College Football : East Roundup : West Virginia Takes Another Major Step, 35-25

Major Harris brought No. 4-ranked West Virginia from behind with a 48-yard touchdown pass play to Reggie Rembert in the second quarter and the Mountaineers defeated Rutgers, 35-25, Saturday at East Rutherford, N.J. The victory moves West Virginia toward a possible national championship game with No. 1 Notre Dame, most likely in the Fiesta Bowl.

West Virginia (10-0) tied a school record for the most victories in a season, and can set the record when it winds up its regular season at home against Syracuse next Saturday. No team in the school’s 97-year football history has had a perfect season.

Rutgers is now 4-6 after losing its fourth straight.

Harris’ 13th scoring pass of the season put the Mountaineers ahead, 14-10, in the second quarter and his scrambling set up short touchdown runs by alternate tailback Undra Johnson with 1:31 left in the half and fullback Craig Taylor late in the third period.

Taylor also ran 18 yards for a fourth-period touchdown for a 35-13 lead.

Harris completed 7 of 14 passes for 130 yards and rushed 11 times for 71 yards. Rutgers quarterback Scott Erney, who had been averaging 211.2 yards a game, was 6 of 19 for 66 yards with 3 interceptions.

Pitt 14, Penn St. 7--Freshman Curvin Richards ran for 159 yards and a touchdown as the Panthers beat arch-rival Penn State at University Park, Pa.

Pitt (6-3) won its fourth straight game to keep alive its hopes for a Sun Bowl bid. Penn State dropped to 5-5, and unless the Nittany Lions can beat or tie No. 1 Notre Dame next week, they will suffer their first losing season in 50 years.

Syracuse 45, Boston College 20--Syracuse, bowl-bound for the third time in 4 years, rallied from a sluggish start for a lopsided victory over the Eagles at Newton, Mass.

Todd Philcox bounced back from a shaky start to throw 3 touchdown passes and the Orangemen put on an offensive show for post-season bowl representatives, piling up 541 yards for their seventh win.

Representatives of the Fiesta, Florida Citrus, Gator and Hall of Fame bowls were at the game.

Syracuse (8-1) netted just 61 yards in the first quarter, falling behind, 10-0.

Army 24, Vanderbilt 19--Quarterback Bryan McWilliams scored on a 2-yard run with 1:28 to play to give Army a victory over Vanderbilt at West Point, N.Y., and spoil a record-setting performance by wide receiver Boo Mitchell of the Commodores.

Johnny Clark’s 21-yard field goal had given the Commodores (3-6) a 19-17 lead with 5:57 left. But the Cadets (8-1) got the ball back with 3:08 to play.

Mitchell caught 11 passes for 167 yards to become the Southeastern Conference’s all-time leading receiver with 2,759 yards, eclipsing the previous mark of 2,708 yards set by LSU’s Wendell Davis.

Princeton 24, Yale 7--Jason Garrett threw for 259 yards and 2 touchdowns, including one to his brother Judd, to lead Princeton at New Haven, Conn, in its 111th game with Yale.

Garrett competed 21 of 26 passes, including 5 to his brother, who also ran for 77 yards in 17 carries and scored twice for Princeton, now 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Ivy League. Yale is 2-6-1 and 2-3-1.

Penn 52, Harvard 13--Bryan Keys ran for 178 yards and 3 touchdowns in 28 carries as unbeaten Pennsylvania defeated Harvard at Philadelphia to clinch a share of the Ivy League championship.

Junior quarterback Malcolm Glover threw a touchdown pass and ran for two touchdowns for Penn (6-0, 9-0). Penn’s 52 points were the most scored against Harvard (2-7, 2-4) since Yale scored 54 in a 1957 game.

Cornell 42, Columbia 19--Mike Ready’s 38-yard blocked punt return triggered a 28-point second quarter as Cornell won at New York to keep its Ivy League title hopes alive. Cornell (6-2-1, 5-1) plays host to first-place Penn next Saturday. Columbia is now 1-8 and 1-5.

Dartmouth 37, Brown 24--Fullback David Clark scored 3 touchdowns and tailback Brendan Mahoney piled up 256 all-purpose yards as the Big Green (4-5, 3-3) pulled away from winless Brown (0-7-1, 0-5-1) in an Ivy League game at Providence.