LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -Andrew Robinson threw for a career-high 423 yards and four touchdowns to help Syracuse stun No. 18 Louisville 38-35 on Saturday.
Taj Smith caught four passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns for the Orange (1-3, 1-0 Big East) as Syracuse ended Louisville’s 20-game home winning streak by dominating the listless Cardinals (2-2, 0-1).
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.
Brian Brohm completed 45 of 65 passes for a career-high 555 yards and four scores for Louisville, but the Cardinals’ defense allowed Syracuse – which entered the game ranked near the bottom nationally in every offensive category – to pile up 465 yards and make big play after big play.
No. 24 Nebraska 41, Ball St. 40
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Sam Keller’s third touchdown pass finally put Nebraska in the lead with 3:13 left in the game, and the 24th-ranked Cornhuskers survived an upset bid.
The Cardinals moved in position to win the game in the final seconds, but Jake Hogue’s 55-yard field goal attempt was wide left, allowing Cornhuskers fans everywhere to breathe a sigh of relief.
Keller passed for a school-record 438 yards, and Nebraska needed every one of them against the 23-point underdog Cardinals.
Keller’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Purify gave the Huskers the lead for good with 3:13 left, but there were more nervous moments for Nebraska before it avoided what could have been the most embarrassing defeat in school history.
No. 1 Southern California 47, Washington St. 14
LOS ANGELES (AP) – John David Booty completed 28 of 35 passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns before coming out early in the fourth quarter, and the Trojans opened their Pac-10 season with their 35th consecutive victory at home.
USC (3-0, 1-0 Pac-10) is attempting to win at least a share of the conference championship for an unprecedented sixth straight season.
Booty, who passed for 350 yards previously this season, threw for 191 yards and two touchdowns to Fred Davis in the first half, when the Trojans took a 27-7 lead. The outmanned Cougars (2-2, 0-1) didn’t have a first down for six straight possessions after their opening drive.
Davis had nine receptions for 124 yards against the Cougars, both career bests.
Alex Brink completed 17 of 33 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns with one interception for the Cougars.
No. 2 LSU 28, No. 12 South Carolina 16
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – The No. 2 Tigers used a fake field goal to score one touchdown and piled up 288 yards rushing.
Midway through the second quarter, the Tigers set up for a field goal attempt from 32 yards. However, the holder, quarterback Matt Flynn flipped the ball over his shoulder to kicker Colt David, who ran it in for a touchdown run and a 21-7 halftime lead
Jacob Hester’s power and Trindon Holliday’s speed were key for LSU on the ground and its dominant defense did the rest with two interceptions and a pair of stops on fourth-and-short yardage situations. The defense unsettled Spurrier to the point he switched quarterbacks several times.
Backup Chris Smelley ended up with the best passing numbers for the Gamecocks, going 12-of-26 for 174 yards and a late 1-yard TD pass to Kenny McKinley.
No. 3 Florida 30, Mississippi 24.
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) – Tim Tebow passed for two touchdowns, ran for two more and set a school record for quarterbacks with 166 yards rushing.
The Gators (4-0) got off to a slow start and allowed the Rebels (1-3) back into the game at the start of the fourth quarter.
But Tebow came up with a handful of clock-killing runs after he engineered two second-half touchdown drives, scoring on a 6-yard run and throwing a 37-yard touchdown pass to Louis Murphy.
No. 5 West Virginia 48, East Carolina 7
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – Pat White threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more.
Steve Slaton rushed for 110 yards and a score to match a school record for career touchdowns, and the Mountaineers (4-0) rolled up 599 total yards against the Pirates (1-3), who suffered their most lopsided loss under third-year coach Skip Holtz.
The Mountaineers didn’t allow a score until the final two minutes, limiting the Pirates to nine first downs and 160 total yards.
West Virginia scored seven of the first eight times it had the ball in beating East Carolina for the seventh straight time. The team’s last two meetings weren’t decided until the fourth quarter, but this one wasn’t close.
No. 6 California 45, Arizona 27
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) – Justin Forsett rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 6 California settled another year-old score.
Nate Longshore passed for 235 yards and a touchdown, while Jahvid Best and James Montgomery made scoring runs for the Golden Bears (4-0, 1-0), whose 24-20 loss in Tucson last season denied them an outright Pac-10 championship and a probable trip to Cal’s first Rose Bowl in nearly a half-century.
Three weeks after the Bears avenged last year’s season-opening loss to Tennessee, they flattened the Wildcats (1-3, 0-1) by taking a 25-point lead in the first 13 minutes, though they were sloppy after that.
Willie Tuitama set school records for pass attempts and completions, going 42-of-61 for 309 yards and Mike Thomas had a career-high 12 catches, second-most in school history, for 105 yards and a score.
No. 7 Texas 58, Rice 14
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Colt McCoy passed for 333 yards and three touchdowns to lead Texas to an easy win in its last game before the start of the Big 12 schedule.
The Longhorns (4-0) rolled up 560 yards on offense. Limas Sweed finished with 139 yards and two touchdowns on five catches and Jamaal Charles had three short touchdown runs. Even freshman backup quarterback John Chiles looked good in mop-up duty, teasing future opponents with nifty moves running the ball.
Texas led the Owls (0-4) 41-0 in the second quarter.
No. 8 Ohio St. 58, Northwestern 7
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Todd Boeckman tossed three touchdown passes to Brian Robiskie in the first half and just about everything went wrong for the Wildcats.
The Buckeyes (4-0) could’ve had their starters leave at halftime for some tailgating outside the Horseshoe, where they’ve won 15 straight.
Robiskie, son of former NFL player Terry Robiskie, scored on all three of his receptions, which covered 42, 28 and 19 yards. Boeckman finished 11-for-14 for 179 yards and four scores, also throwing a 48-yard TD pass to Ray Small.
