Southeastern Conference gets more than it bargained for from ‘cream puffs’

There are always days like Saturday in the Southeastern Conference schedule, when the league that likes to think of itself as God’s gift to college football shares its wealth with a few cream puffs who are willing to take a beating in exchange for a thanks-for-the-W check.

Idaho, Charleston Southern, Georgia Southern, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic and The Citadel were the patsies this time. But half of them brought more than envy.

At Columbia, S.C., home of the South Carolina Gamecocks, the local running back was the star of the game. Unfortunately for the local fans, Tyler Renew was playing for The Citadel.

In his homecoming, the young man who used to sell peanuts at Williams-Brice Stadium ran for 174 yards in 23 carries, including a touchdown of 56 yards with 6 minutes 7 seconds left that proved the game winner as The Citadel snapped a 27-game losing streak against major college opponents, beating the Gamecocks, 23-22.

It was the first loss by an SEC team to one from the lower-level Football Championship Subdivision since Jacksonville (Ala.) State defeated Mississippi in 2010.

There were almost two more huge upsets.

No. 8-ranked Florida, a 31-point favorite, nearly fell as well. Florida Atlantic took the Gators into overtime before losing, 20-14.

And later, Georgia Southern took Georgia into overtime before dropping a 23-17 decision.

The other half of the cream puffs?

They got creamed.

No. 2 Alabama routed Charleston Southern, 56-6; Auburn downed Idaho, 56-34; and Kentucky crushed Charlotte, 58-10.

Worth noting: After Alabama Coach Nick Saban blistered the media last week for insinuating Charleston Southern was in no way, shape or form up to the task of competing with his team, the Crimson Tide ran up a 49-0 lead … at halftime.

Rookie of the years

Jim McElwain has enjoyed better days than Saturday in his first season as Florida’s coach, but at least he can say he has accomplished something Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer could not in their rookie season leading the Gators.

McElwain, who was hired away from Colorado State, reached double figures in victories, one better than Spurrier, Meyer, Galen Hall and Ray Graves notched in their first season in Gainesville.

Turn in turnovers

Houston was undefeated and had major bowl hopes until receiving a dose of its own medicine in a 20-17 loss to Connecticut.

The No. 19 Cougars came into the game leading the nation in turnover ratio at plus-18, with 27 take-aways and nine turnovers.

But against UConn, Houston didn’t force a turnover and coughed up the ball four times — twice on fumbles and twice on interceptions.

The interceptions were no surprise.

Connecticut has 17 this season, with sophomore cornerback Jamar Summers coming up with his seventh on Saturday.

Stats ridiculous

Another example of why early-season statistics should be viewed skeptically:

A month ago, Duke’s defense led the Atlantic Coast Conference in points allowed (9.3), was second in the nation in pass defense (131.2 yards) and fourth in overall defense (252.8 yards per game).

In the five games since, the Blue Devils have given up averages of 42.5 points and nearly 500 yards.

Virginia, 4-7 this season, gained 502 yards, including 359 passing, in a 42-34 win over Duke on Saturday.

Bad break

Maryland entered the day having played, statistically, the toughest schedule in the nation — its opponents had a record of 60-17.

Indiana, with a record of 4-6 overall, 0-6 in Big Ten Conference play, looked like a nice break.

Instead, Maryland’s lost season continued. The Terrapins dropped their eighth straight game, 47-28, despite 250 yards rushing by Brandon Ross, who had touchdown runs of 79, 22 and 75 yards.

Indeed, it seems Maryland’s only breaks were bad: Starting quarterback Perry Hills ended up with mononucleosis and missed the game, and backup Caleb Rowe sustained a concussion and didn’t come out of the locker room for the second half.

The young and the winless

Kansas entered its game against West Virginia having played a nation-leading 39 first-time-in-major-college players, including 33 first-time starters.

Now if the Jayhawks could only accomplish another first.

After a 49-0 loss, Kansas is still looking for its first win. The Jayhawks are 0-11 and have a 14-game losing streak dating to last season.

It’s got ‘Game’

Harvard’s 38-19 victory over Yale was its ninth straight win in the series, the longest streak by either team in the 132-game history of “The Game.”

The Crimson needed the win to forge a three-way tie with Dartmouth and Pennsylvania for first place in the Ivy League. Harvard is 9-1 overall, 6-1 in league play.

Dartmouth defeated Princeton, 17-10, to earn its share, and Penn downed Cornell, 34-21.

Harvard won behind a record-setting passing performance by Scott Hosch. He entered the game needing 149 yards to break the school record for passing yards in a season established by Neil Rose in 2003.

Hosch completed 23 of 37 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns, with one interception.

Them again

Harvard-Yale is one of the historic rivalries in college sports, but it’s got nothing on Lehigh vs. Lafayette, rivals who have played more often than any other teams.

They met for the 151st time Saturday, with Lehigh snapping a three-game Lafayette winning streak in the series, 49-35.

Nick Shafnisky paced Lehigh, completing 21 of 27 passes for 283 yards and four touchdowns and running 18 times for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Small ball

La Verne, champion of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, fell to No. 3 St. Thomas (Minn.), 57-14, in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.

The Leopards lost senior quarterback William Livingston to an injury on the opening drive of the game, and backup Zachary Tomlinson was knocked out late in the first half.

That left third-stringer Josh Evans, a freshman who had never taken a snap in a college game, to try to engineer a comeback from a three-touchdown deficit. He threw a touchdown pass on La Verne’s opening drive of the second half, but St. Thomas used its superior size across the line to run for five touchdowns in the final two quarters.

La Verne finished the season with a record of 8-2. St. Thomas improved to 11-0.

mike.hiserman@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeHiserman

Times wire services contributed to this report.