Tulane Remains Undefeated by Surviving Memphis Rally

Fifteenth-ranked Tulane thought it had the game in hand Saturday against Memphis, and the Green Wave almost started coasting too soon.

Memphis scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns before Tulane held on for a 41-31 victory at Memphis, Tenn., to remain undefeated.

“I definitely say we let up,” Tulane Coach Tommy Bowden said. “We didn’t play with the same intensity we did in the first half. There’s no doubt. Why? That’s what we have to find the answer.”

Shaun King passed for four touchdowns and ran for another for Tulane (8-0 overall, 4-0 in Conference USA). King completed his first 14 passes as the Green wave built a 27-7 halftime lead and finished 27 of 38 for 285 yards.

“It’s disappointing,” Memphis Coach Rip Scherer said. “You can’t spot them 21 points like we did . . . It shows our guys don’t give up until the final whistle. Something like that will help keep building confidence.”

Memphis (2-7, 1-3) had quite a fourth-quarter rally. Gerald Arnold scored on a 30-yard run, Neil Suber threw his second touchdown pass of the game and Arnold scored again on a seven-yard run with 4:28 left.

Tulane was able to run the clock out.

The Green Wave finished with 497 yards of offense and would have topped the 500-yard mark if King hadn’t taken a knee behind the line on the final plays.

EAST

Amos Zereoue, hampered because of injuries when Syracuse beat West Virginia the last two years, rushed for 189 yards and two touchdowns as the Mountaineers (5-3, 2-2) recorded a 35-28 Big East victory over the No. 15 Orangemen (5-3, 3-1) at Morgantown, W.Va. Syracuse’s Donovan McNabb was 16 for 29 for 281 yards but was sacked five times. . . . Quarterback Blane Morgan and No. 25 Air Force (8-1) took charge early on the way to a 35-7 victory over Army (2-6) at West Point, N.Y. Receiver Matt Farmer scored on a 45-yard reverse play and Morgan connected on touchdown pass plays of 54 and 74 yards to Dylan Newman as Air Force’s top-ranked rushing attack (296.8 yards per game) took a back seat to its passing game. Air Force won its 12th Commander in Chief’s Trophy. Air Force beat Navy, 49-7, earlier this season. . . . Mike McMahon threw for 243 yards and a career-high three touchdowns and then ran three yards for the winning score with 1:18 remaining to lead Rutgers (5-5-1) to a 36-33 victory over Navy (3-5) at Annapolis, Md. . . . Freshman quarterback Mac DeVito came off the bench to rally Temple from a 20-point deficit, scoring on a decisive one-yard run with 30 seconds remaining as the Owls (2-7, 2-3) recorded a 34-33 Big East victory over Pittsburgh (26, 0-4) at Pittsburgh. Temple has won only 13 games since 1991, but has beaten Pittsburgh three times in the last four seasons. The Owls upset Pitt, 17-13, last season, a week after the Panthers beat nationally ranked Miami.

Matt Rader threw two touchdown passes and tailback Jim Finn threw another in the opening 4:48 as Penn (6-2, 4-1) opened its bag of tricks for a 27-14 Ivy League victory over Princeton (4-4, 3-2) at Princeton, N.J. . . . Quarterback James Perry, the nation’s Division I-AA leader in total offense, completed 30 of 40 passes for 281 yards and Sean Morey had 11 receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns as Brown (5-3, 3-2) kept alive Ivy League title hopes with a 27-6 victory over Harvard (4-4, 3-2) at Boston. . . . Joe Walland completed 20 of 27 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns and Rashad Bartholomew ran for 176 yards as Yale (4-4, 3-2) scored a 28-21 Ivy League victory over Cornell (4-4, 1-4) at New Haven, Conn. . . . Paris Childress passed for two touchdowns as Columbia (3-5, 2-3) rolled up a 21-0 halftime lead and held on for a 24-14 Ivy League victory over Dartmouth (2-6, 1-4) at Hanover, N.H. The Lions ended a 26-game winless streak against the Big Green.

