SPOTLIGHT / Saturday’s Games at a Glance : THE ODD COUPLE

Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel and wide receiver Chris Doering are roommates on the road and quite a tandem on the football field.

They had a big day as the No. 5 Gators defeated Mississippi State, 38-24.

Wuerffel, making his second college start, completed 27 of 41 passes for a school-record 449 yards and Doering caught 12 passes for 199 yards and scored three touchdowns. Wuerffel has thrown six touchdown passes to Doering in three games.

“It’s special to contribute to a record-breaking day,” said Doering, who scored on receptions of 11, 13 and 11 yards. “Danny throws a very catchable ball. He’s right on the money 90% of the time.”

BLOODLINES

When Notre Dame guard Ryan Leahy injured his leg in the Irish’s 48-20 victory over Stanford, ABC announcer Bob Griese misidentified him as Frank Leahy, the Hall of Fame former Irish coach.

Quickly realizing his mistake, Griese said, “I’m sure Frank Leahy is up there praying for him.”

Ryan Leahy, an offensive lineman for Notre Dame, is the grandson of Frank Leahy, who guided the Irish to an 87-11-9 record in 11 seasons.

Ryan’s older brother, Pat, compiled a 25-7 career record as an Irish pitcher before being selected in the sixth round of the 1992 baseball draft by the Florida Marlins.

His father, Jim, was a reserve offensive lineman at Notre Dame in 1968, and two uncles and a cousin have attended Notre Dame.

TIS THE SEASON

The college football season is only a month old, but they’ve already played the first bowl game.

James Blocker scored four touchdowns as William & Mary defeated Virginia Military Institute, 49-6, in the 47th Oyster Bowl.

What’s the Oyster Bowl?

Played at city stadium on the Old Dominion Campus in Norfolk, Va., the Oyster Bowl is staged by the Shriners for the benefit of a children’s hospital.

STREAKS

--Ohio University extended the longest current losing streak in NCAA Division I-A to 14 games with a 41-7 defeat at Virginia.

--Boston College broke a six-game losing streak against Syracuse and won for the first time in the Carrier Dome, beating the 13th-ranked Orangemen, 33-29. It was also the first time Syracuse lost while scoring as many as 29 points, a streak of 229 games.

--Florida is 17-0 when running back Errict Rhett rushes for 100 or more yards.

--Ohio State has held three consecutive opponents under 100 yards rushing.

RECORD BREAKERS

--Quarterback Cale Gundy ran and passed for 224 yards to increase his career total offense to 4,926, breaking the Oklahoma record of 4,853 set by Jamelle Holieway.

--Quarterback Symmion Willis tied a Virginia record with five touchdown passes in a 41-7 victory over Ohio University.

--Mike Giardi tied a 78-year-old Harvard record with his 23rd career touchdown, equaling the mark set by Charlie Brickley in 1915.

--Kicker Tim Williams set an Ohio State mark with 64 consecutive extra points, breaking the record of 63 by Pat O’Morrow.

FLYING HIGH

The Air Force Academy will be happy to see Wyoming wide receiver Ryan Yarborough graduate.

Yarborough caught seven passes for a career-high 241 yards, including touchdowns of 87 and 55 yards, Saturday in Wyoming’s 31-18 victory at Colorado Springs.

Yarborough has 24 catches for 598 yards and six touchdowns in his last three games against the Falcons.

But Yarborough isn’t perfect. He did drop a pass on a sideline pattern that looked to be a sure first-quarter touchdown. “Ryan has been very consistent over the course of his career,” Wyoming Coach Joe Tiller said. “It’s hard to come up with superlatives to describe him. If he’s open, we’ll keep throwing it to him.”

It was Yarborough’s fifth 200-yard receiving game, tying the NCAA record set by Tulsa’s Howard Twilley in 1963-65.

Yarborough, who moved up to fifth on the all-time NCAA receiving yardage list with 3,548 yards, also climbed into a tie for fourth in career touchdowns with 34. His 34 touchdowns equals the school record set by Eddie Talboom in 1948-50.

