– W. Michigan 14, Bowling Green 14: Jim Vackaro’s 19-yard run with 11:08 to play, followed by an extra-point kick by Kevin Knope, gave Western Michigan the tie in Bowling Green, Ohio. Andre Wallace scored the other touchdown for the Broncos (7-3-1, 6-1-1 MAC) on an 11-yard pass from Jay McDonagh in the second quarter. Zeb Jackson (126 yards on 30 carries) got both touchdowns for the Falcons (6-3-2, 5-1-2) on runs of 1 and 5 yards. Bowling Green’s Brian Leaver missed two field goals in the final 30 seconds. The first, from 38 yards out, went wide left, but the Falcons kept the ball because of a penalty on Western Michigan. Bowling Green lost yardage on the next play, then Leaver tried again and missed from 39 yards. Officials ruled, however, that time had expired before the kick.
STATE
– E. Illinois 42, S. Illinois 35: Bill Korosec rushed for back-to-back touchdowns during Eastern Illinois’ 22-point outburst in a 6 1/2-minute span of the fourth quarter in Carbondale. Willie High ran for 221 yards and two TDs for the Panthers, who rolled up 456 total yards offense and never had to punt. High ends the season with 1,487 yards on the ground, second highest in school history. Poke Cobb leads with 1,609 yards in 1979. SIU (2-9, 1-5 Gateway) went ahead 28-20 on a 7-yard TD run by William Tolen at the beginning of the final quarter. Rick Mullen caught a 5-yard pass from Jeff Thorne for the Panthers (3-7-1, 2-3-1) with 11:19 remaining and Thorne ran for the 2-point conversion to tie the score. Korosec scored on a 7-yard run with 6:16 left.
– Indiana St. 16, W. Illinois 6: Kip Hennelly ran for one touchdown, 109 yards and a place in the Indiana State record books in Terre Haute. Hennelly finished with 532 yards rushing on the season and 1,455 in his career, both school records by a quarterback. The loss ended Western Illinois’ hopes of advancing to the NCAA Division I-AA tournament. The team finished 4-7 overall and 4-2 in the Gateway, tying Southwest Missouri for second. Indiana State finished 4-7, 2-4. Northern Iowa won the conference title.
EAST
– Pitt 28, Temple 18: Curtis Martin ran for 167 yards and two touchdowns in Philadelphia to break the 1,000-yard mark, and Billy West scored two short-range touchdowns as Pitt (3-8, 2-5) avoided its worst season in 21 years by dealing Temple (1-10, 0-7) its 18th consecutive conference loss. Martin broke the 1,000-yard mark with an 80-yard touchdown run with 4:39 remaining, one play after Temple closed to 21-18 on freshman Henry Burris’ 1-yard touchdown pass to George Karayiannis and 2-point conversion pass to Danny Davis. Martin, a junior, also caught eight passes for 81 yards to finish with 248 total yards as Pitt ended coach Johnny Majors’ homecoming season on a positive note. The Panthers were 0-7 in games against ranked opponents but 3-1 against non-ranked teams.
SOUTHWEST
– New Mexico 35, UTEP 29: In El Paso, Texas, reserve quarterback Fred Schweer threw four second-half touchdown passes, including the game-winner to freshman halfback Abe Ghoston with 47 seconds left, as New Mexico (6-5, 4-4 WAC) posted its first winning season in 11 years.
WEST
– SW La. 31, UNLV 14: Freshman Jake Delhomme threw for three touchdowns and Southwestern Louisiana’s defense forced six interceptions in Las Vegas. Despite the win, USL (7-3, 4-1) was eliminated for the Big West title when Utah State won. The Aggies beat the Cajuns earlier this season. It may have been the final game for UNLV coach Jim Strong, who is expected to be replaced because of a 17-27 record in four seasons. The Rebels finished 3-8, 2-4.
– Utah 34, BYU 31: Chris Yergensen kicked a 55-yard field goal with 25 seconds left, giving Utah its first win at Provo since 1971. The loss put BYU’s string of 16 straight bowl appearances in jeopardy. The Cougars must beat visiting Texas-El Paso next week to keep alive its hopes for a share of the WAC title and a postseason appearance. For Utah (7-5, 5-3), the victory means a probable bowl appearance, possibly a return to the Dec. 29 Copper Bowl. Yergensen’s kick capped a 31-point fourth quarter. BYU (5-5, 5-2) had one more chance, but John Walsh’s fourth-down pass was intercepted by Mark Swanson. Mike McCoy passed for 434 yards and three TDs for Utah.
