West Virginia Takes Control in Big East With 30-17 Victory

Amos Zereoue ran wild against Virginia Tech and helped put West Virginia in the driver’s seat in the Big East.

Zereoue rushed for 153 yards and a score, and Marc Bulger threw for a touchdown and ran for one as No. 21 West Virginia defeated No. 19 Virginia Tech, 30-17, Saturday at Morgantown, Va.

The nation’s No. 5 rusher at 149.3 yards a game, Zereoue slashed and slanted for 102 in the first half as the Mountaineers built a 27-7 lead. West Virginia is 11-0 when Zereoue, a sophomore, rushes for more than 100 yards. He has 1,045 yards this season.

The win gave the Mountaineers (6-1 overall, 3-1 in the Big East) the inside track on a bowl alliance berth with three conference games remaining.

Before a sellout crowd at Mountaineer Field, West Virginia used Zereoue’s strong running and Bulger’s accuracy in picking apart the conference’s top-ranked defense, which had given up only 11 points and 103 yards rushing per game.

Virginia Tech (5-2, 4-1) watched its running game go nowhere against a swarming West Virginia defense.

Pittsburgh 55, Rutgers 48--Pete Gonzalez broke Dan Marino’s school record by throwing seven touchdown passes, the last coming in the second overtime, to lead the Panthers (4-3, 2-1) to a bizarre Big East victory over Rutgers (0-8, 0-5) at Piscataway, N.J.

Gonzalez completed 27 of 42 passes for 470 yards, another school record, and Jake Hoffart caught three touchdown passes, including the game-winner from three yards out, as Pittsburgh won despite blowing a 16-point fourth-quarter lead.

Rutgers lost its 11th consecutive game overall and its second consecutive heartbreaker. Army won, 37-35, the previous Saturday on a late field goal.

Miami 47, Temple 15--Redshirt freshman James Jackson rushed for 187 yards and scored two touchdowns as the host Hurricanes (3-4, 2-2) routed the Owls (2-6, 2-3).

Army 35, Colgate 27--Rob Lalumondier scored twice, once on a 36-yard run, and rushed for 94 yards as the Cadets (3-4) defeated the Red Raiders (4-3) at West Point, N.Y, in the schools’ last scheduled meeting. Army has a 22-5-2 lead in a series that began in 1903 but is being ended because Army enters Conference USA next year.

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Mike Giampaolo kicked four field goals, including a career best of 43 yards with 5:20 left, as Harvard (5-1, 3-0) rallied for a 14-12 Ivy League victory over Princeton (4-2, 1-2) at Boston. The score was tied 5-5 at one point as both teams got a safety. . . . Bobby Thomason ran for one touchdown and threw for one as Columbia (2-5, 1-2) notched a 21-10 Ivy League victory over Yale (1-5, 0-3) at New York. . . . James Finn scored three touchdowns as Penn (3-3, 2-1) recorded a 31-10 Ivy League victory over Brown (4-2, 2-1) at Philadelphia.

Tailback Rabih Abdullah ground out 186 yards rushing and scored four times in leading underdog Lehigh (3-4) to a 46-26 upset victory over Dartmouth (5-1) at Hanover, N.H. Lehigh ended Dartmouth’s longest-in-the-nation unbeaten streak at 22 games. The Big Green was 21-0-1 since losing to Cornell on Oct. 7, 1995. . . . Brad Kiesendahl, who carried only eight times for 39 yards, scored on runs of four, two and seven yards as Cornell (3-3) notched a 45-13 victory over Fordham (2-6) at New York. Fordham started the season 2-0.

MIDWEST

Chris Wallace set a Toledo record with five touchdown passes in a 35-20 Mid-American Conference victory over host Bowling Green. For No. 24 Toledo (7-0, 5-0), the game’s key play came late in the third quarter when Wallace connected with Dwayne Harris on a 49-yard touchdown pass play that gave the Rockets their first lead of the game, 21-20. Bowling Green fell to 3-6, 3-3. . . . Dennis Fitzgerald picked up a blocked punt in the closing seconds of the first half and went in for Ohio University’s first score and the Bobcats (7-1, 5-0 went on to score a 21-17 MAC victory over Akron (1-7, 1-4) at Akron, Ohio. Ohio did not attempt a pass, which is the first time that has happened in a major college game since Baylor went exclusively with the run against Southern Methodist in 1993. The Bobcats won 61 times for 291 yards. . . . Mike Pickett caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from Jake Josetti with 3:44 left as Ball State (4-5, 4-2) rallied to hand Northern Illinois (0-8, 0-5) its 15th consecutive loss, 21-14, in a MAC game at De Kalb, Ill. The Huskies, who led at halftime, 14-7, have the longest losing streak in Division I-A. . . . Eric Richards’ 35-yard field goal in the second overtime gave Cincinnati (6-2) a 34-31 victory over Miami of Ohio (6-2) at Oxford, Ohio.

SOUTH

Harold Shaw scored three touchdowns and Patrick Surtain had two interceptions to lead Southern Mississippi (5-2, 3-0) to a 34-13 Conference USA victory over Tulane (4-3, 2-1) at Hattiesburg, Miss. . . . Jay McGuire rushed for three touchdowns and Jason McKinley passed for two as Houston (3-4, 2-0) dealt Louisville (1-7, 0-3) its fifth consecutive loss, 36-22, in a Conference USA game at Louisville, Ky. . . . Jamie Wilson had two short touchdown runs and Rod Coleman and Kendrick Phillips scored defensive touchdowns to spark East Carolina (2-5, 1-2) to a 32-10 Conference USA victory over Memphis (2-5, 0-2) at Greenville, N.C.

WEST

John Dutton passed for 460 yards and four touchdowns as Nevada (3-5, 2-0) rolled to a 65-10 Big West victory over North Texas (2-6, 0-3) at Reno. . . . Antonio Warran had his tenth career 100-yard game, rushing for 160 yards to lead Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (7-0) to 38-24 victory over Northern Iowa (4-4) at San Luis Obispo. . . . Ty Houghtaling threw for two touchdown passes and ran for another as New Mexico State (2-6) ended a four-game losing streak with a 34-20 victory over Arkansas State (1-7) at Las Cruces, N.M. . . . Cal State Northridge defeated Sacramento State, 45-38, in overtime at Northridge.