SPOTLIGHT : SATURDAY’S GAMES AT A GLANCE : NOTEWORTHY

Brigham Young’s Ty Detmer, who completed 29 of 46 passes for 377 yards in the 27-23 loss to UCLA, broke the NCAA career passing record of 11,425 yards set by Todd Santos, who played at San Diego State from 1984-87. Detmer entered the game needing 197 yards to break the record. He surpassed Santos when he completed a five-yard pass to Micah Matsuzaki with one minute left in the second quarter.

The ledger in California’s 86-24 victory over Pacific at Berkeley: Mike Pawlawski’s six touchdown passes broke Craig Morton’s school record of five. Cal’s point total was its highest ever, and the 110 points were the most in a Cal game. Pacific’s defeat was its worst since a 69-0 loss to St. Mary’s Pre-Flight in 1945.

Nebraska’s Derek Brown, who replaced starter Scott Baldwin after he was injured in the first quarter, ran for 175 yards in 23 carries in the Cornhuskers’ 59-28 victory over Utah State. Nebraska set a national record with 44 first downs while rushing for 630 yards and accumulating 800 yards of total offense, both second best in school history. Nebraska had 677 rushing yards and 883 overall against New Mexico State in 1982, when the Cornhuskers set the previous record of 43 first downs.

Thanks to Desmond Howard, No. 2 Michigan finally disposed of surprisingly tough Boston College. Howard caught three touchdown passes and returned the second-half kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown in the Wolverines’ 35-13 victory. Michigan pulled away with three touchdowns in the final eight minutes.

Virginia lost six fumbles, handing Maryland a 17-6 Atlantic Coast Conference victory. Troy Jackson and Mark Mason alternated in the backfield, giving the Terrapins a 1-2 running punch. Each ran for 96 yards.

Led by nose guard Rob Bodine’s 11 tackles, Clemson held Appalachian State to two yards rushing and 84 yards overall. Division I-AA Appalachian State, which has been outscored, 122-7, in three games against Clemson, didn’t get past midfield until the final five minutes.

Welcome to the Big Ten: Hawaii quarterback Michael Carter, who rushed for 214 yards in last Saturday’s 32-17 victory over Wyoming, was held to 45 yards in 17 carries in a 53-10 loss to Iowa.

Iowa State’s Sundiata Patterson, a junior fullback who scored only three touchdowns last season, scored four in a 42-13 victory over Division I-AA Eastern Illinois.

Austin Peay ended the longest Division I losing streak at 23 games with an 18-14 victory over Western Kentucky. The victory was a money-saver for Austin Peay, whose athletic director, Tim Weiser, had promised season-ticket holders a refund if the Governors didn’t win this season.

Chris Anderson scored on a school-record 96-yard run in Alabama’s 41-3 victory over Temple.

A FINE HOW-DO-YOU-DO

Before Saturday’s game at Pittsburgh, Pitt had never played a school from Mississippi. Southern Mississippi had never played a school from Pennsylvania. Steve Israel rudely introduced himself to the Golden Eagles in Pitt’s 35-14 victory. He returned an interception 81 yards for one touchdown and ran 35 yards for another score with a fumble.

SOMEONE HAD TO WIN

In its third season of NCAA Division III football, Methodist College, of Fayetteville, N.C., won for the first time, beating Charleston (S.C.) Southern, 18-8. Until this season, Charleston Southern has played only at the club level.

BIG PLAYS

Kansas State’s William (T.) Price intercepted a conversion pass and ran 102 yards in the closing minutes, giving Kansas State a 26-25 victory over Indiana State. Under an NCAA rule adopted in 1989, the play is worth two points. Indiana State had gone ahead, 25-24, and went for two points to try to increase its lead to three.

Rodney Powers sacked Texas quarterback Peter Gardere late in the fourth quarter to preserve Mississippi State’s 13-6. . . . Dave Brown passed four yards to Walter Jones as time ran out, then threw to Aaron Shaw for a two-point conversion to give Duke a 24-24 tie against South Carolina. The Blue Devils scored 14 points in the last 69 seconds. . . . Vincent Booker intercepted a pass by Kevin Verdugo in the end zone with three seconds to play to preserve Air Force’s 31-26 Western Athletic Conference victory over Colorado State.

THE RIGHT CHEMISTRY

Ohio State is apparently several players deep at running back. The Buckeyes lost Robert Smith, last season’s leading rusher, when he quit the team in preseason. Smith, who says he wants to become a doctor, left because he said the coaching staff was trying to prevent him from spending as much time as he wanted to on academics. In their opener, the Buckeyes ran for 325 yards in a 38-14 victory over Arizona. Butler By’not’e and Jeff Cothran, two sophomores, led the way. By’not’e ran for 189 yards and a touchdown; Cothran ran for 105 yards in only seven attempts, also with a touchdown.

IN QUOTES

Clemson linebacker Levon Kirkland, after a 34-0 rout of Division I-AA Appalachian State: “What we did was we tried to stuff ‘em early . I think when you stuff them early you just have to keep pounding them and keep pounding them. That’s our attitude.”

Air Force quarterback Rob Perez, whose two completions went for touchdowns in the Falcons’ 31-26 victory over Colorado State, on his second scoring pass, to Obasi Onuoha: “The receiver just ran a great route . It (the pass) turned end over end five or six times, but it got there. We really need to improve our passing .

RUNNING IT UP?

Cincinnati actually beat Penn State, 14-3, in 1983. That was then. . . . In the five games since, all won by Penn State, the Nittany Lions have outscored the Bearcats, 211-36, including Saturday’s 81-0 rout. That score was short of Penn State’s school-record 109-7 pasting of Lebanon Valley in 1920, though it was Cincinnati’s worst defeat. Penn State Coach Joe Paterno said he was embarrassed by the score; Cincinnati Coach Tim Murphy said he was embarrassed but absolved Paterno. “I think Joe’s a class guy, and I don’t believe he’d (run up the score) in a hundred years,” Murphy said. Reserves played most of the second half. By the fourth quarter, Paterno went to his fourth-string quarterback, starter Tony Sacca’s redshirt freshman brother, John, who turned a broken play into 75-yard touchdown run. Penn State’s 706 yards were the most in school history.

BRIGHT DEBUTS

Syracuse won its first game under Coach Paul Pasqualoni, 37-10, when it scored 34 consecutive points after falling behind, 10-3, to Vanderbilt. . . . Purdue defeated Eastern Michigan, 49-3, in Jim Colletto’s first game as Boilermaker coach.

BATTLING ON THE FIELD

Notre Dame quarterback Rick Mirer and linebacker Demetrius DuBose apparently didn’t let their recent arrests distract them against Indiana, which the Fighting Irish beat, 49-27. Drunk and disorderly conduct charges were dropped on Thursday, though DuBose will be charged with underage possession of alcohol. Mirer ran for three touchdowns for the first time in his career and passed for another. DuBose intercepted a pass and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown to give the Irish a 7-3 lead.

INJURIES

Stanford quarterback Jason Palumbis suffered an injured knee early in the fourth quarter of the 42-7 loss to Washington.