Oct. 11, 2008

Tulsa was held to its lowest point total of the season, but improved to 6-0 with a 37-31 victory at SMU. David Johnson passed for 293 yards and three TDs for the Golden Hurricane, while Bo Levi Mitchell tossed four scoring strikes for the Mustangs. Trevor Vittatoe passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns to lead UTEP to its third straight win, 24-21 over Tulane at the Sun Bowl on Saturday. The loss overshadowed a 255-yard rushing game by Green Wave RB Andre Anderson.

TULSA 37, SMU 31
David Johnson threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns, A.J. Whitmore had the go-ahead score and Tulsa improved to 6-0 for the first time since 1942 with a 37-31 victory over SMU on Saturday night.

Tulsa (3-0 Conference USA) trailed 31-24 heading into the fourth quarter before scoring twice in just over a minute to take the lead for good.

Johnson hit Trae Johnson, who hauled in the pass over SMU defensive back Keith Robinson, for a 33-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-21 to tie the game at 31 with 9:53 remaining.

Tulsa's DeAundre Brown intercepted Bo Levi Mitchell on the first play of the ensuing drive to give the Golden Hurricane the ball at the Mustangs' 26.

Whitmore scored on an 8-yard run three plays later to put Tulsa on top 37-31 with 8:40 left.

The Golden Hurricane, who came in leading the nation in scoring and total offense, had 602 yards of total offense to snap a six-game losing streak at SMU (1-6, 0-4) that dates back to 1991.

Tulsa's Tarrion Adams rushed for 121 yards, and Slick Shelley had 105 yards receiving and a pair of touchdowns.

Mitchell, who was 19-of-34, passed for 318 yards and four touchdowns. His 77-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders gave the Mustangs a 31-24 lead. Sanders had six catches for 132 yards.

The Mustangs drove to the Tulsa 26 in the final minute. Mitchell threw toward an open Cole Beasley in the end zone. But Beasley dropped the pass that could have given SMU the lead.

Mitchell's fourth-and-2 pass was just beyond the outstretched hands of Sanders, and Tulsa got the ball back on downs and ran out the final seconds.

Mitchell threw two touchdowns in the first half to help the Mustangs take a 17-13 lead.

After Jarod Tracy's field goal brought Tulsa within a point, the teams combined to score three times in 68 seconds.

Mitchell tossed a 10-yard scoring pass to Terrance Wilkerson with 8:57 left in the third.

The Golden Hurricane, who came into the weekend as one of two undefeated teams that were unranked, quickly answered on David Johnson's 40-yard TD pass to Shelley.

Mitchell then found a wide open Sanders for a 77-yard touchdown to cap the scoring frenzy with 7:49 remaining in the third. Sanders tied a school record with his ninth 100-yard receiving game.

Before Mitchell's 26-yard touchdown pass to Beasley put the Mustangs ahead 7-3 late in the first quarter, Tulsa had scored 50 in four straight games and hadn't trailed since its opening game.

After Bryan McCann intercepted Johnson in the end zone to stop a Tulsa threat, the Mustangs went up 14-3 on Mitchell's 18-yard TD to Aldrick Robinson.

Tulsa fought within 17-13 on Tracy's 34-yard field goal as the first half ended.

UTEP 24, TULANE 21
The UTEP Miners had the last word with a 24-21 win Saturday night at the Sun Bowl, the team's third straight victory. Miners sophomore Trevor Vittatoe found Jeff Moturi for a 68-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter to give the Miners a 24-21 decision.

Tulane junior RB Andre Anderson racked up 255 yards on 29 carries, the second 200-yard rushing game of his career. Only Matt Forte has ever rushed for more yards in a single game. He also added a 28-yard touchdown reception, with four catches.

Tulane falls to 2-4 on the season, 1-2 in Conference USA, while UTEP improves to 3-3 overall and 3-0 in C-USA. The Miners converted on seven of 14 third down tries, the most the Green Wave have given up all season.

Vittatoe completed 21 of 32 attempts for 296 yards and three touchdowns for the Miners.

UTEP opened the game with an 80-yard touchdown drive, highlighted by a 53-yard pass from Trevor Vittatoe to Donavon Kemp down to the two yard line. On fourth and goal, Vittatoe found Landon Goodwell for his first career catch and a one-yard touchdown for a 7-0 Miners lead.

On fourth and seven, UTEP lined up for a 40-yard field goal and holder Kyle Wright rushed to the marker, but not over it as Tulane took over on downs.

