EAST ROUNDUP : West Virginia Routs Rival Pittsburgh, 44-6

West Virginia, slowed by five lost fumbles in a season-opening tie with Miami of Ohio, turned a fumble into a touchdown and got a 70-yard interception return score from Kwame Smith during a 44-6 romp over rival Pittsburgh Saturday at Pittsburgh.

Jake Kelchner, a Notre Dame transfer making his first major-college start, ran for one touchdown and passed for two as the Mountaineers took a 23-0 halftime lead. Adrian Murrell rushed for 141 yards and a touchdown.

It was West Virginia’s most one-sided victory in the 85-year rivalry known as the “Backyard Brawl.”

West Virginia’s previous biggest victory in a series that began in 1895 was 49-18 in 1969.

Pitt quarterback Alex Van Pelt completed 16 of 31 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown. He had two passes intercepted.

No. 9 Syracuse 31, Texas 21--Marvin Graves passed for a touchdown and set up two other second-half scores with long completions to lead the Orangemen at Syracuse, N.Y.

John Biskup broke a 21-21 tie with a 20-yard field goal for Syracuse (2-0).

Peter Gardere completed 14 of 27 passes for 247 yards for Texas (0-2).

No. 10 Penn State 49, Temple 8--Wally Richardson, only the second freshman to start at quarterback in Coach Joe Paterno’s 27 years at Penn State, scored one touchdown and passed for another to lead the as the Nittany Lions at State College, Pa.

Richie Anderson gained 103 yards in 12 carries and scored twice for Penn State (2-0).

It was Penn State’s 18th consecutive victory over Temple (1-1).

No. 23 Virginia 53, Navy 0--Bobby Goodman completed 14 of 22 passes for 306 yards and a school-record five touchdowns to lead the Cavaliers at Annapolis, Md.

Virginia (2-0) scored touchdowns on five of its first six possessions. It was Navy’s worst defeat since a 70-14 loss at Michigan in 1976, a span of 178 games, and the most lopsided season-opening setback in school history.

Boston College 49, Northwestern 0--Darnell Campbell gained 115 yards and Chuckie Dukes rushed for 112 as the Eagles cruised to victory at Boston.

Boston College (2-0) scored on six consecutive possessions after losing a fumble on its first series. Northwestern (0-2) gained only 75 yards.

Rutgers 41, Colgate 0--Ray Lucas led two quick scoring drives in the second quarter at Piscataway, N.J., as Rutgers (1-1) rebounded from a season-opening loss to Boston College with its ninth consecutive victory over Colgate (0-1).

Army 17, Holy Cross 7--Kevin Vaughn ran 19 yards for the tie-breaking touchdown in the third quarter and Army (1-0) overcame seven fumbles at West Point, N.Y., to end a 20-game win streak by Division I-AA Holy Cross (0-1).