Quick Kicks

Heisman watch

Peyton Manning, Tennessee, threw for 343 yards and four TDs on 31-for-40 passing as the No. 9 Volunteers beat No. 13 Georgia 38-13.

Dameyune Craig, Auburn, threw for 355 yards and four touchdowns, matching a school record, as the No. 8 Tigers defeated Louisiana Tech 49-13. It was his school-record sixth career 300-yard passing game.

Ryan Leaf of Washington State and Tavian Banks of Iowa had the day off.

While attention is focused on the four candidates above, Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne is giving Banks a run for his money as the season’s top running back. The thundering sophomore ran for 207 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-7 victory over Illinois.

As for dark-horse quarterbacks, Central Florida’s Daunte Culpepper continues to shine. He completed his first 15 passes and finished with 309 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters as the Golden Knights defeated Samford 52-7.

Stars and stats

Sedrick Irvin, Michigan State, rushed for a career-high 178 yards and two TDs and returned a punt 80 yards for a third score as the Spartans defeated Indiana 38-6.

Ricky Williams, Texas, ran a school-record 40 times for 223 yards as the Longhorns beat Oklahoma 27-24.

Curtis Enis, Penn State, ran for 211 yards and a fourth-quarter TD as the Nittany Lions rallied for a 31-27 victory over Ohio State.

Michael Bishop, Kansas State, rushed for 196 yards and two TDs and threw a 44-yard TD pass as the Wildcats defeated Missouri 41-11.

Tennessee freshman Jamal Lewis, in his second career start, gained 232 yards in the ninth-ranked Volunteers’ 38-13 win over No. 13 Georgia.

Tim Curry recovered a blocked punt for a TD, then recovered a fumble with 62 seconds left to end a late threat as Air Force held off Navy 10-7.

Ohio State’s Joe Germaine, who replaced Stanley Jackson on the first play of the second quarter, completed 29 of 43 passes for 378 yards and two TDs.

Billy Dicken, Purdue, completed 10 of 22 for 333 yards and five touchdowns.

Oklahoma’s De’Mond Parker had 291 yards rushing to set a school record and added three TDs.

Kentucky’s Tim Couch set school records for passing yards (2,078) and TDs (23) in a season by throwing for 294 yards and two TDs in the Wildcats’ 38-24 loss to South Carolina.

Quarterback Cory Sauter, wide receiver Tutu Atwell, punter Ryan Rindels and backup quarterback Billy Cockerham threw TD passes to four different receivers in the Gophers’ 59-43 loss to Purdue.

Numbers game

At 5-0, Michigan State is off to its best start since 1966, the year of its famous 10-10 tie in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown against Notre Dame.

By defeating Pittsburgh, Notre Dame avoided its first 1-5 start since 1960. The four-game losing streak under new coach Bob Davie was the school’s longest since a season-ending five-game streak.

The 59 points also were Purdue’s most since a 62-7 win over Boston University in Fenway Park on Oct. 18, 1947.

Florida failed to throw a TD pass, snapping its NCAA-record streak of 62 straight regular-season games with at least one score through the air.

Tulsa, at 0-5, is off to its worst start since 1957.

In defeating Louisville 64-33, Tulane scored its most points since a 64-0 victory over Louisiana College in 1950.

How bad has it gotten for Illinois? The Fighting Illini (0-6) have lost 12 consecutive games and are off to the slowest start since starting the 1972 season 0-7. The longest losing streak in school history is 15 games from 1960-62.

Alcorn State defeated Prairie View 24-9 to extend the Panthers’ NCAA-record losing streak to 73 games.

Band banned

They’d already made the Fighting Irish fighting mad enough to uninvite them in 1991.

Now, following a performance last week that included a parody of the Irish potato famine, Stanford has joined the ban on its band.

The band will not be allowed to perform at a Notre Dame game through the year 2000, Stanford said in a written statement released Friday.

The band already had been banished by Notre Dame officials since a 1991 incident at Notre Dame Stadium in which the drum major wore a nun’s habit and banged the drum with a cross.

Irvin has his say

“Last year, I was a baby trying to crawl. This year, I learned from the mistakes and the things that I didn’t know last year. So now I’m beginning to walk.” - Michigan State sophomore Sedrick Irvin.

Looking ahead to next Saturday

It’s Big Ten Game of the Year Part III when Michigan plays at Iowa. Also, it’s the third Saturday in October, so Tennessee and Alabama will be hooking up, this time in Birmingham, Ala.

, DataTimes