By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
October 2, 1999

MORGANTOWN, W.VA. -- Navy quarterback Brian Broadwater ran for 110 yards and scored three touchdowns in leading the Midshipmen to a 31-28 win over West Virginia Saturday.

Broadwater scored on runs of one, three and 11 yards in helping Navy improve to 2-3 on the season.

The West Virginia defense allowed 471 total yards, including 388 on the ground.

"Obviously we can't stop people," said West Virginia Coach Don Nehlen. "And when we do stop them, we don't know how to line up."

On Navy's first drive of the third quarter, the Mountaineer defense lined up offsides on a Navy punt attempt, and then later roughed the kicker on an unsuccessful field goal try that eventually led to Broadwater's three-yard TD run with 6:54 left in the period.

All four of Navy's touchdown drives spanned 80 yards; the Midshipmen dominated the time of possession by almost 13 minutes.

"It's a tricky offense but other people have been able to stop them," said Nehlen.

If not for poor defense, WVU may have been able to pull the game out for first-time starter Brad Lewis, who finished the afternoon 17-of-31 for 172 yards and two touchdowns.

On West Virginia's last scoring drive at the start of the fourth quarter, Nehlen elected to go for it on fourth and five at the Navy 39. Lewis found tight end Anthony Becht for 13 yards to the Navy 26.

Three players later, Lewis hit Becht on a two-yard score that tied the game at 28.

"On the fourth down play I said 'the hell with it' the way our defense was playing. Normally I would have punted the ball," Nehlen said.

Both Lewis touchdown passes were to Becht, who finished the afternoon with five receptions for 64 yards. The first scoring strike was a 17-yard post-corner that ended WVU's touchdown drought at nine straight quarters.

"I thought Brad did pretty well for his first time out there," Nehlen admitted.

Avon Cobourne led West Virginia with 66 yards on 13 carries. The Mountaineer ground game could manage just 92 yards on 27 carries though.

Meanwhile, Navy piled up 471 total yards led by Dre Brittingham's 124 rushing yards.

It's the fourth time in five games the West Virginia defense has allowed its opponents more than 400 total yards.

Broadwater completed six-of-13 passes for 83 yards with one interception.

"It's obvious we're not very good," Nehlen said. "We've got to take a hard look at our defense. I didn't have any illusions we'd be a great defense, but I thought we would be better than we are."

It's the second straight week the Mountaineers blew an early lead. WVU held a 14-7 advantage with 3:57 left in the second quarter before Navy's Raheem Lambert scored from two yards out with :59 left in the first half.

West Virginia, now 1-4, has lost three straight for the first time since 1994 when WVU dropped decisions to Rutgers, Maryland and Virginia Tech.

West Virginia, idle next weekend, will take on Rutgers on Saturday, Oct. 16 at Mountaineer Field.

Scoring Summary

NA -- Broadwater 1 run (Shubzda kick)
WV -- Becht 17 pass from Lewis (Taylor kick)
WV -- Rego 3 run (Taylor kick)
NA -- Lambert 2 run (Shubzda kick)
NA -- Broadwater 3 run (Shubzda kick)
WV -- Cobourne 2 run (Taylor kick)
NA -- Broadwater 11 run (Shubzda kick)
WV -- Becht 2 pass from Lewis (Taylor)
NA -- Shubzda 29 FG

Individual Statistics

Rushing -- NA: Brittingham 12-124, Broadwater 23-110, Vereen 9-61, Terrell 10-45, Lambert 8-32, Reese 4-10, Madden 4-6, Dede 1-0, Total 71-388; WV: Cobourne 13-66, Rego 7-41, A. Green 3-4, Lewis 4-minus 24, Total 27-92.

Passing -- NA: Broadwater 6-13-1-83, Madden 0-1-0-0, Total 6-14-1-83; WV: Lewis 17-31-1-172, Total 17-31-1-172.

Receiving -- NA: T. Williams 3-42, O'Donnell 2-29, Rampani 1-12, Total 6-83; WV: Becht 5-64, Ivy 4-36, A. Brown 4-33, A. Green 1-12, Osegueda 1-6, Cobourne 1-13, Greene 1-8, Total 17-172.

Attendance: 52,875