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Junior DeAndrew Rubin has two big plays, both resulting in touchdowns.
By DARRYL MELLMA
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 31, 2001
DeKALB, Ill. -- For one half, Marquel Blackwell's passes to DeAndrew Rubin looked to be a winning formula for South Florida.
But the combination failed to connect in the second half, one of the declines in offensive production as the Bulls fell 20-17 to Northern Illinois Thursday night.
Rubin caught three Blackwell passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns. Rubin's performance puts him No. 3 in receiving yards in a game. "Maybe down the road that might mean something but right now it's nothing because we came out with a loss," Rubin said. "It means nothing and I can't even think about it right now."
Blackwell and Rubin connected for both South Florida touchdowns. The first came on USF'S sixth offensive play. Blackwell found Rubin free on the left sideline. Rubin finished the play for a 57-yard touchdown.
Blackwell and Rubin hooked up again with 2:25 left in the second quarter, this time for 52-yard touchdown completion down the right sideline.
"They were playing man-to-man up to the sidelines," Rubin said. "They depend on me so I had to come through. I feel it every play. I want the ball every play but I know I can't get the ball every play. That's the way I play."
Those touchdowns helped the Bulls take a 14-7 halftime lead. Rubin only caught one other pass and did not have any receptions in the second half, when Northern Illinois rallied.
"We didn't do it enough," Blackwell said. "Rubin did a good job and the offensive line did enough in both halves to win, but we didn't get enough points on the board to win."
Northern Illinois moved away from man-to-man defense, a shift necessitated in part because of an injury to cornerback Vince Thompson, who was burned on both of Rubin's touchdown receptions.
"(Thompson) took a shot in the ribs and he wasn't breathing too well on the second one," Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak said."We had to put a youngster (sophomore Gerard Taylor) in there and we had to try to protect him on our coverage. So we didn't play as much man-to-man out there."
Part of the problem was the Bulls offense did not have the ball much. Northern Illinois controlled the ball for 35:27, nearly 11 minutes more than South Florida.
"We felt we had to keep their offense off the field," Novak said.
"We felt that by keeping it and running it and dominating time of possession, it would really help our defense."