Irish bounce back after tepid opener
Brady Quinn threw three touchdowns and the Notre Dame offense returned to fantastic form in a 41-17 victory over No. 19 Penn State on Saturday in South Bend, Ind.
The defense and special teams chipped in, too, for the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish (2-0), who ended Penn State’s six-game winning streak.
Coach Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions (1-1) haven’t beaten a ranked team on the road since a 34-31 win at No. 19 Wisconsin on Oct. 5, 2002.
Quinn and the Irish looked much sharper than they did a week earlier, when they played so inconsistently that coach Charlie Weis dropped the Irish a few spots on his ballot in the coaches’ poll.
Quinn, the Heisman hyped quarterback, threw touchdown passes to Jeff Samardzija, Rhema McKnight and Darius Walker.
Safety Tom Zbikowski returned a fumble for a 25-yard touchdown for Notre Dame and Travis Thomas – the starting linebacker – set up his 1-yard TD run with a 43-yard run on a fake punt.
(4) Auburn 34, Mississippi State 0: At Starkville, Miss., Brad Lester ran for two touchdowns, Brandon Cox threw two touchdown passes and the Tigers took advantage of Bulldog miscues in the victory.
The Tigers (2-0, 1-0) won for the 18th time in the last 19 Southeastern Conference games, despite getting only 69 yards rushing in 21 carries from Kenny Irons. The SEC’s leading returning rusher had a streak of seven consecutive 100-yard games snapped.
(7) Florida 42, UCF 0: At Gainesville, Fla., Chris Leak threw for a career-high 352 yards and four scores, freshman Percy Harvin provided more dazzling moments and the seventh-ranked Gators got the win over the Golden Knights. The Gators scored touchdowns on five of their first seven possessions and led 34-0 at halftime.
(9) Florida State 24, Troy 17: At Tallahassee, Fla., Buster Davis’ interception set up a 4-yard touchdown run by Joe Surratt with 1:56 left, and the Seminoles rallied late to escape with a victory over the Trojans.
The Seminoles (2-0) scored two touchdowns in the final 6:12 to avoid what might have been the most embarrassing home loss in coach Bobby Bowden’s 31 years coaching at the school.
(10) Michigan 41, Central Michigan 17: At Ann Arbor, Mich., Mike Hart ran for 116 yards and matched a career high by getting into the end zone three times in the Wolverines win.
(11) Tennessee 31, Air Force 30: At Knoxville, Tenn., Erik Ainge threw for 333 yards and the Volunteers held off scrappy Air Force when Xavier Mitchell stuffed a late two-point conversion try by the Falcons to give the Volunteers the victory.
The Falcons (0-1) gave the Volunteers defense fits all night with its triple option offense and tried to mount a comeback in the final minutes but fell short.
(12) Georgia 18, South Carolina 0: At Columbia, S.C., the Bulldogs posted their first shutout in three years, and only the second hung on Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier. The Gamecocks had 10 yards rushing in the first half and just 32 through three quarters.
(13) Louisville 62, Temple 0: At Philadelphia, George Stripling and Sergio Spencer each ran for two touchdowns, ably filling in for Michael Bush, to lead the Cardinals to the win over the Owls. Kurt Quarterman and Kolby Smith added touchdown runs for the Cardinals (2-0) and Brian Brohm threw for 307 yards and a score in their biggest win since beating Cincinnati 70-7 in 2004.
(14) Iowa 20, Syracuse 13 (OT): At Syracuse, N.Y., Albert Young scored on a 1-yard run in the second overtime and the Hawkeyes kept the Orangemen out of the end zone on seven consecutive plays from the 2 to secure the win. Playing without star quarterback Drew Tate, it was the Hawkeyes defense that came through in a big way in the second OT to hand Syracuse (0-2) its 11th loss in a row.
(16) Virginia Tech 35, North Carolina 10: At Chapel Hill, N.C., the Hokies’ dominating defense and special teams set up two of Branden Ore’s three TDs in Tech’s victory over the Tar Heels. Ore finished with 111 yards and scoring runs of 1, 4 and 3 yards.
(17) Miami 51, Florida A&M 10: At Miami, Charlie Jones rushed for two touchdowns, Javarris James ran for one and caught another, and Tyrone Moss added a 20-yard scoring run in his first game back from a knee injury as the Hurricanes eased past the Rattlers.
Miami (1-1), which managed only 2 yards rushing in a season-opening loss to Florida State, dominated the line of scrimmage against the smaller Rattlers, gaining 339 yards on 47 carries. Derron Thomas had 109 yards on 11 carries, while James had 75 yards, Moss 64 yards and Jones 62 more for the Hurricanes.
Boston College 34, (18) Clemson 33 (OT): At Boston, Jolonn Dunbar blocked an extra point in the second overtime, then L.V. Whitworth scored on a 6-yard run to help the Eagles beat the Tigers – the second consecutive year they have beaten Clemson in OT.
It was the first home victory over a ranked team for BC coach Tom O’Brien in 10 seasons at Chestnut Hill.
(21) Nebraska 56, Nicholls State 7: At Lincoln, Neb., Zac Taylor threw a career-high four touchdown passes in the intermittent rain, Marlon Lucky ran for 103 yards and the Huskers scored on six of their first seven possessions in the victory.
(23) TCU 46, UC Davis 13: At Fort Worth, Texas, Jeff Ballard threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score to remain undefeated as Horned Frogs starting quarterback.
After replacing injured senior Tye Gunn last season, Ballard has been the starter in the last 10 wins. He was 18 of 23 passing for 190 yards before freshman Marcus Jackson took over to start the fourth quarter for the Frogs (2-0).
(24) Texas Tech 38, UTEP 35 (OT): At El Paso, Alex Trlica’s 49-yard field goal hit the left upright and bounced through the posts, giving the Red Raiders an overtime victory over the Miners.