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Both teams
struggled offensively in the first quarter to start the game. The
only scoring in the period was a 24-yard field goal by Brad Cooper
to cap off an 11-play, 49-yard drive.
West Virginia kept its 3-0 lead until the Mountaineers converted two
fourth down conversions on a 13-play, 92-yard scoring drive that
ended on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Rasheed Marshall to pad the
advantage to 10-0. UCF’s opponents entered the game just 6-for-13 on
fourth down conversions.
A bad snap forced another two points for West Virginia as Ryan Schneider knocked the football out of the end zone with 5:53 left in
the second quarter. The two points gave WVU a 12-0 lead.
The Mountaineers took the kickoff following the safety and advanced
to the UCF three-yard line before Peter Sands intercepted Rasheed
Marshall for his first interception of the year. It was also the
first interception but the UCF secondary in 2003.
The Golden Knights scored with no time remaining in the half when
Matt Prater nailed a 43-yard field goal to slice the WVU lead to
12-3.
West Virginia opened the scoring in the second half with a quick
four-play, 52-yard drive that lasted just 49 seconds. Travis Garvin
scored on an eight-yard reverse to give the Mountaineers a 19-3
advantage.
UCF scored its first touchdown of the game at the 5:14 mark of the
third quarter as Alex Haynes scampered in from 10 yards out to cut
the lead to 19-9. On the two-point conversion, Schneider hit Darcy Johnson to make the score 19-11.
West Virginia’s special teams made the play of the game with a
blocked punt by Jerry White and Joe Hunter recovered the ball in the
end zone for a WVU touchdown. The touchdown upped the lead for the
Mountaineers to 15 at 26-11 with less than 14 minutes remaining in
the game.
WVU put the game out of reach with 9:50 left in the game when backup
quarterback Charles Hales fired a 79-yard touchdown pass to Chris Henry to ice the game at 33-11.
UCF Game Notes
UCF at West Virginia
November 1, 2003
Mountaineer Field
West Virginia defeated UCF 36-18 Saturday afternoon in Morgantown.
WVU is now 4-4 on the year while UCF dropped to 3-6. UCF is 0-7
all-time vs. BIG EAST schools including an 0-3 mark in 2003.
Ryan Schneider finished the game 27-of-44 for 253 yards and a
touchdown. Schneider is now tied for 12th in NCAA history with 82
career touchdown passes with Philip Rivers (NC State) and Luke McCown (Louisiana Tech). Rivers plays later today for NC State.
Ryan Schneider moved into 12th place in the NCAA record books with
253 yards passing. He now has 10,976 career passing yards, just in
front of former Pittsburgh quarterback Alex Van Pelt (10,913).
Schneider also moved past Drew Brees (Purdue), David Neill (Nevada)
and Danny Wuerffel (Florida) in career passing yards on the day.
Tight end Harvey Joiner and middle linebacker Ronnell Sandy made
their first career starts.
UCF allowed a safety in the second quarter for the first time since
Sept. 7, 2002 at Arizona State.
Peter Sands recorded his second career interception in the end zone
in the second quarter. It was the first interception by the UCF
secondary in 2003.
Matt Prater’s 43-yard field goal in the second quarter tied for his
longest field goal of the year. Prater is 8-for-11 on the year on
field goal attempts.
Alex Haynes moved into a tie for third place on the all-time rushing
touchdowns list at UCF with his 10-yard touchdown run in the third
quarter. Haynes has 22 career rushing touchdowns, which ties him
with Mark Giacone for third place.
Haynes has 23 career touchdowns scored, which places him alone in
sixth place in the UCF history books. With one more touchdown,
Haynes will tie Bret Cooper and Daunte Culpepper in the UCF record
books.
UCF allowed a punt to be returned for a touchdown for the first time
since Sept. 29, 2001 when Andre Davis of Virginia Tech scored on a
55-yard punt return. West Virginia’s Jerry White blocked a Matt
Prater punt, which was recovered in the end zone by Joe Hunter.
For the fourth time in 2003, Matt Prater averaged over 50 yards per
punt in a game after punting eight times for 419 yards vs. West
Virginia. Prater averaged 52.4 yards per punt.
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