Sept. 19, 2009

Southern Miss is 3-0 for the first time since 2004 following a come-from-behind 37-34 win over Virginia on Saturday. The Golden Eagles erased a 17-point deficit to win their eighth straight game. Marshall, Memphis and UCF also posted victories on Saturday.

SOUTHERN MISS 37, VIRGINIA 34
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Tory Harrison's 57-yard touchdown run capped a Southern Mississippi rally as the Golden Eagles defeated Virginia 37-34.

Southern Miss (3-0) trailed until the fourth quarter, with fumbles and penalties allowing the Cavaliers to surge to a 13-0 lead after one quarter.

Virginia (0-3) scored on a 69-yard pass from Jameel Sewell to Tim Smith and had two field goals, thanks to Southern Miss fumbles.

A roughing the passer call on Southern Miss set up 4-yard TD run by Sewell to give the Cavaliers a 27-10 lead at halftime.

The victory is Southern Miss' eighth straight.

Southern Miss is 4-2 in home games against BCS AQ conference opponents since 2001. The last BCS AQ conference school in town was North Carolina State, which fell 37-17 in 2006.

SMU at WASHINGTON STATE
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) - Nico Grasu kicked a 39-yard field goal in overtime as Washington State came back to beat SMU 30-27 on Saturday for its first win of the season. The Mustangs (2-1) had the first drive of overtime. But Bo Levi Mitchell threw deep into the end zone on the first play and was picked off by Chima Nwachukwu. It was Washington State's fourth interception of the game.

The Cougars (1-2) took over on the 25 and gained just three yards on three plays before Grasu's game winner. Earlier in the game he missed a 39-yard field goal.

It was the first time Washington State had led all season.

MEMPHIS 41, UT-MARTIN 14
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -Tyler Bass threw four touchdown passes and ran for another, leading Memphis in 41-14 blowout of Tennessee-Martin on Saturday night.

Bass was 22-for-28 for 293 yards, four touchdowns and an interception for the Tigers (1-2).

Duke Calhoun caught nine passes for 174 yards and a score, and Carlos Singleton had a pair of touchdown catches on 40 yards receiving.

The Tigers scored the first 31 points.

Bass threw touchdown passes of 19 yards to Singleton and 85 yards to Calhoun, and also rushed for a 7-yarder to stake Memphis to a 24-0 lead in the second quarter.

He connected with Singleton again, this time on a 21-yard score for the 31-0 advantage to open the third.

The Skyhawks (1-2) then scored consecutive touchdowns to pull within 17 points, but Bass' final touchdown pass sealed the win.

(19) NORTH CAROLINA 31, EAST CAROLINA 17
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -One freshman ran with the steady confidence of being the go-to guy. The other managed a juggling 59-yard touchdown for his first collegiate catch.

It turns out No. 24 North Carolina just might have some receivers after all.

Erik Highsmith had six catches for 113 yards and a touchdown while Jheranie Boyd hauled in that long first-half TD Saturday to help North Carolina beat East Carolina 31-17, giving the Tar Heels their first 3-0 start in a dozen years.

Ryan Houston also ran for a pair of touchdowns, part of a balanced day from a young offense that had been plagued by dropped passes and bad blocking in its earlier games. North Carolina finished with 433 total yards, including a season-high 285 through the air, and put the game away with a clock-draining drive that ended with Houston's 5-yard run with 1:58 left.

Not bad for an offense trying to replace three receivers who were NFL draft picks in the spring, including first-rounder Hakeem Nicks.

"We're a work in progress," coach Butch Davis said. "Let's don't make any mistakes about it. We're going to have challenges. We're going to have adversity. ... But our kids believe in each other and the coaches believe in the kids and they just keep trying to find a way to fight and give us the best chance to play as well as we can each Saturday."

North Carolina hasn't been 3-0 since Mack Brown's last team started 8-0 in 1997. It opened with a romp against The Citadel, then rallied in the fourth quarter to win at Connecticut 12-10 last weekend. This time, they faced a veteran instate rival that had knocked off Virginia Tech and West Virginia last season on the way to the Conference USA championship.

The Tar Heels got another tough defensive performance, holding East Carolina (1-2) to 247 total yards. They also recovered a fumble, blocked a second-half field goal and got two sacks from Robert Quinn.

Only this time, the offense kept up the entire way.

