College Football Today

By Andrew Bagnato, AP
Saturday, September 12, 2009

College Football Today

STARS

— Denard Robinson, Michigan, capped a 502-yard performance with a 2-yard touchdown run with 27 seconds left to give the Wolverines a 28-24 victory against Notre Dame. Robinson ran for 258 yards.

— Trent Richardson, Alabama, ran for 144 yards in place of injured Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram to lead No. 1 Alabama to a 24-3 win over No. 18 Penn State.

— Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina, carried 37 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns and the No. 24 Gamecocks beat No. 22 Georgia 17-6.

— Backup Tanner Price, Wake Forest, threw three touchdown passes and ran for another to lead the Demon Deacons to a wild 54-48 victory against Duke.

— Drew Dudzik, James Madison, ran for two touchdowns and threw for another and the Dukes upset No. 13 Virginia Tech 21-16.

— Dante Warren passed for 352 yards and three touchdowns for South Dakota and scampered for a 25-yard score on fourth-and-1 midway through the fourth quarter to seal a 41-38 victory over Minnesota.

— Landry Jones, Oklahoma, was 30 for 40 for 380 yards — 321 yards in the first half — and the 10th-ranked Sooners beat No. 17 Florida State 47-17.

— Devin Barclay, Ohio State, tied a school record with five field goals as the second-ranked Buckeyes defeated No. 12 Miami 36-24.

FCS UPSETS

James Madison became just the second FCS or I-AA team to beat a ranked major college team when the Dukes beat Virginia Tech 21-16 in Blacksburg. The loss comes six days after the Hokies lost a heartbreaker to Boise State. The first I-AA team to beat a ranked I-A? That would be Appalachian State, which famously beat No. 5 Michigan 34-32 in 2007. The last time Virginia Tech lost to a I-AA team was 1985, when Richmond beat the Hokies 24-14 at Lane Stadium.

Other FCS teams to beat FBS teams Saturday were South Dakota, which upset Minnesota 41-38, and Gardner-Webb, which defeated Akron 38-37 in overtime. Last week, Jacksonville State stunned Mississippi and North Dakota State beat Kansas.

JUST DUCKY

No. 7 Oregon beat Tennessee 48-13, scoring the most poinst by a Volunteers opponent at Neyland Stadium since Florida beat the Vols 59-20 in 2007. It was the most points by a nonconference opponent there since Washington State, another Pac-10 school, won 52-24 in 1988.

HONORING A TEAMMATE

Wyoming played Texas just six days after the death of Cowboys freshman linebacker Ruben Narcisse, who was killed in a car accident in Colorado on Monday. The Cowboys wore decals with his initials and safety Shamiel Gary wore Narcisse’s No. 12 to honor him Saturday night. Texas won 34-7.

STREAKS

Air Force snapped a six-game losing streak to BYU, beating the Cougars 35-14 in the last game the two will play as conference rivals. … No. 10 Oklahoma ran the longest current home winning streak in the nation to 32 games by beating No. 17 Florida State 47-17. … No. 11 Wisconsin won its 15th straight home opener, 27-14 against San Jose State. … LSU ran its winning streak against Vanderbilt to seven games with a 27-3 victory.

ANOTHER RECORD

TUC quarterback Andy Dalton tied Max Knake’s school record of 622 career completions with his second against Tennessee Tech, a 24-yard TD pass to Josh Boyce less than 5 minutes into the game to put TCU ahead to stay. The Horned Frogs went on to win 62-7. Last week, Dalton broke the school record for victories started by a quarterback.

GATORS GET BETTER

Jeff Demps ran for 139 yards and helped No. 8 Florida pull away from South Florida 38-14. The Gators, trying to bounce back from a messy opening win against Miami (Ohio), finally found their offense in the second half and finished with 432 yards against USF. The Bulls helped Florida’s cause by throwing five interceptions.

SCARY MOMENT

Wisconsin returner David Gilreath sustained a concussion and was taken off the field in an ambulance early in the third quarter after taking a hard hit while returning a punt against San Jose State.

The senior was hit almost immediately by Peyton Thompson. As Gilreath was being driven back, Dominique Hunsucker came in from behind, appearing to make incidental helmet-to-helmet contact.

Gilreath stayed down for about 10 minutes and didn’t appear to move, but Badgers coach Bret Bielema said Gilreath was talking and trying to get up after being knocked out for a little over a minute. Wisconsin beat San Jose State 27-14.

MISSING GREEN

Playing without suspended star receiver A.J. Green, Georgia lost 17-6 to South Carolina and was held without a touchdown for the first time in three years — since the Bulldogs’ last loss to South Carolina in 2007. Green was penalized four games by the NCAA for selling a game jersey for $1,000.

MOVING ON UP

A day after Villanova announced it was giving serious consideration to making the jump from FCS to FBS and joining the Big East, the Wildcats pounded Lehigh 35-0. Chris Whitney threw for two touchdowns and Aaron Ball rushed for 102 yards and a score to lead Villanova (1-1), which last week nearly knocked off FBS team Temple.

16 AND COUNTING

Presbyterian lost its 16th straight game, getting blasted by Clemson 58-21. That followed a 53-13 loss to Wake Forest last week. Next up for the Blue Hose: No. 21 Auburn.

QUOTABLE

“I told the defense that they played their tails off. (The offense) got a good you-know-what chewing.” Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said after the Cornhuskers’ 38-17 victory against Idaho. The Huskers defense had five interceptions and seven sacks. The offense committed four turnovers.

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