Virginia Tech Keeps Big East Hopes Alive

Defensive end Cornell Brown had three sacks, swiped a pitchout in the backfield, broke up a pass and had 10 tackles as No. 17 Virginia Tech defeated No. 23 West Virginia, 31-14, Saturday in a Big East game at Blacksburg, Va.

The victory keeps Virginia Tech, 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big East, in contention for a share of the Big East title, while West Virginia (8-3, 4-3) lost a bid for a major bowl with its third loss in four games.

Virginia Tech’s Jim Druckenmiller passed for 238 yards, twice throwing to Cornelius White for a touchdown, and Ken Oxendine, with 104 rushing yards, became the first runner to gain more than 100 yards against the Mountaineers in 20 games.

No. 16 Syracuse 36, Temple 15--Malcolm Thomas, Kyle McIntosh, Tebucky Jones and Keith Downing ran for touchdowns as the Orangemen (8-2, 6-0) won their eighth game in a row, in a Big East game at Philadelphia.

Syracuse clinched at least a tie for the Big East championship and can win the title outright with a victory next Saturday against Miami at Syracuse.

Temple is 1-10 and 0-7.

No. 25 Miami 43, Boston College 26--Quarterback Scott Covington, in his first college start, threw three touchdown passes as the Hurricanes (7-3, 5-1) compiled a season-high 617 yards at Miami.

Boston College is 5-6 and 2-5.

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Columbia (8-2, 5-2) finished with eight wins for the first time since 1945 and wound up second in the Ivy League by beating Brown, 31-27, at New York on Bobby Thomason’s 11-yard touchdown pass to David Ramirez with 1:55 left. Columbia hadn’t finished this high in the standings since 1961, when the Lions were co-champions. For Brown (5-5, 4-3), quarterback Jason McCullough completed 26 of 65 passes for 368 yards and four touchdowns.

Princeton, playing its last game at 82-year-old Palmer Stadium in Princeton, N.J., offered little resistance in losing, 24-0, to Dartmouth (10-0, 7-0). Jon Aljancic passed for two touchdowns and Lloyd Lee returned one of his two interceptions for the touchdown to lead the Big Green to the Ivy League victory that gave Dartmouth the perfect season. Princeton (3-7, 2-5) was held to 111 yards of total offense. Palmer Stadium opened Oct. 24, 1914 with Princeton beating Dartmouth, 16-12.

Eion Hu became the first 3,000-yard runner in Harvard history by rushing for 177 yards in his collegiate farewell as the Crimson (4-6, 2-5) held on for a 26-21 Ivy League victory over Yale (2-8, 1-6) at Boston, spoiling Carmen Cozza’s final game after 32 years as the Elis’ coach. Hu had a school-record 40 carries while pushing his career rushing production to 3,073 yards as Harvard snapped a 13-game home losing streak in the 113th meeting of a rivalry begun in 1875. Cozza finished 179-119-5. . . . Scott Carroll passed for 244 yards and three touchdowns as Cornell (4-6, 4-3) recorded a 24-21 Ivy League victory over Penn (5-5, 3-4) at Ithaca, N.Y.

MIDWEST

Dan Gonzalez threw for 351 yards and two touchdowns as East Carolina (7-3) rolled to a 20-10 victory over Memphis (4-7) at Memphis, Tenn. Gonzalez’s touchdown passes came on plays of 60 and 52 yards to Larry Shannon, his only catches of the game. . . . Daryl Royal ran for two touchdowns, and Cincinnati (6-5) held Northeast Louisiana (5-6) to minus-19 yards rushing as the Bearcats won, 35-13, at Cincinnati.

WEST

Mike Allshouse of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo rushed for 246 yards in 37 carries and tied a school record with four touchdowns as the Mustangs (5-6) recorded a 48-28 victory over Sacramento State (1-10) at Sacramento.