Win Streak Over for Virginia Tech

After two sub-par performances and a lot of adversity, Donovan McNabb finally managed a smile Saturday. He earned it.

McNabb completed eight of 12 passes for 123 yards and rushed for 127 yards as Syracuse rebounded from an 0-2 start and humbled No. 18 Virginia Tech, 52-21, in a Big East Conference game at Syracuse, N.Y..

The victory snapped the Hokies’ 13-game winning streak.

Syracuse (1-2, 1-0) finished with 338 yards rushing, the second consecutive game the Orangemen surpassed the 300-yard barrier, and held the Hokies to 137 yards rushing.

The impact of the overwhelming victory was not lost on a team which had dropped off the chart after having been ranked No. 9 in the preseason.

“People started to get down on this team and on Donovan McNabb,” guard Shelton Prescott said. “But McNabb just came into this game with determination that we were going to get this turned around. He’s just a very tough guy.”

Quarterback Jim Druckenmiller was never able to get Virginia Tech’s no-huddle, short-passing game in gear. Druckenmiller, who entered the game with a 57.8 completion percentage, was 11 of 23 for 157 yards.

The game turned on a blocked punt by Kevin Abrams midway through the second quarter, with Syracuse trailing, 14-10. Phil Nash scooped up the ball inside the five and ran it in to give the Orangemen a 17-14 lead.

No. 10 Miami 45, Pittsburgh 0--In what amounted to a pit stop before taking on Florida State, the Hurricanes rolled to their second consecutive shutout at Miami.

Tony Gaiter, making his first career start, caught three touchdown passes--including an 85-yard score. Tailback Danyell Ferguson ran into Miami’s record books with 117 yards and a TD.

The Panthers (1-4), who lost, 72-0, to Ohio State last week, have now been outscored, 117-0, in their past two games.

Miami (4-0) plays No. 2 Florida State on Oct. 12 after a week off.

The Hurricanes have the nation’s longest winning streak at 11 games.

No. 23 West Virginia 13, Maryland 0--Amos Zereoue ran for 145 yards and scored the game’s only touchdown as the Mountaineers equaled last year’s victory at Morgantown, W.Va.

West Virginia (5-0), seventh nationally in total defense and fifth in scoring defense, intercepted four Maryland (2-2) passes. Three of the interceptions came on the Terrapins’ first three possessions of the second half.

Boston College 43, Navy 38--Matt Hasselbeck passed for three touchdowns and ran for one for the Eagles in a nonconference game at Boston.

Navy (2-1) led, 22-15, at halftime, but Boston College (2-2) scored touchdowns on its first four possessions. Navy could only manage a field goal on three consecutive possessions after Omar Nelson’s four-yard run made the score 29-15 on the first series of the half.

Army 27, North Texas 10--Demetrius Perry helped pick up the slack after quarterback Ronnie McAda injured his left ankle and helped the Cadets to the 600th victory in school history at Irving, Texas.

The victory made the Cadets 3-0 for the first time since 1985. It is the first time since 1966 that Army has opened a year with three consecutive victories over Division I-A teams.

The Eagles (1-3) are 1-11 against Division I-A foes since moving up from I-AA last season.

Southern Mississippi 24, Louisville 7--Jamaal Alexander returned a fumble 42 yards for a touchdown and Chandler Smith ran 13 yards to score off a blocked punt in a Conference USA game at Louisville, Ky.

Southern Mississippi (4-1) recovered four fumbles, intercepted two passes, and blocked one punt and one field goal to offset the passing of Louisville (2-3) redshirt freshman quarterback Chris Redman.

Redman connected on 35 of 63 passes for 400 yards.

Clemson 21, Wake Forest 10--Raymond Priester ran for 187 yards and a touchdown to lead the Tigers in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Clemson, S.C.

Clemson (2-2, 1-1) raced to a 21-0 lead over Wake Forest (2-3, 0-3), which lost its third consecutive game since upsetting Northwestern on Sept. 7. It was the Demon Deacons 18th loss in 20 games with the Tigers.

Nevada 63, Kent 42--Quarterbacks John Dutton and Eric Bennett combined for seven touchdown passes, tying a school record, as the Wolf Pack (2-2) amassed 686 yards on offense at Reno, Nev.

The loss kept Kent (1-3) winless on the road since the middle of the 1992 season.

Northern Arizona 32, Cal State Northridge 14--Travis Brown passed for 324 yards and one touchdown and ran for another score to lead the Lumberjacks (4-1, 1-0) to a Big Sky Conference victory at Flagstaff, Ariz.

Northridge is 2-2 and 0-1.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 49, Central Washington 14--Mike Allshouse ran for 123 yards and a touchdown to lead the Mustangs (1-3) at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

San Diego 10, Valparaiso 7--Evan Hlavacek caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from John Khamis with 3:06 left in the fourth quarter to lift the Torero (2-2) to victory at San Diego.