STARS
-Andrew Robinson, and Taj Smith, Syracuse. Robinson threw for a career-high 423 yards and four touchdowns and Smith caught four passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns in Syracuse’s 38-35 upset of Louisville on Saturday.
-Sam Keller, Nebraska, threw for a school-record 438 yards and four touchdowns and Nebraska held on to beat Ball State 41-40.
-Pat White, West Virginia, went 18-for-20 for 181 yards, two touchdowns and ran for two more scores to help the Mountaineers beat East Carolina 48-7.
-Tim Hightower, Richmond, rushed for a school-record 295 yards and four touchdowns as the Spiders rolled to a 45-14 victory over Bucknell.
-Rashard Mendenhall, Illinois, ran for a career-high 214 yards and one touchdown, and scored on a reception in Illinois’ 27-14 victory over Indiana.
-Matt Forte, Tulane, rushed for 303 yards on 40 carries and a school record with five touchdowns as Tulane beat Southeastern Louisiana, 35-27.
-Terrell Hudgins, Elon, set a school record with 16 receptions for 218 yards and four touchdowns in Elon’s 42-14 win over Liberty.
-Erik Ainge, Tennessee, threw for four touchdowns and a career-high 334 yards and the Volunteers beat Arkansas State 48-27.
-Colt McCoy, Texas, passed for 333 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Longhorns to a 58-14 win over Rice.
-John David Booty, USC, completed 28 of 35 passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns and the Trojans beat Washington State 47-14.
-Dennis Dixon, Oregon, completed 27 of 36 passes for 367 yards and a career high four touchdowns in beating Stanford, 55-31.
ORANGE CRUSH
Andrew Robinson threw for a career-high 423 yards and four touchdowns as Syracuse stunned No. 18 Louisville 38-35. Taj Smith caught four passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns for the Orange, as Syracuse ended Louisville’s 20-game home winning streak. The victory was Syracuse’s first road conference win and first victory over a ranked team since beating Boston College at the end of the 2004 season. The Cardinals turned the ball over four times, committed 12 penalties for 105 yards and lost consecutive games for the first time since 2003.
BULLS ON PARADE
Matt Grothe completed 17 of 30 passes for 230 yards and one touchdown and South Florida dominated North Carolina 37-10. The No. 23 Bulls (3-0) rushed for 194 yards and outgained North Carolina (1-3) 428-164 overall.
IN TEBOW WE TRUST
Tim Tebow passed for two touchdowns, ran for two more and set a school record for quarterbacks with 166 yards rushing to help No. 3 Florida hold off Mississippi late to win 30-24. Tebow, the nation’s No. 2 passer, finished with 261 yards passing as the defending national champions won their 11th straight win and 19th in their last 20. The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Gators in the state of Mississippi.
WOLVER-NINE
Mike Hart had a career-high 44 carries for 153 yards and a touchdown, leading Michigan to a 14-9 win over No. 10 Penn State. Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions has lost nine straight games to Michigan, the longest winning streak by one team over the famed coach.
IRISH STING
Brian Hoyer threw four touchdown passes and Javon Ringer rushed for 144 yards to lead Michigan State to a 31-14 victory over Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are 0-4 for the first time in the school’s 119-season history. The Irish have now lost six straight, dating to last season, the second longest losing streak in school history.
TERRIFIC TIGERS
James Davis and C.J. Spiller combined for four touchdowns and Clemson gained 608 yards in a 42-20 rout of North Carolina State. Davis rushed for a season-high 166 yards with a 3-yard touchdown catch and a 1-yard scoring run, and Spiller finished with 114 yards with an 11-yard TD catch and a 44-yard scoring run. The 15th-ranked Tigers rushed for 340 yards, their most in an Atlantic Coast Conference game since 2000.
STRONG IN DEFEAT
Graham Harrell completed 46-of-67 passes for a career-best 646 yards and five touchdowns but Texas Tech lost to Oklahoma State 49-45. … Brian Brohm completed 45-of-65 passes for a career-high 555 yards and four scores for Louisville, but the Cardinals lost to Syracuse 38-35. … Nate Davis threw for 422 yards and three touchdowns in Ball State’s 41-40 loss to Nebraska. … Thaddeus Lewis passed for a career-high 428 yards and four touchdowns to Eron Riley, who caught six passes for 235 yards in Duke’s 46-43 loss to Navy. … Arkansas’ Darren McFadden rushed for 173 yards and a touchdown in the Razorbacks’ 42-29 loss to Kentucky.
