COLLEGE FOOTBALL : FAR WEST : Texas A&M; Stops Hawaii’s Ground Game

Texas A&M;’s victory over Hawaii was more a matter of what the Rainbows couldn’t do than what the Aggies could do.

The 13th-ranked Aggies held Hawaii’s run-oriented offense to four yards rushing and beat the Rainbows, 28-13, Saturday at Honolulu.

“Our plan was to stop their running game and make them pass,” Texas A&M; Coach R.C. Slocum said. “Our biggest concern was the rush. If we couldn’t stop it, we knew we could be in for a long day.”

Texas A&M; forced Hawaii quarterback Garrett Gabriel to pass 38 times. He completed 21 for 260 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted twice.

The Aggies sacked Gabriel four times (two by William Thomas), and an interception ended a scoring threat in the fourth quarter.

Texas A&M; did all its damage in the first half, when Darren Lewis rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown and fullback Robert Wilson scored twice. The Aggies converted a fumble recovery and blocked punt into short scoring drives.

Wyoming 38, Temple 23--Tom Corontzos, who lost three fumbles and threw an interception, redeemed himself by throwing for three second-half touchdowns to break open a tight game at Laramie, Wyo.

The junior’s first scoring pass came late in the third quarter with Temple leading 10-7. Corontzos, whose arm strength had been questioned during fall drills, rifled the ball 39 yards to Robert Rivers.

Wyoming entered the fourth quarter trailing 17-14 as a result of Temple quarterback Matt Baker’s screen to Scott McNair, who reversed his field and went 58 yards into the end zone. But a fumble by Baker on Temple’s next series gave Wyoming the ball and six plays later Corontzos had his second touchdown pass as he found tight end Gordy Wood in the end zone from the one.

Corontzos’ final scoring pass followed another Temple fumble on the Owls’ next possession and covered eight yards to Shawn Wiggins. It gave Wyoming a 28-17 lead.

Colorado State 35, Air Force 33--Kevin Verdugo came off the bench to complete 14 of 18 passes, rallying the Rams over the Falcons at Air Force Academy, Colo. Colorado State had lost seven straight to Air Force.

Verdugo, replacing starter Mike Gimenez with 5:29 left in the third quarter and the Rams trailing 26-14, directed them on three touchdown drives. The game-winning score was a 14-yard pass to Greg Primus with 1:16 left.

An interception killed Air Force’s chances of coming back.

Verdugo, a junior, completed his first 10 passes. His 11th attempt was intercepted by Air Force cornerback Carlton McDonald, whose 10-yard return to the Air Force 37-yard line set up quarterback Ron Gray’s two-yard go-ahead score with 3:31 remaining.

McDonald had earlier blocked two punts to help account for a pair of Falcon scores.

Louisville 10, San Jose State 10--In the debut of San Jose State Coach Terry Shea, kicker Raul De la Flor had two potential game-winning field goals blocked in the final two seconds as Louisville hung on for a tie at San Jose.

De la Flor lined up for a 32-yard field goal attempt with two seconds to go and the kick was blocked. But Louisville was called for holding on the play as time ran out. Given another chance from 24 yards out, De la Flor’s kick was blocked again after a high snap.

Fresno State 41, Eastern Michigan 10--Quarterback Mark Barsotti ran for two touchdowns and passed for another as the defending Big West champion Bulldogs won their opener at Fresno.

Barsotti finished with 340 yards in total offense, including a career-high 281 yards passing as he completed 22 of 33 attempts.

In the third quarter, Barsotti scored on a 33-yard run and teamed with Malcolm Seabron on a 56-yard scoring play to give the Bulldogs a 28-10 lead.

Fresno’s Aaron Craver rushed for 99 yards in 30 carries and scored on a one-yard run one minute before halftime.

The Hurons of the Mid-American Conference were held to 56 yards passing.

Utah 19, Utah State 0--Running backs Steve Abrams and Clifton Smith each scored fourth-quarter touchdowns to lead the Utes to a nonconference victory at Logan, Utah.

The game between the Utes of the Western Athletic Conference and the Aggies of the Big West had been a defensive struggle until Utah’s offense took advantage of Utah State turnovers.

Two field goals gave Utah a 6-0 halftime lead, and the Utes did not score their first touchdown until four minutes into the final quarter.

New Mexico 29, New Mexico State 12--Jeremy Leach passed for 300 yards, Andre Wooten ran for 128 more and the Lobos beat their intrastate rivals at Las Cruces. The Aggies have now lost 18 straight, the longest losing streak in major college football.

Eric Morgan, heir to the wide receiver spot vacated by current New York Jet rookie Terance Mathis, had a career-high 12 catches for 152 yards.

Southwest Missouri State 31, Las Vegas 24--Quarterback DeAndre Smith scored on a eight-yard run with 4:03 left to give Southwest Missouri State a victory at Las Vegas.

UNLV quarterback Derek Stott threw two touchdown passes and scored another as the Rebels rallied to tie the game at 24-24 with 7:26 remaining.