SCARY MOMENT

Texas Tech defensive end Shawn Jackson suffered a neck injury against Texas A&M; and was taken from the stadium by ambulance. He was later reported in stable condition at Methodist Hospital.

STARTING OVER

At 66, John Ralston is trying to prove himself again.

Ralston, who returned to college football after a 22-year absence, has had a rocky beginning at San Jose State, which is off to its worst start since going 0-6 in 1923.

The Spartans, who gave up 556 yards during a 52-17 loss against Washington, have been outscored 196-107 in losing their first five games this season.

“You never remember the wins,” Ralston said. “You only remember the losses. Right now the five losses this year are weighing heavily on us.”

But Ralston, who led Stanford to back-to-back Rose Bowl victories in 1971 and 1972, is determined to stick it out. He’s the only active member of college football’s Hall of Fame.

“I’ll be coaching the guy that puts me in the wooden box someday, trying to show him how to do it just a little bit better,” Ralston said. “I truly enjoy coaching football. I wanted to coach when I was 11 years old and I’ve never changed.”

SIDELINED

Army fullback Akili King, the nation’s rushing leader, sprained his left ankle in the first quarter against Akron and had limited action. He finished with 53 yards in nine carries.

With King out, Army quarterback Rick Roper passed for 171 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-14 victory over Akron.

THROWN TO THE LIONS

Maryland is happy that it won’t return to the Happy Valley to play Penn State again.

Maryland gave up 536 yards rushing in a 70-7 loss to No. 9 Penn State, which is 35-1-1 against Maryland.

Maryland (0-5), which had been averaging 507 yards and 34 points per game, had only 91 yards in the first half, including minus-seven on the ground.

It was Maryland’s last scheduled game against Penn State, which has moved to the Big Ten.

PATSY

Ron Dickerson, first-year Temple coach, probably won’t have any trouble filling future schedules.

Opposing coaches are probably eager to schedule the Owls, who have been outscored 186-14 while losing their last three games.

After a season-opening victory over Eastern Michigan, Temple lost 58-0 to California, 66-14 to Boston College and 62-0 to Rutgers on Saturday at Giants Stadium.

MAGIC NUMBER WAS 29

Syracuse, which was 229-0 when scoring 29 or more points, lost to Boston College, 33-29.

QUOTEWORTHY

North Carolina Coach Mack Brown after the Tar Heels overcame a poor start to beat Texas El Paso: “You were looking at a week where no one--media, fans--no one but coaches talked about El Paso. I had fans coming up to me all week and saying, ‘I would tell you good luck, but you don’t need it because you can’t lose this ballgame.’ When people make fun of coaches who say this is a tough week you better be careful, don’t let your guard down.”

Kansas fullback Chris Powell after the Jayhawks recovered from a rocky start to beat Colorado State 24-6: “If we had lost this game, people would have said we had gone right back to where we were a few years ago, when we were down at the bottom.”

Georgia Tech Coach Bill Lewis after No. 1 Florida State beat his team, 51-0: “We need to use that football team as a model. You can learn a lot from a football team like Florida State. I don’t know where there is a weakness. They seemed to kick it into another gear.”

Mississippi State quarterback Todd Jordan after completing 24 of 44 for 416 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to Florida: “We thought that we would be able to throw the ball, but we did not want to have to throw it as much as we did . “

NOTEWORTHY

--Clint Johnson’s 100-yard kickoff return in Notre Dame’s 48-20 victory over Stanford was the Irish’s longest kickoff return since 1930. It was also the first kickoff that has been returned for a touchdown against Stanford since Cal’s infamous six-lateral kickoff return in the 1982 Big Game.

--Kansas’ victory over Colorado State was its first over an NCAA Division I-A team this season.

--No. 1 Florida State has outscored its first five opponents, 228-14, going into next week’s game against No. 3 Miami.