Army Surrenders Undefeated Status as Syracuse Wins, 42-17

Malcolm Thomas scored two touchdowns and Donovan McNabb worked his magic again as No. 19 Syracuse overwhelmed previously undefeated Army, 42-17, Saturday at Syracuse, N.Y., snapping the Black Knights’ 11-game winning streak.

Syracuse (7-2) won its seventh straight and handed No. 22 Army its first loss of the season after nine straight victories. The Orangemen have now scored 30 or more points in eight straight games, a school record.

Syracuse was Army’s stiffest opponent to date, but the Black Knights put up a game struggle. The difference was Syracuse’s superior size and speed, and the impressive ability of McNabb. He threw for two touchdowns and continually foiled the nation’s fourth-ranked defense, which entered the game allowing an average of 224 yards.

McNabb was 11 for 13 for 181 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 42 yards in the first half alone. For the game, he completed 16 of 19 passes for 285 yards, leading Syracuse to 517 yards in total offense.

Jim Turner caught four passes for 90 yards and Quinton Spotwood had three catches for 73 yards to lead the Orangemen. McNabb’s receivers were wide open throughout, and he repeatedly took advantage.

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Chris McCoy ran a school-record 44 times for 214 yards, scored three touchdowns and passed for two as Navy (7-2) qualified for a bowl bid with a 35-21 victory over Tulane (2-8) at Annapolis, Md. Navy has six Division I-A victories, making the Midshipmen eligible for a bowl game for the first time since 1981. . . . Omari Walker rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns as Boston College (5-6, 2-4), trying to recover from a gambling scandal, overcame a 14-0 deficit to beat Temple, 21-20, in a Big East game at Boston. The Owls (1-9, 0-6) have a 1-37 record since joining the Big East in 1991.

Dartmouth (9-0, 6-0) got a short field goal with 1:30 left in the game and it held up for a 27-24 victory over Brown (5-4, 4-2) at Providence, R.I., that gave the Big Green its 17th Ivy League championship. Brown drove down field after the field goal and Bear quarterback Jason McCullough completed a pass to tight end Paul Choquette on the Dartmouth 10 as time expired. Two plays earlier, a McCullough pass eluded Sean Morey’s diving grasp in the end zone with nine seconds left. Brown Coach Mark Whipple opted not to try for a game-tying field goal because kicker Tom Routt had hit the cross bar from 21 yards in the second quarter and missed a 40-yard attempt in the fourth quarter. . . . Cornell’s Chad Levitt will not break Ed Marinaro’s school career rushing record. The senior running back suffered a broken right arm in the second quarter of a 24-10 Ivy League loss to Columbia (7-2, 4-2) at New York and will miss the season finale against Penn next week. Levitt had 27 yards in 10 carries, including an eight-yard touchdown run, to fall 58 yards shot of Marinaro’s record of 4,715 yards. For Columbia, Bert Bondi caught 14 passes, including two for touchdowns. The loss dropped Cornell to 3-6, 3-3. . . . Jasen Scott ran for 149 yards and one touchdown in 42 carries, going over the 1,000-yard mark, as Penn (5-4, 3-3) notched a 17-12 Ivy League victory over Harvard (3-6, 1-5) at Philadelphia. . . . Princeton (3-6) ruined Carm Cozza’s Yale Bowl retirement party with a 17-13 victory over Yale (2-7) at New Haven, Conn. For Cozza, who is retiring after 32 seasons as Yale’s coach, it was his last game at Yale Bowl. Mike Clifford second touchdown of the game, a two-yard run with 4:08 left to play, gave Princeton the victory.

SOUTH

Tailback Ketric Sanford threw for one touchdown and ran for two as Houston won the Conference USA championship with a 38-7 victory over Louisville (5-6, 2-3) at Houston. Chuck Clements passed for two touchdowns as the Cougars (7-4, 4-1) tied Southern Mississippi (8-3, 4-1) but won the title but virtue of a 56-49 victory over Southern Mississippi.. . . . Robert Cooper rushed for 191 yards, including 67 on a scoring run, as Cincinnati (5-5) took advantage of four fumble recoveries and rolled to a 34-14 victory over Alabama Birmingham (4-6) at Birmingham.

SOUTHWEST

Jason Mills threw two touchdown passes and ran for another in leading North Texas (5-6, 3-2) to a 24-17 Big West victory over Idaho (5-5, 2-2) at Denton, Texas. Ryan Fien rallied the Vandals, throwing a 40-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, but the rally fell short.

WEST

John Dutton threw five touchdown passes and Geoffrey Noisy caught 18 passes for 209 yards in leading Nevada (8-3) to a 66-14 rout of Arkansas State (5-6) at Reno. Dutton completed 31 of 36 passes for 374 yards for the Wolf Pack, co-champions of the Big West Conference who will play in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 19 against Ball State, which won the Mid-American Conference title Saturday with a 24-14 victory over Toledo. The game was the final one for John Bobo at Arkansas State coach. He resigned earlier in the week. . . . Boise State Coach Pokey Allen, battling a recurrence of cancer, returned to the sidelines and his Broncos (2-9, 1-3) rewarded him with a thrilling 33-32 Big West victory over New Mexico State (1-10, 0-5) at Las Cruces, N.M. The winning touchdown came on a 22-yard pass from Tony Hilde to Ryan Ikebe with 14 seconds left.