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Hokies continue to roll untested

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 7, 2001

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Unbeaten Virginia Tech still is untested heading into the heart of the Big East schedule.

Keith Burnell ran for two scores as Virginia Tech beat West Virginia 35-0 Saturday for its third shutout.

"That's what we aim for," Virginia Tech linebacker Jake Houseright said. "We love it. The coaches love it.

"It takes a good offense, good defense and good special teams to have a shutout. We had that today."

The Hokies have outscored opponents 214-30, allowing seven points after the first quarter.

Virginia Tech had a defensive touchdown for the third straight game, with Jim Davis' 27-yard interception return capping the scoring in the third quarter.

"Anybody coming against us had better bring their best game," quarterback Grant Noel said.

It was the worst shutout loss at home for West Virginia since Oregon State posted the same score in 1963.

The Mountaineers, still trying to get comfortable with the no-huddle, spread offense of first-year coach Rich Rodriguez, were held to 11 first downs and 173 yards.

"This is embarrassing. Flat-out embarrassing," Rodriguez said. "I didn't see any improvement anywhere today."

The West Virginia defense has been unable to stop the option all season, and that didn't change Saturday. The Hokies established their ground attack from the start, surpassing 200 yards rushing for the fifth straight game.

"No matter how many guys they put on the line, we can pound the ball against anybody," said Burnell, who had 102 yards on 22 carries.

NOTRE DAME 24, PITTSBURGH 7: Carlyle Holiday ran for 122 yards, including a score on a 67-yard run to cap a 99-yard drive, and the host Irish broke out of an offensive slump.

Julius Jones scored twice and the Irish, who entered scoring a worst-in-the-nation 23 points in three games, scored 17 in the second half.

The seven points by Pitt were the fewest given up by Notre Dame since a 30-0 victory over Navy in 1998.

The Irish (1-3), who had started 0-3 for the first time in the school's 114-year history, took advantage of five turnovers. On one, Pitt receiver R.J. English was running untouched at the 4 when the ball slipped out of his hand. Notre Dame safety Abram Elam, who had an interception earlier, recovered the ball on the 1.

"I'm not sure what happened," English said. "I turned around, the end zone was there and I guess I forgot about the fundamentals."

SYRACUSE 24, RUTGERS 17: James Mungro caught a 2-yard touchdown from R.J. Anderson with 1:18 for the visiting Orangemen.

Syracuse won its fourth straight with the help of Rutgers' woeful kicking game. Steve Barone missed an extra point and was 1-for-5 on field goals, missing from 36, 25, 38 and 46 yards. Barone had missed the first four games with a strained hamstring and his replacement, Ryan Sands, was 3-for-3 on field-goal attempts.

Syracuse's Dwight Freeney, who entered as the nation's sack leader with 10, had half a sack. Freeney has a sack in 14 straight games, but his streak of at least two in a game was snapped at seven.

With the score tied at 17, Syracuse took over at its 38 with 4:33 left and drove 62 yards on eight plays, capped by Mungro's touchdown on third and goal.

BOSTON COLLEGE 33, TEMPLE 10: William Green ran for 113 yards for his fifth straight 100-yard rushing game, and scored twice for the host Eagles.

Green, the nation's second-leading rusher, didn't top the 100-mark until scoring on a 28-yard run with 1:40 to play on his final run.

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