By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET
September 18, 1999

COLLEGE PARK, MD -- LaMont Jordan rushed for a career-high 164 yards to lead unbeaten Maryland to a 33-0 shutout of West Virginia Saturday afternoon in College Park, Md.

It was the first blanking endured by West Virginia since the 1995 season losing 27-0 to Virginia Tech. It was the Mountaineers' most lopsided defeat since a 41-7 loss to Florida in the 1993 Sugar Bowl.

Maryland quarterback Calvin McCall threw two touchdowns to lead the Terrapins to their first 3-0 start since 1995. The three wins matched Maryland's win total for the entire 1998 season.

West Virginia, now 1-2, had trouble all afternoon advancing the football on Maryland's tough defense. West Virginia quarterback Marc Bulger matched a career-high with four interceptions and also lost a fumble on an ill-fated option pitch that led to a Maryland 28-yard touchdown return.

Bulger finished the afternoon completing 17-of-30 passes for 152 yards. It was the first time in 17 games Bulger didn't toss at least one TD pass.

"I'll take the blame for the way the offense played today. We definitely didn't show up," Bulger said. "It makes you mad. The coaches work so hard. We work so hard during the summer, and to come out and perform like we did today, it didn't look like we had practice yet."

Maryland, which opened the scoring on a Jordan seven-yard run, led 13-0 at halftime. The Terrapins increased the margin to 19-0 when McCall hit tight end Eric James on a one-yard score.

The Terrapins added seven more shortly after when Bulger's option pitch sailed wide of running back Cooper Rego, and Maryland cornerback Lewis Sanders picked up the football and raced 28 yards to the end zone.

Maryland's final score came on an eight-yard pass from McCall to fullback Matt Kalapinski.

"We couldn't have beaten anybody today," West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said. "It didn't matter who we played. We just happened to play Maryland."

West Virginia managed just 90 rushing yards on 31 carries, though backup tailback Cooper Rego gained 83 yards as Avon Cobourne's replacement.

Maryland produced 427 total yards including 249 on the ground.

West Virginia is back on the road next weekend at Syracuse.

Scoring Summary

MD -- Jordan 7 run (Kopka kick)
MD -- FG Kopka 31
MD -- FG Kopka 27
MD -- James 1 pass from McCall (conversion failed)
MD -- Sanders 28 fumble return (Kopka kick)
MD -- Kalapinski 8 pass from McCall (Kopka kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing -- WVU: Rego 20-83, A. Green 2-12, Lewis 2-minus 2, Abraham 1-1, Wilson 4-0, Bulger 2-minus 8, Total 31-90; MD: Jordan 22-164, Perry 7-47, Kalapinski 4-15, Killian 2-12, McCall 8-11, Defreitas 1-5, Riley 1-3, Westley 2-minus 3, Rogers 1-minus 5, Total 48-249.

Passing -- WVU: Bulger 17-30-4-152, Lewis 1-2-0-7, Fazzolari 0-1-0-0, Total 18-33-4-159; MD: McCall 11-19-0-178, Total 11-19-0-178.

Receiving -- WVU: A. Brown 9-57, Osegueda 3-44, Ivy 2-19, Greene 2-13, Becht 1-19, Berton 1-7, Total 18-159; MD: Arrington 2-69, James 2-29, Gary 2-22, Jordan 2-15, Riley 1-26, Perry 1-9, Kalapinski 1-8.

Attendance: 33,169