Sep 12, 2004 3 min read

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Without its record setting running back, West Virginia relied on its multitalented quarterback. Rasheed Marshall completed 14 of 18 passes for 225 yards and four touchdowns, and ran for another score in No. 10 West Virginia’s 45-20 win over Central Florida on Saturday night.

The Mountaineers (2-0) lost running back Kay-Jay Harris early to a leg injury. Harris set the school and Big East record with 337 yards rushing in the opener last week.

“Rasheed was the difference for us offensively,” coach Rich Rodriguez said.

There was little for Marshall to do except hand the ball to Harris against East Carolina. He was seldom asked to pass, and wasn’t very good when he did, completing six of 15 with two interceptions.

“I challenged myself to throw the ball better this week, and I think I accomplished that,” said Marshall, who tied his career best for TD passes. “I want to keep this up the rest of the season.”

Harris’ injury was either cramps or a hamstring, team officials said. In place of the native of nearby Tampa, Jason Colson ran for 108 yards and a score.

Following a one-week delay, UCF (0-2) finally played with coach George O’Leary, out of the college ranks since Notre Dame fired him in 2001 for lying on his resume. He missed the Golden Knights opening loss at Wisconsin last week to attend his mother’s funeral.

“I think we improved in many areas,” said O’Leary, singling out the offensive line. “We’ve got to improve in other areas as well, but the kids played the whole game.”

UCF is winless in 15 games against ranked opponents, 0-4 at home.

Alex Haynes led UCF with 137 rushing yards on a career-best 34 carries. Including his two receptions for 16 yards, Haynes was in on 36 of 71 plays from scrimmage with 153 of UCF’s 299 total yards of offense.

“He is a really good running back,” O’Leary said. “But I am more pleased about the way the offensive line played. If they block like that, he will have good days.”

Early in the third quarter, Haynes cut the UCF’s deficit to 28-17 with a 21-yard scoring run. But less than a minute later, Marshall found Brandon Myles on a screen and Myles outran the pursuit for a 57-yard touchdown.

UCF countered with Matt Prater’s second field goal before Marshall’s final TD pass, an 11-yarder to Bryan Wright.

Mountaineers kicker Brad Cooper capped off the scoring early in the fourth quarter with a 54-yard field goal that bounced off and over the crossbar.

Rodriguez was disturbed by his team’s mental mistakes in its season-opening win over East Carolina, and this game was only a little better.

The Mountaineers fumbled on their opening possessions of both halves, the first coming at the UCF 3. And they were penalized 12 times for 116 yards; they committed 14 infractions for 141 yards last week.

Still, the Mountaineers had 460 yards of total offense, giving them 1,081 in two games.

“Offensively, our execution was pretty good,” Rodriguez said. “But we need to stop committing stupid penalties.”

Brandon Sumner, making his first career start in place of the benched Steven Moffett, was 9-of-21 for 86 yards and a second-quarter scoring pass, and was sacked once by linebacker Kevin McLee, a Uniontown graduate. He was relieved by freshman Kyle Israel in the fourth quarter.

“What I did was open up all of the positions and said, ‘The guy who practices best will play,”‘ O’Leary said. “No one has really jumped out and separated themselves.”

Attendance was announced at 32,224, UCF’s largest home crowd since 50,200 saw the Knights lose to Virginia Tech on Nov. 11, 2000.