'Canes Climb Over Mountaineers, 40-23

Oct 26, 2002

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By JOHN RABY
AP Sports Writer

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Miami’s run defense had yet another poor showing, so Ken Dorsey came to the rescue with his best game ever.

Dorsey threw for a career-high 422 yards and two touchdowns as top-ranked Miami defeated stubborn West Virginia 40-23 Saturday.

He set school career records for completions (564), yards passing (8,024) and total offense (7,981), all previously set by Gino Torretta from 1989-92.

Except for two career categories, Dorsey now has surpassed Heisman Trophy winners Torretta and Vinny Testaverde, along with Bernie Kosar, Craig Erickson and Steve Walsh.

“Ken has been so steady and so good that you sometimes take him for granted as a football coach,” Miami coach Larry Coker said.

The Hurricanes (7-0, 3-0 Big East) pulled away from a 17-all third-quarter tie to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 29 games, which equaled the school record set from 1990-92. The current streak started in Morgantown two years ago.

West Virginia (5-3, 2-1) stayed in the game because it was able to run on the Hurricanes.

Just like two weeks ago against Florida State, Miami’s run defense was pummeled. This time it was Avon Cobourne, backup Quincy Wilson and quarterback Rasheed Marshall doing the damage, as the Hurricanes allowed a season-high 363 yards on the ground.

It was the most allowed by Miami since Syracuse compiled 318 yards rushing in 1998.

“Every team is going to try to rush on us,” Miami defensive end Andrew Williams said. “Other teams will get 300 yards also if they don’t pass.”

Cobourne, the nation’s third-leading rusher, finished with 26 carries for 175 yards, his sixth 100-yard effort of the season.

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“I don’t know what happened. I can’t explain it until we actually watch the film,” linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. “We made a couple of adjustments and played better ball the second half.”

Although the Hurricanes were held to a season-low 102 yards rushing, Willis McGahee showed he was healed from a turf toe injury with 112 yards and three short scores.

Dorsey overcame a sluggish first half to finish 22-of-36. His previous high for yards was 362 against Nebraska in the Rose Bowl last January and against Florida State two weeks ago.

“Gino can’t give me a hard time after today,” Dorsey said with a smile. “We have such a good friendship that we can joke about things like that.”

Dorsey, who is 33-1 as a starter, also is within one TD pass of tying the Big East mark of 77 set by Syracuse’s Donovan McNabb from 1995-98.

Only after West Virginia ran out of steam late in the third quarter did Miami finally take control by scoring the final 16 points.

“We’re not into moral victories, so don’t even ask that,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. “In the fourth quarter, we had a couple of breakdowns and we couldn’t make plays. They did. That was the difference.”

Leading 24-23, Dorsey hit Andre Johnson with a 12-yard scoring pass late in the third quarter. On its next possession, Miami needed just 51 seconds to go 87 yards. Dorsey passed for 82 yards on the drive, which was capped by McGahee’s 1-yard plunge for a 37-23 lead one minute into the fourth quarter.

Johnson, who finished with six catches for 111 yards, also caught a 42-yard TD pass on Miami’s fifth play from scrimmage. But Dorsey had eight straight incompletions as Miami’s offense failed to find the end zone on five consecutive possessions.

Dorsey recovered to complete 4 of 5 passes on a drive late in the second quarter, including a 22-yard pass to Kevin Beard that set up McGahee’s 1-yard TD run to make it 17-7.

But McGahee fumbled on the first play of the second half, and West Virginia’s Kevin Freeman recovered at the Hurricanes 14. On third down, Marshall reacted to a blitz by darting to his left for a 13-yard TD run to tie the game at 17.

The Mountaineers couldn’t keep the momentum and started coming unglued after a personal-foul penalty on a punt. Miami needed just three plays to take the lead for good.

Dorsey faked a handoff to McGahee, then found him down the right sideline for a 57-yard gain to the West Virginia 2. McGahee scored two plays later for a 24-17 lead.

Miami’s Quadtrine Hill, who had 50 yards receiving all year, caught six passes for 108 yards.