Tar Heels Keep Their Cool

Around the country

Junior college transfer Chris Keldorf, cool under the oppressive heat of the Carrier Dome, completed 22 of 32 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns Saturday night as No. 24 North Carolina upset ninth-ranked Syracuse 27-10 at Syracuse, N.Y.

Great things were expected of Syracuse (0-1), but that will have to wait for another week as the Tar Heels (2-0) reversed a season-opening loss to the Orange in 1995.

And it was the 6-foot-5 Keldorf who outshone his more highly publicized Syracuse counterpart, Donovan McNabb. Keldorf led the Tar Heels to a 17-0 halftime lead and then quieted the raucous hometown crowd with some key completions in the fourth quarter after a furious Syracuse rally cut the lead to 17-10.

(7) Penn State 24, Louisville 7: Curtis Enis rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown as Penn State took an early 21-point lead and held on to win at State College, Pa.

The Nittany Lions (2-0) scored off a blocked punt and set up another touchdown by recovering a fumbled punt, but Louisville’s defense stiffened after Penn State took a 21-0 lead in the second quarter.

The Cardinals (1-1) scored early in the third quarter, but were generally ineffective on offense.

W. Virginia 34, W. Michigan 9: At Morgantown, W.Va., Amos Zereoue rushed for 149 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Mountaineers.

Zereoue’s second-half touchdown runs of 67 and 19 yards helped the Mountaineers (2-0) break open a close game against Western Michigan (0-2). He also had a 3-yard TD run in the first quarter.

Navy 10, Rutgers 6: At Piscataway, N.J., quarterback Chris McCoy atoned for two fumbles with a 15-yard touchdown run and Rashad Smith intercepted a pass at the goal line to stop a late Rutgers drive as Navy opened its season with a victory.

Pittsburgh 52, Kent 14: At Pittsburgh, Billy West had his first 100-yard game since breaking a leg last season as the Panthers stopped a school record-tying 10-game losing streak.

South

(3) Florida St. 44, Duke 7: Led by defensive ends Peter Boulware and Reinard Wilson, the Florida State defense set up three touchdowns and a field goal for the Seminoles at Tallahassee, Fla.

Boulware had 2-1/2 sacks and Wilson totaled 11 tackles as they kept pressure all afternoon on Duke quarterbacks Dave Green and Matt Rader.

The Blue Devils managed only 91 yards offense, and just 13 rushing yards on 47 attempts while fumbling five times.

Florida State’s offense didn’t fare a lot better, totaling only 221 yards.

(4) Florida 62, Ga. Southern 14 At Gainesville, Fla., Danny Wuerffel answered coach Steve Spurrier’s criticism with near perfection, missing on just one pass for the Gators.

Wuerffel was 15 of 16 for 267 yards and two touchdowns for the Gators (2-0), a far cry from last week when he missed open receivers and drew the brunt of Spurrier’s criticism.

The longest of Florida’s eight touchdown drives lasted three minutes, 45 seconds and featured five running plays. The Gators never punted until 8:42 was left in the game.

(11) Miami 52, Citadel 6: At Miami, Ryan Clement threw four touchdown passes in the first half and Dyral McMillan ran for 156 yards for the Hurricanes.

Clement completed 13 of 14 attempts for 196 yards. All five possessions he led resulted in touchdowns on drives of 80, 80, 6, 80 and 26 yards for Miami (2-0).

Wake Forest 28, (13) Northwestern 27: At Winston-Salem, N.C., Northwestern’s bid for another captivating season fizzled at the gate as long-suffering Wake Forest blew a pair of 10-point leads before rallying for the upset victory.

Brian Kuklick hit Desmond Clark with a pair of fourth-quarter scoring passes, including a 30-yarder with 51 seconds left, as the Demon Deacons snapped their 30-game losing skid against ranked teams.

(14) Alabama 20, S. Mississippi 10: At Birmingham, Ala., the Crimson Tide defense smothered Southern Mississippi, forcing three turnovers and allowing just two plays for positive yardage in the second half.

(17) LSU 35, Houston 34: At Baton Rouge, La., Kevin Faulk, originally suspended for the game, ran for 246 yards, returned four punts for 106 yards and scored three touchdowns as the Tigers rallied after trailing by 20 points in the fourth quarter.

The late rally gave LSU (1-0) its first victory in a season opener since 1990, although Houston (1-1) kept the crowd of 80,303 - the biggest ever for a season-opener - sweating most of the game.

(18) Auburn 62, Fresno St. 0: At Auburn, Ala., Dameyne Craig passed for 207 yards and had a hand in four Auburn (2-0) touchdowns as the Tigers embarrassed Fresno State (1-1).

(23) Virginia 55, Central Michigan 21: At Charlottesville, Va., Joe Rowe scored on an 82-yard kickoff return and a blocked punt and Tiki Barber ran for two touchdowns for the Cavaliers.

Minnesota 30, NE Louisiana 3: At Monroe, La., freshman Thomas Hamner ran for 154 yards as the Golden Gophers opened with a victory.

