Noel Devine Leads West Virginia Over Colorado 35-24

NFL News - October 2nd, 2009 - Written by John

Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins promised at the beginning of the season that the Buffaloes would get 10 wins this year.  That now seems impossible as West Virginia defeated Colorado 35-24 and brings the Buffaloes record to 1-3.  Colorado would have to win the remainder of their games, which includes next week at No. 2 Texas, and their bowl game.  West Virginia running back Noel Devine slashed through the Buffalo defense all night as he rushed for 220 yards and one touchdown.  The Mountaineers had trouble with Colorado's pass rush and head coach Bill Stewart decided to let Devine take over to take the pressure off of quarterback Jarrett Brown.

"I got a little frustrated with the pass protection and Jarrett running around in the third quarter and I said, that's it -- it's all on me," Stewart said. "I've been trying to wheel and deal it and throw it deep and spread the field. I said let's put the ball in No. 7's hands and win the football game and that's what we did."

West Virginia opened up the scoring early in the first quarter on a 77 yard touchdown run from Devine. Colorado quickly answered with a 36 yard touchdown run from running back Rodney Stewart to even the score.  The Buffaloes added a field goal late in the second quarter to give them their only lead of the game.  The Mountaineers would take the lead for good with 1:21 remaining in the first half on a 6 yard touchdown pass from Jarrett Brown to Jock Sanders to give them a 14-10 lead heading into halftime.

Late in the fourth quarter, with West Virginia leading 28-17, Colorado turned the ball over on downs deep in their own territory.  Running back Ryan Clarke would then score from 8 yards out, his second touchdown of the night, to put the game away for good.  There was not enough time for the Buffaloes to mount a comeback, but quarterback Cody Hawkins hit Markques Simas on a 20 yard touchdown pass with 3 seconds remaining to bring the score to 35-24 to end the game.  Hawkins passed for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns on the night, but had 3 interceptions which would prove to be costly.

"When you play a good football team, you have to maximize your opportunities," Hawkins said. "Bottom line, could we have won the football game? Sure. And I think you've got to leave it at that." 

Brown came into the ranked 6th in total offense with 335 yards per game.  Despite the loss, the Buffaloes did a good job of pressuring him and he passed for only 148 yards on 12 of 19 passing with 2 touchdowns.  Brown was the story of the night for West Virginia and now has 540 rushing yards on the year.  The Mountaineers will play at Syracuse next Saturday.

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