SOUTH

Torry Holt broke his school record with 15 catches, but it was Ray Robinson’s running that played a key role down the stretch as North Carolina State (6-3, 4-2) notched a 38-27 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over Wake Forest (3-6, 2-4) at Raleigh, N.C. Robinson, a freshman tailback, gained 164 yards in 23 carries and his 54-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter gave the Wolfpack a 10-point lead. Holt had 179 receiving yards, with 118 coming in the third quarter. . . . Na Brown caught a 44-yard touchdown pass and ran 48 yards for a touchdown on consecutive plays from scrimmage in the second quarter to help North Carolina (4-4, 3-2) to a 24-13 ACC victory over Maryland (2-7, 0-6) at Chapel Hill, N.C.

SOUTHWEST

Southern Mississippi quarterback Lee Roberts broke Brett Favre’s school record for touchdown passes in a season, throwing for three to lead the Golden Eagles (5-4, 4-1) to a 21-15 victory over Houston (3-6, 2-2) in a Conference USA game at Houston. Roberts has 19 scoring passes. Favre’s record, set in 1988, was 16. . . . Redshirt freshman Jamie Tyler scored both Rice touchdowns, and the Owls dodged two late Texas Christian (4-5, 4-2) threats to escape with a 14-12 victory over the struggling Horned Frogs (4-5, 2-5) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Fort Worth, Texas. . . . Southern Methodist (4-6, 4-3) had a season-high 440 yards on offense on its way to a 33-3 WAC victory over Tulsa (3-6, 1-5) at Dallas.

WEST

Jonas Lewis ran for 142 yards and a touchdown in 37 carries as San Diego State (5-4, 5-1) recorded a 10-0 victory over Fresno State (3-6, 3-3) at San Diego. It was the Aztecs’ first shutout since 1984. By winning for the fifth time in six games, the Aztecs kept pace with Brigham Young for a share of first place in the Western Athletic Conference’s Pacific Division. . . . Kevin Feterik threw for 422 yards and four touchdowns as surging Brigham Young (7-3, 5-1) completed an undefeated home season with a 46-21 rout of New Mexico (3-7, 1-6) at Provo, Utah. It was BYU’s fifth win in a row. . . . Jay Stoner passed for one touchdown and ran for another, and Wyoming (8-1, 6-0) notched a 27-19 WAC victory over arch-rival Colorado State at Fort Collins, Colo. Kofi Shuck caught seven passes for 122 yards and a score. Colorado State (7-4, 4-3) trailed, 24-6, at halftime before scoring twice in the third quarter. . . . Mike Anderson scored on a one-yard plunge in overtime and Andre Dyson knocked away the final pass as Utah (6-3, 4-2) notched a 34-27 WAC victory over Texas El Paso (3-6, 3-3) at Salt Lake City.

Receiver David Burr caught a pass from David Neill and scored on a 52-yard play with 1:45 left to give Nevada (5-4, 3-2) a 26-21 Big West victory over Utah State at Logan, Utah. . . . Matt Cannon ran for two second-half touchdowns to rally Southern Utah (4-5) to a 27-17 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (2-7) at Cedar City, Utah. Cannon, the Thunderbirds’ quarterback and leading rusher, gained 242 yards in 15 carries, including scoring runs of 25 and 55 yards.

SOUTHLAND

Drew Hill caught nine passes for 68 yards and a touchdown to lead Cal State Northridge (6-3, 5-2) to a 32-28 victory over Portland State (5-4, 4-3) in a Big Sky game at Northridge. Northridge trailed, 14-6, at the end of the first quarter but scored 26 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a 32-14 lead at halftime. . . . Steve Luce completed 22 of 34 passes for 306 yards and four touchdowns, with three going to Jeremy Snyder, to lead Whittier College (6-2, 4-0) to a 31-29 victory over Redlands (6-2, 3-1) in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at Whittier. Snyder finished with nine receptions for 150 yards. Redlands built a 20-0 lead before Whittier came storming back. . . . Frederick Nanhed had 119 yards and a touchdown in 22 carries to lead Cal Lutheran (5-3, 2-2) to a 38-31 SCIAC victory over La Verne at Thousand Oaks as the Kingmen went 5-0 at home for the first time since 1982. . . . DeAngelo Gossett ran for 200 yards and two touchdowns in 22 carries to lead Azusa Pacific (7-1) to a 49-7 victory over Occidental (1-7). Dexter Davis caught two touchdown passes from Geoff Buffum. . . . Jim Regan ran for 178 yards and two touchdowns in 33 carries to lead Pomona Pitzer (6-1) to a 35-21 victory over Claremont Mudd (1-7) at Pomona. Regan is also the Sagehens’ kicker.