Utah’s Johnson Pulls Rush Job on Air Force

Marty Johnson tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns and No. 14 Utah held off Air Force, 49-35, Saturday at Salt Lake City to give the Utes their best start in 10 years.

Johnson, who had 21 carries for 72 yards, became the fourth Utah player to score four touchdowns and Alex Smith had a rushing score and passed for two more. Smith completed 13 of 23 passes for 260 yards and had 13 carries for 84 yards.

The Utes are off to their first 4-0 start since 1994, when they went 10-2 and finished the season ranked 10th. The defending Mountain West Conference champions also won their league opener, despite falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter on homecoming.

After giving up 35 consecutive points, the Falcons (2-2, 1-1) got within a touchdown but no closer as they turned the ball over three times.

Shaun Carney ran 21 times for 95 yards and three touchdowns and completed nine of 13 passes for 158 yards and a score to lead Air Force.

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SOUTHWEST

D.D. Cox ran for three touchdowns and 110 yards, and New Mexico (2-2) shut down New Mexico State (1-3) in a 38-3 victory at Las Cruces, N.M.... Justin Holland threw two touchdowns passes and Jeff Babcock kicked three field goals to lead Colorado State (1-3) to a 39-14 victory over Division I-AA Montana State (1-2) at Fort Collins, Colo.... James Kilian passed for 232 yards and three touchdowns and Uril Parrish ran for 117 yards to lead Tulsa (1-3) to a 49-7 victory over Southwest Missouri State (3-1) at Tulsa, Okla.... Andre Hall scored four touchdowns for South Florida (2-1, 1-0), which was aided by a botched extra-point attempt by Texas Christian (2-2, 0-1) in the second overtime of a 45-44 victory in a Conference USA game at Fort Worth.

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WEST

Matt Dlugolecki passed for 262 yards and two touchdowns to lead San Diego State (2-1) to a 27-10 victory over Nevada (2-2) at San Diego. The Aztecs recorded their fourth consecutive home victory for the first time since 1998.... Tony Pennyman scored on a 79-yard pass play from Travis Cox with 4:15 left to lead visiting Utah State (2-2) to a 31-21 victory over Nevada Las Vegas (0-4).

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MIDWEST

Tyler Russ returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown and Matt Muncy picked up a fumble and raced 98 yards for another score to lead Ohio (2-2, 1-1) to a 34-0 victory over Buffalo (0-4, 0-2) in a Mid-American Conference game at Athens, Ohio.... Dante Ridgeway had nine catches for 217 yards and three touchdowns to lead Ball State (1-3, 1-0) to a 41-14 win over Western Michigan (1-3, 0-1) in a MAC game at Muncie, Ind.... Matt Schabert threw two touchdown passes to lead Eastern Illinois (1-2) to a 31-28 win over Eastern Michigan (1-3) at Ypsilanti, Mich.

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SOUTH

Corey White scored on a 30-yard touchdown run with 13 seconds left and Alabama Birmingham (2-1, 1-0) overcame a second-half comeback by Memphis (3-1, 0-1) for a 35-28 victory in a Conference USA game at Birmingham, Ala.... Gino Guidugli threw two touchdown passes and Butler Benton rushed for 127 yards to lead Cincinnati (2-2, 1-0) to a 24-19 victory over East Carolina (0-3, 0-1) in a Conference USA game at Greenville, N.C.... Dustin Almond threw two touchdown passes to lead Southern Mississippi (2-0, 1-0) to a 32-14 victory over Tulane (1-2, 0-1) in a Conference USA game at New Orleans.... Chris Foster caught two touchdown passes to lead Southern Methodist (1-3, 1-0) to a 36-13 victory over San Jose State (1-2, 0-1) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Dallas. SMU ended its 15-game losing streak.... Antwain Spann’s interception on the goal line preserved a 24-17 victory for Louisiana Lafayette (2-2, 1-0) over Middle Tennessee State (1-2, 0-1) in a Sun Belt Conference game at Lafayette, La.... Nick Noce threw two touchdown passes and ran for another to lead Arkansas State (1-3, 1-0) to a 28-21 victory over Louisiana Monroe (0-3, 0-1) in a Sun Belt game at Monroe, La.

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EAST

Clifton Dawson’s third touchdown capped a second-half comeback for Harvard (2-0, 1-0) in a 35-34 Ivy League victory over Brown (1-1, 0-1) at Providence, R.I.... D.J. Busch completed 19 of 32 passes for 174 yards to lead Cornell (1-1, 1-0) to a 19-7 win over Yale (0-2, 0-1) in an Ivy League game at Ithaca, N.Y.... Ricky Santos threw four touchdown passes to lead New Hampshire (3-1) to a 45-24 victory over Dartmouth (0-2) at Hanover, N.H.... Bucknell (2-1) used an offense that averaged more the six yards a carry to roll to a 42-13 victory over Columbia (0-2) at Lewisburg, Pa.... Marvin Burroughs and Terry Butler each scored touchdowns at Philadelphia to lead Villanova (2-1) to a 16-13 victory over Pennsylvania, ending the Quakers’ 17-game winning streak.

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SOUTHLAND

Princeton (2-0) scored two defensive touchdowns in a 13-second span and held on for a 24-17 victory at San Diego (1-3). Evan Harney led San Diego with 139 yards in 32 carries.... Mike Betancourth kicked second-half field goals of 33 and 30 yards to lead Azusa Pacific (4-0) to a 13-9 victory over Southern Oregon (2-2) at Ashland, Ore.... Ryan Gonzales scored two touchdowns and Andy Collins threw for another to lead Occidental (2-1, 1-0) to a 24-7 victory at Cal Lutheran (0-2, 0-1) in a SCIAC game.... Jausten Thompson caught a 40-yard touchdown pass with one second left to lead Whittier (2-0, 1-0) to a 9-8 victory at Pomona-Pitzer (0-4, 0-2) in a SCIAC game.... Andy Carlson threw two touchdown passes and rushed for another to lead Puget Sound (3-0) to a 34-14 victory over visiting La Verne (1-2) in a nonconference game.