Baylor 24, Louisiana Tech 16: At Shreveport, La., two touchdown passes by Jeff Watson staked Baylor to a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, and the Bears went on to victory.

South Carolina 33, Central Florida 14: At Columbia, S.C., Duce Staley ran for 187 yards and three touchdowns and Anthony Wright threw for 236 yards in the Gamecocks’ seasonopening win.

Maryland 39, Ala.-Birmingham 15: At College Park, Md., Brian Cummings threw two touchdown passes in an 18-point second quarter, and Maryland (2-0) took advantage of a variety of mistakes by Alabama-Birmingham.

Georgia Tech 28, NC State 16: At Raleigh, N.C. C.J. Williams scored three TDs and Tech overcame three first-half turnovers.

Clemson 19, Furman 3: At Clemson, S.C., Raymond Priester ran for 118 yards and Clemson’s defense had 12 sacks helping the Tigers beat the Division I-AA Paladins.

Mississippi 31, VMI 7: At Jackson, Miss., Artie Moore rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown to lead the Rebels.

East Carolina 45, East Tennessee State 21: At Greenville, N.C., Marcus Crandell tossed three touchdown passes to eclipse the East Carolina career record of Jeff Blake.

Mississippi St 31, Memphis 10: At Memphis, Tenn., Keffer McGee rushed for 191 yards and two touchdowns as the Bulldogs won their season opener.

Southwest

(8) Texas 41, New Mexico St. 7 At Austin, Tex., Ricky Williams ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns for the Longhorns (2-0).

Texas Tech 31, Oklahoma St. 3: Byron Hanspard rushed for a school-record 272 yards and scored two touchdowns in Irving, Texas.

Hanspard scored on runs of 72 and 2 yards before he was lifted from the game early in the fourth quarter after 29 carries. He broke the Tech rushing record of 268 yards by James Hadnot against New Mexico in 1978.

SMU 23, Arkansas 10: At Fayetteville, Ark., SMU linebacker Craig Swann and quarterback Ramon Flanigan turned the first half around in a few seconds, and then Flanigan threw a screen pass for a touchdown early in the second half.

Arkansas (0-1) was in position to expand a 10-7 lead when Swann chased down quarterback Pete Burks, caused a fumble and recovered it at the Mustangs 48. Flanigan then completed two throws to put SMU in the end zone.

SMU has won two in a row for the first time since 1992, and is off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 1985.

Texas Christian 20, Oklahoma 7: At Norman, Okla., redshirt freshman Jeff Dover passed for two touchdowns as TCU spoiled the Oklahoma coaching debut of John Blake.

The loss snapped a string of 13 consecutive season-opening victories for Oklahoma.

Midwest

(10) Ohio St. 70, Rice 7: At Columbus, Ohio, Pepe Pearson ran for 119 yards and three touchdowns, and freshman Michael Wiley scored three times on plays of 49 yards or longer for the Buckeyes.

Backup quarterback Joe Germaine passed for three touchdowns as Ohio State outgained the Owls 632-218 in total yards.

(15) Virginia Tech 21, Akron 18: At Akron, Ohio, Shyrone Stith ran for 119 yards and two short-yardage touchdowns to lead Virginia Tech after the Hokies spotted the Zips an 8-point lead.

(21) Kansas State 59, Indiana State 3: At Manhattan, Kan., Brian Kavanagh completed 19 of 22 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns, and Marlon Charles rushed for 195 yards and two more scores for the Wildcats.

Wisconsin 24, Eastern Michigan 3: At Madison, Wis., tailbacks Carl McCullough and Ron Dayne helped Wisconsin overcome a poor first half.

McCullough, the Badgers’ featured running back, gained 107 yards on 16 carries. But it was Dayne, a highly touted 260-pound freshman, who excited the crowd when he gained the final 42 yards of a 74-yard drive that made it 24-0 with 11:28 left.

Cincinnati 24, Kentucky 3: At Cincinnati, the Bearcats used a smothering defense and a steady performance from quarterback Chad Plummer to outclass their SEC opponent.

Plummer, often operating from the shotgun, helped the Bearcats (1-1) roll up 347 total yards, compared to 173 for Kentucky (0-2).

Wyoming 41, Iowa St. 38, OT: At Ames, Iowa, Cory Wedel kicked a 41-yard field goal on Wyoming’s first possession of overtime.

Wyoming (2-0) rallied after Iowa State led by 18 points late in the third quarter and by 15 with less than 5 minutes to play.

Indiana 40, Toledo 6: At Toledo, Ohio, Indiana’s Alex Smith rushed for 174 yards and a touchdown and Toledo lost star running back Wasean Tait for the season.

West

(5) Colorado 48, Colorado State 34: Koy Detmer passed for two touchdowns and ran for another, and the Buffaloes survived an early scare to outslug their in-state rival at Fort Collins, Colo.

Backup tailback Lendon Henry caught one of Detmer’s TD throws and ran for two more scores, while starter Herchell Troutman rushed for 184 yards.

Air Force 65, UNLV 17: At Las Vegas, Beau Morgan passed for two touchdowns and ran for another as Air Force spoiled UNLV’s debut in the Western Athletic Conference.