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News Nuggets, 11.07.04
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Roundup: Bearcats shoot down Golden Eagles

HATTIESBURG — Gino Guidugli kept throwing touchdowns, Hannibal Thomas kept catching them and Southern Mississippi made history for all the wrong reasons.

Guidugli threw three of his school-record five touchdown passes to Thomas on Saturday to lead Cincinnati to a 52-24 Conference USA shocker over the 21st-ranked Golden Eagles.

In other Saturday action around the league, Houston handled East Carolina 34-24 and — in a pair of outings against non-conference foes — Tulane sank Navy 42-10 and Army was strafed by Air Force 31-22.

Guidugli was 19-of-26 for 308 yards for the Bearcats (5-4, 4-2 C-USA), who snapped the Golden Eagles' 13-game league winning streak and beat a ranked team for the first time in four years.

``Things are starting to go our way,'' Guidugli said. ``I don't care if we get five (touchdowns) on the ground or in the air, as long as we score.''

This wasn't how Southern Miss was supposed to make history. The Golden Eagles were one win from tying their 4-year-old record of 14 straight conference victories.

Instead, the Golden Eagles absorbed their worst conference loss at home since the league formed in 1996.

``It hurts. I've coached a lot of games in there, and I don't know that I can remember one like this,'' Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower said.

The dagger came on the second play of the second half, when Guidugli found Thomas over the middle for an 80-yard touchdown. It was the Bearcats' longest completion in nearly a decade.

``He's playing better than he has ever played,'' Bower said of Guidugli.

He also hit Thomas for touchdown passes covering 15 and 47 yards. Thomas finished with 168 yards on seven catches.

``The offensive line is giving me a good pocket to sit in, and the wide receivers are making good plays,'' Guidugli said.

Cincinnati turned three turnovers into 17 points and never trailed in its third straight victory since an embarrassing turnover-filled loss at Army that snapped the Black Knights' 19-game losing streak.

``We're continuing to build confidence after the last couple of weeks,'' Cincinnati coach Mark Dantonio said. ``This is another confidence builder for us.''

It was the first Conference USA defeat for Southern Miss (5-2, 4-1) since a 31-10 loss at Tulane in November 2002. The Golden Eagles also fell behind 14th-ranked Louisville in the league standings.

Cincinnati's last win over a ranked team also came against the Golden Eagles, who were No. 24 in November 2000 when the Bearcats won 27-24. That was the last time Southern Miss was ranked until this season.

The Golden Eagles have lost three straight games as a ranked team, including twice this year. Southern Miss was ranked 24th last month when Alabama routed the Golden Eagles 27-3.

``I'm very humiliated and embarrassed, especially in front of the home crowd,'' Southern Miss defensive back John Eubanks said. ``I looked at the scoreboard and saw 52-24. Four touchdowns. ... I'm ready to come back hard.''

Cincinnati took a 10-point lead in the first quarter on two Southern Miss giveaways.

Jeremy Jackson intercepted Dustin Almond's pass and set up a 26-yard field goal by Kevin Lovell. Eubanks fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Anthony Hoke recovered at the Southern Miss 20. Five plays later, Guidugli hit Doug Jones from 8 yards out to make it 10-0.

``No one in the country is good enough to win when you play like that,'' Bower said.

Guidugli also had a 20-yard touchdown pass to Brent Celek.

Almond struggled in his first game back in the Golden Eagles' lineup. Out for a month with a pulled hamstring, Almond was 12-of-26 for 187 yards and had a 1-yard touchdown run. He was intercepted twice and fumbled once.

``We have yet to play all three phases of a football game,'' Almond said. ``We have to push ourselves past the edge.''

College football weekend: stars & storylines

SATURDAY'S STARS

  —  Mike Imoh, Virginia Tech, ran for 236 yards and two touchdowns to help the No. 18 Hokies beat North Carolina 27-24.

  —  Wali Lundy, Virginia, ran for two touchdowns, giving him 14 this season, as No. 12 Virginia blanked Maryland 16-0.

  —  Kay-Jay Harris, West Virginia, caught two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores to lead No. 15 West Virginia to a 42-21 victory over Temple.

  —  Reggie Merriweather, Clemson, ran for 114 yards and three touchdowns, including a 2-yard score in overtime, to give the Tigers a 24-17 comeback victory over No. 11 Miami.

  —  DaVon Fowlkes, Appalachian State, caught 17 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns in Appalachian State's 48-7 victory over Elon.

ON TARGET

Lester Ricard completed 18 of 19 passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns as Tulane defeated Navy 42-10. Ricard, who completed his last 14 passes, had a school-record 94.7 completion percentage.

SNAPPED

No. 21 Southern Mississippi's 52-24 loss to Cincinnati snapped the Golden Eagles' 13-game league winning streak. The Bearcats beat a ranked team for the first time in four years. ... No. 4 Cal snapped a seven-game losing streak against Oregon with a 28-27 win. ... Arizona ended a seven-game losing streak with a 23-13 win over Washington. ... Illinois snapped a seven-game slide and won its first conference game since 2002 with a 26-22 win over Indiana.