"We see it at practice all the time," defensive tackle Marvin Austin said. "We know they can move the ball. They just had to get in a rhythm and go out and execute. I'm glad they've got that thing rolling now. It's going to help us on defense. We can pin our ears back and go get 'em now."

Highsmith was particularly impressive, starting with a 16-yard catch for North Carolina's first score. But he made his biggest plays in the fourth quarter after the Pirates had closed to within 24-17. First he took a quick out from T.J. Yates and sprinted 43 yards for first down. Two plays later, Yates rolled to his left and found Highsmith again for a 10-yard gain and another first down that ultimately led to Houston's second score.

"I'm probably nervous every game the first play," Highsmith said. "But after that, the game just slowed down for me. It felt like high school again."

In perhaps a good omen, Highsmith became the first true freshman to crack the 100-yard mark here since Nicks did it three times in 2006. Even better, he wears Nicks' No. 88 jersey.

"Their receivers showed more today than they had showed on film," Pirates coach Skip Holtz said. "They were dialed-in and focused. They did a nice job with it ... because when you watched them on film, they had dropped a bunch and their passing game was a little bit out of whack, but they were impressive today."

The Pirates handed Davis his first loss as North Carolina's coach in 2007 with a last-play field goal in Greenville. Patrick Pinkney threw for 406 yards and three touchdowns in that game, but threw for just 157 yards and a touchdown in this one. He got no help from the rushing attack, either; East Carolina had 55 yards on 30 carries against the Tar Heels' defensive front.

Pinkney found Jamar Bryant for a 7-yard touchdown and the game's first score and Dwyane Harris later ran for a touchdown to make it 14-all in the second quarter. But Houston put the Tar Heels ahead for good with a 1-yard run late in the half for a 21-14 lead at the break.

East Carolina still hasn't scored a second-half touchdown, outscored 41-5 after the break this year.

"When you've got NFL-bound players coming at you every play," Pinkney said, "it's hard."

TROY 27, UAB 14
TROY, Ala. (AP) -Levi Brown threw for 413 yards and two touchdowns as Troy beat Alabama-Birmingham 27-14 on Saturday for the Trojans' first win of the season.

Brown's performance was just the second 400-yard passing game in Troy (1-2) history behind Sim Byrd's 454-yard game in 1968. Brown threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to TeBiarus Gill in the second quarter, including a 63 yard passing score to Chip Reeves in the third.

DuJuan Harris scored on a 22-yard run to give Troy a 24-6 lead late in the third quarter. Sam Glusman put the game away for Troy with a 22-yard field goal with 5:32 left in the fourth for the final margin.

Troy had 551 yards on offense, including 413 yards passing. UAB (1-2) finished with 109 yards passing.

(12) OKLAHOMA 45, TULSA 0
NORMAN, Okla. - Oklahoma took advantage of early turnovers and cruised to a 45-0 victory against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Saturday afternoon in front of 84,803 fans at OU's Memorial Stadium.

Oklahoma's Landry Jones threw an Oklahoma school record six touchdown passes, while the Sooners amassed 529 total yards. Tulsa, the nation's leading offense in each of the last two years, managed just 269 yards of total offense, the lowest output for the Hurricane, since 2004 against Utah. Tulsa's G.J. Kinne completed 12-of-26 passes for 106 yards and two interceptions, while junior Trae Johnson had a team-best 50 yards on four receptions.

Tulsa fell to 2-1 on the season, while Oklahoma improved to 2-1. The Hurricane opens the home season next week against Sam Houston State.

The Sooners used a 21-point second quarter to take a 31-0 halftime lead, and added 14 points in the third quarter.

Oklahoma took a 31-0 halftime lead, capitalizing on three first-half Hurricane turnovers that led to 14 points for the Sooners. Tulsa had its chances early in the game, but twice inside the Sooners' 15-yard line the Hurricane committed turnovers.

Things looked good for the Hurricane early. On the first pass of the game for Oklahoma, Tulsa's DeAundre Brown intercepted a tipped ball giving the Hurricane the ball at the OU 39-yard line. However, Tulsa was forced to punt. Oklahoma took the subsequent possession 72 yards in 13 plays as the Hurricane forced a Jimmy Stevens 25-yard field goal in an elapsed time of 4:17.

Tulsa took its next possession to the OU 12-yard line, when a Kinne pass was intercepted in the end zone and brought out to the Tulsa three-yard line.

Oklahoma closed out the first quarter on a Landry Jones 10-yard pass to Brandon Caleb to take a 10-0 with 0:35 left on the clock.

