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News Nuggets, 11.07.05
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NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...

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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

College football headliners: stars & storylines

  ***  Reggie Lewis, Florida, intercepted a pass in the second overtime to give No. 13 Florida a 49-42 victory over Vanderbilt.

  ***  Ramonce Taylor, Texas, ran for 102 yards and three touchdowns and had a 42-yard TD catch in the No. 2 Longhorns' 62-0 rout of Baylor.

  ***  Tyrell Fenroy, Louisiana-Lafayette, rushed for 102 yards and scored his third TD on a 1-yard run with 1:10 remaining to lift the Ragin' Cajuns over North Texas 31-28.

  ***  Sam Hurd, Northern Illinois, caught 12 passes for a school-record 266 yards and scored three touchdowns to lift the Huskies over Central Michigan 31-28.

  ***  Brian Johnson, Utah, passed for 384 yards and a career-high four touchdowns, and ran for another score in a 43-13 rout of Wyoming.

UPSETS

North Carolina State intercepted Drew Weatherford three times for a 20-15 upset of No. 9 Florida State. The Seminoles, who averaged 40 points a game over their last seven contests, scored their lone touchdown midway through the second quarter when Chris Davis went 33 yards with a slant pass from Weatherford for a 10-7 lead. ... Connor Barth kicked three field goals, Wallace Wright ran back the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and North Carolina got its second consecutive upset at home, beating No. 19 Boston College 16-14. Two weeks ago, the Tar Heels won 7-5 against then-No. 23 Virginia.

BOWL AMBITIONS

South Carolina became bowl eligible with a 14-10 win over Arkansas. The Gamecocks have won four straight to qualify for the postseason in their first season under Coach Steve Spurrier. ... Georgia Tech became eligible for its ninth straight bowl trip with a 3-17 win over Wake Forest. The Yellow Jackets are one of only eight teams to play in bowls the last eight years. ... No. 8 Notre Dame beat Tennessee 41-21 to become bowl eligible in consecutive years for the first time since 1997-98. If the Fighting Irish win their final three games, they could be eligible for a Bowl Championship Series berth for the first time since 2000. ... Tenth-ranked Penn State moved closer to claiming the Big Ten's BCS bid by beating No. 14 Wisconsin 35-14. The Nittany Lions can guarantee a trip to a BCS bowl if they wins their final regular-season game, at Michigan State on Nov. 19. ... Western Michigan beat Eastern Michigan 44-36 and is bowl eligible just one year after posting a 1-10 record.

ROUGH NIGHT

Marcus Vick threw two interceptions and lost four fumbles in Virginia Tech's 27-7 loss to No. 5 Miami. In one stretch, he fumbled the ball away three times in five snaps. He finished 8-for-22 for 90 yards and carried 17 times for 7 yards.

CROWNED FROGS

Texas Christian wrapped up its first outright conference title in nearly 50 years by beating Colorado State 33-6 to clinch the Mountain West in its first season as a member. The 20th-ranked Horned Frogs last won an outright league title in 1958, when they were in the Southwest Conference. They shared SWC titles in 1959 and 1994 and won a piece of championships in the Western Athletic Conference (1999, 2000) and Conference USA (2002).

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE

UCLA and Virginia Tech lost Saturday, reducing the number of unbeaten teams in major college football to three. Southern California, Texas and Alabama won to remain unblemished at 9-0. Arizona routed UCLA 52-14, and Virginia Tech lost to Miami 27-7.

AND COUNTING

Southern Cal beat Stanford 51-21 to extend its winning streak to 31 games. The Trojans also have won 25 straight at home. USC's last home loss was to Stanford in 2001.

SWEET 16

Second-ranked Texas beat Baylor 62-0 for its 16th straight victory — the longest streak for the Longhorns since they won a school-record 30 in a row from 1968-70.

SNAPPED

Thousands of fans rushed the field to celebrate when Kansas ended a 36-game losing streak to Nebraska with a 40-15 victory. The string of losses was the NCAA's second longest against an opponent in an uninterrupted series. The record, still current, is 41 wins in a row by Notre Dame against Navy. During its run against the Jayhawks, the Cornhuskers had routs of 54-0 in both 1979 and '80 and 70-0 in 1986. From 1971-74, Nebraska outscored Kansas by a combined 177-9.

WHAT A RUSH

Missouri's Brad Smith set an NCAA career rushing record for quarterbacks in a 41-12 loss to No. 25 Colorado. Smith entered the game against Colorado with 3,891 yards rushing, 4 short of the record set by Indiana's Antwaan Randle-El from 1998-2001. A 4-yard scramble in the first quarter gave Smith 8 yards rushing for the game and the mark.

KICK SIX

Oregon State's Alexis Serna tied a 21-year-old Pac-10 record with six field goals in windy and rainy conditions to lead the Beavers to an 18-10 win over Washington.

GOLDEN BUCKEYE

Troy Smith threw for a career-high 298 yards and three touchdowns in No. 12 Ohio State's 40-2 victory over Illinois, keeping the Buckeyes on pace with first-place Penn State in the Big Ten. Over the past month, Smith has completed 65 percent of his passes for over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns.

LUCKY DUCKS

Third-string quarterback Brady Leaf threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to James Finley in overtime to lift No. 15 Oregon to a 27-20 win over No. 23 California. It was the Ducks' first game without starter Kellen Clemens, who is out for the season with a broken ankle.

FADING

Indiana dropped its fourth straight game — a 42-21 loss to Minnesota — and now must win its final two matchups to become bowl eligible for the first time since 1994. The Hoosiers visit No. 22 Michigan next week, where they haven't won since 1967, and then host Purdue, which they've beaten only once since 1996.

DRUBBINGS

No. 4 Alabama returned two turnovers for touchdowns and improved to 9-0 with a 17-0 win over Mississippi State. The Crimson Tide held the Bulldogs to only 26 yards rushing. ... Baylor was shut out for the second straight game, losing 62-0 to second-ranked Texas. Last week, the Bears were beaten 28-0 by No. 16 Texas Tech. ... Temple dropped its 10th straight this season with a 51-3 loss to Virginia. The Owls must win Nov. 19 at Navy to avoid their first winless season since 1959. They technically finished 0-11 in 1986 but only because they had to forfeit six wins due to an ineligible player.

SPEAKING

``The message is we are one of the top two teams in the country. We won by 62, and that's without running it up. We have to enjoy this ride, enjoy this moment.'' — Texas coach Mack Brown, after the No. 2 Longhorns won their 16th straight game, a 62-0 shutout of Baylor.

C-USA Football Standings, Scores & Schedule

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from Associated Press and other sources. Copyright 2005 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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