Dantzler Almost Upstaged in Clemson’s 34-27 Victory

Clemson’s Woody Dantzler barely outdueled North Carolina State’s Philip Rivers as the No. 5 Tigers continued their best start in 13 years with a 34-27 victory Saturday at Clemson, S.C.

Dantzler, who has emerged as one of the game’s most dazzling players, rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another for the Tigers, 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Rivers, an 18-year-old freshman who has led North Carolina State (4-1, 1-1) to three comeback victories, passed for 370 yards, including three long touchdown throws.

Virginia 31, Maryland 23--The Cavaliers (4-2, 3-1) did most of the damage in the first half, when they had a healthy Dan Ellis at quarterback, then hung on to beat the Terrapins (2-3, 0-2) in an ACC game at Charlottesville, Va. Ellis was six for six for 148 yard and a touchdown in the first quarter before a strained right hamstring forced him out of the game in the second quarter.

*

Jeff Kelly had three short runs for touchdowns and passed for two more as No. 17 Southern Mississippi (4-1) rolled to a 41-7 victory over South Florida (3-3) at Hattiesburg, Fla. . . . Dave Ragone threw for 227 yards and four touchdowns to lead Louisville (4-1, 0-2) to a 38-17 victory over Alabama Birmingham (3-2, 0-2) in a Conference USA game at Birmingham, Ala. . . . Ray Jackson rushed for 140 yards and three touchdowns, and Adam Hoover passed for two more as Cincinnati (3-3, 2-1) notched a 48-31 Conference USA victory over Houston (2-4, 1-1) at Cincinnati. The Bearcats had 530 yards in total offense, their highest total in 56 games, and held the Cougars to 77 yards rushing. . . . Scott Scherer, the son of Coach Rip Scherer, threw for 175 yards and ran for a touchdown in his first start as Memphis (4-2, 2-1) notched a 17-10 Conference USA victory over beat East Carolina (3-2, 1-1) at Memphis. Scherer, the Tigers’ third-string quarterback, completed 18 of 25 passes while filling in for the injured Travis Anglin and Neil Suber.

EAST

Freshman cornerback Eric Green, making his first start of the season for No. 3 Virginia Tech, intercepted two passes--one in the end zone--as the No. 3-ranked Hokies (5-0, 3-0) rolled to a 35-13 Big East victory over Temple (3-3, 0-2) at Blacksburg, Va. Temple was held to 116 total yard sand the Hokies had six sacks. Virginia Tech’s Michael Vick turned the ball over three times, was sacked four times, rushed for only 55 yards and was only 14 for 28 for 162 yards passing. . . . Troy Nunes passed to David Tyree for a 23-yard on Syracuse’s second possession of overtime ands the Orangemen (4-1, 1-1) managed a 24-17 Big East victory over Pittsburgh (4-1, 1-1) at Syracuse, N.Y. On the winning play, which came on third down, Nunes scrambled for time before finding Tyree at the back of the end zone. The Panthers, who lost to Syracuse for the 10th straight time, tried to keep the game going, but it ended when John Turman’s pass to Antonito Bryant fell incomplete on fourth and four. . . . West Virginia sacked Idaho’s John Welsh 12 times and intercepted four passes--redshirt freshman Grant Wiley had two of them, returning one for a touchdown--but the Mountaineers (4-1) didn’t exactly dominate in a 28-16 victory over the Vandals (2-4) at Morgantown, W.Va. . . . William Green ran for 225 yards and three touchdowns and Dedrick Dewalt scored on a 76-yard punt return as Boston College (3-2) rolled to a 55-3 victory over Connecticut (2-4) at Boston.

SOUTHWEST

LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for a 294 yards in 49 carries, a school record, and scored four touchdowns to lead No. 14 Texas Christian (5-0, 2-0) to a 41-21 Western Athletic Conference victory over Hawaii (0-4, 0-3) at Fort Worth, Texas. TCU, which got 393 of its 484 total yards on the ground, has won 10 games in a row. Hawaii freshman completed 18 of 44 passes for 266 passes and three touchdowns and the game was tied, 14-14, until the Horned Frogs started to pull away in late in the first half. . . . The San Jose State defense nearly matched the offense in scoring touchdowns against Southern Methodist, as Marcus Arroyo threw two touchdown passes and linebackers Josh Parry and Patrick Battle returned interceptions for scores and the Spartans (4-2, 2-0) recorded a 35-10 WAC victory over Southern Methodist (1-5, 0-2). . . . Texas El Paso and Tulsa came into their game at Tulsa tied for first place in the WAC, and the Miners (4-2, 3-0) came away with a convincing 40-7 victory over the Golden Hurricane (3-3, 2-1). Rocky Perez threw for 201 yards and three touchdowns, and Sherman Austin ran for 131 yards. UTEP finished with a total 264 yards on the ground.

WEST

Lon Sheriff threw his first two career touchdown passes and Larry Ned had two scoring runs as San Diego State (1-4, 1-0) recorded a 34-0 victory over Wyoming (1-5, 0-2) in a Mountain West Conference game at Laramie, Wyo. The Aztecs avoided their first 0-5 start in 78 years of football. . . . Matt Newton completed seven of seven passes on a long fourth-quarter scoring drive that culminated with Cecil Sapp’s three-yard run, and Colorado State (4-1, 1-0) rallied for a 17-14 victory over New Mexico (3-4, 1-1) in a Mountain West game at Fort Collins, Colo. . . . Air Force (4-1) forced two fourth-quarter turnovers in a 27-13 victory over Navy (0-5) at Air Force Academy, Colo. Air Force committed a season-high 12 penalties and was held 172 yards below its rushing average but made big plays defensively to get a leg up in the race for the Commander in Chief’s Trophy. . . . Oliver Soukup, a defensive tackle, and Jamar Lawrence scored on interception returns and Ronshay Jenkins returned a punt for a score as New Mexico State (1-5) recorded a 42-23 victory over Army (0-5) at Las Cruces, N.M.