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Vols edge Orangemen; Ohio St., Penn St. cruise
CBS SportsLine wire reports
It doesn't take long for the Top 25 fireworks to fly. The college football season wasted little time in hitting high gear Saturday, with its first marquee game decided on the final play.
Jeff Hall kicked a 27-yard field goal as time expired to give No. 10 Tennessee a thrilling 34-33 victory over No. 17 Syracuse in the first game of the post-Peyton Manning era. Later, Notre Dame gave coach Bob Davie the biggest victory of his career as the No. 22 Fighting Irish humbled No. 5 Michigan 36-20. The loss ended the defending co-national champions' winning streak at 12. Top-ranked Ohio State had little trouble dispatching No. 11 West Virginia 34-17, as Buckeyes quarterback Joe Germaine sparkled in just his second career start. In other games between Top 25 teams, No. 13 Penn State rolled over No. 21 Southern Miss 34-6, and No. 18 Washington edged No. 8 Arizona State in a 42-38 shootout. Saturday's Top 25 highlights: No. 1 Ohio St. 34, No. 11 West Virginia 17MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Stepping out after two years as backups, Joe Germaine passed for 301 yards and two touchdowns and Michael Wiley ran for 140 yards and another score as top-ranked Ohio State rolled over No. 11 West Virginia 34-17 Saturday night. Germaine, who lost his only previous start and spent the last two years in a platoon with Stanley Jackson, completed 18 of 32 passes without an interception. No. 3 Florida 49, Citadel 10GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- In a game tailor-made for piling up statistics and building confidence, Jesse Palmer and Terry Jackson accomplished their goals. Palmer threw for 301 yards and four touchdowns and Jackson ran for 127 yards and two scores Saturday to lead No. 3 Florida to a 49-10 victory over Citadel. No. 4 Nebraska 38, UAB 7LINCOLN, Neb. -- Aside from a few cramps on a hot day and the occasional punt by his offense, it was almost a dreamy debut for Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch. Making his first college start, Crouch ran for two touchdowns and passed for one to lead Nebraska to a 38-7 victory over Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday. No. 22 Notre Dame 36, No. 5 Michigan 20SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame's summer of discontent is over -- the Irish are back in the business of winning big games again.Jarious Jackson threw two touchdown passes in his first start and Autry Denson ran for another during a lucky 13-minute span of the second half as the 22nd-ranked Irish upset No. 5 Michigan 36-20 on Saturday. No. 6 Kansas St. 66, Indiana St. 0MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Michael Bishop ran for two touchdowns and threw for a third and the kicking teams scored twice as No. 6 Kansas State came within one point of the school scoring record in a 66-0 rout of Division I-AA Indiana State on Saturday night. The Wildcats, who had never before started a season ranked in the top 10, did not let the outclassed Sycamores of the Gateway Conference have a first down other than by penalty until 2:22 remained. The final score was one point shy of the record 67-0 shutout of Akron in 1995 and exceeded the 59-3 whipping Kansas State put on the Sycamores in 1996. No. 18 Washington 42, No. 8 Arizona St. 38TEMPE, Ariz. -- Brock Huard connected with Reggie Davis on a 67-yard touchdown play on fourth-and-17 with 28 seconds to play Saturday night as 18th-ranked Washington stunned No. 8 Arizona State 42-38.The Sun Devils had gone ahead 38-35 when Ryan Kealy threw a fourth-down, 8-yard touchdown pass to his old high school teammate, Tariq McDonald, with two minutes remaining. No. 10 Tennessee 34, No. 17 Syracuse 33SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It appeared Syracuse might escape with a victory after Nate Trout's 19-yard field goal with 2:38 remaining. But Tee Martin, despite completing just 9-of-26 passes for 143 yards, never gave in.The game turned when Syracuse cornerback Will Allen was called for interference on Martin's fourth-down incompletion and the Vols let the clock run down before kicking the game-winning field goal. Miami (Ohio) 13, No. 12 North Carolina 10CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- John Scott kicked a 37-yard field goal with one second left Saturday night as Miami of Ohio upset No. 12 North Carolina 13-10 to ruin the regular-season coaching debut of Carl Torbush.Travis Prentice carried 37 times for 162 yards as the RedHawks upset a top 15 team for the second season in a row on the road. Miami beat Virginia Tech 24-17 last Oct. 4 in Blacksburg, Va. No. 13 Penn St. 34, No. 21 Southern Miss 6STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Cordell Mitchell ran for a career-high 99 yards in his first start and Penn State's defense held Southern Mississippi to 9 yards rushing as the 13th-ranked Nittany Lions beat No. 21 Southern Mississippi 34-6 Saturday.With Curtis Enis in the NFL and injuries, poor conditioning and defections having depleted Penn State's backfield, Mitchell led a corps of backups who ran for 255 yards. Colorado 42, No. 15 Colorado St. 14DENVER -- Mike Moschetti threw three touchdown passes and Cedric Cormier returned a punt 82 yards for another score as Colorado routed No. 15 Colorado State 42-14 Saturday night.Moschetti, a junior-college transfer playing in his first major-college game, helped the Buffaloes extend their winning streak to eight games in the series with their in-state rival. No. 19 Georgia 56, Kent 3ATHENS, Ga. -- Quincy Carter wasted no time showing the near sellout crowd of 86,003 why he's the first freshman to start at quarterback in a season-opener for Georgia in more than 50 years. Carter, named the starter only three days ago after beating out three other candidates, threw for 235 yards and three touchdowns while playing half the game in helping the No. 19 Bulldogs to a 56-3 rout of outmanned Kent. No. 20 Wisconsin 26, San Diego St. 14SAN DIEGO -- Mike Samuel scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 47-yard quarterback draw early in the fourth quarter and the No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers, playing without tailback Ron Dayne, rallied to beat San Diego State 26-14 Saturday night in the opener for both teams. After struggling offensively in the second and third quarters, the Badgers scored 17 straight points on four possessions in a span of 11 minutes, 9 seconds. Two possessions were set up by turnovers and one by a partially blocked punt. Oregon 48, No. 23 Michigan St. 14EUGENE, Ore. -- The Oregon offense picked up where it left off last season. Now it looks like the Ducks might actually have a defense to make all those points stand up. Akili Smith threw four first-half touchdown passes and Reuben Droughns rushed for 202 yards and scored three TDs as Oregon flattened No. 23 Michigan State 48-14 Saturday. Other notable gamesKentucky 68, Louisville 34LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Tim Couch opened his Heisman Trophy campaign with 498 passing yards and seven touchdowns as Kentucky routed Louisville 68-34 Saturday in the first-ever game in the $63 million Cardinal Stadium.The Kentucky quarterback, who finished ninth in last year's Heisman balloting, completed 29 of 39 passes to 11 receivers -- including four touchdowns of 30 yards or more -- as the Wildcats dominated their intrastate rivals for the second consecutive year. Texas 66, New Mexico State 36AUSTIN, Texas -- Now the hard part begins for Texas.With a lot of help from Ricky Williams, who carried 36 times for 215 yards and a school-record six touchdowns, Mack Brown was a success in his debut as coach of the Longhorns with a 66-36 victory over New Mexico State on Saturday night. Central Florida 64, Louisiana Tech 30RUSTON, 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 69 yards on 11 carries.
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