A High Five for Moss in Marshall Win

Chad Pennington threw a school-record six touchdown passes, including five to Randy Moss, as Marshall routed Ball State, 42-16, in a Mid-American Conference game Saturday at Muncie, Ind.

Moss made 13 catches for 205 yards, including touchdowns covering 58, 15, eight, 19 and three yards. He has caught at least one touchdown pass in 20 consecutive games.

The five touchdown receptions set a Marshall record and tied the Mid-American record for one game.

“Nobody in America is able to cover Moss,” Ball State Coach Bill Lynch said.

Moss, who has 749 receiving yards and 14 touchdown receptions after five games, is on pace to break the Division I-A record of 22 touchdown receptions in a season by Houston’s Manny Hazard in 1989.

Pennington completed 27 of 35 passes for 331 yards. Along with his five touchdown passes to Moss, he threw a 28-yard scoring pass to LaVorn Colclough.

Marshall (4-1) took a 21-3 lead in the second quarter, but LeAndre Moore’s two scoring runs pulled Ball State within 21-16 after a failed two-point conversion attempt.

Pennington then went back to Moss, connecting with him for two touchdowns in the third quarter and another in the fourth.

Moore rushed for 109 yards in 17 carries for Ball State (1-4).

EAST

Amos Zereoue rushed for a career-high 206 yards and West Virginia turned back six Miami scoring threats and won, 28-17, in a Big East Conference game at Miami. The Hurricanes (1-3 overall, 0-2 in conference) have lost three consecutive games for the first time since 1984 and have lost five of their past six home games. Zereoue scored on runs of 54 and 31 yards to help the Mountaineers (3-1, 1-1) rally from a 17-7 deficit.

Al Clark passed for 177 yards and two touchdowns as No. 14 Virginia Tech cruised to a 50-0 victory over Arkansas State at Blacksburg, Va., the Hokies’ 12th consecutive home victory. Arkansas State (1-3) was held to minus-28 yards rushing. The victory also gave Frank Beamer the most career coaching victories at Virginia Tech (4-0), with 65 in his 11th season. Virginia Tech has won 23 of its last 24 regular-season games and Beamer is 65-51-2 at Virginia Tech. Bill Dooley was 64-37-1 from 1978-86.

Artrell Hawkins forced a fumble and returned an interception 38 yards for a go-ahead touchdown as surprising Cincinnati defeated Boston College, 24-6, at Boston. After Hawkins’ touchdown gave the Bearcats (3-1) a 10-6 lead with 8:08 left, Cincinnati knocked out Boston College quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and then intercepted backup Scott Mutryn twice. The first set up Chad Plummer’s 50-yard touchdown scramble with 1:41 left; the second was returned 48 yards for a touchdown by Shawn Ferguson to make it 24-6. The Eagles fell to 2-2.

Brian Underwood ran for two touchdowns to lead Maryland to a 24-21 victory over Temple at Philadelphia. It was Maryland’s first victory under new Coach Ron Vanderlinden. Temple (1-4) tried to overcome its mistakes, drawing within 17-14 midway through the third quarter on Stacey Mack’s 15-yard run, but Maryland (1-3) proceeded to take the momentum away with a 75-yard scoring drive off the ensuing kickoff.

Quarterback Ryan Vena ran nine yards in overtime for a touchdown to give Colgate (1-1) a 44-38 overtime victory over Cornell (1-1) at Ithaca, N.Y. . . . Quarterback James Perry passed for two fourth-quarter touchdowns to lead Brown (2-0) to a 35-27 victory over Lafayette (0-4) at Providence, R.I. . . . Jim John threw for 152 yards and two touchdowns as Bucknell (3-0) beat Penn (0-2), 20-16, at Lewisburg, Pa. . . . Bobby Thomason threw two touchdown passes as Columbia (1-1) defeated Towson (2-2), 16-6, at New York. . . . Quarterback Pete Sellers threw three touchdown passes to lead Dartmouth (2-0) past Holy Cross (1-2), 35-6, at Worcester, Mass. . . . Harvard (1-0) withstood a 24-point fourth quarter by Lehigh (1-1) and defeated the Engineers, 35-30, at Bethlehem, Pa. . . . Alex Sierk kicked a 42-yard field goal with 2:51 to play to lift Princeton (1-1) past Fordham (2-2), 9-7 at Ewing Township, N.J.

MIDWEST

Sam Ricketts threw for 270 yards and two touchdowns and Miami of Ohio stymied Army’s running attack for a 38-14 victory at West Point, N.Y. The RedHawks (3-1), after a shaky first half, figured out the Black Knights’ wishbone offense, limiting Army (1-3) to 261 rushing yards. Army went into the game averaging 431.3 rushing yards a game, tops in the nation. . . . Chris Wallace passed for 243 yards and two touchdowns and Dwayne Harris scored twice to lead Toledo (4-0) past Nevada, 31-13, at Toledo, Ohio. Nevada fell to 1-4. . . . Kareem Wilson rushed for 113 yards and three touchdowns and Steve Hookfin added 107 yards and a score to lead Ohio (4-1, 2-0) to a 31-7 victory over Western Michigan (2-3, 1-2) in a Mid-American Conference game at Athens, Ohio. The 4-1 start is Ohio’s best since the 1976 team opened 4-0. . . . Eastern Michigan quarterback Charlie Batch threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Eagles (1-3, 1-2) to a 31-24 victory over Central Michigan in a Mid-American game at Mount Pleasant, Mich. The Chippewas’ Tim Crowley completed 25 of 48 passes for 412 yards and two touchdowns.

WEST

Dorian Stitt and Zack Hernandez ran for two touchdowns each in the second half as Cal Lutheran scored the game’s final 29 points and defeated San Diego, 39-32, at Thousand Oaks. The Kingsmen are 1-2, the Toreros 2-2. . . . Travis Brown threw for 357 yards and five touchdowns as Northern Arizona (3-1) whipped Portland State (0-4), 56-21, at Flagstaff, Ariz. . . . Rob Compson ran for one touchdown and passed for another as Montana State (2-1, 1-0) overcame a 7-0 halftime deficit and clipped Idaho State (0-3, 0-1), 14-13, in a Big Sky Conference game at Pocatello, Idaho.