SPOTLIGHT / SATURDAY’S GAMES AT A GLANCE : NOTEWORTHY

Marshall Faulk didn’t even start at running back, but he certainly finished well. The San Diego State freshman set an NCAA record with 386 yards rushing and scored seven touchdowns, one short of the NCAA record, in the Aztecs’ 55-34 victory over Pacific. Faulk, given increased playing time when starting running back T.C. Wight was injured in the first quarter, broke the record of 377 yards rushing in a single Division I-A game, set by Anthony Thompson of Indiana in 1989. Howard Griffith of Illinois scored eight rushing touchdowns in 1990 against Southern Illinois.

Tony Sands rushed for 157 yards and passed Gale Sayers on Kansas’ rushing list in a 23-17 victory over Tulsa. Sands’ four-year total of 2,677 yards is two more than Sayers’ total. Sands needs 398 yards to pass Laverne Smith as Kansas’ all-time leading rusher.

Southwestern Louisiana’s punting unit did the team no favors in a 28-15 loss to Wyoming. The Cowboys’ Mark Elliott blocked a punt and returned it for one touchdown and teammate Robert Rivers returned a punt 66 yards for another, helping Wyoming to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter.

Washington State kicker Jason Hanson, who kicked field goals of 47, 50 and 54 yards in a 34-30 loss to Fresno State, tied the national record of 16 field goals of 50 yards or longer, set by Russell Erxleben of Texas. Hanson’s 32 field goals of 40 yards or more broke an NCAA record of 31, set by Tony Franklin of Texas A&M.;

Trevor Cobb set a Rice career rushing record in a 36-7 victory over Northwestern. He rushed 25 times for 193 yards, giving him a career total of 2,063 yards. David Johnson had the record of 1,917 yards set in the early 1950s.

Michigan’s Desmond Howard, who had three touchdown catches and a 93-yard kickoff return Sept. 7, scored on a 29-yard reverse and a diving 25-yard reception in the Wolverines’ 24-14 victory over Notre Dame.

Texas A&M;’s Greg Hill ran for 212 yards, a major-college record for freshmen in their first game, in a 45-7 victory over Louisiana State. Hill broke the record of 207, set against Texas A&M; by Baylor’s Walter Abercrombie in 1978. Hill, who carried 30 times, scored on runs of 22 and seven yards in the Aggies’ biggest victory over LSU since a 47-0 victory in 1922.

Michael Smith became Kansas State’s all-time leading receiver in the Wildcats’ 41-7 victory over Idaho State. His 129 catches broke Dave Jones’ record set from 1966-68 by one.

STREAKS

Colorado had won 11 consecutive games, 15 at home, before losing to Baylor, 16-14. . . . Eastern Michigan’s 29-3 loss to Miami (Ohio) was its 11th in a row. . . . Vanderbilt defeated Southern Methodist, 14-11, to end a 10-game losing streak. SMU has lost 12 consecutive games, one short of the longest active losing streak in Division I-A. Cal State Fullerton has lost 13 in a row.

QUICK TURNAROUND

When it appeared No. 12 Colorado was about to get some insurance in its game against No. 23 Baylor, Bear tackle Santana Dotson took things into his own hands. He blocked a short field-goal attempt with three minutes left, setting up teammate Jeff Ireland’s 35-yard field goal with 51 seconds remaining to give Baylor a 16-14 victory.

Colorado had recovered a fumble at the Baylor 30 before the block and appeared set to increase its 14-13 lead.

But Dotson blocked Jim Harper’s 24-yard attempt. Soon after Baylor recovered the ball at the Colorado 30, Ireland kicked his game-winner.

IN QUOTES

Iowa State Coach Jim Walden, after the Cyclones lost to Iowa, 29-10, for the ninth consecutive time: “For every year I’ve been here, I don’t think they’ve turned the ball over yet. Maybe part of it is we’re not good enough to take it.”

Michigan State Coach George Perles, after a 20-3 loss to Central Michigan: “We were terrible offensively, and we were terrible defensively . . . . We got beat in all parts of the game by Central Michigan, period . “

Louisville Coach Howard Schnellenberger, after a 23-15 loss to Ohio State: “We didn’t get beat--we were just behind when the clock ran out.”

Ohio State Coach John Cooper’s view of the game: “It went right down to the wire . I could see those guys hitting a touchdown pass and going for two, and the ballgame ending up being tied. And the way we played, and the way they played, it probably should have ended up in a tie.”

Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne actually said this with a straight face after the Cornhuskers’ 71-14 victory over Colorado State: “We thought Colorado State would be a good football game . I thought it would be a game that would go to the fourth quarter and we’d win by a couple of touchdowns. “

Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz, after the Fighting Irish’s 24-14 loss to Michigan: “Michigan played about as perfect a game as they could play. They didn’t fumble and they didn’t throw an interception. I don’t see how you can play any better than that.”

MORE OF THE SAME

Bret Johnson’s first game at Michigan State held the promise of a new life. The 18th-ranked Spartans were playing Central Michigan, an underdog of such dimensions that there was no point spread posted on the game. So much for promise. Things might not be much better at Michigan State than they were at UCLA, where Johnson led the Bruins to a 3-7-1 season in 1989. Johnson left UCLA a year ago once he figured the rest of his career would be spent as Tommy Maddox’s backup. After sitting out one one season, he started anew Saturday. But the Chippewas of the Mid-American Conference held Johnson to six completions in 11 attempts for 29 yards and upset the No. 18 Spartans, 20-3. Johnson, whose fumble led to a Central Michigan touchdown, was replaced by Jim Miller at quarterback.

ACC 2, BIG EAST 1

A new rivalry? That might be a stretch, but the Atlantic Coast and Big East conferences, who have opened their basketball schedules against each other the past two seasons, had their first interconference football matchups Saturday. The ACC prevailed. Georgia Tech defeated Boston College, 30-14, and Duke beat Rutgers, 42-22, in afternoon games, but Syracuse defeated Maryland, 31-17, in an evening matchup. The new Big East football lineup: Boston College, Miami (Fla.), Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

BACK TO REALITY Penn State’s 81-0 victory over Cincinnati became a distant memory with the Nittany Lions’ 21-10 loss to USC. . . . Purdue, which opened its season with a 49-3 rout of Eastern Michigan, and California, which had beaten Pacific, 86-24, played at Berkeley on Saturday. Which team is for real? Well, the Boilermakers aren’t. Cal won, 42-18. . . . Appalachian State, a 34-0 loser to Clemson last week in a game not as close as the score, picked on someone its own size Saturday, beating Virginia Military Institute, 24-19.

REALITY CHECK How good is No. 13 Nebraska? Don’t even ask Utah State or Colorado State. After throttling Utah State, 59-28, Sept. 7, Nebraska beat Colorado State, 71-14, Saturday. The Cornhuskers have 1,483 yards of offense in the two games, 1,146 rushing yards. Next Saturday the Cornhuskers might get a better idea of their real worth. They play host to No. 4 Washington.

REALITY STINKS Louisiana State opened its season with a 31-0 loss to Georgia and followed that up Saturday with a 45-7 loss to Texas A&M.; . . . Temple, which had a 7-4 record last season, including a victory over Pittsburgh, is 0-2 this season after its 26-7 loss to Pitt. The Owls have eight turnovers and have been outscored, 67-10. . . . Cincinnati lost to Penn State, 81-0, in Week 1 and fell to North Carolina, 51-16, in Week 2. . . . It’s getting worse each week for Tulane, which lost to Mississippi, 22-3, then to Florida State, 38-11, and Saturday to Mississippi State, 48-0.