SPOTLIGHT / SATURDAY’S GAMES AT A GLANCE : NOTEWORTHY

No. 1 Florida State beat Virginia Tech, 33-20, but it wasn’t easy. The Hokies outgained the Seminoles, 420 total yards to 343, and had 24 first downs to Virginia Tech’s 19.

The Citadel, a Division I-AA team, beat Army, 20-14, for the fourth victory in its last five games against Division I-A opponents.

No. 17 Iowa, trailing Wisconsin, 6-3, and facing fourth down on the 14-yard line, elected to go for the victory instead of the tie and came away with a 10-6 victory. Quarterback Matt Rodgers, who threw four interceptions, completed the scoring pass to Mike Saunders with 44 seconds remaining.

Indiana’s Trent Green had a hand in five touchdowns in a 44-6 rout of Northwestern. He passed for a career-high 265 yards and three touchdowns, on only nine completions in 16 attempts, and scored two more touchdowns on runs of two and 12 yards.

Louisiana Tech’s Demise Loyd intercepted a two-point conversion pass from South Carolina’s Bobby Fuller and returned it 100 yards for a safety with 3:10 in the game, cutting the Gamecocks’ lead to 12-9. Then, with seven seconds remaining, Chris Bonoil kicked a 38-yard field goal to give Louisiana Tech a 12-12 tie.

Kansas appeared to be in control with a 12-3 lead over Kansas State late in the game, but Paul Watson, who had lost three fumbles and threw an interception, engineered scoring drives of 94 and 66 yards in a two-minute stretch to give Kansas State a 16-12 victory. The winning score was a 34-yard pass play from Watson to Andre Coleman.

The Big Ten has long been a conference of hard-nosed, grind-it-out football, but three of Saturday’s five games practically ground to a halt. Minnesota, which has scored 22 points in its last four games, beat Purdue, 6-3. Iowa beat Wisconsin, 10-6, and Illinois defeated Ohio State, 10-7.

After its 45-7 victory over Oregon, California is 5-0 for the first time since 1952.

ALL IN THE NAME

Darrell Richardson’s 38-yard field goal with 2:39 remaining gave Rice a 20-17 victory over No. 8 Baylor. Chris Richardson, a freshman at Illinois who had missed a 23-yard attempt earlier, kicked a 41-yard field goal with 36 seconds left to give Illinois a 10-7 victory over Ohio State. Chris Richardson is from Richardson, Tex.

THE PRESSURE’S OFF

Columbia always seems to be an undesirable record waiting to happen. The Lions, who ended the Division I-record 44-game losing streak in 1988 and had won four games in the previous three seasons, defeated Pennsylvania, 20-14, Saturday. That ended the Lions’ six-game losing streak (nine in a row to Penn) and assured that their less-than-desirable national record will be safe for a while.

A BIT OF EVERYTHING

It was hardly a defensive struggle, but defense made the difference. Sharrieff Shah, a former player at Dorsey High, intercepted a pass and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to give Utah a 43-36 lead on the way to a 57-42 victory over Wyoming. The interception, one of four thrown by Wyoming’s Tom Corontzos, was part of a 35-0 run the Utes mounted after falling behind, 36-22. In the first quarter, Corontzos had set school record with his 103rd consecutive pass without an interception, but interceptions in the second half helped lead to Utah’s 57 points, the most given up at Wyoming since 1922.

BIG GAME, BIG PLAYS

Miami used several big plays to hold off Penn State, 26-20. Gino Toretta and Horace Copeland combined on an 80-yard touchdown pass play, Kevin Williams scored on a school-record 91-yard punt return, and Lamar Thomas scored on a 42-yard pass play in the fourth quarter. The defense sacked Tony Sacca eight times, and Darryl Williams intercepted Sacca’s fourth-down pass on the Nittany Lions’ last possession.

