Boston College Upsets West Virginia, 36-17

Defense has been Boston College’s strength this season. When that didn’t work on Saturday, a superb performance on special teams kept the Eagles in the hunt for their first Big East championship.

Paul Peterson threw two first-half touchdown passes and No. 21 Boston College returned two punts for scores to beat No. 13 West Virginia, 36-17, in Morgantown, W.Va.

Boston College (7-2, 3-1) can earn a share of the conference title by beating Temple and Syracuse in its final season before moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference next year.

“It is a huge leap for our program and school,” said Boston College Coach Tom O’Brien, whose team hadn’t won in Morgantown since 1990.

The Mountaineers (8-2, 4-1) squandered a chance to clinch their first BCS bid and a tie for a second consecutive conference title. West Virginia lost in November for the first time under fourth-year Coach Rich Rodriguez. Its 10-game conference and home winning streaks were also broken.

“We had destiny in our hands today. That’s what is disappointing,” Rodriguez said. “We didn’t play like a good team. It will probably make us sick to watch the film.”

It was supposed to be a battle between West Virginia’s potent rushing attack and the Big East’s top defense. Though West Virginia outgained Boston College, 452-243, the game was decided on special teams.

DeJuan Tribble returned a first-quarter punt 41 yards for a score and Will Blackmon went 71 yards for a touchdown with a punt return in the fourth quarter. They were the first punt returns for scores by the Eagles in two years.

“That was the defining factor,” O’Brien said. “The two punt returns were huge. We broke some tackles and after that they were not going to catch us.”

*

Tyler Palko became the first quarterback to throw five touchdown passes against Notre Dame, and Josh Cummings kicked a 32-yard field goal with one second left to give Pittsburgh (6-3) a 41-38 victory over the Irish (6-4) in South Bend, Ind. Palko used an expletive during a live postgame interview with NBC. While meeting later with reporters, Palko apologized before taking any questions. NBC Sports announcer Tom Hammond apologized on air after the interview was over.... Walter Washington ran for 185 yards and three touchdowns and threw for another score to lead Temple (2-8, 1-4 Big East) to a 34-24 win over Syracuse (5-5, 3-2). Washington set the conference season record for yards rushing by a quarterback with 816, breaking the mark set by West Virginia’s Rasheed Marshall (666) in 2002.

WEST

San Diego State’s Kevin O’Connell threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns in frigid weather and Kirk Morrison intercepted Shaun Carney’s pass with 13 seconds left, helping the Aztecs (3-7, 1-5 Mountain West) end their six-game losing streak with a 37-31 victory over Air Force (4-6, 2-3) at Air Force Academy, Colo.... In another Mountain West game, DonTrell Moore rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown and Fola Fashola recovered a fumble in the final minute for New Mexico (6-4, 4-2), which won, 21-14, over Brigham Young (5-5, 4-2) in Provo, Utah.... Caleb Hanie threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third for Colorado State (4-6, 3-3), which ended a two-game losing streak with a 45-10 victory over Nevada Las Vegas (2-8, 1-5) in a Mountain West game in Fort Collins, Colo.... Erik Meyer, who passed for 372 yards, forced overtime with his fourth touchdown pass and gave Eastern Washington (8-1, 6-1) at least a share of the Big Sky Conference title with his fifth, rallying the Eagles to a 51-44 victory over Montana State (6-4, 4-2) in Bozeman, Mont.

MIDWEST

Omar Jacobs passed for 389 yards and five touchdowns and P.J. Pope had 117 yards rushing and two scores to lead Bowling Green (8-2, 6-1 Mid-American Conference) to a 56-35 win over Marshall (5-5, 5-2) in Bowling Green, Ohio. Jacobs leads the nation with 32 touchdown passes.... Dwayne LeFall returned an interception 60 yards for one touchdown and set up another score with a fumble recovery at the Ohio one in a 31-19 victory for Akron (6-4, 6-1 MAC) in Athens, Ohio. Ohio is 4-7, 2-6.... Luke Clemens rushed for a season-high 160 yards and three touchdowns, leading Miami of Ohio (7-3, 6-1) to a 42-21 victory over Western Michigan (1-9, 0-7) in a MAC game in Kalamazoo, Mich.... Dante Ridgeway’s second touchdown catch with 7:29 left in the game gave Ball State (2-8, 2-5 MAC) a come-from-behind 21-17 win over Central Florida (0-10, 0-7) in Muncie, Ind.... Joshua Cribbs threw for three touchdowns and scored twice more on a catch and a run to lead Kent State (4-6, 3-4 MAC) to a 69-17 victory over Eastern Michigan (5-5, 4-3) in Kent, Ohio.

SOUTH

Matt Forte had 283 total yards and four touchdowns in Tulane’s (4-5, 2-4 Conference USA) 45-31 victory over Army (2-7, 2-5) in New Orleans.... In another Conference USA game, Roddy White caught two touchdown passes to lead Alabama Birmingham (6-3, 4-2) to a 20-7 victory over Houston (3-7, 3-4) in Birmingham, Ala.... Buck Pierce threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third and New Mexico State (5-5) defeated Florida Atlantic (6-3), 35-7, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.... Ryan Moats rushed for 205 yards and scored two touchdowns for Louisiana Tech (5-5, 4-2 Western Athletic Conference), which defeated Tulsa (2-8, 1-6), 38-21, in Shreveport, La.

SOUTHWEST

Jordan Palmer threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Johnnie Lee to give No. 23 Texas-El Paso the lead in double overtime, then Rice’s Ed Bailey fumbled on the two to give the Miners a 35-28 victory in El Paso, Texas. UTEP is 7-2, 5-1 Western Athletic; Rice is 3-7, 2-5.... Alvin Nnabuife returned two fumbles for touchdowns during a 28-point third quarter for Southern Methodist (3-7, 3-4 Western Athletic), which defeated Nevada (5-5, 3-3), 38-20, in Dallas.... Jamario Thomas ran for 291 yards and tied an NCAA mark with his fifth consecutive 200-yard game for North Texas (6-4, 6-0 Sun Belt), which won its fourth consecutive conference title and a spot in the New Orleans Bowl with a 51-29 victory over Idaho (3-8, 2-5) in Denton, Texas.

SOUTHLAND

Todd Mortensen threw four touchdown passes and Evan Harney broke his single-season school record with his 18th rushing touchdown to lead San Diego (7-4) to its fifth straight victory, a 35-14 win over Wagner (6-5) in San Diego.... Darrell Jones had 10 catches to set a school receptions record with 172 in his career, and Geno Randle rushed for a personal-best 186 yards and two touchdowns for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (8-2, 4-1 Great West), which beat Northern Colorado (2-8, 2-2), 31-0, in San Luis Obispo, clinching its new conference’s first championship.... Tyler Ruiz ran for four touchdowns, three in the first quarter, for Cal Lutheran (6-3), which earned its sixth win in a row with a 41-7 victory over Chapman (4-5) in Thousand Oaks.... Cody Peterson ran for two touchdowns in Pomona-Pitzer’s 28-25 home victory over Redlands (4-5). Pomona-Pitzer is 4-5.... Ryan Gonzales ran for two touchdowns for Occidental (8-1, 6-0 SCIAC) in its 42-13 home victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (2-7, 1-5).