Minnesota backs set rush record

Minnesota’s Marion Barber III surpassed 1,000 yards rushing for the second straight season, joining Laurence Maroney as the first pair of teammates to accomplish that in NCAA history.

Barber reached the milestone Saturday in Minneapolis with a 22-yard run off right tackle in the third quarter against 19th-ranked Iowa. Barber, who rushed for 167 yards on 29 carries, has 1,082 yards this season.

Maroney, who ran 19 times for 156 yards in the 29-27 loss to the Hawkeyes, has 1,243 yards.

Barber, a junior, and Maroney, a sophomore, became the 31st duo from the same team to each rush for 1,000 yards during a single season in 2003. Barber finished with 1,196 yards while Maroney had 1,121.

‘Karate Kid’ inspires kicker

If Matt Brooks’ game-winning kick felt like a karate chop to the gut for Clemson fans, it was appropriate.

Brooks, Duke’s place-kicker, had to wait for several minutes before attempting a 53-yard field goal that defeated the Tigers 16-13 at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C. First, Duke called timeout with 2 seconds remaining. Then Clemson called timeout twice, in an effort to fray Brooks’ nerves. It didn’t work.

“I was just singing a song in my head, trying to stay relaxed,” Brooks said moments after his kick, as fans rushed to congratulate him. “I was just walking up and down the field — I didn’t even think about anything other than doing the kick, just like in practice.”

Brooks said he sang “You’re the Best,” a song from the Karate Kid movie. The lyrics rang true after he kicked the ball perfectly, knocking it 5 yards over the crossbar.

Benson sets touchdown record

Texas running back Cedric Benson’s 16-yard touchdown against Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., gave him a score in 36 games, breaking the NCAA record.

The record of 35 games with a touchdown was shared by Travis Prentice of Miami of Ohio (1996-99) and Brock Forsey of Boise State (1999-2002).

The senior rushed for 161 yards and passed Heisman Trophy winners Archie Griffin and Herschel Walker and current NFL star LaDanian Tomlinson for sixth place on the NCAA career list with 5,305 yards.

Utes sit through power outage

The start of the Utah-Wyoming football game was delayed nearly two hours because of a brownout at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyo.

Shortly before the scheduled 6:06 p.m. PST kickoff, the lights on the north and west sides of the stadium went out.

The game finally began at 6:45 p.m. after a delay of 1 hour, 39 minutes.

Pitt QB apologizes for expletive

Pittsburgh quarterback Tyler Palko used an expletive during a live postgame interview with NBC after the Panthers upset No. 24 Notre Dame 41-38 in South Bend, Ind.

He used the vulgarity while being interviewed on the field immediately after the game. While meeting later with reporters, Palko apologized before taking any questions.