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News Nuggets, 11.21.05
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

College Football Headliners: Stars & Storylines

STARS

   ***   Chris Johnson, East Carolina, carried 18 times for 106 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Pirates to a 34-29 road win over Marshall. The upset victory gave 4-6 ECU more wins than it captured the last two seasons combined and guaranteed the Thundering Herd its first losing season since 1983.

   ***   Reggie Lindsey, UAB, had seven catches for 146 yards and three touchdowns to help the Blazers beat No. 24 Texas-El Paso 35-23.

   ***   Reggie Bush, Southern California, ran for a career-high 294 yards on 23 carries and scored twice, leading the No. 1 Trojans to a 50-42 victory over No. 16 Fresno State.

   ***   Troy Smith, Ohio State, threw for a career-high 300 yards and a touchdown and scored once on the ground, leading No. 9 Ohio State to a 25-21 win over No. 17 Michigan on Saturday and a share of the Big Ten title.

   ***   Brett Basanez, Northwestern, threw for 240 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another pair of scores to help the Wildcats beat Illinois 38-21. Basanez (10,164) is the third Big Ten quarterback to pass for more than 10,000 yards, joining Purdue's Drew Brees and Iowa's Chuck Long.

   ***   Cedric Humes, Virginia Tech, ran for 113 yards and three touchdowns and the No. 7 Hokies routed archrival Virginia 52-14.

   ***   Ed Hinkel, Iowa, had seven catches for 151 yards and four touchdowns in the Hawkeyes' 52-28 victory over Minnesota. Hinkel surpassed the Kinnick Stadium record of three TD catches by four players, most recently Jim Mauro against Iowa State in 1986.

   ***   Kent Smith, Central Michigan, threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns, including a 7-yard TD pass in overtime, for a 31-24 victory over Ball State. In the last three weeks, Smith has thrown for 1,169 yards, eight touchdowns and completed 62.5 percent of his passes.

TURNAROUNDS

A year after going 0-11, Central Florida beat Rice 31-28 for a spot in the Conference USA title game. The Golden Knights ended the nation's longest losing streak at 17 games earlier this season. ... Carlton Jones ran for 187 yards and two touchdowns to lead resurgent Army to its fourth straight win, a 38-10 victory over Arkansas State. The Black Knights, who had lost 11 straight, are unbeaten in November for the first time since 1971.

DENIED

James Davis rushed for 145 yards and his 2-yard touchdown run lifted Clemson to its eighth victory in the last nine games against No. 19 South Carolina. Coach Steve Spurrier was trying to lead the Gamecocks to their first victory over the Tigers since 2001.

WINLESS

Temple ended its season winless on the field for the first time since 1959, losing 38-17 to Navy. The Owls also finished 0-11 in 1986 after forfeiting six wins (including one over East Carolina) for using an ineligible player.

TROJAN HORSE

Reggie Bush ran for a a career-high 294 yards and scored two touchdowns in USC's 50-42 win over No. 19 Fresno State. Bush, a Heisman finalist as a sophomore last year, also caught three passes for 68 yards and set a Pac-10 record with 513 all-purpose yards, easily breaking the USC standard of 368 set by Anthony Davis against Notre Dame in 1972. The win was the 33rd straight for USC and its 26th in a row at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

TITLE BOUTS

Fifth-ranked Penn State won its first Big Ten title in 11 years and locked up its first Bowl Championship Series bid after defeating Michigan State 31-22. The Nittany Lions tied No. 9 Ohio State for the Big Ten lead but will get the league's automatic BCS bid because they beat the Buckeyes in October. ... Ninth-ranked Ohio State closed the regular season with six straight wins and gave coach Jim Tressel his fourth win in five games against No. 17 Michigan, 25-21. The Buckeyes rallied for the victory despite two turnovers and a shanked punt that led to scores, a missed extra point and field goal, mishandled punt returns and two pass interference penalties in the end zone. ... No. 11 Auburn clinched at least a share of the SEC Western Division title for the fifth time in six seasons with a 28-18 victory over No. 8 Alabama. ... D.J. Shockley threw for 159 yards and four touchdowns and No. 14 Georgia beat Kentucky 45-13 to clinch the SEC Eastern Division title.

HURRICANES STUNG

Georgia Tech sacked Kyle Wright seven times, took advantage of key penalties on two touchdown drives and made a pair of late defensive stands to upset the third-ranked Miami Hurricanes 14-10.

ONE LAST WIN

Bill Snyder guided Kansas State to a 36-28 win over Missouri in his last game as the Wildcats' coach. Snyder, who announced his retirement Tuesday, took over the nation's only 500-loss team in 1989 and led Kansas State to a 136-68-1 record. After giving an emotional speech to a crowd of 46,039, Syder's players carried him to the locker room to celebrate their victory.

DEFENSIVE STAND

Louisiana State beat Ole Miss 40-7, holding the Rebels to 7 yards rushing and handing them their worst loss in Oxford in 56 years.

OVERTIME

Making his first start for Utah, Brett Ratliff threw for 240 yards and four touchdowns — including a 25-yard TD pass in overtime — for a 41-34 victory over Brigham Young.

MILESTONES

Washington State's Jerome Harrison, the national rushing leader, extended his own Pac-10 record with his 14th straight 100-yard game. Harrison ran for 207 yards on 36 carries in a 26-22 win over Washington. ... Darren McFadden became the first Arkansas freshman and seventh in SEC history to rush for 1,000 yards in a 44-10 rout of Mississippi State. McFadden, who reached the milestone on a 64-yard run in the fourth, has 1,056 yards rushing heading into the Razorbacks' season finale at No. 4 LSU. ... Jolonn Dunbar scored on a school-record 94-yard fumble return to help No. 23 Boston College beat Maryland 31-16.

STREAKING

Syracuse dropped its eighth straight game with a 34-10 loss to sixth-ranked Notre Dame — its longest losing streak since a nine-game stretch between 1972 and 1973. The Orange must beat No. 18 Louisville to avoid their first 10-loss season. ... Tenth-ranked Oregon won its seventh straight game and kept hopes for an at-large BCS bowl invitation alive with a 56-14 drubbing of Oregon State. It is just the second time in school history that the Ducks have won 10 regular-season games. They also won 10 in 2001 when they went to the Fiesta Bowl and finished 11-1 with Joey Harrington at quarterback. ... Earl Bennett caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jay Cutler with 1:11 to go, snapping Vanderbilt's 22-game losing streak to Tennessee with a 28-24 victory. The streak, dating back to 1982, was the second-longest between major teams in Division I-A. Notre Dame's 42-game winning streak over Navy is the longest. ... Taurean Henderson scored on a 2-yard run as time expired to lift No. 21 Texas Tech over Oklahoma 23-21 and break the Sooners' five-game winning streak over the Red Raiders.

SPEAKING

"People wondered if this was going to be a rebuilding year. Well, I guess every year needs to be a rebuilding year for Georgia." — Quarterback D.J. Shockley, after No. 14 Georgia clinched its third division title in four years with a 45-13 win over Kentucky. The Bulldogs were expected to fall off after losing key players from last year's team, including David Greene, David Pollack, Thomas Davis, Odell Thurman and Reggie Brown.

"There will be a lot of No. 10 jerseys and a lot of kids on Thanksgiving weekend trying to make those moves in a pile of leaves." — Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, on quarterback Troy Smith's performance in the ninth-ranked Buckeyes' 25-21 win over No. 17 Michigan. Smith spun to avoid a sack and made an 11-yard pass early in an 88-yard drive, which was capped by Antonio Pittman's 3-yard run with 24 seconds left.

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.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007 12:29 PM