CBS SportsLine wire reports
Sept. 5, 1998

RUSTON, La. -- Daunte Culpepper passed for four touchdowns and ran for two Saturday night as Central Florida routed Louisiana Tech 64-30.

Culpepper clearly won what was supposed to have been a battle of high-powered quarterbacks, completing 24 of 37 passes for 370 yards and gaining

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69 yards on 11 carries.

Tech junior quarterback Tim Rattay, the nation's total offense leader last season with 3,881 passing yards, was 43-of-64 passes for 524 yards but also was thrown for 42 yards in losses. He threw for 590 yards in Tech's season-opening 56-27 loss to Nebraska a week earlier.

CENTRAL FLORIDA SEIZED A 27-10 HALFTIME lead on touchdown runs of 2 yards by Omari Howard, 26 and 1 yards by Culpepper, and field goals of 21 and 39 yards by Fred Waczewski. The best of Culpepper was yet to come.

Central Florida outscored Tech 30-12 in the third quarter on touchdown passes by Culpepper of 21 yards to Sisha Burley, 54 yards to Kenny Clark and 8 yards to Dwight Collins before a 23-yard touchdown run by Ed Mack gave the Golden Knights 57-22 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The teams traded touchdowns in a lackluster fourth quarter, Tech scoring on a 20-yard pass from Rattay to James Jordan and Central Florida on a 13-yard pass from Culpepper to Eric Leister.