SPOTLIGHT / SATURDAY’S GAMES AT A GLANCE

NOTEWORTHY

How’s this for an explosive offense? Oregon State, in the process of losing to UCLA, 44-7, attempted all of four passes. Freshman quarterback Mark Olford failed to complete any of them.

Florida’s Shane Matthews, who passed for 336 yards in a 41-10 victory over Northern Illinois, had his eighth game of at least 300 yards passing, tying the Southeastern Conference record.

Virginia’s Matt Blundin, who completed 17 of 28 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns in a 14-9 victory over North Carolina, increased his streak of passes without an interception to 148. Blundin, who has not thrown an interception this season, broke the school record of 125 consecutive passes without an interception set by Shawn Moore.

Matt Rodgers scored on a quarterback sneak with 2 1/2 minutes left to give Iowa a 24-21 victory over Illinois, knocking the Illini out of first place in the Big Ten. Illinois had taken a 21-17 halftime lead behind quarterback Jason Verduzco, who completed his first 12 passes and was 13 of 16 for 163 yards and a touchdown in the first half.

The largest crowd ever to see a football game in Alabama--86,293 at Birmingham--watched the Crimson Tide defeat Tennessee, 24-19, for their sixth consecutive victory over the Volunteers.

Michigan, which beat Indiana, 24-16, drew 106,097 at Ann Arbor, the Wolverines’ 100th consecutive home game of more than 100,000.

Penn State continued to break from its conservative past as Tony Sacca passed for more than 200 yards for the fourth consecutive game in a 37-17 victory over Rutgers. Terry Smith caught six passes to give him 43 for the year, one more than the school record set by Jack Curry in 1967.

Pacific’s Aaron Turner tied an NCAA record with his ninth straight game with at least 100 yards receiving. He caught nine passes for 222 yards in a 64-47 loss to San Jose State.

Kansas’ 41-0 victory over Iowa State was the Jayhawks’ most lopsided victory since beating Iowa State, 43-0, in 1952 and their first shutout victory since beating Colorado, 27-0, in 1981. Tony Sands scored on a 16-yard run for the 22nd touchdown of his career, breaking the school record of 21 set in the mid-1970s by Laverne Smith.

Anthony Dodson of Greenville (Ill.) matched an NAIA record by rushing for eight touchdowns in a 77-0 victory over Blackburn (Ill). The record is shared by three other players.

Shawn Graves set an NCAA career record for rushing yards by a quarterback in leading Division II Wofford (S.C.) to a 49-6 victory over Newberry (S.C.). Graves’ 170 yards increased his career total to an all-divisions record of 3,779, breaking the record of 3,612 by Dee Dowis of the Air Force Academy.

THEY WON, BUT. . .

There didn’t figure to be any good football games involving major schools this weekend in Florida, and there weren’t. No. 1 Florida State played host to Division I-AA Middle Tennessee, played sloppily early, then came away with a 39-10 victory. No. 2 Miami, held to seven points by Cal State Long Beach in the first quarter, scored 28 second-quarter points and won going away, 55-0. And No. 6 Florida, 5-1 before the game and the only one of the three Florida schools with a loss, disposed of Mid-American Conference also-ran Northern Illinois, 41-10, after scoring early, then sleepwalking for almost two quarters.

MIDSEASON KLUNKERS

With teams having moved into the second half of their schedules, it’s time to take a look at this season’s disappointments, starting with:

--Michigan State: Ranked No. 20 at the start, the Spartans have been the dregs of the year. Former UCLA quarterback Bret Johnson couldn’t get the Spartan offense moving in the first couple of games and now is in the same position that prompted him to leave the Bruins, No. 2 and forgotten. Jim Miller, a sophomore, is the starting quarterback for this 1-5 juggernaut.

--Houston: The Cougars (2-4) are a close second in the under-achiever derby. They opened the season ranked No. 12 in the country and beat up on Louisiana Tech in their first game. But David Klingler began throwing klunkers after Game 1, tossing away any Heisman Trophy hopes he might have had when the Cougars were outscored, 91-20, in the next two games.

--Brigham Young: These Cougars (4-3) started the season ranked 19th, then lost their first three games, albeit to some tough opposition: Florida State, UCLA and Penn State. Now that they are back playing their Western Athletic Conference foes, they are winning. Ty Detmer’s repeat Heisman hopes? See Klingler, above.

--Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets opened the season No. 8, but their hopes of repeating the undefeated season of 1990 ended with a 34-22 loss to Penn State in their first game. They have bumbled their way to a 3-4 record, committing 23 turnovers along the way.

--Worth considering: USC.

MIDSEASON SURPRISES

A look at some of the teams that have played beyond expectations, starting with:

--California: The Bears had moved to seventh in the Associated Press rankings before Saturday’s game against No. 3 Washington, and they had a chance to beat the Huskies on their last possession before losing, 24-17.

--East Carolina: After losing their first game, 38-31, to Illinois, the Pirates won five in a row, including a 23-20 victory over Syracuse last week. Quarterback Jeff Blake has been a solid performer.

--North Carolina State: The Wolfpack had to erase an 11-point deficit in the last three minutes to beat Division I-AA Marshall Saturday afternoon, but North Carolina State is still undefeated and ranked No.

11.

--Worth considering: Kansas State, Illinois.

THE MONEY WAS GOOD

They didn’t play like a million, but at least they made a few bucks. The Northwestern Wildcats, not much of a threat in the Big Ten wherever they play, agreed to switch the site of their home game against Ohio State to Cleveland Stadium in return for $1 million in gate receipts. It will take more than a change of scenery to change the Wildcats’ fortunes. Ohio State beat them, 34-3, for the 16th consecutive time, scoring twice after botched punts.

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IN QUOTES

Running back Maceo Barbosa, who ran for 126 of San Jose State’s 616 yards of offense in a 64-47 victory over Pacific: “Our offense isn’t what it should be right now. Our running game should be a lot better.”

Northwestern Coach Francis Peay, slightly overstating the situation after a 34-3 loss to Ohio State: “We shot ourselves in the foot and were not able to do anything offensively to get back in the game. The mistakes were indeed fatal.”

And from Iowa Coach Hayden Fry, after a 24-21 victory over Illinois in which the Illini apparently were able to overcome the same obstacles Northwestern was not: “We made drive after drive in the second half and we couldn’t score. We shot ourselves in the foot. We made mistakes. But when the chips were down and we had to have it, our offense did an incredible job of getting it into the end zone.”

Florida Coach Steve Spurrier after a lackluster, 41-10 victory over Northern Illinois during which the Gators were penalized 13 times for 73 yards: “This was probably our worst effort of the year. Fortunately we were playing Northern Illinois and we’re a lot better than they are. I don’t accept the way our guys played. We looked stupid out there . I told our coaches we must have looked like the worst-coached team in America. I was embarrassed to be coach of this bunch.”

Marshall Coach Jim Donnan, after a successful onside kick by North Carolina State helped give the Wolfpack a 15-14 victory over the Division I-AA Thundering Herd: “I’m lower than a well digger.”