CBS SportsLine wire reports
Sept. 19, 1998

For 30 minutes, it was a game. Then Ohio State decided to get serious.

First-half fumbles by quarterback Joe Germaine and wide receiver David Boston set up both Missouri touchdowns, but the top-ranked Buckeyes rebounded from a 14-13 halftime deficit to shut down the No. 21 Tigers 35-14 Saturday.

Related Links Week 3 with the Wiseguys: Dodd: K-State's cakewalks a joke Kahn: Huskies' defense delivers Soltau: Unlikely hero saves Stanford Buck: Miami's victory goes up in smoke Saturday's video highlights Forum: How far will Florida fall in the rankings?

In the second half, Ohio State held Missouri to 66 total yards. For the game, the Buckeyes rolled to a 532-211 advantage in total yards.

Earlier, North Carolina State went from unbeatable to unbearable in the span of a week.

The 20th-ranked Wolfpack followed last week's stunning victory over Florida State with a lackluster first-half effort that led to a 33-30 loss to Baylor. James Calvin blocked Kent Passingham's 39-yard field goal attempt with four seconds left to preserve the victory for Baylor, which led 26-0 at the half.

And in one of the most thrilling games the heated rivalry has ever seen, No. 6 Tennessee ends a five-game losing streak to No. 2 Florida with a 20-17 overtime victory.

Saturday's Top 25 highlights:

No. 1 Ohio State 35, No. 21 Missouri 14

For the third consecutive game, Wiley, a 6-foot, 198-pound junior, produced a career-best effort as he carried 24 times and scored on runs of 21 yards in the first quarter and 12 yards in the fourth quarter.

The Buckeyes (3-0), though, were sloppy and sluggish through three quarters against the Tigers (2-1), who are now 0-8 against No. 1 teams.

No. 6 Tennessee 20, No. 2 Florida 17 OT

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Jeff Hall's 41-yard field goal in overtime gave No. 6 Tennessee a 20-17 victory over No. 2 Florida on Saturday, ending the Gators' five-game winning streak in the series.

Florida (2-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) failed to extend the overtime when Collins Cooper was wide left on a 32-yard attempt, giving the Vols the victory and sending a Neyland Stadium-record crowd of 107,653 streaming onto the field to tear down the goalposts and celebrate.

No. 4 UCLA 42, Houston 24

HOUSTON -- Jermaine Lewis ran for four touchdowns and Cade McNown threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Brian Poli-Dixon as No. 4 UCLA extended its school-record winning streak to 12 games with a 42-24 victory over Houston.

McNown started slowly and finished fast in keeping the Cougars (0-3) from pulling off a major upset. He was 17-of-32 for 315 yards with one interception.

No. 5 Kansas State 48, Texas 7

Darnell McDonald caught 11 passes from Michael Bishop for 159 yards and two touchdowns as Kansas State (3-0, 1-0 Big 12) won its 11th in a row and handed the Longhorns their most lopsided defeat since last year's 66-3 loss to UCLA.

Texas (1-2, 0-1) managed only one sustained drive the entire day and consistently failed to provide running room for Williams, who scored nine touchdowns in the first two games and was third nationally with 187.5 yards rushing per game.

No. 7 LSU 31, Auburn 19

AUBURN, Ala. -- Herb Tyler threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Kipps with 5:27 left and No. 7 LSU capitalized on four Auburn turnovers for a 31-19 victory Saturday.

With LSU leading 25-19, Chris Cummings intercepted a pass by Auburn quarterback Ben Leard on Auburn's 46-yard line. Kevin Faulk then gained 26 yards on five carries to set up the clinching touchdown for LSU (2-0, 1-0 SEC).

No. 8 Penn State 20, Pittsburgh 13

Kevin Thompson hit Chafie Fields on a 60-yard scoring pass in the third quarter and Penn State, played unexpectedly tough by 25-point underdog Pittsburgh, relied on its defense to win.

It was the Penn State's sixth consecutive victory in a 105-year-old series that was interrupted from 1993-96, but it didn't come nearly as easily or as quickly as the Nittany Lions figured it would.

No. 9 Washington 20, BYU 10

Butler, a sophomore cornerback, also ran back a fumble recovery 35 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Washington (2-0) won its 13th consecutive home opener and beat the Cougars (1-2) for the fourth straight time.

No. 10 Virginia 20, Clemson 18

Braverman's fifth career field goal capped a 54-yard drive twice kept alive by penalties after the Cavaliers failed to convert third-down plays. The first call came at the Cavaliers 36, the second at their 46.

Virginia (3-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) won for the fifth time in the 1990s against Clemson (1-2, 0-1) after losing 29 straight before then.

No. 11 Florida St. 62, Duke 13

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Chris Weinke's short memory might be a good thing.

"We wanted to come out and put what happened last week behind us and I think we did that," the Florida State quarterback said Saturday night after throwing three touchdown passes without an interception as the 11th-ranked Seminoles routed Duke 62-13.

Weinke, who was intercepted six times in last week's loss at North Carolina State, completed 11 of 19 passes for 241 yards in just three quarters.

No. 12 Georgia 16, Wyoming 9

ATHENS, Ga. -- Champ Bailey did it all for Georgia, turning a short pass into a 51-yard touchdown and making a spectacular, one-handed interception as the Bulldogs struggled to victory over Wyoming.

