawn Foreman: RANKS FOURTH in career receptions with 115 and needs nine to pass Mark Raugh for third with 123; TIED WITH Rich Hollins for sixth in career 100-yard receiving games with four and needs one to match Jay Kearney for fifth (5); TIED FOR SIXTH in career touchdown receptions with Jim Braxton, Steve Lewis and James Jett with 11 and needs one to match Rahsaan Vanterpool for fifth with 12; RANKS NINTH in career receiving yards with 1,486 and needs 24 to pass Marshall Mills for eighth with 1,501.

Barrett Green: RANKS NINTH in career interception return yardage with 143 and needs eight yards to pass Bo Orlando for seventh (150).

David Saunders: SCHOOL RECORD HOLDER in career 100-yard receiving games with seven; RANKS SECOND in career receptions with 125 and needs two to pass Rahsaan Vanterpool for the school record (126); RANKS FOURTH in career receiving yards with 1,824 and needs 107 yards to pass Cedric Thomas for third with 1,930 yards; tied for 10^th in career touchdown receptions with three other players with 10 and needs one to match Shawn Foreman, James Jett, Jim Braxton and Steve Lewis for sixth (11).

Gary Stills: FIFTH in career quarterback sacks with 18 and needs two to pass Darryl Talley for fourth (19).

Jay Taylor: SCHOOL RECORD HOLDER with the highest percentage of PATs in a career at 100.0 (83-83) among players with at least 50 attempts; RANKS THIRD in career field goals made with 31 and needs 22 to pass Charlie Baumann for second (52); THIRD in career kick scoring with 176 points and needs 116 points to pass Charlie Baumann for second with 291; FOURTH in career extra points made with 83 and needs nine to pass Frank Nestor for third with 95; RANKS FOURTH in career extra points attempted with 83 and needs 19 to pass Frank Nestor for third with 101; TIED WITH Ken Juskowich and Bill McKenzie for third in career field goals attempted with 43 and needs 27 to pass Charlie Baumann for second (70).

Nate Terry: SCHOOL RECORD HOLDER with two career kickoff returns for a touchdown; RANKS SIXTH in career kickoff return yardage with 905 and needs 162 yards to pass Fulton Walker for fifth (1,066); TENTH in career punt return yardage with 408 yards.

Thunder Thornton: You could see his eyes light up during the week leading up to the Maryland game. The news was out. Senior captain John "Thunder" Thornton was switching from nose guard to the tackle position in an effort to replace the pass rush lost with the injury to Gary Stills. Thunder was happy about the move and it showed in his performance.

In a dominating display, Thunder Thornton was turned loose and responded with 10 tackles, two quarterback sacks for a loss of 12 yards and three tackles for a loss of 18 yards. Instead of the doubleteaming he faced at nose, Thornton was in the Maryland backfield all night.

Green Day: Junior Barrett Green continues to be a smashing success at linebacker after making the conversion from strong safety. After a game-high 13 tackles against Ohio State, Green followed up with nine tackles (six unassisted, three assisted) and one PBU against Maryland. Green's nine stops were second best on the team against the Terps after John Thornton (10). On the year, Green continues to lead the team in tackles with 22.

In The Red Zone: When the Mountaineers are first-and-10 inside the opponents' 20-yard line, West Virginia has scored 7 of 7 times this season for a 100.0% success rate. Of those scores inside the 20, all were touchdowns (5 passing and 2 rushing). WVU's opponents are 7-7 (100.0%) in the red zone this year, scoring on one touchdown pass, four rushing TDs and two field goals.

Fourth-Down Conversions: West Virginia is 1-2 (.500) this season on its fourth-down conversions. The Mountaineer opponents are 2-2 (1.000) on fourth-down attempts.

September Record: West Virginia holds a 51-18-3 record in September games under Don Nehlen, and the Mountaineers are 32-9-1 at home during that month in the Nehlen era. West Virginia holds a 134-58-5 all-time September record.

Of Starters: Going into the West Virginia-Tulsa game, the Mountaineers now have a total of 29 players with at least one game of starting experience on the home sideline. Of those, seven have had more than 20 starts in their careers, led by senior nose tackle John Thornton with 31. He is followed by offensive linemen Bryan Pukenas, Eric de Groh and Solomon Page with 26 each. Wide receiver David Saunders has started 25 contests. Freshman rush linebacker Mark Thurston made his first career start against Maryland.