In the first quarter, the Hurricane had three possessions inside the Oklahoma 40-yard line, but failed to put any points on the board. Tulsa managed just 74 yards on 18 first quarter plays, while OU totaled 162 yards.

Tulsa traveled to OU 12-yard line, the second time the Hurricane marched inside the Oklahoma red zone, but again failed to score. A fumble gave the Sooners the ball at their own 26-yard line. Two players later, Jones connected with Caleb for the tandems' second touchdown of the game, this time coming on a 63-yard TD reception at the 10:54 mark of the second quarter.

OU added its third TD of the game on a DeMarco Murray from Jones 13-yard pass play putting the Sooners ahead 24-0, capping a nine-play, 57-yard drive. The Sooners to a 31-0 lead at the 0:34 mark of the first half, on a 10-yard pass from Jones to Ryan Broyles, capping an eight-play, 47-yard drive.

At halftime, the Sooners had 315 yards for a 7.2 average per play, while the Hurricane gained 137 yards for a 3.5-yard average.

After Tulsa went 3-and-out on the opening second half possession, the Sooners took over the ball at Tulsa 14-yard line. OU received the great field position after a 32-yard punt return plus a 15-yard personal foul penalty against the Hurricane. On the third play, Jones threw 14 yards to Broyles for a 38-0 Sooner lead.

Jones led the Sooners on another scoring drive throwing the final 35 yards to Ryan Broyles, capping an eight-play, 85-yard drive, in 3:16, to take a 45-0.

MARSHALL 17, BOWLING GREEN 10
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall University junior running back Darius Marshall rushed for a career-high 186 yards, including an 80-yard game-winning touchdown as the Thundering Herd football team downed Bowling Green, 17-10, Saturday evening at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

With the score tied 7-7 with 10:29 remaining in the game, Marshall carried the ball 80 yards in for the score to give the Herd (2-1) a lead it would not surrender. The touchdown marked a career-long, surpassing his 61-yard score last week against Virginia Tech.

The Falcons (1-2) opened up the scoring as BGSU QB Tyler Sheehan found an open Chris Wright down the middle for a 50-yard touchdown in the second quarter. The score remained 7-0 in favor of BGSU until the third quarter when Marshall QB Brian Anderson hooked up with Antavious Wilson on an 11-yard score to put the Herd on the board.

Following Marshall's touchdown, which gave the Herd its first lead of the game in the fourth quarter, the Herd defense forced a Bowling Green turnover deep in its own territory, which Marshall converted into a field goal to take a 17-7 lead.

Bowling Green fought back, hitting a field goal with 3:19 left in the contest to get within a score, 17-10. The BGSU defense forced Marshall into a three-and-out, giving its offense one final shot to tie the game.

The Falcons began the drive at their own 16 yard line and marched down to the Herd 15 in the final minute. After an incompletion on first down, MU linebacker Mario Harvey sacked Sheehan for an 11-yard loss. The defense forced incompletions on third and fourth down to seal the game.

The Thundering Herd racked up 346 yards of offense with 246 coming on the ground. Marshall was responsible for 186 of those yards while Martin Ward rushed for 34 and Brian Anderson recorded 21.

Anderson finished the game with 100 yards and a touchdown. He completed 11-of-21 passes for 100 yards. Antavious Wilson led all MU receivers with 30 yards and a score.

Sheehan completed 43-of-62 pass attempts for 383 yards. Freddie Barnes led all pass catchers in the game with 109 yards while Chris Wright caught five balls for 104 yards and a touchdown.

Marshall's defense had a stellar outing, led by Albert McClellan. The senior defensive end recorded 15 tackles and two sacks to lead all players. His effort against BGSU pushed his career total to 20 sacks, placing him sixth on the all-time list. As a whole, MU sacked Sheehan six times.

The Herd rush defense put forth an outstanding effort. After allowing 444 yards on the ground last weekend at Virginia Tech, the unit held the Falcons to just ten yards on the ground, the lowest amount Marshall has given up since allowing UTEP to rush for 25 yards in 2006.

UCF 23, BUFFALO 17
If you buy into the theory that one half can turn around a season, UCF delivered the kind spectacular football over Saturday's final 30 minutes that could very well alter the course ahead.

Trailing by 10 after a somewhat listless first half on both sides of the ball, UCF responded in a big way by scoring all of the game's 16 second-half points and beat Buffalo 23-17 at Bright House Networks Stadium.