Anderson broke a 72-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7-7. The Green Wave used four plays to go 83 yards, and give Anderson his fourth straight game with a rushing TD.

The Green Wave's David Kirksey forced a fumble, which Dominique Dade recovered for Tulane in UTEP territory. Anderson then ran in a one-yard touchdown, capping a four-play, 24-yard drive, highlighted by Kevin Moore 14-yard catch, his first career reception. Brian King's found Moore for his first career completion on his first career passing attempt.

On the ensuing drive, the Miners travelled 80 yards on 11 plays, scoring on an eight-yard pass from Vittatoe to Daniel Palmer to tie the game at 14-14 with 9:00 to go in the first half.

Anderson took the first play from scrimmage on the next drive and hustled 53 yards to the UTEP 27. On third and 11, Anderson took a screen pass 28 yards to the house, accounting for 81 yards on the 80-yard drive, giving the Green Wave a 21-14 lead. Tulane took that lead into the half.

After a Tulane punt, UTEP converted another third-down to keep a drive alive, and then Jose Martinez hit a 28-yard field goal to cut the margin to 21-17.

Freshman fullback Kasey Stelly caught a pair of passes on the next drive, giving him a career-high in reception yards, but the Green Wave 45-yard field goal attempt was blown awry in the rainy conditions.

The Green Wave defense forced a UTEP punt, taking over at the Tulane 40, but the drive stalled with 5:13 to go at the UTEP 43 yard line. The Miners took over at their own 20, and drove 80 yards in just two plays and 44 seconds. Vittatoe found Jeff Moturi for a 68-yard touchdown deep down the middle to give the Miners a 24-21 lead with 4:22 remaining.

Anderson moved the Green Wave to midfield, but the Green Wave failed to convert on third and five, and on fourth and five at the 50.

The Miners ran down the clock behind Donald Buckram, who finished with 107 yards on 19 attempts. Tulane forced a punt, but the Miners downed it at the Tulane one yard line with 14 seconds remaining. The Green Wave moved the ball 25 yards before time expired.

(15) BOISE STATE 24, SOUTHERN MISS 7
Kellen Moore threw three touchdown passes and No. 15 Boise State rolled to an easy win, beating Southern Miss, 24-7 on Saturday night with a scoring flurry in the second quarter.

Moore hit 16 of 20 passes for 144 yards and all three touchdowns in the first half, connecting twice with Austin Pettis, for the efficient Broncos (5-0). The redshirt freshman quarterback continued to show an uncanny ability to make the right decisions despite his youth.

He came into the game completing 72 percent of his passes and hit 70 percent (21-of-30) against Southern Miss (2-4), which has lost three straight games for the first time since 2004.

With Moore guiding them, the Broncos look like they could be BCS busters again.

The Broncos were so dominant, they hardly handed the ball off to running back Ian Johnson -- though he still managed to make plays. He ran 11 time for 56 yards and made big plays that set up three scores.

The show was Moore's, however. He came into the game with the No. 6 pass-efficiency rating in the nation and continued to excel against a Southern Miss secondary that's been vulnerable in new coach Larry Fedora's first season.

After a scoreless first quarter, Moore hit Jeremy Childs on a screen pass early in the second. Childs took the pass, one of seven in the first half and 10 for 82 yards in the game, down the right sideline, stiff-armed a defender at the 5 and outran two others for a 28-yard touchdown.

On the ensuing drive, Southern Miss made a mistake that would help Boise State pull away. Austin Davis tried a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1 at midfield with about 11 minutes left in the half. The Broncos stuffed Davis and a few plays later Johnson ripped off a 23-yard run to the Southern Miss 11. Moore then found Pettis on a 5-yard pass at the back of the end zone to make it 14-0.

Boise State went up 17-0 on Kyle Brotzman's 32-yard field goal after Southern Miss' Cameron O'Neal fumbled the kickoff. Johnson, playing on special teams, recovered the fumble.

Southern Miss got in the game on its next series on Damion Fletcher's 17-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 17-7.

Moore wasn't done, though. He took the ball at his own 34 and quickly drove the Broncos down the field in the hurry-up offense, starting with about 3 minutes to go. He found Johnson with a dump pass over the middle for 26 yards.

Then he hit Childs for 18 yards before finding Pettis with a 4-yard touchdown with 39 seconds left in the half.

Boise State's defense ended Davis' school freshman record for games over 200 yards passing at five and generally held Fedora's no-huddle spread offense in check, something only Auburn had been able to do.

