No. 12 Tulane Stays Unbeaten

Tulane did the impossible Saturday. Now, the 12th-ranked Green Wave has an even higher goal.

Shaun King passed for five touchdowns to help Tulane remain unbeaten and win the Conference USA championship with a 48-20 victory over Houston (3-8, 2-4) at New Orleans.

The Green Wave (10-0, 6-0), accepted the conference’s automatic bid to the Liberty Bowl, contingent on Tulane not being invited to the Bowl Championship Series.

SOUTH

No. 21 Georgia Tech grabbed a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference title and a Gator Bowl bid with a 63-35 victory over Wake Forest (3-8, 2-6) at Atlanta. Charlie Rogers scored three touchdowns and Joe Hamilton passed for two other scores for the Yellow Jackets (8-2, 7-1). . . . Andrew Bayes made a 41-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining to give East Carolina (6-5, 3-3 Conference USA) a 34-31 victory over Memphis (2-9, 1-5) at Memphis. . . . Backup Mike Watkins passed for three touchdowns and ran for another to lead Louisville to a 24-35 victory over Army at Louisville. Watkins, who started in place of injured Chris Redman, completed 20 of 30 passes for 338 yards for the Cardinals (7-4, 4-2 Conference USA), who accepted an invitation after the game to the Motor City Bowl. Army (2-8, 2-4) has lost five in a row for the first time in school history. . . . DeMarco McCleskey scored four touchdowns to lead Cincinnati (2-9) to a 51-7 nonconference victory over Arkansas State (4-8) at Jonesboro, Ark. . . . Jamie Barnette passed for 241 yards and one touchdown to help North Carolina State to a 35-21 ACC victory over Maryland (3-8, 1-7) at College Park, Md. The victory assures the Wolfpack (7-3, 5-2) at least a fourth-place finish in the conference and an automatic bowl trip. . . . Da Brown caught two touchdown passes, setting North Carolina’s all-time reception record, in the Tar Heels’ 28-6 ACC victory over Duke (4-7, 2-6) at Durham, N.C. North Carolina (5-5, 4-3) needs to defeat North Carolina State next week at Charlotte to keep alive its hope of playing in six consecutive bowl games. . . . Daunte Culpepper completed 23 of 32 passes to set a major-college record for the highest single-season completion percentage in Central Florida’s 38-6 nonconference victory over New Mexico (3-9) at Orlando, Fla. Culpepper has completed 296 of 402 passes for a .736 percentage this season for Central Florida (9-2), bettering the mark of .713 set by Steve Young at Brigham Young in 1983. . . . Javis Austin scored two touchdowns to help Clemson (3-8) send out Coach Tommy West, fired three days earlier, on a winning note with a 28-19 nonconference victory over South Carolina (1-10) at Clemson, S.C.

EAST

Dee Brown ran for two touchdowns and Quentin Harris had a 47-yard interception return for another score to lead No. 24 Syracuse to a 38-7 Big East victory over Temple (2-5, 2-9) at Philadelphia. The Orangemen (7-3, 5-1), who have defeated the Owls 13 consecutive times, are tied with Miami for the conference lead and will host the Hurricanes next week. This could have been the last game for Bobby Wallace as Temple coach because the former Auburn assistant is a candidate for the Tigers’ head coaching job. . . . Chad Pennington passed for two touchdowns and 322 yards to become the career passing leader for Marshall (10-1), and Daninelle Darricott blocked a potential game-deciding field goal in a 29-27 nonconference victory over I-AA Wofford (4-7) at Huntington, W.Va. . . . Al Clark connected with Ricky Hall on two touchdown passes in the first half as No. 23 Virginia Tech (8-2, 5-2) returned two of its six interceptions for touchdowns in a 47-7 Big East victory over Rutgers (5-6, 2-5) at Blacksburg, Va. . . . Amos Zereoue rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns for West Virginia (8-2, 5-2 Big East) in a 35-10 victory over Boston College (3-4, 4-7) at Morgantown, W.Va. . . . Pennsylvania clinched its third Ivy League championship this decade when Jim Finn rushed for 188 yards in 36 carries to help the Quakers (8-2, 6-1) to a 35-21 victory over Cornell (4-6, 1-6) at Ithaca, N.Y. . . . Derek Theisen rushed for a career-high 171 yards and two touchdowns to lead Princeton (5-5, 4-3) to a 35-13 Ivy League victory over Dartmouth (2-8, 1-6) at Princeton, N.J.

MIDWEST

Mike Sullivan caught a 68-yard touchdown pass from Mike Bath to help Miami (Ohio) conclude its best season since 1977 with a 20-14 Mid-American Conference victory over Akron (4-7, 2-6) at Akron. Travis Prentice rushed for 127 yards in 21 carries for Miami (10-1, 7-1).

SOUTHWEST

John Mosley rushed for 201 yards and a touchdown to help Tulsa beat Wyoming, 35-0, at Tulsa, Okla., and knock the Cowboys out of the title chase in the Mountain division of the Western Athletic Conference. Tulsa (4-7, 2-6) held Wyoming (8-3, 6-2) to 213 total yards. . . . Ja’Quay Wilburn ran for 162 yards and caught a touchdown pass as North Texas ended a four-game losing streak with a 19-11 victory over New Mexico State at Denton, Tex. North Texas (3-8, 3-2 Big West ) was outgained, 399 yards to 320, by New Mexico State (3-8, 1-4).

FAR WEST

Linebacker Mike Tyler returned an interception 26 yards for a touchdown with 8:23 remaining as No. 20 Air Force rallied for a 22-16 WAC victory over Rice (5-6, 5-3) at Air Force. The victory clinched a berth in the WAC championship game for the Falcons (10-1, 7-1), who won the Mountain division title. . . . Ryan Kaneshiro’s 32-yard field-goal attempt with five seconds to play hit the right upright and BYU clinched the WAC Pacific Division championship with a 26-24 victory over Utah at Salt Lake City. BYU (9-3, 7-1) finished its regular season with seven consecutive victories and advanced to the WAC championship game at Las Vegas on Dec. 5. The Utes (7-4, 5-3) ended the season with four losses by a total of nine points. . . . Basil Mitchell rushed for 220 yards to lead Texas Christian (6-5) to a 41-18 victory over Nevada Las Vegas (0-11) at Las Vegas. . . . Jamie Kimbrough rushed for 212 yards and returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown to lead Fresno State (5-6, 5-3) to a 24-21 WAC victory over San Jose State (4-7, 3-5) at Fresno. . . . Southern Mississippi’s Lee Roberts passed for 344 yards and three touchdowns, breaking one of Brett Favre’s school records and tying another in a 55-28 nonconference victory over Nevada (6-5) for the Golden Eagles (7-4) at Reno. Roberts’s three touchdown passes tied him with Farve for most thrown in a career with 52 and his 344 yards passing gave him 2,780 for the season, surpassing the mark of 2,588 Favre set in 1989. . . . Brian Russell passed for a season-high 267 yards and two touchdowns to help give San Diego State (7-4, 7-1 WAC) a 34-29 victory over Texas El Paso (3-8, 3-5) at San Diego.

SOUTHLAND

Chad Henry tied a school record with four touchdown passes to help give Cal Poly San Luis Obispo a 45-35 victory over Liberty at San Luis Obispo. . . . DeRonn Finley caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Seth Burford with 32 seconds remaining to give Idaho State (3-8, 2-6 Big Sky Conference) a 32-29 victory over Cal State Northridge (7-4, 5-3) at Pocatello, Ida.