SPOTLIGHT / SATURDAY’S GAMES AT A GLANCE : RECORD BREAKERS

Nebraska redshirt freshman Calvin Jones, playing only because starter Derek Brown had been poked in the eye during the first quarter, rushed for a school-record 294 yards in a 59-23 victory over Kansas. He broke the mark of 285 yards set by Mike Rozier in 1983.

With 201 all-purpose yards and a touchdown in Michigan’s 59-14 victory over Northwestern, Desmond Howard has at least one touchdown reception in nine consecutive games this season, an NCAA record he shares with Pacific’s Aaron Turner, who also caught a touchdown pass in a 59-14 loss to Fresno State. Howard’s 20 touchdowns broke Ron Johnson’s school record of 19 set in 1968, and the 30 he has scored in combination with quarterback Elvis Grbac tied an NCAA record set by Steve Ramsey and Ron Shanklin of North Texas State from 1967 to 1969.

Shane Matthews passed for 303 yards in Florida’s 45-13 victory over Georgia, his ninth game of at least 300 passing yards, a Southeastern Conference record.

Houston’s Roman Anderson became the first player in NCAA history to surpass 400 points with a 32-yard field goal in the Cougars’ 23-14 victory over Texas. Anderson, who missed an extra-point kick during the first quarter that ended a streak of 136 conversions, has scored 403 points.

East Carolina’s Jeff Blake passed for school records of 361 yards and five touchdowns in a 48-20 victory over Southern Mississippi.

Virginia Tech, in a 42-24 victory over Akron, had 34 first downs, breaking the school record of 30 set against Houston in 1972.

Tony Sacca completed 13 of 18 passes for 198 yards in Penn State’s 47-7 victory over Maryland. He has 5,556 passing yards, breaking the school record of 5,382 set by Chuck Fusina from 1975-1978.

Michigan set a school record for points in the first quarter with 24 in a 59-14 victory over Northwestern. The record was 23, set against Wisconsin in 1976.

Led by Keith Williams’ 191 yards, Utah rushed for a school-record 478 yards in a 30-7 victory over New Mexico. The record was 458 yards, set in 1984 against Texas El Paso.

Harvard’s Matt Johnson broke the Ivy League record by rushing for 323 yards in a 35-29 victory over Brown. The record was 288 yards, set by Cornell’s Scott Oliaro last season against Yale.

RECORD CHASERS

Corey Harris rushed for 157 yards in Vanderbilt’s 17-7 victory over Kentucky. He has 1,015 yards this season, 50 yards behind the Commodore’s single-season record set by Frank Mordica in 1978.

Virginia’s Matt Blundin, who completed 13 of 17 passes for 230 yards in a 42-10 victory over North Carolina State, has 201 consecutive passes without an interception. The NCAA record is 215, set by Illinois’ Jack Trudeau in 1985.

THE SCRAMBLING WRECK

How far has Georgia Tech fallen since winning a share of the national championship last season? The Rambling Wreck improved to 6-4, but it had to scramble to do so against powerhouse Furman . . . Division I-AA Furman.

Georgia Tech trailed, 17-10, with a little more than three minutes to play. The Yellow Jackets made the score 17-16 with 3:04 remaining on a 13-yard pass from Shawn Jones to Greg Lester, but missed on a two-point conversion attempt. Georgia Tech then forced a fumble and managed a 19-17 victory on a 37-yard field goal by Scott Sisson with 21 seconds left in the game.

COMEBACK CRAZY

Tennessee came back from a 24-point deficit to defeat Notre Dame, 35-34, essentially ending the Fighting Irish’s outside hopes of playing for the national championship and probably sending the Florida State-Miami winner to the Orange Bowl to play the Big Eight champion. Notre Dame’s Rob Leonard, a walk-on kicker in the game only because regular kicker Craig Hentrich suffered an injury to his right leg, missed the first field-goal attempt of his career, a 27-yarder with no time left.

