Couch Passes for a School-Record 7 Touchdowns

Tim Couch, who earlier this season set a Kentucky record for passing yardage, threw a record seven touchdown passes Saturday as the Wildcats beat Indiana, 49-7, at Bloomington, Ind.

Craig Yeast caught four of Couch’s touchdown passes to tie another Kentucky record, and the Wildcats (2-1) dominated the Hoosiers (1-2) by the widest margin in their 28-game football series.

Couch, who broke the game open with four touchdown passes in the third quarter, was 24 for 32 for 334 yards before going to the sideline at the start of the fourth quarter. His yardage was 64 yards short of the school-record 398 he set against Louisville in the season opener.

The seven touchdown passes broke the Kentucky record of five by Babe Parilli against both Cincinnati and North Dakota in 1950. Couch also tied the Southeastern Conference record for touchdown passes in a game, set by Florida’s Terry Dean in 1994 and tied earlier this season by Florida’s Doug Johnson against Central Michigan.

Yeast’s four touchdowns--on receptions of 12, six, seven, and 10 yards--tied the record set by Al Bruno against North Dakota in 1950.

EAST

Kyle McIntosh scored twice on seven-yard runs in the third quarter and Tebucky Jones returned an interception 98 yards on the final play of the game as Syracuse averted yet another upset and beat Tulane, 30-19, at Syracuse, N.Y. This was supposed to be the breather the Orangemen (2-3) but they never seem to make things easy. This time the Orangemen had to overcome four first-half interceptions thrown by Donovan McNabb to get past Tulane (1-2). . . . Temple, perennial conference doormat, played No. 18 Virigina Tech tough at Philadelphia as the Hokies, 3-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big East, needed a sacked punter, a big kickoff return and two Temple fumbles in the fourth quarter to seal a 23-13 victory. Temple (1-3, 1-1) stayed within a touchdown and threatened twice in the fourth quarter with the Hokies leading 20-13. First, tailback Elmarko Jackson fumbled at the Virginia Tech 22. Later, fullback Stacey Mack fumbled at the Tech seven.

Halfback Mike Cloud scored four touchdowns in his first start this year and error-prone Boston College (2-1, 2-1) gained 524 yards in a 35-21 Big East victory over winless Rutgers (0-4, 0-2) at Piscataway, N.J. Cloud, who rushed for 211 yards last week, ran for 166 and scored on runs of six, eight and four yards this week. He also caught a 19-yard scoring pass from Matt Hasselbeck as the Eagles overcame a surprising 14-7 halftime deficit. . . . Randy Moss caught five passes for 57 yards and two touchdowns as Marshall (3-1) defeated Western Illinois, 48-7, at Huntington, W.Va. Western Illinois, the No. 4-ranked team in Division I-AA, fell to 3-1.

James Perry threw for four touchdowns as Brown (1-0) handed Yale (0-1) its worst season-opening loss in history, a 52-14 rout before 15,315 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Conn. Brown wide receiver Sean Morey, a 1996 honorable mention All-America, caught seven passes for a total of 169 yards and scored two touchdowns. In all, Brown’s 629 total yards set a school record. The previous record was 567 against Lehigh in 1993. Perry completed 20 of 33 passes for 333 yards.

BIG 12

Quarterback Corby Jones ran for three touchdowns and threw a 26-yard touchdown pass in visiting Missouri’s 42-21 victory over Tulsa. The Tigers (2-1) scored twice in the fourth quarter to hold off the Golden Hurricane (0-3), off to the worst start in Coach Dave Rader’s 10 seasons. Jones scored on runs of 52, 13 and 10 yards--part of 357 total rushing yards by Missouri. . . . Jason Mills passed to Bo Harrison for a 15-yard touchdown with 1:04 remaining at Lubbock, Texas, to give North Texas (2-2) to a stunning 30-27 victory over Texas Tech (1-2). . . . Chad Plummer ran for a touchdown and threw for one as Cincinnati (2-1) took advantage of six Kansas turnovers and held the Jayhawks (3-1) to minus-46 yards rushing for a 34-7 victory at Cincinnati.

MIDWEST

Astron Whatley rushed for 373 yards, the fifth highest total in Division I-A history, to lead Kent (1-3, 1-2) to a 41-38 victory over Eastern Michigan (0-3, 0-2) in a Mid-American Conference game at Ypsilante, Mich. Whatley, who had 42 carries, broke the school record of 291 set by Larry Ratcliff in 1971 against Eastern Kentucky, and fell 26 yards short of the Division I-A record of 396 set by Kansas’ Tony Sands against Missouri in 1991. Kent had 559 total yards. . . . Jason Strasser kicked a 23-yard field goal with 32 seconds left to give Bowling Green (2-2, 2-0) a 31-28 victory over Akron (0-3, 0-2) in a Mid-American Conference game at Akron, Ohio.

WAC

Enrico Hunter and Rashad Smith returned interceptions for touchdowns and Chris McCoy scored twice in the second half as Navy (2-1) rolled to a 46-16 victory over Southern Methodist (1-2) at Dallas.

Blane Morgan ran for a touchdown and passed for another as Air Force beat No. 23 Colorado State, 24-0, in a Western Athletic Conference game at Fort Collins, Colo. Air Force (4-0, 3-0 in the WAC) avenged a bitter loss last year in which Colorado State (2-2, 0-1) rallied for 28 points in the final 20 minutes to win 42-41 . . . Daniel Jones caught three of Utah’s six touchdown passes in a 56-3 WAC victory over Texas El Paso at Salt Lake City. Jones had eight receptions for 187 yards. . . . Marques Brigham ran 27 yards for the clinching touchdown and Greg Van Leer returned a fumble 90 yards later in the fourth quarter, completing Wyoming’s 30-10 victory over San Jose State in a WAC game at Laramie, Wyo. The Cowboys (3-1, 2-0) led San Jose (0-3, 0-1) only 16-10 before Brigham’s touchdown. . . . Nevada Las Vegas (1-2, 1-2) jumped out to an 18-3 third-quarter lead, then held off Hawaii (2-2, 1-1) for a 25-15 WAC victory at Las Vegas.

WEST

Ben Winter tied a school record with three touchdown catches to lead Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (3-) to a 24-14 victory over Western New Mexico (1-2) at San Luis Obispo. . . . Mike Stadler’s two-yard touchdown pass to fullback Jared Keo late in the fourth quarter lifted San Diego (2-1) to a 15-8 victory over Redlands (1-1) at San Diego.