Quick Kicks

Heisman watch

Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning can plan on picking up the award during the presentation ceremony next month in New York. Manning passed for five touchdowns and a school-record 523 yards in Saturday’s 59-31 victory over Kentucky.

Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf can’t be far behind. The junior from Great Falls, Mont., was 22 for 38 for 358 yards with two touchdowns as the Cougars clinched a Rose Bowl berth by defeating Washington 41-35. His 3,637 yards and 33 touchdowns are Pac-10 single-season records.

Midwest voters will be taking a long, hard look at Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson. He caught a 37-yard pass to set up a touchdown, returned a punt 78 yards for another score and intercepted a pass in the end zone to stop an Ohio State threat in the Wolverines’ 20-14 victory over the Buckeyes.

Stars and stats

Tim Couch, Kentucky, broke his own school mark with 476 passing yards, completing 35 of 50 passes against Tennessee. Couch also set the SEC single-season records for passing yardage with 3,884 yards and total offense with 3,759.

Fred Taylor, Florida, rushed for 162 yards and four TDs against the nation’s best run defense in the No. 10 Gators’ 32-29 upset of No. 2 Florida State.

QB Chris McCoy, Navy, rushed for 268 yards and three TDs in the Midshipmen’s 62-29 win over Kent.

Matt Hasselbeck, Boston College, completed 31 of 46 passes for 393 yards and three TDs to lead the Eagles to a 24-20 victory over Army.

Amos Zereoue, West Virginia, rushed for a career-high 234 yards and broke the school’s single-season rushing record with 1,354 yards in a 21-14 loss to Notre Dame.

Tim Dwight, Iowa, returned a punt for a score, his third of the season, in the Hawkeyes’ 31-0 win over Minnesota to set a Big Ten record. It was his fifth career punt return for a TD, also a record. Dwight’s 1,086 punt-return yards broke the mark of 1,075 yards by Northwestern’s Brian Musso.

Pat Johnson, Oregon, had three TD receptions, returned a punt for a TD and his 337 all-purpose yards in the Ducks’ 48-30 win over Oregon State were one short of Oregon’s record of 338 set by Bobby Moore, now known as Ahmad Rashad, in 1971.

Pete Gonzalez, Pittsburgh, threw for 314 yards and four TDs in a 30-23 win over Virginia Tech.

Streaks, trends and other tidbits

Florida’s offensive line held Florida State’s defense, which leads the nation with 64 sacks, to none in the Gators’ victory.

Kansas State completed its first 10-victory regular season (10-1) since 1910 with a 28-3 win over Iowa St.

Illinois’ 27-17 loss to Michigan State was the Fighting Illini’s school-record 17th straight. Illinois (0-11) had only gone winless twice in 108 years - 0-9 in 1961 and 0-10 in 1969. This season, Rutgers, Northern Illinois and Illinois became the fourth, fifth and sixth 0-11 teams in Division I-A in the ‘90s.

In the 100 Big Games between Stanford and Cal, 49 have been decided by fewer than a touchdown and six went down to the final play, including the famed five-lateral kickoff return Cal used win in 1982.

In case you missed it

Villanova, the No. 1 team in Division I-AA, secured its first undefeated regular season (11-0) in 59 years with its 49-35 victory over Northeastern.

Boston’s 31-14 loss to James Madison was the last game in Terriers history. Their school had pulled the plug after 91 seasons, making the announcement last month during Homecoming weekend.

Ivy League champion Harvard defeated Yale, 17-7, in the 114th rendition of The Game to complete the Crimson’s first nine-win season (9-1) since the Rose Bowl team of 1919 went 9-0-1.

Rabih Abdullah scored four touchdowns, including a pair in a 22-point fourth quarter, that lifted Lehigh to a 43-31 win over Lafayette.

, DataTimes