CLOSE CALLS
Sam Keller’s fourth touchdown pass gave Nebraska the lead with 3:13 left in the game, and the 24th-ranked Cornhuskers survived an upset bid by Ball State with a 41-40 victory. … Tight end Brandon Pettigrew caught a 55-yard touchdown pass with 1:37 remaining to give Oklahoma State a 49-45 win over Texas Tech. … Backup kicker Joey Bullen made a 44-yard field goal on the last play of the game to lift Navy past Duke 46-43. … No. 9 Wisconsin needed a fourth-quarter rally to avoid an upset bid by Iowa, turning to running back P.J. Hill for the go-ahead score in a 17-13 victory.
SNAPPED
Syracuse ended Louisville’s 20-game home winning streak by dominating the listless Cardinals 38-35. … Appalachian State had its 17-game winning streak snapped by Southern Conference rival Wofford, 42-31. Appalachian State hadn’t lost since last year’s opener against North Carolina State.
ON THE PROWL
The No. 2 LSU Tigers used a fake field goal to score one touchdown and piled up 288 rushing yards to defeat Steve Spurrier and No. 12 South Carolina 28-16. The defense had two interceptions, and held the Gamecocks to a net rushing total of 6 yards.
CATS’ MEOW
Andre Woodson threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Burton with 4:02 remaining to give the Wildcats the lead, and No. 21 Kentucky rallied past Arkansas, 42-29. Woodson threw a last-minute touchdown to beat Louisville last week. The Wildcats have now won nine of 10 dating back to last season. … Cincinnati beat Marshall 40-14 to remain unbeaten. The Bearcats are 4-0 for the first time since 1954, have allowed only three touchdowns this season and outscored opponents 180-30.
FLYING LIKE AN EAGLE
Matt Ryan threw for 356 yards and accounted for four touchdowns to lead No. 14 Boston College to a 37-17 victory over Army. Ryan moved into third place on BC’s career passing list behind Doug Flutie and Glenn Foley with 6,147 yards. BC (4-0) has opened the season with four wins for the first time since 1999. The Eagles haven’t started 5-0 since 1954.
RECORD-BREAKERS
Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson set a major college record for consecutive passes without an interception, breaking the mark of 271 held by Fresno State’s Trent Dilfer. The Wildcats beat Arkansas 42-29. … Mike Hart rushed for 153 yards on 44 carries and a touchdown in Michigan’s 14-9 victory over Penn State. It marked the 23rd time that Hart ran for more than 100 yards in his career, breaking Anthony Thomas’ school record. … Matt Forte set Conference USA and school records with 303 rushing yards and a school record with five rushing touchdowns as Tulane beat Southeastern Louisiana, 35-27, in the Superdome.
OVERTIME
Mikey Henderson caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford in overtime to lift No. 22 Georgia to a 26-23 victory over No. 16 Alabama. … Josh Adams scored on a 6-yard run on the first possession of overtime to help Wake Forest cap a stunning 21-point comeback and beat Maryland 31-24.
SHOOTOUT AT STILLWATER
Graham Harrell threw for 646 yards for Texas Tech, the fourth-best total in major college history, but Brandon Pettigrew caught a 55-yard touchdown pass with 1:37 remaining to give Oklahoma State a 49-45 win over the Red Raiders. Texas Tech had 718 yards of total offense. Oklahoma State had three rushers surpassing 100 yards for the first time in school history. The Cowboys ended up with 366 yards on the ground in the win.
SPEAKING
“What do you do when you get such a decisive lead? You work on things. You still want the quarterback to throw to the open guy and if the open guy happens to be the deep guy you throw it to him. So, no, once we got to 45 did we start calculating how could we get to 90? No. But you want to do what you can do.” – Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said after the Buckeyes took a 45-0 lead at halftime over Northwestern. The Buckeyes beat Northwestern 58-7 in the 500th game played at the Horseshoe.