Around The Country

South

Tennessee 63, Arkansas 20: Casey Clausen threw five touchdown passes, three to Cedrick Wilson, as the Volunteers (6-3, 3-3 SEC) pummeled the Razorbacks (4-5, 1-5) at Knoxville, Tenn.

Louisiana State 20, Mississippi 9: Josh Reed had eight catches for 173 yards and Domanick Davis scored two touchdowns as the Tigers (7-3, 5-2 SEC) snapped a 10-game road losing streak by defeating the Rebels (6-3, 3-3) at Oxford, Miss.

LSU also broke a three-game losing skid to Ole Miss and remained tied with Auburn for first in the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division, a half-game ahead of Mississippi State.

Ole Miss was eliminated from the tightly contested West race.

Vanderbilt 24, Kentucky 20: Greg Zolman threw for 263 yards and three touchdowns as the Commodores (3-7, 1-6 SEC) defeated the Wildcats (2-8, 0-7) at Lexington, Ky.

North Carolina 13, Maryland 10: At Chapel Hill, N.C., Ronald Curry rescued North Carolina’s stagnant offense with a 25-yard scoring run with 7:24 left as the Tar Heels (5-5, 2-5 ACC) defeated the Terrapins (5-5, 3-4).

N.C. State 35, Duke 31: Freshman quarterback Philip Rivers scored on a 7-yard run with 32 seconds left to give the Wolfpack (6-3, 3-3 ACC) their victory over the winless Blue Devils (0-10, 0-7) at Raleigh, N.C.

East Carolina 62, Houston 20: Leonard Henry ran for 167 yards and three touchdowns and David Garrard threw three TD passes as the Pirates (6-3, 4-2 C-USA) drubbed the Cougars (3-7, 2-4) at Greenville, N.C.

Louisville 38, Army 17: Dave Ragone threw three touchdown passes and Arnold Jackson became the NCAA Division I-A career receptions leader as the Cardinals (8-2, 5-1 C-USA) defeated the Cadets (1-8, 1-5) at Louisville, Ky.

Cincinnati 13, Memphis 10 (OT): Jonathon Ruffin kicked a 37-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Bearcats (6-4, 4-2 C-USA) over the Tigers (4-6, 2-4) at Memphis, Tenn.

Tulane 50, Navy 38: Patrick Ramsey passed for 380 yards and five touchdowns as the Green Wave (5-5) defeated the Midshipmen (0-9) at New Orleans.

East

West Virginia 31, Rutgers 24 (2OT): Brad Lewis threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Sean Berton in the second overtime as the Mountaineers (5-4, 3-3 Big East) gave coach Don Nehlen his 200th victory by defeating the Scarlet Knights (3-6, 0-6) after blowing a 17-point fourth quarter lead at Piscataway, N.J.

Syracuse 31, Temple 12: James Mungro and Dee Brown ran for two touchdowns apiece and the Orangemen (5-4, 3-2 Big East) took advantage of three turnovers by the Owls (4-6, 1-5) to win at Philadelphia.

Southwest

UTEP 38, Rice 21: At El Paso, Texas, Rocky Perez threw three touchdown passes to Lee Mays as the Miners (8-2, 7-0) defeated the Owls (3-7, 2-5) to clinch a share of their first Western Athletic Conference title in 33 years as a conference member.

UTEP can grab the outright conference title with a victory next week at No. 18 Texas Christian (8-1, 6-1).

SMU 24, Tulsa 20: Josh McCown passed for 157 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score as the Mustangs (3-7, 2-4 WAC) defeated the Golden Hurricane (3-7, 2-4) at Dallas.

Texas Tech 58, Oklahoma St. 0: Kliff Kingsbury threw three touchdown passes and Texas Tech’s third shutout of the season included three touchdowns by the defense as the Red Raiders (7-4, 3-4 Big 12) buried the Cowboys (2-7, 0-6) at Lubbock, Texas.

Missouri 47, Baylor 22: Darius Outlaw threw two touchdown passes to Justin Gage and ran for another score as the Tigers (3-7, 2-5 Big 12) broke a four-game losing streak with their victory over the Bears (2-8, 0-7) at Waco, Texas.

Midwest

Wisconsin 43, Indiana 22: Jim Sorgi completed 16 of 21 passes for 207 yards and three touchdowns in relief of injured Brooks Bollinger as the Badgers (7-4, 4-4 Big Ten) defeated the Hoosiers (3-7, 2-5) at Bloomington, Ind.

Wisconsin lost three fumbles and Bollinger went out with a sprained ankle in the first half, but managed to overcome those problems by scoring 36 points in the second.

West

Air Force 44, Colorado St. 40: Fullback Nate Beard rushed for 149 yards and three touchdowns on a snow-covered field, and the Falcons (7-3, 4-2 Mountain West) held off the Rams (8-2, 5-1) after nearly squandering a 31-14 lead at Air Force Academy, Colo.

UNLV 18, New Mexico 14: Nate Turner grabbed a pass from Jason Thomas in the corner of the end zone with 18 seconds left as the Rebels (5-5, 3-3 Mountain West) defeated the Lobos (5-6, 3-3) at Las Vegas.

Utah 34, Wyoming 0: Adam Tate ran for 72 yards and two touchdowns as the Utes (4-6, 3-3 Mountain West), who led 27-0 at halftime, blanked the Cowboys (1-9, 0-6) at Laramie, Wyo.

Iowa St. 35, Colorado 27: Sage Rosenfels ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns and threw a 44-yard TD pass in the snow to lead the Cyclones (7-3, 4-3 Big 12) over the Buffaloes (3-7, 3-4) at Boulder, Colo.

And the rest

Derrick Vickers passed for two touchdowns as Central Michigan, a 34-point underdog, beat visiting Western Michigan 21-17 at Mount Pleasant, Mich. … Tavares Bolden threw two touchdown passes to Mel Long and Toledo beat Ball State 31-3 at Toledo, Ohio… . Walter Church threw a 25-yard TD pass to Kevin Walter with 25 seconds left as Eastern Michigan scored 27 points in the fourth quarter to beat Northern Illinois 39-32 at Ypsilanti, Mich… . Matt Weikert blocked a punt for a safety late in the third quarter as Ohio beat Bowling Green 23-21 at Bowling Green, Ohio… . Wes Counts threw four touchdown passes and Dwone Hicks scored four times as Middle Tennessee State routed South Florida 45-9 at Murfreesboro, Tenn… . Vince Nedimyer threw a touchdown pass and rushed for 81 yards as Rhode Island held off Connecticut 26-21 at Storrs, Conn… . Reggie Stancil threw for 205 yards and one touchdown and ran for another score, while Jacksonville State’s defense forced five turnovers in a 28-14 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette at Lafayette, La… . Butchie Washington passed for 287 yards and three touchdowns, and Dwight Smith returned an interception 59 yards for a score as Akron beat Buffalo 49-14 at Akron, Ohio… . Freshman Luke McCown threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score as Louisiana Tech beat Louisiana-Monroe 42-19 at Monroe, La… . At Huntington, W.Va., Bryon Leftwich threw three first-half touchdown passes as Marshall beat Miami (Ohio) 51-31 to clinch a berth in the MAC title game.