[Careless Whisper]

Manning’s Monster Night Gives Tartans Third Straight Win
Freshman tailback Jim Manning rushed for a school-record 321 yards and three touchdowns in the CMU win

by Jayson Thomas, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- A star was born this evening, and his name is Jim Manning.

Behind a school-record 321 rushing yards and three touchdowns from Manning, Carnegie Mellon came back from a 21-7 deficit to defeat Villanova, 24-21, on Alumni Night from Gesling Stadium.

Carnegie Mellon (4-5) rode its freshman tailback in his fourth career start by giving him 33 carries, and he responded by shattering the previous school standard of 279 rushing yards. Manning did most of his damage in the second half, netting 209 yards and a pair of touchdowns – 19 and 88 yards – as the Tartans kept their winning streak alive.

“Jim (Manning) was a machine tonight,” said second-year head coach John Elliott. “He started hot and we just decided to continue feeding him, and he got better as the game went on. And with our struggles in the pass game, we needed him to have a night like this – which we could see was on the horizon, based on his previous performances. He’s a special talent.”

Manning’s performance offset a woefully ineffective passing game, as Justin Keyes completed just 4-of-17 passes for 17 yards. On the defensive side, CMU picked off Villanova (4-5) quarterback Antwon Young four times – two coming from freshman Hayden Temple, giving him four in two games – and sacked him once.

“Hayden (Temple) has really shown the skills we’ve seen in practice as of late,” said Elliott. “Our secondary in general played really well today, and our cornerback spots are in good hands with Hayden and Calvin (Burton). Both are athletic and instinctive, and can grow to become shutdown guys as their careers go on.”

Despite the Wildcats’ turnover-prone attack, the visitors went ahead 21-7 at halftime after Angelo Babbaro scored from three yards out. Young threw for a pair of touchdowns and 211 yards on 20-of-35 passing, while Babbaro added 61 yards on the ground.

Carnegie Mellon is off next week, then hosts Hofstra on Saturday, Nov. 10 in the second game of a three-game home stand.

Villanova Wildcats at Carnegie Mellon Tartans
Oct 27, 2007	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Villanova Wildcats (4-5)	7	14	0	0	21
Carnegie Mellon Tartans (4-5)	0	7	14	3	24

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		VILL	CMU
11:08	(VILL) Antwon Young 4-yard pass to Joe Groglio (Joe Marcoux kick)	7	0
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		VILL	CMU
12:54	(CMU) Jim Manning 1-yard run (Justin Thompson kick)	7	7
10:18	(VILL) Antwon Young 27-yard pass to Stephen Pimm (Joe Marcoux kick)	14	7
2:44	(VILL) Angelo Babbaro 3-yard run (Joe Marcoux kick)	21	7
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		VILL	CMU
12:42	(CMU) Jim Manning 19-yard run (Justin Thompson kick)	21	14
4:27	(CMU) Jim Manning 88-yard run (Justin Thompson kick)	21	21
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		VILL	CMU
5:51	(CMU) Justin Thompson 31-yard field goal	21	24

Villanova Wildcats

Carnegie Mellon Tartans PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Justin Keyes 4/17 17 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Jim Manning 33 321 9.7 3 Justin Keyes 8 10 1.3 0 Robert Riley 4 5 1.3 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Antwan Copeland 1 8 8.0 0 Kurt Thompson 1 6 6.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Devon Elliott 8 1 0 0 Aaron Crosby 4 0 1 0 Hayden Temple 2 0 2 0 Sean Day 2 0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Justin Thompson 1/3 3/3 6 31