Oct 20, 2002 4 min read

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – Avon Cobourne preferred to talk about West Virginia’s accomplishments than his own. Cobourne became the fifth Division I-A rusher with four 1,000-yard seasons Saturday, joining Pittsburgh’s Tony Dorsett, Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne, North Carolina’s Amos Lawrence and New Mexico State’s Denvis Manns.

The nation’s fourth-leading rusher finished with 108 yards on 28 carries in West Virginia’s 34-7 victory over Syracuse.

He now has 1,002 yards this season.

Wearing a gray sweatsuit and stretched out on a couch in the players’ lounge, Cobourne was giddy about beating Syracuse for the first time as a player and about his team moving within one game of becoming bowl eligible.

He even looks forward to next week’s home game against top-ranked Miami.

But mention records, and Cobourne tried to deflect attention.

“I really don’t know what to think, and I don’t know how to feel,” Cobourne said. “I don’t know anyone that this has ever happened to. I just go with the punches.

“If people say this is a good thing, great. If they don’t, I don’t care.”

After West Virginia (5-2, 2-0 Big East) pulled ahead 27-0 early in the third quarter, the only mystery was whether Cobourne would stay in the game long enough to reach 1,000 yards.

“For him to get it out of the way, it’s good because he now can concentrate on the next thing,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “You don’t want to be asked about it all week.”

Despite having the Big East’s worst rushing defense, Syracuse wasn’t about to cave in.

The Orangemen (1-6, 0-3) held Cobourne to no gain or a loss of yards six times, but he moved closer with a 21-yard run in the third quarter.

“There were times when we had him in the hole and we missed him,” said Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni. “He can make you miss, and he did.”

Cobourne still needed 24 yards entering the fourth period. He got the ball on four of five plays to start one drive, and his 12-yard run with 5:49 left in the game put him at 1,000.

“In the end, they handed it to him to get the record,” said Syracuse linebacker Clifton Smith. “We did well against him but he still got the record and his 100 yards.”

After Cobourne gained 2 yards on the next play, he left to a standing ovation from the Mountaineer Field crowd of 45,088.

“I actually felt pretty good,” Cobourne said. “It really wasn’t on my mind this week. Only when you said I need 106 yards to get it … I didn’t even know.”

Three weeks ago against East Carolina, Cobourne surpassed Amos Zereoue’s school record of 4,086 yards and became the Big East’s all-time leading rusher with a 260-yard effort.

Now with 4,456 career yards and five regular-season games left, Cobourne would have to average 129 yards per game to become just the fifth I-A back to finish with 5,000 yards. He’s averaging 143 yards now.

Cobourne rushed for 1,139 yards his freshman season, 1,018 in 2000 and 1,298 a year ago.

Against Syracuse, Rasheed Marshall ran for two TDs and passed for a third, and the defense turned in its second straight top effort but will be hard pressed to make it three against Miami, which has won 28 straight games.

“We have to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Cobourne said.

Syracuse had its streak of 15 straight winning regular seasons snapped. The Orangemen must win their last five games to remain bowl eligible.

“We’re sick of losing,” quarterback R.J. Anderson said. “You go around campus and people talk about it, how we lost. I hate this feeling. It bothers us and it’s tough to sleep.”

In a light rain, Syracuse lost four first-half turnovers in its own territory, resulting in 13 points for the Mountaineers.

Jahmile Addae had an interception that led to a field goal and recovered a fumble that resulted in Marshall’s second TD run, a 14-yarder for a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter.

For a while it looked like West Virginia, which beat Rutgers 40-0 last week, might have back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1962.

Syracuse’s only scoring drive came after Anderson and Walter Reyes left with injuries on the same series of the third quarter.

Troy Nunes took over for Anderson and engineered a 17-play drive that was capped by Chris Davis’ 2-yard run. Reyes eventually returned to the game, but Anderson did not. Anderson suffered a bruise in his nonthrowing shoulder.

West Virginia’s two TD drives covered 50 and 80 yards, but the Mountaineers didn’t generate much offense otherwise, finishing with just 312 total yards.