Jensen: '98 Pitt game introduced Villanova's Brian Westbrook

The game had just ended, Pittsburgh had survived over Villanova, 48-41. Pitt coach Walt Harris walked over to shake hands with Villanova coach Andy Talley.

"The first thing he said, 'Who in the hell is No. 20?' " Talley said this week.

Suspend any knowledge you have of Brian Westbrook. Block out his Eagles glory years. Don't focus on the entirety of his Villanova career. Go back to September 1998 and the opening game of Westbrook's sophomore season.

All Westbrook did on a hot afternoon at Pitt Stadium, in his first game as Villanova's clear-cut No. 1 tailback, was go for 428 all-purpose yards. He scored two receiving touchdowns and one rushing touchdown - running 48 yards on a fake punt - and he scored a fourth touchdown on a kick return, 89 yards.

"The game was up for grabs, no question, and Brian almost single-handedly beat them by himself," Talley said. "We couldn't stop them, and they couldn't stop Brian."

Talley starts his 32nd and last season Saturday - at Pittsburgh, as it happens - and he doesn't have to think for more than a moment when asked about the greatest individual performance of his time on Lancaster Avenue.

"I think that was the single greatest performance by any player at Villanova, ever - ever," Talley said. "You can go back to the Division I-A days."

As soon as they announced that game, Westbrook remembers, he had it circled.

"For a lot of I-AA players, you always thought you were good enough to play I-A," Westbrook said. "Everyone thought they were good enough to go to Ohio State, something like that. It was just the recruiter's fault they didn't pick up on that, that kind of thing."

He at least understood why I-A schools had ignored him, Westbrook said, since injury had kept him off the field as a high school senior. Nobody was willing to take a chance without film on a 5-foot-8 guy. He had gotten on the field more and more as a freshman, even with a senior in the No. 1 tailback spot, but had to earn his carries.

"I'm saying, 'Yes. I finally have a chance to showcase my skills against I-A players,' " Westbrook said. "For me, as a player, I always tried to use things to motivate me, chip-on-the-shoulder type thing. With that thought I worked harder than I ever had. I did things I had never done before. If we were only supposed to work out once, I worked out twice. If we weren't supposed to work out, I worked out."

That attitude carried over to his Eagles days, Westbrook said. What are you signing Dorsey Levens for? Didn't matter that he ended up being good friends with Levens.

As that Pitt game kept going and Villanova hung in, Westbrook can remember 'Nova guys suddenly thinking, "Maybe we are I-A talent."

"Those are the conversations you're having in the game," Westbrook said. "We started believing in that ourselves."

As much credit as Westbrook obviously deserves, he remembers something else, that the big plays didn't come because he went into a scrum and somehow got out of it and kept on running.

"The plays worked," Westbrook said. "It was actually that our offense was clicking."

As special as Villanova's staff thought Westbrook was after a very good freshman year, that game opened their eyes even more, Talley said. It was the springboard for the rest of Westbrook's remarkable time at Villanova, which included a Walter Payton award for national I-AA player of the year in 2001.

Over his career, Westbrook set the NCAA all-divisions record of 9,512 all-purpose yards. He's still No. 2 all-time behind a running back from Division III Mount Union, Nate Kmic.

That 1998 season, Westbrook became the first player in the history of college football at any level to rush for 1,000 yards and receive for 1,000 yards in the same season. (He also had 836 return yards although he was taken off most of the return teams as the season went on.) The 428 yards against Pitt stood up as Villanova's record until Westbrook went for 458 against Delaware in 2000. Those yardage totals both remain in the all-time FCS top 10. Westbrook's 428 was the only one against the higher level of competition.

As it turned out, Pitt was pretty lousy that 1998 season, finishing 2-9 and winless in the Big East. However, only two teams scored more against the Panthers than Villanova did. Pitt's defense gave up an average of 29.3 points a game the rest of them.

You might say now that of course Westbrook could dominate a I-A defense since Westbrook ultimately had so many big days in the NFL, making it to a couple of Pro Bowls after being drafted in the third round by the Eagles, now third on the Eagles' all-time rushing list.

At the time, though, the NFL was still far off in the distance, past the horizon.

"Doing it against Pitt was a warning to people in our league. 'Oh my God, there's a superstar in our league. We've got to deal with him for three more years,' " Talley said.

At least one guy must have been relieved. Walking out of Pitt Stadium that day, Walt Harris knew he was done with No. 20, whoever he was.

mjensen@phillynews.com

@jensenoffcampus