CHA-CHANG

Hawaii's Timmy Chang became the most prolific passer in college football history Saturday night, surpassing Brigham Young's Ty Detmer. Chang needed just 14 yards to break Detmer's NCAA career yardage mark of 15,031 yards set from 1988-91, and overtook the Heisman Trophy winner from BYU with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jason Rivers on Hawaii's second offensive series against Louisiana Tech.

COMEBACK KIDS

Texas overcame a 35-7 first-half deficit for a 56-35 victory over No. 19 Oklahoma State, the biggest comeback in school history. In 111 years of playing football, the largest deficit the Longhorns had ever overcome to win was 19 points three seasons ago in a Holiday Bowl win over Washington.

BIG GREENE

David Greene passed for 259 yards and set an NCAA Division I-A record for most wins by a quarterback as No. 8 Georgia routed Kentucky 62-17. Greene is 40-9 as a starter, breaking former Tennessee star Peyton Manning's record. Greene completed 14 of 19 passes, including a touchdown, and ran his streak of consecutive passes without an interception to 206, breaking the Southeastern Conference mark of 200 set by Mississippi's Stewart Patridge in 1997.

NINE LINE

Oklahoma freshman Adrian Peterson ran for 101 yards, his ninth straight 100-yard game, and scored a touchdown as the second-ranked Sooners beat Texas A&M 42-35. He went to the locker room on Oklahoma's go-ahead drive with an apparent arm injury, but returned to help the Sooners run the clock down on their last possession.

FIFTY SENT

Martin Hankins broke an NCAA Division I-AA record by completing 50 passes in Southeast Louisiana's 51-3 win over Jacksonville. Hankins was 50-of-61 for 484 yards and four touchdowns.

666

Bowling Green set a school record with 49 points in the first half of a 52-0 rout of Western Michigan. By halftime, the Falcons had 551 yards of total offense. They finished with 666.

ELWAY CLOSED

Andrew Walter threw four touchdown passes in No. 23 Arizona State's 34-31 victory over Stanford, breaking John Elway's Pac-10 record for career touchdown passes. Walter, who was 28-for-43 for 415 yards, has 80 TD passes, breaking Elway's record at Stanford of 77.

HURTING

Tennessee lost the second member of its heralded freshman quarterback class when Erik Ainge separated his right shoulder in the first half of the Volunteers' 17-13 loss to Notre Dame. Ainge recovered his own fumble, was sacked and did not return. His injury came a week after Brent Schaeffer broke his collarbone. Junior Rick Clausen, the younger brother of former Tennessee quarterback Casey Clausen, replaced Ainge in the second half.

STREAKING

No. 20 Iowa ran its home winning streak to 17, the fourth longest string in the nation, with a 23-21 win over Purdue. ... Virginia beat Maryland for the 11th time in 13 games, blanking the Terrapins 16-0. ... No. 24 Boston College is 12-0-1 in its last 13 games against Rutgers after a 21-10 win. ... Kansas State won its 12th straight against Missouri, 35-24. ... Penn defeated Princeton 16-15 for its 20th straight Ivy League win. It was the Quakers' ninth straight win at Princeton. ... Florida beat Vanderbilt 34-17 for its 14th straight victory in this series. ... Clemson has won four straight games for the first time in four seasons after a 24-17 overtime win over No. 11 Miami.

SLUMPING

Purdue's 23-21 loss to No. 20 Iowa was the Boilermakers' fourth straight. It's their first four-game slide since 1993. ... Army has dropped 15 of the last 16 to Air Force, including eight straight, after the Black Knights' 31-22 defeat. ... Baylor has lost 35 straight Big 12 road games after a 42-17 loss to Texas Tech. ... Indiana lost its 12th straight Big Ten game, 26-22 to Illinois.

STRONG IN DEFEAT

Oregon's Kellen Clemens threw four touchdown passes in the first half of the Ducks' 28-27 loss to California. ... Alvin Pearman ran for 170 yards in Maryland's 16-0 loss to Virginia. ... Cornerback Charles Gordon had two interceptions and a fumble recovery for Kansas in a 30-21 loss to Colorado.

CLUTCH

Bradley Wilson missed his two other field goal tries this season, but hit field goals in the first and second overtimes to give Austin Peay a 20-17 win over Davidson.

D-III DOMINANCE

Mount Union beat Muskingum 34-7 to extend its Division III regular-season winning streak to 103 games.

SPEAKING

``I definitely was a little ticked off. We were not handling business in the first half.'' — Florida State quarterback Wyatt Sexton, who came off the bench to lead three long scoring drives as the No. 13 Seminoles scored 20 straight points to beat Duke 29-7.

``I'm just not quite sure at this point how we're doing it. But we're finding a way to get it done and that's really all that counts.'' — Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. The 20th-ranked Hawkeyes forced five turnovers and blocked two field goals to rescue a sputtering offense in a 23-21 victory over Purdue.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2004 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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