By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
October 23, 1999

MORGANTOWN, W.VA. -- Senior Jay Taylor nailed a 32-yard field goal with six seconds left to give West Virginia a 20-17 win over Temple Saturday at Mountaineer Field.

It was West Virginia's special teams play that made the difference on a cold and dreary afternoon.

"Special teams is what got it done for us," admitted West Virginia coach Don Nehlen.

A blocked punt led to West Virginia's first touchdown in the second quarter, and a Nate Terry 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with a 1:40 left in the second quarter put West Virginia back in the lead.

The Owls scored first with 4:32 left in the first quarter when Devin Scott found Terrance Leftwich for a 13-yard touchdown.

After the blocked punt, WVU answered with Avon Cobourne's two-yard touchdown run. For the freshman, who finished the afternoon with 127 yards on 29 carries, it was his sixth rushing touchdown of the season.

West Virginia added three more points on a Taylor 36-yard field goal with 5:29 left in the half. West Virginia managed to put together an eight-play, 55-yard drive to position the football at the 19 yard line for Taylor's field goal -- just one of two long scoring drives that resulted in West Virginia scores for the game.

Temple made it 14-10 on Scott's second touchdown pass of the contest. On a third and goal play, a falling Scott found tailback Marcus Godfrey for the five-yard score.

On Cap Poklemba's ensuing kick, Nate Terry took the football at the 21 and raced right up the middle of the field for his third career kickoff return for a touchdown. His return set a WVU record for career kickoff return yardage with 1,377, passing Willie Drewery's total of 1,329 yards from 1981-84.

Temple got the football back at the West Virginia 44, and Scott found Sean Dillard for a 31-yard completion that placed the football at the WVU 25 with 1:12 left.

After an incomplete pass, Marcus Godfrey fumbled and the ball was recovered by Shannon Washington at the WVU 31 with 54 seconds left.

Instead of running out the clock, West Virginia quarterback Marc Bulger attempted a long pass down the sideline for Jerry Porter that was picked off by Kevin Harvey.

"We've got to make that play," Nehlen barked. "We've got a 6'3" receiver and they've got a 5'10" back. The 5'10" back makes the interception."

The Owls ran out the clock to end a wild first half. At halftime, Temple had outgained West Virginia 206-107.

In the second half the West Virginia defense got its act together. WVU permitted Temple just 20 second-half plays and 91 total yards, most of which came on a 46-yard pass play from Scott to Greg Muckerson.

"I was actually running with the guy," said safety Gary Thompkins, who picked off a pass that foiled one Temple scoring opportunity in the first quarter. "The quarterback underthrows the ball and makes a big play."

Temple had the football at the WVU 12 with a fresh set of downs, but could advance the ball to the Mountaineer five before Poklemba's 22-yard field goal tied the score at 17.

Things got worse for West Virginia on the ensuing kick when upback Corey McIntyre fumbled and the ball was recovered by Temple's Akeiff Staples at the West Virginia 40.

After an Owl first down, linebacker Barrett Green sacked Scott for an 11-yard loss to put the ball back to the West Virginia 39. Another negative play and a five-yard procedure penalty made it third and 27 at the WVU 45. Scott could manage just a three-yard pass to Godfrey to force a Temple punt.

West Virginia took over the football with 5:01 left at its own 15-yard line. Bulger found tight end Anthony Becht for 19 yards on second and 10 to move the football out to the 34. After a four-yard loss and an incomplete pass, Bulger hit Becht for 17 yards to give West Virginia another first down at the 47.

Three plays later, Bulger hit Cobourne for 15 yards on third and 17 to move the football to the Temple 45. Then on fourth down Nehlen gambled.

The coach decided to go for it and sent fullback Anthony Green out in the flat for an 11-yard gain to give West Virginia a first down at the Temple 34.

"We were out there to try and win," Nehlen stated. "I thought we had a good play and it was well-executed."

"I just wanted to make sure I hit Anthony in the middle of the body," quarterback Marc Bulger added.

Cobourne ripped off a 16-yard gain to the Temple 16 to position the football in field goal range. After two runs to move the ball into the middle of the field, Taylor converted the 32-yard chip shot to give West Virginia its third win of the season.

"Probably the biggest play of the game was Zach Anglin on the field goal," said Nehlen. "He made a great hold. That ball was way over his head and somehow he got it down."

Bulger, making his first appearance since being injured at Syracuse back on Sept. 25, completed 16-of-29 passes for 266 yards.

"We didn't score nearly as many points as we should have," said Bulger, who admitted his injured finger bothered him some this afternoon.

Khori Ivy caught four passes for 67 yards to lead Mountaineer receivers.

Devin Scott completed 24-of-47 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns. Scott could manage just 91 yards through the air in the second half though.

Jason McKie was Temple's top ground gainer with 43 yards. But like the passing game, the Owls could manage very little in the second half, losing a yard on 10 rushing attempts.

"Temple is a sold football team," marveled Nehlen. "They've got some good athletes and they will beat some people."

"The players kept fighting, the defense kept fighting and we were in it right to the end," said Temple coach Bobby Wallace.

West Virginia, now 3-4, will travel to Miami to face the Hurricanes next weekend in the Orange Bowl. Kickoff is set for noon and the game will be televised live on CBS.

Scoring Summary

TU - Leftwich 13 pass from Scott (Poklemba)
WV - Cobourne 2 run
WV - Taylor 36 FG
UT - Godfrey 5 pass from Scott (Poklemba)
WV - Terry 81 kickoff return (Taylor)
UT - Poklemba 22 FG
WV - Taylor 32 FG

Individual Statistics

Rushing: TEM - McKie 6-43, Godfrey 12-41, Scott 8-minus 17, Total 26-67; WV - Cobourne 29-127, Porter 1-6, A. Brown 1-5, Rego 3-3, A. Green 3-3, Bulger 6-minus 40, Total 43-104.

Passing: TEM - Scott 24-47-2-297-2, Total 24-47-2-297-2; WV - Bulger 16-29-2-266-0, Total 16-29-2-266-0.

Receiving: TEM - Johnson 7-85, Godfrey 6-46, Muckerson 4-85, Leftwich 3-25, Khamis 2-16, Dillard 1-31, Wallace 1-9, Total 24-297; WV - Ivy 4-67, A. Brown 3-41, Becht 3-58, Porter 3-64, Cobourne 2-25, A. Green 1-11, Total 16-266.

Attendance: 34,908