EAST ROUNDUP : Graves’ Short Passes Go a Long Way for Syracuse

Marvin Graves completed 18 of 28 passes for 425 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as No. 15 Syracuse trounced Rutgers, 50-28, in a Big East Conference game at Syracuse, N.Y.

“We just had a lot of short passes turn into long passes,” Graves said. “I didn’t have anything to do with that. I think I’ve had better days throwing the ball. But statistically, no.”

Graves broke Syracuse’s single-game records for passing yardage and total offense, and with five carries added 51 yards rushing for a total of 476. He broke the passing record of 336 yards set by Don McPherson in 1987 against Penn State; Bill Hurley had 384 total yards against Penn State in 1977.

Syracuse, 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big East, has sputtered offensively since a 35-12 loss to Ohio State three weeks ago, but scored on its first five possessions and built a 33-0 lead against the Scarlet Knights (3-3, 1-2), who dropped their sixth consecutive game to the Orangemen.

Graves, who passed for 220 yards in the first quarter, had scoring pass plays of 65 yards to Chris Gedney and 69 yards to Quadry Ismail on Syracuse’s second and third plays from scrimmage.

Graves later threw a short pass to Kerry Ferrell, who outran a pack of pursuers for a 77-yard touchdown play that gave Syracuse a 26-0 lead with 12 seconds to play in the quarter.

Army 38, Lafayette 36--Patmon Malcom’s 43-yard field goal with five seconds left lifted the Cadets (2-2)to a victory over Leopards at West Point, N.Y.

Princeton 28, Brown 14--Keith Elias ran for 139 yards and two touchdowns as the Tigers (4-0, 2-0) beat the Bears (0-4, 0-2) in an Ivy League game at Princeton, N.J.

William & Mary 21, Penn 19--The Tribe (5-0) stopped Terrence Stokes’ two-point conversion run with 2:25 left to save a victory over the Quakers (2-2) at Philadelphia.

Yale 31, Fordham 12--Dave Feuerstein set up three touchdowns and the Elis wore down the Rams (0-5) at New Haven, Conn.

Steve Mills hit Feuerstein on pass plays of 48 and 36 yards, and Feuerstein ran 45 yards on a reverse for Yale (3-1).

Dartmouth 48, Holy Cross 0--Jay Fiedler passed for 307 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two more scores as the Big Green (3-1) broke a 14-game losing streak against the Crusaders with a rout at Worcester, Mass.

Holy Cross (1-4) had not been shut out since 1979.

Cornell 31, Harvard 13--Bill Lazor threw two touchdown passes to Mike Jamin and the Big Red (3-1, 1-1) took advantage of three turnovers by the Crimson (1-3, 1-1) in an Ivy League victory at Cambridge, Mass.

Bucknell 29, Columbia 22--Matt Noll returned an interception 27 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter at New York and the Bison beat the Lions (1-3) for the sixth consecutive time.