Big West Roundup : CS Long Beach Routs San Jose State, 34-13

Quarterback Jeff Graham threw for two touchdowns and linebacker Pio Godinet intercepted two passes and recovered a fumble as Cal State Long Beach routed San Jose State, 34-13, in a Big West Conference game Saturday at San Jose.

Long Beach (2-7 overall, 2-3 in the Big West), capitalized on six San Jose turnovers and five sacks to hand the Spartans (3-7, 3-2) their second straight conference loss after having their Big West winning streak snapped at 17 last week by Fresno State.

The 49ers took a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter as Graham hit Greg Johnson with a 14-yard touchdown pass, Dave VanSteenkiste kicked a 51-yard field goal and LaFayette Shelton scored on a 1-yard run.

Graham completed 19 of 33 passes for 227 yards.

San Jose State trailed, 17-7, at halftime and 34-7 after Brian Browning’s 1-yard run with 12 seconds left in the third quarter.

The lone bright spot for the Spartans was the play of junior tailback Johnny Johnson, who rushed for 114 yards in 22 carries and tied the school single-season record with his 17th touchdown of the season on a 12-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Johnson also caught 9 passes for 43 yards to become only the seventh player in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. to rush for 1,000 yards and catch 50 passes in the same season. Johnson has rushed for 1,133 yards and caught 54 passes.

Fresno State 34, Pacific 0--Tailback Darrell Rosette rushed for a career-high 148 yards and scored 2 touchdowns as the Bulldogs blanked the Tigers at Fresno to clinch a share of the Big West Conference title.

Rosette caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Dave Telford in the third quarter and added a 4-yard scoring run in the final quarter. He also caught 5 passes for 42 yards.

Fresno State (7-2, 5-0) limited Pacific to 56 yards and 2 first downs in the first half, forcing 5 turnovers in the game.

Fullback Jon Grim led Pacific (1-9, 1-5) with 73 yards rushing.

Fresno State opened a 15-0 first-quarter lead on field goals of 37 and 34 yards by Steve Loop, a 1-yard scoring run by Kelly Skipper and a safety.

Loop added a 23-yard field goal in the second quarter, giving Fresno State an 18-0 halftime lead. He also hit from 26 yards out in the third quarter.

Telford, Fresno State’s backup quarterback, came off the bench to complete 9 of 12 passes for 120 yards in the second half. Pacific quarterback Jason Frost completed6 of 24 attempts for 60 yards, and Pacific finished with 210 yards total offense.

Utah State 17, UNLV 10-- Brent Snyder threw 2 touchdown passes, including a 14-yarder to Patrick Newman in the fourth quarter to lift the Aggies to victory over the Rebels at Logan, Utah.

Utah State (4-5, 4-2) avenged last year’s loss in Las Vegas, which came on two controversial calls in the final seconds.

Snyder completed 26 of 43 passes for 349 yards, including a 33-yard scoring pass on a fourth-and-5 play to Kendal Smith in the second quarter. Snyder moved ahead of Eric Hipple and into second place at Utah State with 36 touchdown passes.

UNLV (3-5, 2-2) tied the game, 7-7, on Tommy Jackson’s 2-yard run with 7:34 left in the first half.

Akron 52, New Mexico State 7-- Mike Johnson threw 3 touchdown passes and John Motton rushed for 2 more scores to lead the Zips to an easy victory over the Aggies in a nonconference game at Akron, Ohio.

The Zips (5-5) and Aggies (1-8) were tied, 7-7, after one quarter. Then the Zips exploded for three touchdowns to lead, 28-7, at halftime.