Miami escapes WVU
Published 12:00 am Friday, October 3, 2003
MIAMI - Freshman Jon Peattie kicked a 23-yard field goal with 11 seconds remaining as No. 2 Miami staved off an upset with a 22-20 victory over West Virginia on Thursday night.
Peattie finished with a school-record five field goals, his biggest coming after Miami drove 66 yards with two minutes remaining.
Brock Berlin needed a fourth-down completion to Kellen Winslow to keep the drive alive. On fourth-and-13 from the Miami 25, Berlin hit Winslow over the middle. The tight end made a leaping catch for an 18-yard gain.
Berlin finished 37-of-54 for 352 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Winslow caught 10 passes for 104 yards.
The Mountaineers had one final chance with five seconds to play, but Sean Taylor intercepted Rasheed Marshall's deep pass. Taylor started to run, then dropped to a knee, jumped up and heaved the ball into the air.
Miami (5-0, 2-0 Big East) won its 37th straight regular season game and remained unbeaten heading into a showdown at No. 6 Florida State next Saturday.
Barely.
The Mountaineers (1-4, 0-1) were poised to pull off the biggest upset in a season of upsets when Quincy Wilson ran around and over Miami’s defense for a 33-yard touchdown with two minutes remaining.
Wilson took a screen pass from Marshall on third-and-13, juked Vince Wilfork behind the line of scrimmage, broke a tackle and then bowled over and jumped over safety Brandon Meriweather at the 10 and scored to give the Mountaineers a 20-19 lead.
Peattie’s other field goals were 22, 32, 43 and 30 yards.
The Hurricanes extended the nation’s longest home winning streak to 25 games and their Big East winning streak to 26.
Miami running back Frank Gore sprained his left knee early in the game, and Berlin struggled at timeswithout the team’s main offensive weapon.