East Roundup : Syracuse Struggles to Victory

No. 11-ranked Syracuse, committing three turnovers and having a punt blocked on its first four possessions, barely defeated Army, 10-7, Saturday at Syracuse, N.Y.

A 23-yard touchdown run by Michael Owens in the third quarter enabled the Orangemen to win their 16th straight in the Carrier Dome, where Syracuse celebrated its football centennial in front of 48,331.

Syracuse (2-0) drove 71 yards for the winning touchdown, with Owens accounting for 48 of the yards in four carries. He scored by running down the right sideline with 2:33 left in the third quarter.

Syracuse, which hadn’t had a scoreless first half in three years, trailed 7-0 at halftime.

On Syracuse’s opening drive, fullback Duane Kinnon fumbled into the Army end zone. The next two drives were stopped by interceptions and then a blocked punt by outside linebacker John Nadolski set up Army’s lone touchdown, which came on a one-yard run by Mike Mayweather in the second quarter.

West Virginia 45, South Carolina 21--Major Harris completed 17 of 20 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Mountaineers over the Gamecocks in front of 66,015 at Morgantown, W.Va.

The Mountaineers (3-0) extended the nation’s longest regular-season winning streak to 14 games. South Carolina dropped to 1-1-1.

South Carolina quarterback Todd Ellis completed 21 of 37 for 256 yards and three touchdowns, but he was intercepted twice and sacked three times.

Penn State 42, Temple 3--Blair Thomas rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns and Tom Bill passed for 192 yards and a pair of scores as the Nittany Lions romped over the Owls at State College, Pa.

Penn State (1-1) extended its record over Temple (0-3) to 23-3-1 in a series that started in 1931.

Thomas, who missed last season because of knee surgery, had 21 carries in recording his ninth 100-yard game. Bill’s scoring passes both went to Dave Daniels and covered 75 and 38 yards.

Rutgers 9, Boston College 7--John Blanton blocked a punt to set up a 21-yard field goal by Doug Giesler with nine seconds left as the Scarlet Knights rallied to defeat the Eagles at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Leading 7-6 with two minutes remaining, the Eagles had a fourth-and-nine at the Rutgers 46. Punter Brian Lowe fielded a low snap from center, avoided a rush and threw a pass to David Johnson for a gain to the Rutgers 16.

But the play was nullified because of an illegal lineman downfield, and Lowe’s next punt was blocked. Three plays later, Giesler kicked the winning field goal.

Rutgers is now 1-0-1, Boston College 0-2.

BYU 31, Navy 10--Quarterback Ty Detmer passed for 353 yards and Matt Bellini ran for two touchdowns and caught passes for two more as the Cougars beat the Midshipmen at Annapolis, Md.

Detmer completed 26 of 35 passes for BYU (2-1).

Navy (0-1) ran for 155 yards in the first half and trailed only 14-10 at halftime. The Midshipmen had only 24 rushing yards in the second half.

Harvard 26, Columbia 10--The Crimson trailed 10-9 at halftime but Silas Myers scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns as Harvard pulled away to an Ivy League victory over Columbia at New York. The game was the first for Columbia under Coach Ray Tellier. He succeeded Larry McElreavy, who resigned at the end of last season.

Yale 12, Brown 3--Junior quarterback Darin Kehler ran for 112 yards, 87 in the first half, to lead the Elis over the Ivy League rival Bears on a rainy day at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Conn.

Princeton 20, Dartmouth 14--Judd Garrett ran for 167 yards and scored one touchdown to lead the Tigers over the Big Green in an Ivy League game at Hanover, N.H.