EAST ROUNDUP : Penn State Runs Past Syracuse

Blair Thomas scored on a 38-yard run and No. 23 Penn State kept its record perfect in games in which Thomas has rushed for more than 100 yards with a 34-12 victory over Syracuse Saturday.

Sophomore O.J. McDuffie ran back a punt 84 yards for a touchdown as the Nittany Lions broke open a close game at Syracuse, N.Y., with 17 third-quarter points and ended a two-game losing streak to the Orangemen.

Thomas finished with 115 yards in 17 carries, but he carried only once in the second half as the Nittany Lions won for the fifth consecutive time after a season-opening loss to Virginia.

Syracuse lost its third in a row, able to score only two field goals against the nation’s second-ranked scoring defense. Penn State entered the game allowing less than a touchdown per game.

After a 10-6 halftime lead, Penn State’s Mark D’Onofrio intercepted a Syracuse pass to set up Ray Tarasi’s 20-yard field goal.

After regaining possession on a punt, Penn State drove 65 yards to score on Tony Sacca’s seven-yard pass to tight end Dave Jakob.

Three minutes later, the Nittany Lions got the ball back again on a punt. McDuffie used a spin move to break one tackle and then dodged kicker Ken Hawkins to score on the fifth longest punt return in Penn State history.

Pittsburgh 31, Navy 14--Adam Walker ran for 105 yards and scored two touchdowns at Pittsburgh, assuring the Panthers an unbeaten record going into their Oct. 28 showdown at Notre Dame.

Walker, a senior, started at tailback only because Curvin Richards was held out of the first half by Coach Mike Gottfried after missing a team meeting. Richards, who has also been bothered by a pulled groin, scored on a 52-yard run on his first carry in the third quarter.

Redshirt freshman Alex Van Pelt completed 13 of 26 passes for 204 yards, giving him 1,414 yards for the season, and threw two touchdown passes as Pitt overcame a 7-0 deficit by scoring 24 consecutive points. Pitt, idle next Saturday, is 5-0-1.

Army 45, Holy Cross 9--Mike Mayweather ran for 171 yards and three touchdowns, snapping the Crusaders’ 13-game winning streak and moving into fourth place on the Cadets’ all-time rushing list at West Point, N.Y.

Army (3-2) ran for 493 yards against the Crusaders (5-1). Mayweather, who moved past Tory Crawford and Charlie Jarvis, has 2,426 career yards and needs just 532 to surpass Glenn Davis’ record of 2,957.

Yale 24, Dartmouth 19--Tailback Kevin Callahan scored three touchdowns and quarterback Darin Kehler rushed for 114 yards to carry the Bulldogs to an Ivy League victory at Hanover, N.H.

Yale improved to 4-1 and 2-0 in the league; Dartmouth dropped to 1-4 and 0-2.

Cornell 28, Harvard 0--John McNiff rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns and Frank Monago caught two scoring passes to lead the Big Red to victory at Ithaca, N.Y.

Cornell, 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Ivy League, won its second consecutive game and Harvard (1-4, 1-1) lost its fourth in a row.

McNiff scored on a draw play from 42 yards out 3:54 into the game. Then, with three minutes left in the first quarter, he went over the left side from 10 yards out to make it 14-0.

Princeton 24, Columbia 8--Judd Garrett rushed for 163 yards, scored three touchdowns and became the Tigers’ all-time leader in rushing, scoring and touchdowns at Princeton, N.J.

The Tigers’ defense forced five turnovers as Princeton raise its record to 3-1-1 overall and 3-0 in the Ivy League. Columbia fell to 0-5 and 0-3.

Penn 32, Brown 30--Bryan Keys rushed for a school record 249 yards in 37 carries and scored four touchdowns to lead the Quakers to the Ivy League win at Philadelphia. Keys broke the one-game mark of 214 yards set by Francis Bagnell in 1950 and Adolph Bellizeare in 1982.

Boston College 35, Temple 14--Tim Frager ran for two touchdowns and kicker Brian Lowe became BC’s career scoring leader as the Eagles (1-4) beat the Owls (0-7) at Newton, Mass. Lowe kicked field goals of 47, 27 and 42 yards and two conversions for a career total of 223 points, breaking the BC record of 216 set by running back Troy Stradford from 1982-86.