Davis finished 15 of 34 passing for 160 yards and an interception, while Fletcher rushed for just 69 yards a week after going for a career-high 260 against UTEP.

MIAMI (FLA.) 20, UCF 14
Facing in-state foe Miami for the first time, UCF came up just short against the host Hurricanes, falling 20-14 Saturday at Dolphin Stadium. The contest served as UCF's final non-league game of the year.

Trailing by six with just under two minutes remaining in the contest, the Knights (2-4) had the ball on the Miami (3-3) 36, but turned the ball over on downs when freshman Rob Calabrese could not connect with sophomore wideout Brian Watters.

The hosts led 20-7 with 5:21 to go after Craig Cooper scored on a 5-yard run and Jacory Harris found the end zone for the two-point conversion. On the ensuing kickoff, senior Joe Burnett put the Knights back into the game with a 91-yard return for a touchdown.

The teams combined for just 22 total first downs. The Knights mustered just 78 yards of total offense, with only four of the yards coming on the ground.

Both of UCF's touchdowns came on returns as senior Johnell Neal cut Miami's lead to 10-7 with 7:22 to go in the second quarter after he picked off Robert Marve and raced 62 yards for the score. The Knights posted three interceptions in the game, with senior Sha'reff Rashad registering the other two.

Miami took the 10-7 advantage into halftime.

The Hurricanes registered a safety at the end of the third quarter when the ball was snapped over sophomore Blake Clingan's head when he was attempting a punt.

Cooper's fourth-quarter score came after Burnett mishandled a punt and Miami recovered at the UCF five-yard line.

Freshman Rob Calabrese started at quarterback for the Knights and completed 11-of-35 passes for 74 yards. Watters paced UCF with five receptions for 37 yards.

UCF attempted 12 punts during the game. Miami punted 11 times.

Sophomore Lawrence Young led all players with 11 total stops. Fellow sophomore Bruce Miller recorded 3.0 sacks for a loss of 23 yards.

VIRGINIA 35, EAST CAROLINA 20
Virginia's Cedric Peerman ran for 173 yards and two long touchdowns, and Virginia turned back a second-half East Carolina rally for a 35-20 victory Saturday.

East Carolina converted a pair of interceptions into an early 6-0 lead. But Peerman rallied the Cavaliers (3-3) with scoring runs of 78 and 60 yards.

Or so it seemed after Mikell Simpson added a 5-yard touchdown run to cap a 61-yard drive, and Marc Verica connected with Kevin Ogletree on a 30-yard touchdown pass for a 28-6 halftime lead.

But the Pirates (3-3) got a lift from Dwayne Harris' 59-yard return of the second-half kickoff and cut the lead to 28-20 on Jonathan Williams' 1-yard touchdown run and Patrick Pinkney's 10-yard scoring pass to Brandon Simmons.

The momentum seemed clearly in East Carolina's favor after Virginia turned the ball over on downs at the Pirates' 33. But Pinkney fumbled on a sack by Matt Conrath, and the Cavaliers' Alex Field recovered at the 24 midway through the fourth quarter.

Virginia stalled at the 12 and lined up for an apparent field goal attempt. Holder Scott Deke, a senior backup quarterback, took the snap and tossed his first career touchdown pass to a wide-open John Phillips to make it 35-20.

East Carolina's dim hopes vanished with another Pinkney fumble, recovered by Clint Sintim, with just over two minutes left.

Peerman's first TD came on the last play of the first quarter. The Cavaliers had done little on offense before he beat one defender to the edge, slipped a couple of tackles and raced down the right sideline 78 yards.

His 60-yard touchdown run came five minutes later, on the first play after a 1-yard shanked punt by East Carolina's Matt Dodge. Peerman found a gaping hole behind left tackle Eugene Monroe and was untouched to the end zone, stretching Virginia's lead to 14-6.

Before those two runs, it looked like the Cavaliers might be plagued by the same turnover problems that led to their 31-3 loss to Duke two weeks ago. Verica, who threw four interceptions in that game, was picked off on Virginia's first possession. His pass was on target, but it bounced off the hands of fullback Rashawn Jackson and into the arms of Jerek Hewett, leading to Ben Hartman's 45-yard field goal.

Two possessions later, an overthrown pass by Verica was intercepted by J.J. Millbook at the East Carolina 48. Nine plays later, Hartman's 35-yard field goal made it 6-0.