Marshall Makes It Close

A lot has changed in the 74 years since West Virginia and Marshall last played a football game.

The Mountaineers beat Marshall, 81-0, the last time the teams played and, 92-6, the time before that.

But on Saturday at Morgantown, W. Va., Marshall, playing in Division I-A for the first time, made it interesting before losing to the Mountaineers, 42-31.

Marshall, a 16-point underdog, even led, 31-28, in the fourth quarter.

“I’ve never seen so much hype for a football game before,” West Virginia Coach Don Nehlen said. “It was a good game for the players, but a much better game for the crowd.”

Said Marshall receiver LaVorn Colclough: “We showed everybody what Marshall’s all about.”

Randy Moss had seven receptions for 85 yards and two touchdowns for Marshall, but West Virginia got key fourth-quarter interceptions from Nate Terry to regain and then build on its lead.

After West Virginia built a 28-3 lead late in the second quarter, Marshall thundered back to go ahead, 31-28, on Moss’ 25-yard touchdown reception from Chad Pennington with three seconds left in the third quarter.

With a Mountaineer Field crowd of 65,492 looking on, Marshall then forced the Mountaineers to punt and looked like it was on its way to a monumental upset.

But Terry took the ball away from Colclough at the Marshall 26 with 12:57 remaining, and four plays later West Virginia went ahead, 35-31, on Marc Bulger’s 15-yard touchdown pass to tight end Chad Wable with 11:07 left.

Terry, a transfer from Merced (Calif.) Junior College, intercepted his second pass on the next series at the Marshall 35 and Amos Zereoue scored on a one-yard run with 7:56 left.

The Thundering Herd, I-AA champions last season, lost for the first time in 16 games.

Virginia Tech 59, Rutgers 19--Even with quarterback Jim Druckenmiller now in the pros and only nine starters back from last year, the Hokies gave indications in this game at Piscataway, N.J., that they will make a serious run at a third consecutive Big East Conference title.

Quarterback Al Clark, Druckenmiller’s backup the past two seasons, scored on an 81-yard run and threw two long touchdown passes in his first start. Clark finished with 147 passing yards and 118 rushing yards.

The Hokies gained 501 yards and got two touchdowns and six turnovers from their defense in posting their largest opening-day victory since a 40-0 decision over Roanoke in 1912.

For Rutgers, the start to Terry Shea’s second season was an embarrassment. The loss was Rutgers’ worst opening-day setback at home and the most one-sided season opener since 1896, when it lost, 44-0, at Princeton.

Pittsburgh 45, Southwestern Louisiana 13--Pete Gonzalez, finally winning the Pittsburgh quarterback’s job as a fifth-year senior, threw for three touchdowns and ran for another at Pittsburgh as the Panthers made a winner of new Coach Walt Harris.

Harris, formerly the quarterback coach at Ohio State and with the New York Jets, had a more successful opener with the Panthers than he did in his first game as a head coach at Pacific in 1989, which was a loss at Pittsburgh.

The Panthers led only 17-13 after a blocked punt and a fumble recovery led to Southwestern Louisiana scores, but outscored the Ragin’ Cajuns, 28-0, in the second half.