No. 1 Miami Easily Defeats West Virginia

Miami’s Ken Dorsey has as many career touchdown passes as Steve Walsh and Vinny Testaverde.

Dorsey wants as many national championship rings, too.

He threw two touchdown passes, tying the school record of 48 held by Walsh and Testaverde, and top-ranked Miami overcame a slow start and a sloppy field to defeat West Virginia, 45-3, in a Big East Conference game Thursday night at Miami. It was the Hurricanes’ 16th consecutive victory.

Walsh led the Hurricanes to the 1987 title. Testaverde earned a ring as part of the 1983 championship team.

“To be mentioned in the same sentence as those guys is a great honor,” Dorsey said.

The Hurricanes (6-0, 3-0 in the Big East), fourth in the bowl championship series standings, hoped to win impressively and possibly gain ground on the leaders.

“The world was watching and we wanted to make a good impression as a great team and a contender for the national championship,” safety Ed Reed said.

The Hurricanes scored 28 second-half points behind backup running back Frank Gore and dominating the Mountaineers (2-5, 0-3) defensively.

Brigham Young Coach Gary Crowton isn’t surprised his undefeated team was left out of the first BCS rankings. “This is about the conferences that keep the money for a certain few,” said Crowton, whose 7-0 Cougars of the Mountain West Conference are one of seven undefeated Division I-A teams. “There’s nothing we can do. You look at the poll, every one of those teams is in one of those [BCS] conferences and that’s just the way they want it to be.”

Milton Kirk, a former assistant at Memphis’ Trezevant High, pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy and will be sentenced Feb. 4. He went public in January with allegations that Trezevant Coach Lynn Lang, who is still facing charges, shopped around defensive lineman Albert Means to Southeastern Conference schools.

Injury update: Georgia’s leading rusher, Musa Smith, is expected to play against Florida. He is battling a groin pull. ... Louisiana State’s LaBrandon Toefield could miss the game against Mississippi because of an ankle injury. ... Michigan State reserve quarterback Ryan Van Dyke, who fractured his jaw against Minnesota, will be out at least three weeks.

Hawaii is expected to start Nick Rolovich at quarterback tonight against Fresno State. Rolovich has guided the Warriors to three consecutive victories. ... Quarterback Chris Rix will start for Florida State against Maryland, but Coach Bobby Bowden said backup Adrian McPherson could also play.

A fire at the construction site of Connecticut’s new stadium is not expected to impact the project, scheduled to be completed for the 2003 season. ... The Louisville-Texas Christian game was moved to Nov. 23. ... Christa Parseghian, granddaughter of former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian, has died of Niemann-Pick C, a rare genetic disease. It also killed her brother, Michael, in 1997.