Led by steady quarterback Brett Hodges, UCF's offense converted on third down time and again and mounted four scoring drives in the second half. And UCF's defense forced three fumbles and got a pivotal interception from safety Derrick Hallman - the Knights' first pick of the season - all after halftime.

UCF (2-1) rallied from a double-digit deficit for the first time since 2005, a 12-point come-from-behind victory against Rice. And the Knights left Saturday night feeling somewhat reborn following a second-half performance that turned a possible loss into a thrilling victory.

``Our offense started really clicking in that second half,'' said Hodges, the fifth-year senior who completed all 10 of his passes in the second half. ``I really feel like our guys are starting to believe now and we're starting to get that chemistry throughout the entire team that we needed.''

The victory comes on the heels of last week's disappointing loss at Southern Miss and leading up to next Saturday's key Conference USA game at East Carolina. A win like this, head coach George O'Leary stressed, can make all the difference leading into the preparation for next week's game.

``The kids just had a confidence that we could go out there and get it done and we did,'' said O'Leary, who admitted to challenging his team verbally at the half to play better. ``We have another big conference game coming up, so a game like this will do wonders for the psyche of our (team).''

Tailback Brynn Harvey ran for 98 yards and two scores, his second multi-touchdown game of the season. And five receivers caught passes, led by blossoming junior Jamar Newsome, who had six catches. Kamar Aiken had 53 yards receiving, including a clutch over-the-shoulder catch for 39 yards on a third down play in the third quarter.

Hodges, a native of nearby Winter Springs who transferred back to his childhood team after four years at Wake Forest, saved the Knights with a flawless second half. He repeatedly kept plays alive by shuffling in the pocket, and he burned an unsuspecting Buffalo defense with 13 carries for 71 yards. His perfect 10-of-10 passing in the second half allowed him to complete 15 of 20 passes for 141 yards, but it was his running out of the ``wildcat'' formation that most were impressed with.

``I'm just not used to running the ball that much, but I felt comfortable after getting into the flow of the game,'' Hodges said. ``I'm a little banged up because I'm not used to running the football that much, but hey that's football.''

Added Buffalo coach Turner Gill, a spectacular running quarterback in his own right during his playing days at Nebraska: ``They usually run (Rob Calabrese) more than Hodges. The guy was a great runner and he moved the chains. He kept drives going and those kinds of drives were a killer for us.''

Picking up where Hodges left off, UCF's defense did the rest. Senior defensive end Jarvis Geathers recorded three sacks and forced two fumbles. Buffalo's final two drives were stopped by Geathers' sack/forced fumble plays - loose balls that were recovered by Darius Nall and Torrell Troup.

Hallman, who had been critical of his play through the first two games, made a game-saving interception on a fourth-and-eight play with 3 minutes remaining. His interception was UCF's first of the season and fulfilled a promise he had made to his teammates earlier in the week.

Said the junior safety, who also forced a fumble: ``I guaranteed that we'd get a turnover and I had to stay true to my word. The coaches told us at halftime that if we didn't want to finish this game the right way that we shouldn't follow them out of the locker room for the second half.''

The 1958 University at Buffalo team that refused a bid to the Tangerine Bowl when it was asked by Orlando leaders to not include its two African-American players was honored at halftime.

Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty spearheaded the movement to honor the team 51 years later with a trip to Orlando, securing sponsorships so that 34 of the 41 living players, coaches and staff could attend the game. Gerry Gergley, a 2003 UCF Hall of Fame inductee and a halfback on the '58 Buffalo team, was among the players honored.

``The world isn't a pure place quite yet, but we have made a lot of progress since then,'' Gergley said.

A promising start to the game for UCF ended in frustration at the half with the Knights trailing 17-7 at the break.

UCF linebacker Lawrence Young stuffed Buffalo's fourth-and-one run on the first possession of the game, giving the Knights some early momentum. From there, UCF marched systematically down the field in 14 plays.

Hodges converted three third down plays on the opening drive, two with his feet and another on a 7-yard pass to Jamar Newsome. Tailback Brynn Havery capped the 68-yard, 6-minute, 13-second drive with a 2-yard burst over right end to put UCF up 7-0.

Buffalo scored the next 17 points of the second quarter to take a 10-point lead into halftime. But the game changed entirely in the second half when UCF delivered the kind of performance that just might save its season.

