Quick Kicks

Heisman watch

Washington State’s Ryan Leaf didn’t hurt his Heisman Trophy hopes in the Cougars’ 63-37 triumph over the California Bears on Saturday. The junior quarterback completed 13 of 21 passes for 332 yards and tied a school record with five touchdown passes.

Tennessee’s Peyton Manning turned in a stellar performance in the Volunteers’ 38-21 win over Alabama. Manning, a senior, connected on 23 of 37 passes for 304 yards and three TDs. It was the seventh straight game in which Manning has passed for more than 300 yards.

Dameyune Craig was shut down by Florida. After averaging 344.4 yards passing in his last four games, the Auburn star was held to 187 yards on 18-of-34 passing with one TD and one interception.

Tavian Banks went over the 1,000 yard-mark on just his 125th carry of the season, the fastest in NCAA history, but No. 15 Iowa lost to No. 5 Michigan 28-24. Banks finished with 99 yards on 19 carries.

Stars and stats

Thad Busby, Florida State, threw for a career-high 399 yards and three touchdowns as the third-ranked Seminoles defeated No. 21 Georgia Tech 38-0.

Ahman Green, Nebraska, ran for 178 yards and a TD in the second-ranked Cornhuskers’ 29-0 win over Texas Tech.

Stewart Patridge, Mississippi State, completed 27 of 43 passes for 346 yards and two TDs in a 36-21 upset of No. 8 LSU.

Edgerrin James, Miami, ran for 271 yards, the best rushing performance in Hurricanes’ history, and added three TDs in a 45-44 win over Boston College in two overtimes.

Chris Boden, Villanova, threw for a school-record 409 yards on 26-for-41 passing, including five TD passes as the Wildcats beat Richmond 40-29.

Ricky Williams, Texas, had his second consecutive 200-yard game for Texas, getting 238 yards on 23 carries with two TDs in the Longhorns’ 37-29 loss to Missouri.

Chris Menick, Harvard, rushed for 261 yards, second-most in school history, and three TDs in the Crimson’s 52-24 win over Holy Cross.

Harry Leons, Eastern Washington, passed for 424 yards and four TDs in a 40-35 upset of Montana.

Syracuse’s Quinton Spotwood scored three times, including a 71-yarder for his NCAA record-tying fourth punt-return score of the season, in the Orangemen’s 60-7 rout of Temple.

Shepherd College’s Bootsie Washington returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and scored two TDs on punt returns in a 48-3 win over West Virginia Tech to tie the Division II record for return touchdowns in a season with six.

Numbers game

BYU’s 17-3 win over Hawaii was coach LaVell Edwards’ 232nd, matching Bear Bryant for fourth place among major-college coaches.

Virginia’s 13-10 win over Duke made George Welsh the ACC’s career leader with 67 victories.

Alabama State snapped a 10-game winless streak with a 56-7 rout of Prairie View, which lost its 74th straight game.

She just wants to have fun

Liz Heaston, a soccer player-turned kicker at Willamette University, became the first woman to play in a college football game. The 20-year-old kicked two extra points as the Bearcats beat Linfield College 27-0 in Salem, Ore.

Heaston, a native of Richland, later told the Salem Statesman Journal that she had suited up for her first and last game.

College football’s first play by a woman was also technically illegal. She was wearing the same cleats she wears for soccer, which the rule book says are too long for football.

In elite company

Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne gained 141 yards on 26 carries in the Badgers’ 45-20 loss to Purdue. His career total of 2,951 is third-highest in NCAA history for a second-year player. Only Herschel Walker and Marshall Faulk gained more in their first two seasons.

Nelson on luck

“It was like a gift from God. You couldn’t think of a more perfect time for those things to happen. Sometimes championship teams get lucky. Call it what you will but things went our way.” - Penn State linebacker Jim Nelson on Chris Snyder’s fumble recovery that set up Curtis Enis’ game-winning TD in the Nittany Lions’ 16-15 win over Minnesota.

Looking ahead to next Saturday

Michigan State’s dream of a Rose Bowl appearance might not last past next week.

The Spartans lost their first game of the season to the Wildcats of Northwestern and now must play host to the Michigan Wolverines.

The upset-minded Wildcats head to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes.

, DataTimes