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Colorado upends West Virginia in overtime

Sep 19, 2008 - 6:04 AM BOULDER, Colorado (Ticker) -- Aric Goodman delivered a money kick for Colorado on Thursday. The Buffaloes then rewarded their kicker by taking the tuition bill off his plate.

Goodman kicked a 25-yard field goal in overtime to give Colorado a 17-14 victory over 22nd-ranked West Virginia in overtime.

The winning kick was set up by a four-play, 17-yard drive.

"I just went out with the mentality that each kick's different," said Goodman, who was put on scholarship after the game by coach Dan Hawkins. "You just go through your mental checklist and put it through."

Pat McAfee hit the goalpost on a 23-yard field goal attempt for West Virginia (1-2), which had the ball first in overtime.

"I feel sorry for Patrick McAfee," West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said. "I don't know what happen with the hold or the kick, but the ball just hit the upright."

Goodman's heroics sparked comparisons to Colorado great Mason Crosby, currently kicking for the Green Bay Packers.

"Don't mention my name and Mason's in the same sentence," the sophomore transfer from Wyoming said. "He's doing stuff (with the Green Bay Packers) that I dream of."

Rodney Stewart rushed 27 times for 160 yards and Cody Hawkins completed 22-of-33 passes for 179 yards with two touchdowns and one interception for Colorado (3-0).

Pat White had 19 carries for 149 yards and two touchdowns and Noel Devine rushed 26 times for 133 yards for the Mountaineers.

"Pat White made plays," Dan Hawkins said. "You're not going to shut down Michael Jordan; he's going to get some shots off."

White appeared to have West Virginia primed for a potential game-winning drive in the final minutes of regulation. He drove the Mountaineers into Colorado territory, but as the drive stalled, they failed to use either of their remaining two timeouts. Stewart finally decided to let the final seconds of regulation tick off the clock, sending the game into overtime.

While West Virginia piled up 312 yards rushing, White was only 10-of-14 for 43 yards passing. At halftime, White had minus-five yards in the air. In the first two games of the season, the senior quarterback had thrown for a total of 280 yards.

Colorado boasted a balanced attack, adding 186 yards on the ground to the 179 yards Hawkins picked up in the air. Still, after the opening scores, the West Virginia defense kept Colorado off the board for the final 55 minutes of regulation.

"I'm so proud of the way our defense played," Stewart said. "We kept them off the scoreboard. The offense fumbles the ball and they score and they don't score the rest regulation."

White had drawn the Mountaineers even at 14-14 with a 39-yard touchdown run with 4:49 left in the third quarter.

Hawkins and Josh Smith hooked up on a 38-yard touchdown play less than three minutes into the game to open the scoring for Colorado. The Buffaloes doubled the lead less than two minutes later after Hawkins connected with Patrick Devenny on a 13-yard scoring strike.

West Virginia halved its deficit when White scored on a six-yard TD run midway through the second quarter.

Coincidentally, Stewart is 1-2 in his first year at West Virginia and Rich Rodriguez, who left Morgantown for Ann Arbor, has the same mark after three games at Michigan. The Mountaineers have lost consecutive games for the first time since 2004 when they dropped their final two regular-season games and a bowl game.

"We came out here to get us a win and we fell short and I hate that very, very much," Stewart said