Irish eyes not smiling
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Take that, Notre Dame.
No. 11 Michigan finally put a Big Blue bruising on the second-ranked Fighting Irish in a 47-21 rout Saturday — the most points scored against Notre Dame at home in 46 years.
Chad Henne threw three touchdown passes to Mario Manningham, and the Wolverines intercepted Brady Quinn three times and shut down the rest of the Irish offense.
Prescott Burgess intercepted Quinn on the second play of the game to set the tone. The Wolverines were ahead 26-7 before the Irish had their initial first down.
The Wolverines (3-0) ended a two-game losing streak to Notre Dame (2-1) as well as a three-game slide at Notre Dame Stadium. The 47 points were second only to the 51 scored at Notre Dame by Purdue in 1960.
The Auburn Tigers survived another bruising showdown with LSU thanks to a stingy defense that wouldn't budge and a reversed call that went their way late in the game.Eric Brock deflected a pass near the goal line to stop one late drive and then made a game-saving tackle on the final play).
If there was any doubt, USC declared itself a national title contender for a fourth straight season with a victory over Nebraska.USC (2-0) won for the 36th time in 37 games, the lone defeat coming to Texas in the final seconds of last January's Rose Bowl. The Trojans' home winning streak is now 28 straight games.
Dallas Baker caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Chris Leak that gave Florida the lead in the fourth quarter and the Gators held on to beat Tennessee.
Ohio State took awhile to get on track before Troy Smith and Ted Ginn Jr. hooked up on two touchdown passes to start the Buckeyes on their way to victory.The defense held the Bearcats (1-2) to minus-4 yards on 22 attempts. The Buckeyes (3-0) had eight sacks for minus 59 yards.
Texas had no trouble rebounding from last week's loss to Ohio State as Colt McCoy and the Longhorns defeated overmatched Rice.Texas (2-1) easily avoided losing two straight games for the first time since 1999 while Rice (0-3) has lost 19 of its last 20.
James Davis' 1-yard run with eight seconds left gave Clemson and Tommy Bowden a victory over Florida State and Bobby Bowden.
Freshman Matthew Stafford scored his first touchdown in a winning debut as Georgia's starting quarterback and the Bulldogs put up their second straight shutout.
Louisville came up with one of its biggest victories even though it lost Heisman hopeful Brian Brohm to a hand injury.Brohm threw for 181 yards and touchdown for the Cardinals (3-0) before getting knocked out of the game. Brohm, who tore ligaments in his right (throwing) hand is expected to have surgery Sunday and miss three to six weeks.
Sean Glennon and Virginia Tech's offense started slow, but the Hokies' fly-to-the-ball defense was again more than capable of shouldering the load, holding Duke to 139 total yards.
Dennis Dixon rallied Oregon for two touchdowns in the final 72 seconds — with help from a disputed onside kick — and the Ducks blocked a field goal on the final play in the wild win.
Drew Tate threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns as Iowa against in-state rival Iowa State.
TCU held Texas Tech's pass-happy offense without a touchdown — two years after the Red Raiders' 10-TD assault in the last meeting between the former Southwest Conference rivals.
Marshawn Lynch ran for 112 yards and a touchdown on just six carries, and California tuned up for its Pac-10 schedule with a victory.
Rudy Carpenter was often off-target but still threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns in Arizona State's bumbling victory over Colorado.
Matt Ryan threw a touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez on the first play of the second overtime, then BC waited for a replay review to confirm a game-ending interception.It was the second consecutive double-overtime game for Boston College (3-0).