``We've always tried to be a team that puts things behind us if things aren't going right,'' defensive end Bruce Miller said. ``We did that in this game. We went out and turned what could have been a loss into a win for us. That's huge.''

(16)OKLAHOMA STATE 41, RICE 24
STILLWATER, OKLA. - There are no moral victories in athletics, even for winless teams in search of an identity on the road against a Top-20 foe seeking redemption.

But Rice could take solace in the fact that, despite coming out on the wrong end of the scoreboard on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium, it showed signs of progress.

Owls sophomore quarterback Nick Fanuzzi enjoyed a breakout performance and freshman tailback Charles Ross scored three second-half touchdowns, but No. 16 Oklahoma State made an early two-touchdown lead stand in a 41-24 victory.

Fanuzzi led the Owls on three touchdown marches, and Ross capped each drive with short scoring runs out of the jumbo formation. After the Cowboys (2-1) parlayed a deflected pass into an interception and a touchdown that bumped their lead to 28-3 early in the third quarter, Fanuzzi engineered scoring drives of 78, 32 and 80 yards.

It proved to be too little too late, but it was exciting nonetheless considering the manner in which the offense scuffled last weekend in a loss at Texas Tech. Fanuzzi connected with Toren Dixon for a 72-yard catch-and-run to set up the first Ross plunge, a two-yard push that cut the deficit to 18 points with 9:09 left in the third. After Owls safety Travis Bradshaw recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, Fanuzzi completed a 14-yard pass to Patrick Randolph and scrambled for a first down on a muffed snap before Ross pounded his way for a score at the 6:46 mark.

The Cowboys had an answer, and it came in the form of All-American receiver Dez Bryant, whose two first-half touchdowns enabled Oklahoma State to build a 21-3 halftime lead. His 38-yard reception on a simple crossing pattern moved the Cowboys deep into Rice territory, and Beau Johnson added a two-yard touchdown run two plays later. Fanuzzi remained hot when he returned to the field, with his 23-yard scramble to the Oklahoma State 1-yard-line setting up the final Ross score.

Rice (0-3, 0-1 Conference USA) could muster no such momentum in the first half, punting to close its first two possessions before a Fanuzzi-led march ended in disaster. With Clark Fangmeier in to attempt a 48-yard field goal, holder Randy Kitchens had the ball squirt through his hands. Donald Booker recovered the fumble and rumbled 51 yards for a touchdown to expand the Oklahoma State lead to 14-0. The Owls punted again after regaining possession before tallying a field goal with 5:50 left in the half. But Bryant's 29-yard reception keyed another Oklahoma State scoring drive, one that ended with Bryant snagging a jump ball for a 10-yard score.

Fanuzzi finished 16-for-28 with 182 yards while Dixon made nine catches for 120 yards. Dixon posted his third, 100-yard receiving game when he snared a 17-yard grab in the game's final minute. Bryant, who the Owls avoided kicking to, posted nine catches for 161 yards. Fangmeier set a C-USA career record for PATs, upping his total to 161 on the night.

UTEP 38, NEW MEXICO STATE 12
Donald Buckram ran for a career-high 113 yards as UTEP scored all five of its touchdowns on the ground in a 38-12 dismantling of NM State on Saturday night in Las Cruces.

A rain and lightning delay of nearly three hours couldn't stop the Miners from posting their 50th win in the long-running I-10 series. UTEP (1-2) secured its first victory over the Aggies (1-2) since 2006 while posting its first win of the 2009 season.

"It was an unusual start to the game," UTEP coach Mike Price said. "I thought we were more fired up and ready to play the second time than the first time (referring to the lightning delay). I was glad to see us be able to run the ball a little bit. I was a little apprehensive about playing the mud. I thought it could be an equalizer."

Buckram and Vernon Frazier both scored two rushing touchdowns for the Miners, who forced a turnover on NM State's opening possession, converted it into a TD, then withstood the long delay to score the game's next 24 points.

UTEP forced three turnovers in the game, and held the Aggies to 284 yards of total offense.

"It is great to get a win," Price said. "I'm really happy for our seniors. New Mexico State played hard. I think we beat Hal Mumme's team about the same his first year, and they came back to beat us twice in a row. It's always going to be an exciting rivalry."

The only downside in the game was a potential season-ending injury to senior DL Landon Goodwell. Price said that the early indication pointed to it being a serious ACL injury.

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