Fifteen To Go: The Mountaineer football program needs just 15 more victories to join the 600-win club. Currently, there are 14 NCAA Division I-A programs with more than 600 football wins, led by Michigan with 776. West Virginia is 18^th with 585. Immediately ahead of the Mountaineers are Colorado, Washington and Auburn.

Still Around: There are currently 14 former West Virginia players on NFL active rosters. The list of Mountaineers on NFL teams include: QB Jeff Hostetler (Washington), WR James Jett (Oakland), OG Mike Compton (Detroit), RB Adrian Murrell (Arizona), LB Bernard Russ and TE Lovett Purnell (New England), OG Rich Braham (Cincinnati), CB Aaron Beasley and S Mike Logan (Jacksonville), PK Mike Vanderjagt (Indianapolis), S Bo Orlando (Pittsburgh), P Todd Sauerbrun (Chicago), DE John Browning (Kansas City) and DT Mike Fox (Carolina).

Of those players, nine were opening day starters in Jett, Compton, Murrell, Braham, Beasley, Sauerbrun, Browning and Vanderjagt.

The Record Book After Maryland: Several updates to the Mountaineer record book after the Maryland game: Marc Bulger's three touchdown passes Saturday marked the first trio of TD throws by a Mountaineer since Chad Johnston had three against Rutgers in 1996;

David Carter's blocked punt and recovery for a touchdown marked the first time that had happened since 1984, when Fred Smalls blocked a punt and Cam Zopp recovered it in the endzone against Louisville. WVU's last blocked punt and return for a touchdown was by Gary Thompkins last year against Marshall. WVU's last blocked punt was by Khari Mott at Syracuse last season.

Maryland's 97 yards passing offense were the fewest by a WVU opponent since the Terrapins passed for just 53 yards in the 1996 matchup;

West Virginia's 14 penalties were a Mountaineer Field record for WVU; the previous high was 13 penalties against Temple in 1983, against Pitt in 1985 and against Boston College in 1996.

Lambert/Meadowlands Poll Begins: Balloting for the 1998 Lambert/Meadowlands Trophy begins Monday, September 21. The Lambert Trophy has been presented to the Eastern football champion every year since 1936. Lambert Trophy information is available at www.meadowlands.com.

MSN Information: The Mountaineer Sports Network will provide live radio coverage via satellite on 52 stations statewide and throughout the East. The broadcasts can also be heard live on the internet at www.broadcast.com. Tony Caridi will handle the play-by-play, joined by color commentator Woody O'Hara and stadium reporter John Garcia. The replay television broadcast will be a simulcast of the radio broadcast; it will air Saturday night and Sunday morning on WCHS (Charleston), WBOY (Clarksburg), WOAY (Beckley), WTRF (Wheeling), WNPB (Morgantown) and several regional cable outlets nationwide.

Total Cast: New this season, real-time statistics and play-by-play of West Virginia football games will be available on the internet. The service, provided by Raleigh, N.C.-based TotalSports can be accessed directly through www.MSNsportsNET.com.

Lucky Fans: During all home games, the WVU cheerleaders and Mountaineer will stage the Champion T-Shirt Toss, and a lucky fan who purchases a Mountaineer Illustrated will receive a Champion pullover jacket or a McDonald's prize package. The West Virginia lottery awards all persons in two lucky rows five lottery tickets each during the game, and on MSN radio, the United States Cellular/Papa John's Listen To Win contest can help a lucky fan each week win a year's supply of pizza, a phone plus airtime and a Mountaineer replica jersey.

Where The Opponents Play: In BIG EAST action, Temple travels to Maryland, Rutgers hosts Army, Boston College goes to Louisville, Miami entertains UCLA and Pitt plays at Virginia Tech. Also, Navy visits Tulane, while Ohio State and Syracuse are idle.

How The Opponents Did: In BIG EAST action, Syracuse topped Rutgers 70-14, Boston College beat Temple 31-7, Virginia Tech won at Miami 27-20 in overtime and Pitt lost to Penn State 20-13. Also, Ohio State downed Missouri 35-14 and Navy topped Kent State 38-24. Tulsa was idle.

Other Sports On Campus: Other WVU varsity sports in action this week include the WVU women's soccer team, which travels to Florida Atlantic for a game Friday and Central Florida for a Sunday match. The Mountaineer men's soccer team hosts Boston College at 4:30 Saturday, while the women's tennis team is in action all weekend at the Maryland Invitational.

Where They Go Next: West Virginia plays its first road game of the season in a noon game at Navy next Saturday that will be televised nationally by Fox Sports. Tulsa hosts San Diego State next Saturday.