Quick Kicks

Heisman watch

Setting records and doing things out of the ordinary, like leading Purdue to the Rose Bowl, have to help a player’s chances of winning the Heisman Trophy.

With that in mind, Chris Weinke, Drew Brees and LaDainian Tomlinson were very successful on Saturday.

Tomlinson ran for a season-high 305 yards and three touchdowns, including scores of 68 and 89 yards, as No. 15 Texas Christian beat Texas-El Paso 47-14. He became the WAC’s all-time leading rusher and the ninth player to surpass 5,000 yards rushing (5,089). He increased his NCAA-leading season rushing total to 1,984 yards.

Weinke threw for 353 yards and three touchdowns as No. 3 Florida St. beat No. 4 Florida 30-7. Weinke completed 23 of 44 passes, and his second TD pass made him the Atlantic Coast Conference’s career passing leader. He has thrown for 9,789 yards in his career.

Brees completed 20 of 29 passes for 216 yards as Purdue wrapped up its first Rose Bowl berth since the 1966 season. He is the Big Ten career leader in nearly every major passing category.

Josh Heupel, QB, Oklahoma: The starting quarterback on the nation’s top-ranked team had his lowest yardage output of the season yet kept the Sooners undefeated with a 27-13 win over Texas Tech.

Michael Vick, QB, Virginia Tech: The Hokies did not play Saturday and Vick has not played in November.

Woodrow Dantzler, QB, Clemson: September seems such a long time ago.

Strange stat

With the outcome of the presidential election still up in the air, perhaps the outcome of The Game will shed some light on the eventual winner. Yale beat Harvard 34-24 in the 117th meeting between the teams in a 125-year rivalry. Although no one is suggesting that The Game has an impact on the presidential race, there has been an uncanny correlation: In every presidential election year since 1980, a Harvard win has been followed by a Democratic inauguration, and a Yale victory coincided with the election of a Republican president. Since 1936, the trend holds 12 of 15 times (there was no Game in 1944 because of World War II). George W. Bush is a Yale grad (1968). Al Gore got his degree at Harvard (1969).

Setting records

Indiana’s Antwaan Randle El became the second player in NCAA Division I-A history to rush for 200 yards and pass for 200 yards in a career in a 41-13 loss to No. 17 Purdue. Randle El has thrown 33 TD passes, rushed for 36 touchdowns and had one TD reception.

Brown’s Stephen Campbell broke the Division I-AA single-season receiving record as Brown beat Columbia 45-27. Campbell caught 14 passes to finish the season with 120 and eclipse the mark of 115 set by Rhode Island tight end Bob Forster in 1986.

Louisville wide receiver Arnold Jackson caught his 300th career reception, becoming the first player in NCAA Division I-A history to reach that milestone.

This and that

Auburn’s 9-0 win over Alabama marked the first time neither team scored a touchdown in the Iron Bowl since Alabama’s 3-0 win in 1960. The Tide were shut out for the second time this season and finished with more than seven losses for the first time since 1955… . North Carolina led Duke 52-7 at halftime, breaking the ACC record for points in a half… . Boise State’s football team outscored its basketball team 66-61. The Broncos routed Idaho 66-28 in football and Cincinnati beat Boise State 73-61 in basketball… . LaDainian Tomlinson has 711 yards rushing in his last two games against UTEP. In addition to Saturday’s 305 yards, he set an NCAA Division I-A record with 406 yards against UTEP last season… . Iowa State reached eight victories for just the eighth time in school history and now awaits a bowl invitation, which would be its first since 1978. That also was the last time Iowa State won eight games.

Division I-AA highlights

Rocky Butler threw for six touchdowns and Trevor Dimmie rushed for 214 yards with a 72-yard touchdown in Hofstra’s 55-28 victory over Albany.

Bobby Sippio returned an interception for a touchdown, blocked a punt that resulted in a safety and blocked a field goal to lead Western Kentucky over Southern Illinois 22-0.

Brant Hall threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns as Lehigh beat Lafayette 31-17 Saturday in the schools’ 136th meeting. It’s the most frequently played matchup in college football.

Somber tribute

More than 25,000 people weathered a driving rain to mark the one-year anniversary of the collapse of a log bonfire that killed 12 Texas A&M students. Students and others huddled under umbrellas on the campus polo fields for a memorial ceremony at 2:42 a.m. CST - the exact place and time A&M’s log stack collapsed Nov. 18, 1999. The 59-foot stack of logs was being assembled for the school’s annual pep rally on the eve of its football game against Texas when it toppled.