Virginia Tech running backs Lee Suggs and Kevin Jones have the cool nickname. But West Virginia’s Avon Cobourne and Quincy Wilson might have just as much skill.

West Virginia’s running backs aren’t dubbed “The Untouchables” like Virginia Tech’s duo, but in last Saturday’s 37-17 win over East Carolina, Cobourne and Carter were the ones who couldn’t be touched.

In that game, the WVU tandem surpassed any output the Hokies’ more heralded backfield has ever produced, combining for a Playstation-like 458 of West Virginia’s Big East record 536 rushing yards.

Suggs and Jones’ highest combined total this season was 324 against Marshall, the third best mark in conference history for rushing yards in a game by two teammates.

Along with Cobourne and Wilson, quarterback Rasheed Marshall and running backs Miquelle Henderson and Hikee Johnson rushed for 63, 8 and 7 yards, respectively.

While he received help from his backfield cohorts, the catalyst of the Mountaineers’ historic rushing attack was Cobourne. The senior rushed for a Big East season-high 260 yards on 30 carries, putting himself one slot ahead of Miami’s Willis McGahee on the conference rushing list.

Think comparisons of Cobourne to McGahee are a little lofty? Think again. Cobourne leads the nation in rushing at 159.5 yards per game to McGahee’s 133.2. The two are tied for the conference lead with seven touchdowns.

“Right now, I’m looking at a list,” said Cobourne, referring to the stats of the nation’s best running backs, “and it puts me number one.”

“He’s one of the top backs,” Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez said. “There’s a few folks down in Miami who are pretty good, but we think Avon is one of the better backs in the Big East and has been one of the better backs throughout his career.”

That career is one of the best Morgantown, W.Va., has seen. Cobourne’s performance Saturday vaulted him past Amos Zereoue as the Big East’s all-time leading rusher with 4,093 yards. He also tied Zereoue’s Big East record of 21 games rushing for more than 100 yards.

Despite these impressive statistics, Cobourne has resided in the shadow of the three Big East backs: Suggs, Jones and McGahee. But on Saturday, nobody shared Cobourne’s spotlight.

Before halftime, Coubourne amassed 210 yards, a school record for one half, and two touchdowns. On his first score, a 52-yarder, Cobourne showed power — knifing through the middle of the line — and speed — outrunning the entire East Carolina secondary.

In the second half, Wilson took over, gaining the majority of his 198 yards and garnering a 14.1 yard average. That lofty figure was mostly because of a game-breaking, 73-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

With a backup running for nearly 200 yards, West Virginia’s spread offense may have finally shook its finesse label. The Mountaineers’ two-back, spread attack leads the nation in rushing at 345.5 yards per game, 40.5 more yards than second-ranked Air Force.

“We’re trying to play to our strength,” Rodriguez said. “We have an experienced offensive line coming back. We have experienced running backs. We have a quarterback that can run a little bit. If you can run the ball as a football team, it usually allows you to control the game.”

“It was my o-line blocking and my receivers blocking downfield that enabled me to get those yards,” Cobourne said. “It was a great feeling just to know you won a game, and then to get 260 yards. That was the biggest thing for me.”

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Scarlet fever

Tennessee was supposed to use Rutgers as a whipping post last Saturday to unleash the frustration generated by a 30-13 loss to SEC rival Florida the previous week. But the Scarlet Knights didn’t get the memo.

Despite losing, 35-14, Rutgers showed that, despite popular belief, it is indeed a Division-I college football team and not a Hostess product.

RU kick returner Nathan Jones took the opening kickoff 100 yards for a score, silencing the 103,925 orange-clad fans at Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium.

“It was a great way to open the football game,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. “We felt there was an opportunity to do some things in the kicking game going down there. It solidified in our players’ minds that there were some opportunities we could take advantage of.”

After Tennessee answered with a Casey Clausen touchdown pass, it appeared Rutgers had been brought back to reality. On its next possession, though, quarterback Ryan Cubit engineered a 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to give Rutgers the lead, 14-7, that they held into halftime.

After what must have been a paint-peeling halftime speech by coach Phillip Fulmer, the Volunteers put the 40.5-point underdog away with 28 unanswered points.

Rutgers hung in the game thanks to a rush defense that limited the Vols to only 94 yards. No Tennessee player rushed for more than 40.

“We played well against a good football team,” Schiano said. “There are no moral victories. I was proud with the way our football team played, and I was extremely disappointed with the end result. We didn’t go down there to get respect.”

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Mount Hurricane

In 2005, Connecticut is scheduled to join the Big East in football. Heading into its game against future conference rival Miami on Saturday, the Huskies may want to reconsider.

The No. 1 ranked, 4-0 Hurricanes have beaten opponents this year by an average of 31.5 points. Meanwhile, UConn stands at 2-3 with wins over Buffalo and Ohio — not exactly elite competition.

“We have a big mountain to climb this week,” UConn coach Randy Edsall said. “Watching them on tape, they’re very, very deserving of their ranking. It’s going to be a very difficult task for us. We’re confident from the standpoint that we’re not intimidated as we go down there.”

The Huskies’ confidence stems from having played high-profile Big East opponents before. UConn faced Virginia Tech last season and, to open this year, scared Boston College at Chestnut Hill, leading 16-10 at halftime before falling, 24-16. Still, even the Hokies and Eagles have fits with Miami.

The Hurricanes, who play like they’re wearing track spikes while everyone else sports galoshes, will be nearly impossible for UConn to match athletically.

“Our kids watch the film. They see that Miami is very fast,” Edsall said. “What we have to do is win as many plays as we can. We just have to approach it one play at a time, don’t look at the scoreboard, just play as hard as we can to the best of our ability. However that turns out after the final whistle, that’s all we can ask for.”

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This and that

It was not a good weekend for teams from distinct regions of Michigan playing against the Big East. Boston College throttled Central Michigan, 43-0, and Virginia Tech beat Western Michigan, 30-0. …The BC shutout was its first in seven years, and it came against a Central Michigan team that came in ranked No. 8 in the country in total offense. …Virginia Tech will use its bye week to heal DE’s Nathaniel Adibi and Jim Davis and center Jake Grove. The snapper is the most severely hurt, experiencing pain in his back after an awkward hit against WMU. BC, Rutgers and Temple also have bye weeks. … After last weekend’s 37-19 win over Toledo, Pittsburgh has won 10 of its last 11 games. … Conference poster child Ken Dorsey is the focus of a new Big East television commercial that stresses the benefits of education to elementary school children. The spot is sappier than a Maine forest in late fall, featuring the Miami quarterback hanging with children and saying things like, “The kids always want to talk about football, and that’s cool. But I always try and stress the importance of education.”

Published on October 1, 2002 at 12:00 pm