Freshman Quincy Carter completed 18-of-25 passes for 271 yards but was responsible for two of the four fumbles by Georgia (3-0). The turnovers allowed Wyoming, an 18-point underdog, to keep it close.

No. 13 Syracuse 70, Rutgers 14

Rob Konrad tied a career high with three rushing touchdowns and Kevin Johnson ran for a score and caught another.

All of Konrad's scores came in the first half, when Syracuse (2-1, 1-0 Big East) opened a 42-7 lead. Reserves played most of the second half as the Orangemen racked up their highest point total since a 71-0 rout of Colgate in 1959.

No. 14 Wisconsin 52, UNLV 7

MADISON, Wis. -- Ron Dayne is the best rusher in Wisconsin's 89-year history.

The bruising 250-pound junior tailback set the school's career rushing record as the Badgers rolled over UNLV at Camp Randall Stadium.

Dayne rushed for 108 yards on 13 carries despite playing only about half the game as a precaution against aggravating a tender right ankle.

Dayne, who rushed for an NCAA freshman record 2,109 yards in 1996 and 1,457 last year, entered the game 33 yards shy of the 3,709-yard record set by Billy Marek 23 years ago.

No. 15 Colorado 25, Utah State 6

The Buffaloes (3-0) overcame an ineffective running game and eight sacks of Moschetti, who was playing with torn cartilage in his rib cage.

Utah State (0-3) had 15 penalties for 118 yards and finished with just 141 total yards. The bulk of those yards came on the Aggies' only two sustained drives of the game, one of which ended on cornerback Kelly's end zone interception.

No. 16 Arizona 35, Iowa 11

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Trung Canidate and Kelvin Eafon each rushed for a pair of touchdowns and Arizona's defense shut down Iowa most of the game Saturday night as the 16th-ranked Wildcats beat the Hawkeyes 35-11.

Arizona (3-0) won its home opener for the 11th consecutive year and ran its winning streak to seven games dating back to last year, the Wildcats' longest victory string since they opened the 1993 season 7-0.

Iowa (1-2) managed only Tim Douglas' 40-yard field goal on the last play of the first quarter and a 24-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Scott Mullen to Chris Oliver with 14 seconds left in the game.

No. 17 Texas A&M 24, Southern Mississippi 6

Two plays after entering the game for the first time late in the first half, Hall broke four tackles and then sidestepped one last defender on a 44-yard TD run that gave Texas A&M (2-1) a 14-0 lead.

After Jason Webster intercepted a deflected pass and returned it 33 yards to the Southern Miss 25 in the third quarter, Hall returned to the game and carried twice to score again. He followed a 9-yard gain with a 16-yard TD run in which he bounced off a defender at the line and then broke outside.

No. 18 USC 40, Oregon St. 20

LOS ANGELES -- Chad Morton rushed for 123 yards and a late touchdown Saturday night as No. 18 Southern California scored 17 points in the final two minutes to break open a close game and beat Oregon State 40-20.

Adam Abrams kicked his fourth field goal for a six-point lead with 2:11 remaining. After Oregon State failed on a fourth-and-10 try, USC took over at the Beavers' 12 and Morton scored on a 12-yard run with 1:27 left.

Linebacker Chris Claiborne capped the scoring when he intercepted a pass by Tyler Tomich and returned it 40 yards for a TD with 59 seconds left.

No. 19 West Virginia 42, Maryland 20

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia proved its offense is more than Amos Zereoue.

Marc Bulger passed for 293 yards and three touchdowns and Zereoue rushed for 135 yards and two scores as No. 19 West Virginia (1-1) rolled over Maryland 42-20 Saturday night.

Baylor 33, No. 20 N.C. State 30

Ray Robinson's 34-yard touchdown run cut the deficit to 33-30 with 12:13 to play after the Wolfpack struck for 23 points in the third period. Barnette threw a 4-yard scoring pass to Devon Smith and touchdown passes of 80 and 11 yards to Torry Holt.

Baylor (1-1) countered with a 4-yard touchdown run by Odell James before Robinson's big run.

No. 22 Oregon 58, San Jose State 3

EUGENE, Ore. -- Akili Smith threw three touchdown passes and Michael Fletcher and Rashad Bauman scored on long returns as No. 22 Oregon beat San Jose State 58-3 on Saturday, the Spartans' worst loss in 30 years.

Oregon had the ball for only 71 seconds in the first quarter, but scored three touchdowns -- on Fletcher's 70-yard punt return, a 55-yard pass from Smith to Jed Weaver and Bauman's 80-yard interception return.

Oregon ran just six plays in the quarter, gaining 94 yards. For the game, the Ducks outgained the Spartans 441-255.

Oklahoma State 42, No. 25 Mississippi State 23

STILLWATER, Okla. -- Oklahoma State shook off a week's worth of frustration with its best offensive production in 10 years.

The Cowboys, reeling from a 35-20 loss at Tulsa last week, ignited their running game Saturday to beat No. 25 Mississippi State 42-23.

"Our main goal was to get our respect back after that last loss," Oklahoma State tackle David Camacho said. "We came out today and showed everybody what we have."