[Careless Whisper]

Second Half Surge Lifts Black Bears Past Tartans
Tied at halftime, 3-3, Maine outscored Carnegie Mellon 24-0 in the second half

by Alicia Brown, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporter

ORONO, Maine -- Carnegie Mellon managed to score first and found itself in a 3-3 deadlock at halftime, but was blanked 24-0 in the second half and fell to Maine on Saturday night, 27-3.

Justin Thompson’s 36-yard field goal gave Carnegie Mellon (0-2) its first lead of the season on the game’s first drive, but the offense sputtered from that point on. Thompson missed two other attempts in the second and third quarters, and Andre Miller missed the mark on 30 of 40 passes in what was another scoring struggle for the Tartans.

“I thought our defense was good for the most part,” said first-year head coach John Elliott. “We bent and bent, but couldn’t quite keep bending in the second half. If we could have extended some drives maybe we would have a better shot at it late, but we’re still trying to figure out consistency on that side of the ball right now.”

One of the bright spots on offense was junior tailback Robert Riley, who finished with 114 yards on 22 carries. On defense, new starting middle linebacker Will Reid made nine tackles (two for loss) and a sack, while junior safety Eric Holloway intercepted a pass in the first quarter.

“Robert (Riley) was very steady today but we can’t give him the ball every single play,” said Elliott. “We need to find some openings in our passing game and be able to move the ball downfield in that way.”

Ron Whitcomb connected with Landis Williams three times for touchdowns in the second half, and eight times overall. Maine (1-1) also received a pair of field goals from Devin McNeill.

Carnegie Mellon finishes up its season-opening three-game road swing next weekend when it travels to James Madison.

Carnegie Mellon Tartans at Maine Black Bears
Sep 9, 2006	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Carnegie Mellon Tartans (0-2)	3	0	0	0	3
Maine Black Bears (1-1)	0	3	10	14	27

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		CMU	ME
9:36	(CMU) Justin Thompson 36-yard field goal	3	0
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		CMU	ME
14:03	(ME) Devin McNeill 29-yard field goal	3	3
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		CMU	ME
11:55	(ME) Devin McNeill 33-yard field goal	3	6
10:24	(ME) Ron Whitcomb 8-yard pass to Landis Williams (Devin McNeill kick)	3	13
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		CMU	ME
13:02	(ME) Ron Whitcomb 3-yard pass to Landis Williams (Devin McNeill kick)	3	20
7:22	(ME) Ron Whitcomb 11-yard pass to Landis Williams (Devin McNeill kick)	3	27

Carnegie Mellon Tartans PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Andre Miller 10/40 84 0 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Robert Riley 22 114 5.2 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Pete Carlson 5 42 8.4 0 Ali Concepcion 4 31 7.8 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Will Reid 9 1 0 0 Brett Davidson 8 0 0 0 Eric Holloway 1 0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Justin Thompson 1/3 0/0 3 36 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Pete Carlson 3 63 21.0 0

Maine Black Bears