EAST ROUNDUP : Penn State Ends Alabama Series With 9-0 Win

Alabama has struggled this season, but Saturday against Penn State the Crimson Tide might have hit rock bottom.

Craig Fayak kicked three field goals for Penn State as the Nittany Lions beat Alabama, 9-0, at Tuscaloosa, Ala.--the Crimson Tide’s first shutout defeat at home in 35 years.

Penn State (5-2) held the Crimson Tide (3-4) to 141 yards, including only six on the ground, as the teams ended a 10-game series in which Alabama won six.

Penn State was the first team to shut out Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium since 1955, when TCU won, 21-0. The six yards rushing is an all-time low for the Tide. The previous low was 11 yards in a 27-7 loss to Tulane in 1955.

Alabama, which has gone 11 quarters without scoring a touchdown, lost its only scoring opportunity when Philip Doyle missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt in the first quarter after Fayak had given Penn State a 3-0 lead with a 34-yard field goal.

Syracuse 26, Army 14--David Walker scored on a three-yard run and Mark McDonald connected with Rob Carpenter on a 43-yard touchdown pass play as the Orangemen (4-2-2) came from behind to beat the Cadets (3-4) at West Point, N.Y.

McDonald, who completed 17 of 22 passes for 229 yards, drove the Orangemen 80 yards to set up Walker’s touchdown run with 7:47 left, giving Syracuse a 14-13 lead.

Mike Mayweather, Army’s all-time leading rusher, carried 32 times for 131 yards.

Boston College 27, West Virginia 14--Kevin Pearson returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown and the Eagles (4-3) converted three other Mountaineer turnovers into scores in a nonconference game at Morgantown, W.Va.

Entering the game, West Virginia (3-4) had forced 18 turnovers and surrendered the ball four times--the best turnover ratio in the nation.

Rutgers 20, Akron 17--Shaun Smith intercepted a pass in the end zone with 36 seconds left to preserve the victory for the Scarlet Knights (3-5) at Piscataway, N.J.

Akron (3-5-1) had driven from its own 29 to the Rutgers’ nine, but quarterback Wayne Wade’s pass intended for Marcus Reliford was picked off by Smith.

James Madison 16, Navy 7--The Dukes (5-3) sacked Navy quarterback Alton Grizzard seven times to take command of the Midshipmen (3-4) at Annapolis, Md.

Senior fullback Willie Lanier gained only nine yards, but scored on two two-yard touchdown runs for the Dukes.

Temple 30, East Carolina 27--Bob Wright kicked a 24-yard field goal with 1:16 left to help the Owls (4-3) overcome two touchdown runs by Dion Johnson and defeat the Pirates (3-6) at Philadelphia.

Johnson returned a punt 53 yards for a touchdown and had a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown--both in the third quarter.

Dartmouth 17, Harvard 0--Shon Page rushed for a school-record 222 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead the Big Green to an Ivy League victory over the Crimson at Hanover, N.H.

Page, who scored on a 49-yard run in the first quarter and a 29-yard run midway through the second quarter, broke David Clark’s school record of 219 yards set against Penn last year.

Dartmouth, 4-2-1 overall and 3-1 in the Ivy League, shut out Harvard (4-3, 2-2) for the first time since 1965.

Columbia 17, Princeton 15--Bruce Mayhew passed for one touchdown and scored another as the Lions (1-6, 1-3) earned their first victory by defeating the Tigers (2-5, 1-3) at New York for the second time in three seasons.

Yale 27, Pennsylvania 10--Darin Kehler passed for 128 yards and rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown as the Elis (4-3, 3-1) defeated the Quakers (2-5, 2-2) at Philadelphia for the first time since 1980.

Cornell 34, Brown 7--Linebacker Mark Broderick broke a 43-year-old school record with a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown to lead the Big Red (4-3, 3-1) over the Bears (1-6, 1-3) in an Ivy League game at Ithaca, N.Y.