Kansas St. Cleans Up in Vegas

J.J. Smith rushed for 227 yards and two touchdowns in 34 carries and quarterback Chad May ran for two scores as No. 11 Kansas State routed Nevada Las Vegas, 42-3, Saturday at Las Vegas.

May was eight of 13 for 126 yards and a touchdown despite winds gusting to 40 m.p.h. in the regular-season finale for the Aloha Bowl-bound Wildcats (9-2).

UNLV (6-5) will play Central Michigan in the Las Vegas Bowl.

After leading, 21-3, at halftime, Kansas State put the game away with two quick scores early in the third period. Smith, who had a 29-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, ran 13 yards for a score that gave the Wildcats a 28-3 lead.

Rice 31, Houston 13--Freshman quarterback Chad Nelson ran for one touchdown and one of his two completions went for a score as the Owls (5-6, 4-3) won at Houston to earn a share of the Southwest Conference football title for the first time since 1957.

Nelson’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Venghaus in the third quarter gave the Owls a 21-7 lead and the Cougars (1-10, 0-6-1) couldn’t recover.

The victory put the Owls into an unprecedented five-way share of the league title with Texas, Baylor, Texas Christian and Cotton Bowl-bound Texas Tech, all with 4-3 records.

There were three-way ties for the SWC title in 1959 (Arkansas, Texas, TCU) and 1975 (Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M;).

Louisville 34, Tulsa 27--Marty Lowe scored on a one-yard run with less than two minutes remaining and Anthony Shelman rushed for a career-best 220 yards in 36 carries as the Cardinals (6-5) won at Louisville.

Tulsa (3-8) trailed, 21-3, in the first half but a 29-yard field goal by James Anderson tied the game at 27-27 with 6:51 left before Louisville drove to the decisive touchdown.

Southern 34, Grambling State 7--Touchdowns on three first-half interceptions--two by linebacker Jimmy Conner--keyed the Jaguars’ victory over the Tigers in the Bayou Classic at New Orleans.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference victory for Southern (6-5, 5-2) was only its eighth in the 21 Bayou Classics. The loss by Grambling (9-2, 6-1) knocked the Tigers, already assured a Heritage Bowl berth, into a first-place tie with Alcorn State in the final SWAC standings.