Quick Kicks

Heisman watch

With Texas and Heisman favorite Ricky Williams idle this week, what is slowly becoming an interesting Heisman race got just a tiny bit more interesting.

Cade McNown, UCLA, 12 of 20, 146 yards

Donovan McNabb, Syracuse, 6 of 12, 54 yards

Tim Couch, Kentucky, 33 of 56, 337 yards

Michael Bishop, K-State, 157 pass, 104 run

Bring on Miami

Florida cornerback Tony George, Florida State defensive lineman Ronald Boldin and offensive lineman Josh Baggs were ejected after about 60 players from each team converged at the 50-yard line and started shouting at each other 20 minutes before kickoff.

Sweet and sour

Notre Dame quarterback Jarious Jackson injured his right knee while taking an intentional safety in the closing seconds of the Fighting Irish’s win over LSU and will probably miss next Saturday’s game against USC.

Bowl update

Georgia Tech defeated Wake Forest 63-35, and accepted an invitation to the Gator Bowl. … Air Force beat Rice 22-16 and accepted an invitation to play in either the Aloha Bowl or Oahu Bowl, back-to-back games which will be played in Honolulu on Dec. 25. The Falcons will face a Pac-10 opponent. … Tulane accepted Conference USA’s automatic bid to the Liberty Bowl, contingent on the school not being invited to the Bowl Championship Series.

Culpepper matches Nussmeier

Daunte Culpepper, Central Florida, has completed 296 of 402 passes for a .736 percentage, bettering the single-season completion percentage mark of .713 set by Steve Young’s for BYU in 1983.

Culpepper also became the third player in NCAA history to pass for 10,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a career. He has 11,432 yards passing and 1,020 rushing. Steve McNair (Alcorn State) and Doug Nussmeier (Idaho) are the only other players who have done it.

Beamer will talk to Clemson

Clemson has been given permission to speak with Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer about the Tigers’ coaching vacancy after the season.

Clemson, beaten 37-0 by Virginia Tech this season, fired Tommy West on Wednesday.

Good thing their SAT scores aren’t this low

Yale defeated Harvard 9-7 in the 115th meeting of the teams, but Yale finished second in the Ivy League behind Penn.

In an even-longer standing rivalry, Lehigh defeated Lafayette 31-7 in their 134th meeting.

Autumn Brees

Purdue’s Drew Brees was 20 for 33 for 237 yards and four TDs against Indiana, setting Big Ten season records for completions (336), attempts (516) and yardage (3,753). He already held the conference record for TD passes with 36.

Southern Cal ‘Super Fan’ dies

Giles Pellerin, Southern California’s most loyal fan, died during the Trojans’ 34-17 loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl, a school spokesman said Saturday. He was 91.

Pellerin was attending his 797th consecutive Trojans game, dating to 1926. Pellerin attended each of the 68 games between USC and UCLA, as well as all 69 USC-Notre Dame games.

Division I-A yardage leaders

Rushing

Eric Flowers, C. Mich., 253

Basil Mitchell, TCU, 220

Jamie Kimbrough, Fresno St., 212

Passing:

Akili Smith, Oregon, 430

Lee Roberts, So. Miss, 344

Mike Watkins, Louisville, 338

Receiving

David Boston, Ohio St., 217

Todd Pinkston, So. Miss, 203