REGIONAL ROUNDUP : Hurricanes Get a Scare From Pitt
Pittsburgh scored the first touchdown on Miami’s defense in 18 quarters, blanked Miami in the second half and nearly pulled out a victory in the final minute before the No. 5 Hurricanes escaped, 17-12, in a Big East game Saturday at Miami.
Pittsburgh, 2-8 overall and 1-5 in the Big East, took over at its 20 with 7:43 left and drove in a downpour to the Miami 30, where John Ryan’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete with 59 seconds to play.
A slip in the polls could cost Miami (8-1, 5-0) a berth in the Orange Bowl against No. 1 Nebraska.
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No. 16 Virginia Tech (8-2, 5-2) built a 41-13 lead before withstanding a fourth-quarter rally by Rutgers (5-4-1, 2-2-1) to record a 41-34 Big East victory at Blacksburg, Va. . . . Chad Johnston completed 13 of 19 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns as West Virginia (5-5, 2-3) recorded a 55-17 Big East victory over Temple (2-8, 0-6) at Philadelphia.
EAST
Terrance Stokes rushed for 143 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 37 more as Penn (8-0, 6-0) clinched its second consecutive Ivy League title with a 33-0 victory over Harvard (4-5, 2-4) at Philadelphia. Penn tied the Division I-AA record with its 20th consecutive victory. . . . Jamie Schwalbe passed for four touchdowns and Columbia (5-3-2, 3-3) guaranteed its first winning season since 1971 with a 38-33 Ivy League victory over Cornell (6-3, 3-3) at New York. . . . Jason McCullough passed for 249 yards and two touchdowns as Brown (6-3, 3-3) recorded a 27-14 Ivy League victory over Dartmouth (4-5, 2-4) at Providence, R.I. . . . Princeton (6-3, 3-3) held Yale (4-5, 2-4) to 180 yards in recording a 19-6 Ivy League victory at New Haven, Conn. . . . At West Point, Robert Dougherty scored on a five-yard keeper and hit Carnell Henderson with an 11-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter as Division I-AA Boston University (9-1) beat Army (7-3) for the first time in 10 games since 1924, 21-12.
SOUTH
No. 21 Virginia gave up 351 passing yards and three touchdowns but linebacker James Farrior led a third-quarter assault on Maryland quarterback Scott Milanovich that sent the Cavaliers to a 46-21 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over the Terrapins at Charlottesville, Va. Farrior intercepted a pass by Milanovich and blocked one of his punts, leading to 14 of Virginia’s 21 third-quarter points that rallied the Cavaliers (7-2, 5-2). The Terrapins (4-6, 2-5) got 351 yards passing from Milanovich, who completed 32 of 51 passes. But he had three passes intercepted, was sacked five times and lost one of two fumbles. . . . Mike Thomas, subbing for injured Jason Stanicek, passed for three touchdowns to Marcus Wall, and Curtis Johnson ran for two touchdowns as North Carolina (7-3, 4-3) regenerated its offense and rolled to a 50-0 ACC victory over Wake Forest (2-8, 0-7) at Winston-Salem, N.C. . . . Nealon Greene ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns as Clemson (5-5, 4-4) recorded a 20-10 ACC victory over visiting Georgia Tech (1-8, 0-7). . . . At Tulsa, Tad Jones twice came off the bench to throw long touchdown passes to Michael Kedzior to help Tulsa (3-6) rally for a 38-28 victory over Division I-AA Southwest Missouri State (3-7).
WEST
Mike Maxwell completed 20 of 32 passes for 329 yards and four touchdowns to lead Nevada (9-1, 5-0) to a 56-28 victory over Utah State (2-8, 1-4) at Reno and give the Wolf Pack at least a share of the Big West title. Nevada can win it outright Saturday against Nevada Las Vegas. . . . Rodney Campbell’s 36-yard interception return for a touchdown with seven minutes to play lifted Pacific (6-4, 4-1) to a 21-14 Big West victory over New Mexico State (3-7, 2-3) at Las Cruces, N.M., ensuring the Tigers of their first winning season since 1977.