AT LEAST THAT’S SETTLED

Michigan State (0-5) is off to its worst start since 1982 after a 45-28 loss to Michigan, but at least the quarterback situation is settled. The Spartans had scored only 20 points in their first four games as former UCLA quarterback Bret Johnson struggled and was eventually replaced by Jim Miller. Miller might have ended any discussion about who is the No. 1 quarterback by completing 30 of 39 passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns. He completed 13 consecutive passes in one stretch.

IN THE PITTS

In the game that was going to determine whether previously unbeaten Pittsburgh was a contender for the national championship, the Panthers wasted no time providing the answer: Nope. Pitt (5-1) lost to Notre Dame, 42-7, after several muffed plays helped the Irish improve to 5-1. Notre Dame scored one touchdown on a blocked punt and scored another touchdown after Pitt fumbled a punt return.

STREAKS

Miami’s 26-20 victory over Penn State was its 41st in a row in the Orange Bowl and 11th in a row overall. . . . Georgia Tech, which defeated Maryland, 34-10, has won 14 consecutive home games. . . . Florida State defeated Virginia Tech, 33-20, for its 12th victory in a row. . . . Nebraska’s 49-15 victory over Oklahoma State was its 18th in a row over the Cowboys. . . . Washington, which defeated Toledo, 48-0, has not given up a touchdown in 13 quarters. . . . Texas Tech beat Southern Methodist, 38-14, giving SMU it’s 20th consecutive Southwest Conference loss. . . . Holy Cross extended the longest Division I-AA winning streak to 14 games with a 23-6 victory over Dartmouth.

GAME BREAKERS

Quarterback Jeff Blake turned a broken play into a 43-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to give East Carolina a 23-20 victory over No. 15 Syracuse. After setting up in the pocket for a pass play, Blake broke down the left sideline and lunged into the end zone with a Syracuse defender hanging on him.

Brigham Young linebacker Scott Giles blocked Jason Gillespie’s 45-yard field-goal attempt with 20 seconds left to ensure a 31-29 victory over Texas El Paso. . . . Nelson Welch kicked a 40-yard field goal with 46 seconds left, after he had missed three kicks, to give Clemson a 20-20 tie with Virginia. Cavalier kicker Michael Husted missed a 34-yard attempt in the final seconds.

IN QUOTES

Michigan Coach Gary Moeller, after a 45-28 victory over Michigan State, giving the Wolverines victories over the three teams that upset them last season: “It’s revenge or payback, or whatever you want to call it, and now that we’ve accomplished that, we can’t go soft. We have to keep getting better.”

Miami defensive end Rusty Medearis, dismissing the Hurricanes’ 11 penalties for 124 yards in a 26-20 victory over Penn State: “It is aggressiveness. We’ve always had penalties like that because that’s the way we play. It’s not a gentlemen’s game. It’s a Saturday night fistfight.”

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry, after the Hawkeyes beat Wisconsin, 10-6, by going for a late touchdown rather a field goal to tie: “We told everybody we were not going to kick a damn field goal, we’re going for the whole ball of wax . “

Washington linebacker Donald Jones, after a 48-0 victory over Toledo: “We’re hungry. We want to win all of our games and we’re going to do what it takes to win a national championship. But it’s getting kind of boring against teams that can’t compete with us.”

RECORD BREAKERS

Princeton’s Mike Lerch tied an NCAA record with 370 yards receiving, on nine catches, and an Ivy League record with four touchdown receptions in a 59-37 victory over Brown. Lerch broke the Division I-AA mark of 327 yards set by Rhode Island’s Brian Forster against Brown in 1985 and tied the NCAA mark set by Barry Wagner of Alabama A&M; in 1989, against Clark College. Princeton quarterback Chad Roghair tied a league mark with five touchdown passes.

Zed Robinson rushed for a Western Football Conference-record 343 yards in Southern Utah’s 37-31 victory over Santa Clara. The NCAA Division II record of 382 yards was set by Kelly Ellis of Northern Iowa against Western Illinois in 1979.