Marshall Plan Leads to Victory

Rasheed Marshall has struggled throughout his career against Maryland. That didn’t change Saturday -- until it mattered most.

Marshall threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Chris Henry in overtime to lift No. 7-ranked West Virginia to a 19-16 victory over No. 21 Maryland.

West Virginia is 3-0 for the first time since 1996. It was the Mountaineers’ first victory over Maryland (2-1) in five tries.

“People say we should not be a top-10 team because the Big East is a weak conference,” Marshall said. “Well, the Big East is not this team.”

With John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” playing on the loudspeakers, the Mountaineers stayed on the field for several minutes to celebrate.

“It wasn’t a monkey on our back,” Coach Rich Rodriguez said. “It was like a big gorilla.”

Marshall had his fourth consecutive subpar effort against Maryland. He completed 10 of 20 passes for 132 yards. His touchdown pass matched his total in three previous games against the Terrapins.

After Nick Novak kicked a 33-yard field goal to give Maryland a 16-13 lead in overtime, Marshall had two runs before West Virginia was faced with a third down.

Marshall threw a dart to Henry on a slant pattern over the middle for the winner.

Kay-Jay Harris, who ran for a Big East-record 337 yards in West Virginia’s opener but sat out last week’s game because of a sore hamstring, rushed for 142 yards and one touchdown.

Sophomore Joel Statham was nine for 20 for 108 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions for Maryland.

“We were lucky to be as close as we were,” Statham said.

Novak, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s career scoring leader, missed a 49-yard field goal try with 1 minute 15 seconds left and Maryland’s Kevin Eli blocked Brad Cooper’s 39-yard try with five seconds left to force overtime.