UM 22, W.VA. 20: Jon Peattie kicks 23-yard FG with 11 seconds left to keep No.2 team perfect.
By MICHAEL SNYDER
Published October 3, 2003
MIAMI - Freshman Jon Peattie kicked a 23-yard field goal with 11 seconds remaining Thursday night as No.2 Miami staved off an upset with a 22-20 college football victory over West Virginia.
Peattie finished with a school-record five field goals, his biggest coming after the Hurricanes drove 66 yards with two minutes left.
"I've learned in college that every kick counts, no matter how short it is," Peattie said.
Brock Berlin, who had a career-high 352 yards passing and set a school record with 37 completions on 54 attempts, threw an 18-yard pass to Kellen Winslow on fourth and 13. Berlin followed it with a 16-yard pass to Jarrett Payton, a 9-yard pass to Ryan Moore and an 11-yard pass to Kevin Beard on the winning drive.
"We'll take a win any way we can," Berlin said. "When we step on the field everyone brings their A game, so we need to as well."
It wasn't how Miami (5-0, 2-0 Big East) wanted to play before its game against No.5 Florida State on Oct.11 in Tallahassee.
Not with a lethargic performance. Not with Berlin looking like an average quarterback. Not with the penalties and turnovers continuing to pile up. And not with tailback Frank Gore on the sideline with a sprained knee.
With Miami holding a 19-13 lead with 3:32 to play, Payton fumbled after gaining 3 yards. The Mountaineers (1-4, 0-1) recovered at the Miami 48.
West Virginia quarterback Rasheed Marshall could not find Kay-Jay Harris down the left sideline on second and 13 at the Hurricane 33. On the next play, Marshall completed a short pass to Quincy Wilson. Vince Wilfork and Thomas Carroll missed tackles, and Wilson ran over Brandon Meriweather at the 9 before charging into the end zone. Brad Cooper's point-after kick put West Virginia up 20-19.
But Berlin was not ready to admit defeat.
Because of that, Miami's streaks - 26 Big East victories, 37 regular-season wins and 25 home wins - that began with a 28-20 win over West Virginia on Oct.30, 1999, continue.
"When the pressure is on, Brock is always going to step up," guard Vernon Carey said. "Everyone stayed focused. We practice these situations every week so we were prepared for it when it came time to perform."
After playing to a 10-all tie at halftime, the Hurricanes took a 16-10 lead in third quarter behind field goals of 32 and a career-high 43 yards by Peattie, the former Countryside standout. After Berlin missed Winslow in the end zone and was almost intercepted, Peattie's 30-yarder with 13:08 left gave Miami a 19-10 lead.
A 38-yard pass from Marshall to Chris Henry, who caught the ball between Meriweather and Kelly Jennings, set up Cooper's 36-yard field goal.
West Virginia, which came in with the nation's 94th-ranked offense and 87th-ranked defense and had lost its past five against Miami, took a 7-0 lead.
Despite having the regular starting line in front of him, Berlin looked uncomfortable, and his passes were often off target. Some were high, some were low and others went to receivers who were draped with defenders. At least three potential interceptions were dropped.
But it was the Hurricanes defense that allowed West Virginia to score first. A record-setting 84-yard completion from Marshall to Harris set up Wilson's 1-yard touchdown run.
Even when Berlin had good results - his 22-yard touchdown pass to Jason Geathers tied the score at 7 with 9:54 left in the first half - it wasn't necessarily because of anything he did. The throw came after Berlin came out of the pocket and rolled right, but Geathers made a great leaping catch in the front of the end zone.
Peattie's 22-yard field goal gave Miami a 10-7 lead before Cooper hit from 25 yards to tie the score at 10 with 2:51 in the first half.
The Hurricanes say too much should not be read into their last-minute wins.
"This was one of those games," center Joel Rodriguez said. "You look at every team that's been able to have a great deal of success - Ohio State last year, us two years ago, Nebraska - the ball always bounces for you. ... I just hope we didn't burn out our nine lives tonight because we might need a few more."
- Information from the Associated Press was used in the report.