STREAKING

Florida State defeated South Carolina, 38-10, for its 16th consecutive victory, the nation’s longest Division I-A winning streak. . . . Virginia’s 42-10 victory over North Carolina State was the Cavaliers’ sixth in a row over the Wolfpack. . . . Michigan has beaten Northwestern 18 consecutive times. . . . Wake Forest beat Duke, 31-14, to end a 17-game losing streak in the Atlantic Coast Conference. . . . Holy Cross beat Bucknell, 42-6, for its 18th consecutive victory, tying a Division I-AA record set by Eastern Kentucky in 1982-83. . . . Kansas State ended a 30-game losing streak on the road with a 37-7 victory over Iowa State. . . . Southern Methodist lost its 24th consecutive Southwest Conference game, 31-10, to Rice. . . . Oregon State’s 27-14 loss to California was its 14th in a row, the longest losing streak in Division I-A. . . . USC’s 14-3 loss to Washington was its fourth in a row, longest Trojan losing streak since 1975.

QUARTERBACK SHUFFLE

He’s back: South Carolina didn’t figure to beat No. 1 Florida State regardless of the Seminoles’ injury status, but the return of quarterback Casey Weldon made the Gamecocks’ task that much more difficult. Weldon, starting after suffering an injury against Louisiana State two weeks ago, completed 19 of 28 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-10 victory.

Alabama’s Jay Barker, a redshirt freshman playing for suspended quarterback Danny Woodson, managed to avoid making too many mistakes in his first start, a 20-17 victory over Louisiana State. Barker directed Alabama’s conservative game plan, completing seven of 14 passes for 81 yards, although his one interception almost cost Alabama a victory. LSU had a chance to tie the score after Carlton Buckles intercepted Barker’s pass at Alabama’s 45 late in the fourth quarter. But after LSU moved into position for a 28-yard field goal with 2:39 left, Atonio London blocked the try to preserve the victory.

Jim Hartlieb, a junior making his first start in place of injured quarterback Matt Rodgers, passed for two touchdowns to help Iowa defeat Indiana, 38-21. Hartlieb, younger brother of former Iowa quarterback Chuck Hartlieb, completed 11 of 18 passes for 170 yards. Of the completions, six went for first downs.

BOWL BOUND

Air Force probably clinched a berth in the Liberty Bowl with a 25-0 victory over Army.

IN QUOTES

Tennessee’s Jeremy Lincoln, whose backside tipped the ball on Notre Dame’s failed field-goal attempt, preserving the Volunteers’ 35-34 comeback victory: “Whenever I go home, my mom teases me about my big butt. Today, that big butt paid off for us.”

Oklahoma State Coach Pat Jones, on Colorado’s fake field-goal play that went for a touchdown with six seconds remaining and gave the Buffaloes a 16-12 victory: “However long I’ve been coaching--25 years or so, I guess--that’s the gutsiest call I’ve ever seen . “

Cal’s Brian Treggs, after the No. 7 Bears beat lowly Oregon State, 27-14: “That was our worst game of the year. We came in knowing they were 0-8 and thinking there was no way they could beat us. We thought it was going to be a cakewalk. You can’t give Oregon State all the credit. It’s not like they played exceptionally well. We played terrible.”

Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden, whose Seminoles beat South Carolina, 38-10: “We’ll have to play completely the best we can play next week (against Miami). I’ll be honest with you, the last five weeks, if we’d have played Miami every week, we’d have lost five straight .”

NOTEWORTHY

Florida State’s Bobby Bowden became the third Division I coach to take teams to 10 or more victories for five consecutive seasons. He joins Alabama’s Bear Bryant and Oklahoma’s Bud Wilkinson.

Pittsburgh’s 22-17 victory over Rutgers ended a four-game losing streak and ensured the Panthers a winning season. A defeat would have put Pitt in a position to have a second consecutive losing season for the first time since 1971-72.

Penn State, which hasn’t lost to Maryland since 1961, beat the Terrapins, 47-7, and improved to 33-1-1 in one of the nation’s most lopsided rivalries. It was Maryland’s worst regular-season setback since a 48-0 loss to the Nittany Lions in 1969.