Northwestern (2-2) rushed 33 times for 0 yards.
No. 9 Wisconsin 17, Iowa 13
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – P.J. Hill ran for 113 yards and the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter and Wisconsin rallied for a victory.
The Badgers (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) barely moved the ball in the first half, nearly fumbled away their first chance at a touchdown and went into the fourth quarter trailing 10-7.
Hill carried 10 times for 43 yards and scored on third-and-goal from the 2 to put Wisconsin ahead 14-10.
Jake Christensen was 17-of-37 for 169 yards and a touchdown pass for Iowa (2-2, 0-1).
Michigan 14, No. 10 Penn St. 9
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) – Mike Hart ran for 153 yards on a career-high 44 carries and scored early in the fourth quarter.
The Wolverines (2-2, 1-0 Big Ten) have climbed back to .500 and pumped life back into a season that looked dead after two weeks.
The Wolverines were the fifth-ranked team in the country when they were stunned by Appalachian State in the opener. The next week, they were blown out of the Big House by Oregon.
But Michigan always seems to get well against Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions (3-1, 0-1). Penn State has lost nine straight games to Michigan, the longest winning streak by one team over the famed coach by more than double the second-best run against him.
No. 14 Boston College 37, Army 17
BOSTON (AP) – Matt Ryan threw for 356 yards and accounted for four touchdowns before leaving the game midway through the fourth quarter.
Ryan, who also threw two interceptions, moved into third place on BC’s career passing list behind Doug Flutie and Glenn Foley with 6,147 yards. The senior quarterback finished 35-for-51 with three touchdown passes and a TD run, and connected with Kevin Challenger nine times for 104 yards before being replaced by Chris Crane for garbage time.
BC (4-0) hasn’t opened the season with four wins since 1999 and hasn’t started 5-0 since 1954, when it played its home games at Fenway Park. The Eagles play Massachusetts next week and Bowling Green after that.
The Black Knights (1-3) managed seven first downs and 259 yards.
No. 15 Clemson 42, N.C. State 20
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – C.J. Spiller and James Davis each caught a touchdown pass and rushed for another.
Davis rushed for a season-high 166 yards with a 3-yard touchdown catch and a 1-yard scoring run, while Spiller – a week after Furman held him to minus-1 yard – finished with 114 yards with an 11-yard TD catch and a 44-yard scoring run.
The Tigers (4-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) dominated N.C. State (1-3, 0-2) from the opening kickoff, scoring on four of their first five possessions and at one point outgaining the Wolfpack 220-1.
Cullen Harper was unshaken and efficient in his first career road start, completing 25-of-39 passes for 268 yards – 2 yards shy of his career high – with touchdown passes to both tailbacks.
No. 22 Georgia 26, No. 16 Alabama 23, OT
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) – Mikey Henderson caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford in overtime to lift Georgia to a victory.
The Crimson Tide started overtime with the ball but failed to gain a yard and Leigh Tiffin put Alabama ahead with a 42-yard field goal.
The Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) needed one play to win it. Stafford lofted a pass to the left side of the end zone for Henderson, who made an over-the-shoulder catch and ended the Tide’s hopes of a second straight dramatic victory.
Alabama (3-1, 2-1) scored 10 points in the final 6:30 to force overtime.
Mary 3
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) – Brandon Flowers returned an interception 49 yards for a touchdown and Eddie Royal scored on a 60-yard punt return.
The Hokies (3-1) dominated from the beginning against the Tribe (2-2) of the Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA), scoring three touchdowns and two field goals in the first quarter. They turned to Beamerball tactics for their most lopsided victory of the season.
Flowers intercepted a pass by Jake Phillips and brought it all the way back in the first quarter to make it 20-0. Royal’s return came with 13:56 to play in the second quarter, giving the Hokies a 34-0 lead.
No. 21 Kentucky 42, Arkansas 29
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) – Andre Woodson threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score, leading the 21st-ranked Wildcats (4-0, 1-0) to their second consecutive fourth-quarter comeback.
Keenan Burton caught a 32-yard touchdown from Woodson with 4:02 remaining to give the Wildcats the lead for good. Last week, Woodson beat Louisville with a last-minute TD pass and that led to Kentucky’s first AP Top 25 appearance since 1984.
Arkansas’ Darren McFadden ran for 173 yards and the only offensive score, but for the second consecutive week the Razorbacks (1-2, 0-2) let one get away in the fourth quarter. They lost last weekend 41-38 to Alabama on a touchdown with 8 seconds to play.
No. 23 South Florida 37, North Carolina 10
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – South Florida validated its first Top 25 ranking and the Bulls set themselves up for next week’s much-anticipated Big East showdown against No. 5 West Virginia.
Matt Grothe led long touchdown drives on USF’s first two possessions, while the Bulls’ swarming defense forced four turnovers and kept the young, rebuilding Tar Heels out of the end zone until just over a minute remained.
Grothe completed 17 of 30 passes for 230 yards and one touchdown before being replaced by backup Grant Gregory in the fourth quarter. The Bulls (3-0) also rushed for 194 yards and outgained North Carolina (1-3) 428-164 overall.
No. 25 Missouri 38, Illinois St. 17
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – Chase Daniel threw three touchdown passes and No. 25 Missouri had 581 yards of total offense.
Daniel was 21-for-34 for 294 yards and two interceptions. He has thrown 13 touchdown passes this season after setting a school record with 28 in 2006 in his first year as a starter for Missouri (4-0).
Luke Drone was 22-for-37 for 242 yards, one touchdown and one interception for Illinois State (2-2) of the Football Championship Subdivision – the former Division I-AA. Geno Blow gained 116 yards on 21 carries. Eyad Salem caught seven passes for 106 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Add A Comment