COLLEGE FOOTBALL : BIG TEN ROUNDUP : Northwestern’s Bubble Bursts

Northwestern made its No. 25 ranking and opening victory over Notre Dame look like flukes, blowing a 21-point fourth-quarter lead Saturday and losing, 30-28, to Miami of Ohio on Chad Seitz’s 20-yard field goal at the final gun at Evanston, Ill.

The winning score was set up when Northwestern punter Paul Burton couldn’t gather in Larry Curry’s low snap. The ball rolled 36 yards to the Wildcats’ one-yard line before Burton recovered with 43 seconds left.

Miami (2-1) took over and lost two yards on three plays before Seitz, who had missed two earlier attempts, made the 20-yarder.

Coming off its stunning triumph at Notre Dame two weeks ago, Northwestern (1-1) was ranked for the first time since 1971.

Steve Schnur’s touchdown passes of 27 and 36 yards to D’Wayne Bates and 12 yards to Darnell Autry put Northwestern ahead, 21-0. And Rodney Ray’s scoring interception return on the second play of the second half gave the Wildcats a 28-7 lead.

Sam Ricketts--playing quarterback in place of Neil Dougherty, who hurt his foot late in the first half--rallied the Redskins with touchdown passes to Jay Hall and Jeremy Adkins.

Penn State 66, Temple 14--Wally Richardson, trying to emerge from Kerry Collins’ shadow, rebounded from a mediocre opener and threw for 198 yards and three touchdowns as the No. 7 Nittany Lions won at State College, Pa.

A week earlier, Richardson looked confused and tentative in a 24-23 victory over Texas Tech. On Saturday, he appeared comfortable and confident, using an array of short passes and rollouts to carve up the Temple defense.

Penn State’s defense, expected to be the team’s weak link this year, had its second impressive performance in a row, holding the Owls (0-3) to minus-10 yards and no first downs in the first 26 minutes.

Penn State (2-0) led, 31-0, before Temple got a first down or crossed midfield. The Owls launched an 80-yard scoring drive in the final minutes of the half and Henry Burris threw to Marc Baxter on a five-yard scoring pass to make the score, 31-7. Penn State tried to hold the score down by using backups much of the second half.

Michigan State 30, Louisville 7--Scott Greene rushed for two touchdowns, Chris Gardner kicked three field goals and an aggressive Spartan defense smothered the Cardinals with five turnovers and a safety at Louisville, Ky.

Michigan State (1-1), coming off a 50-10 loss to No. 2 Nebraska last week in which it yielded 666 yards, allowed only 163 in handing Louisville (2-1) a home-opener loss on a rainy afternoon.

Iowa 27, Iowa State 10--The Hawkeyes overcame some disorganization on offense to continue their domination over the Cylcones, getting a career-high 178 yards rushing from Sedrick Shaw at Ames, Iowa.

Shaw, Tavian Banks, Rodney Filer and quarterback Matt Sherman each scored on short touchdown runs as Iowa (2-0) beat the Cyclones (1-2) for the 13th consecutive time.

Kentucky 17, Indiana 10--Billy Jack Haskins was sacked seven times in his first collegiate start, but ran 42 yards for the go-ahead touchdown as the Wildcats ended the nation’s longest major college losing streak at 12 games with a victory at Bloomington, Ind.

Kentucky (1-2) took advantage of Indiana penalties that set up both of their touchdowns and a fourth-quarter Indiana fumble that set up a clinching 49-yard field goal by Brian Sivinski.

The Hoosiers (1-1) got 114 yards and a first-quarter touchdown from Alex Smith, who sat out the season opener because of a hamstring injury.

Minnesota 31, Ball State 7--Sophomore Cory Sauter, in his first college start, threw three touchdown passes to Ryan Thelwell at Minneapolis as the Golden Gophers, the last Division I-A team to begin play this season, won their season opener for the first time since 1991. Sauter completed 17 of 31 passes for 260 yards.