Just four weeks ago, Cincinnati quarterback Gino Guidugli declared that the Bearcats were “the laughingstock of the nation.”
That was after the Bearcats lost 48-29 to Army on Oct. 9 in a turnover-filled contest that snapped the Black Knights’ 19-game losing streak.
Now Cincinnati is basking in the glow of its third consecutive victory as Guidugli passed for a school-record five touchdowns to lead the Bearcats to a 52-24 rout of No. 21 Southern Mississippi.
Guidugli was 19-of-26 for 308 yards for the Bearcats (5-4, 4-2 Conference USA), who broke the Golden Eagles’ 13-game league winning streak and beat a ranked team for the first time in four years.
“Things are starting to go our way,” Guidugli said. “I don’t care if we get five [touchdowns] on the ground or in the air, as long as we score.”
Three of Guidugli’s scoring passes went to Hannibal Thomas as Cincinnati handed the Golden Eagles (5-2, 4-1) their worst conference loss at home since the league formed in 1996.
It’s good to be Greene
Georgia quarterback David Greene continues to win football games and continues to avoid throwing interceptions.
Greene passed for 259 yards Saturday and set a Division I record with his 40th victory as No. 8 Georgia routed Kentucky 62-17. The Bulldogs are 8-1, 6-1 in the SEC going into next Saturday’s showdown with No. 3 Auburn.
Greene is 40-9 as a starting QB, breaking former Tennessee standout Peyton Manning’s Division I-A record for career wins. In four wins over Kentucky, Greene has passed for 1,163 yards and eight TDs, including one on Saturday.
“We’ve just been executing good the last month and we’ve just got to keep it up,” Greene said. “There’s so much unfinished business, I never think about [breaking records].”
Greene set two other records Saturday. Greene completed 14 of 19 passes, including a touchdown, to run his streak of consecutive passes without an interception to 206. That broke the SEC mark of 200 set in 1997 by Stewart Patridge of Mississippi. Fresno State’s Trent Dilfer holds the Div. I-A record of 271.
What a half
Bowling Green scored 49 points and gained 551 yards in the first half as the Falcons coasted to a 52-0 victory over visiting Western Michigan.
Omar Jacobs threw four touchdown passes — all in the first half — and P.J. Pope rushed for 205 yards on just 12 carries and scored three touchdowns for the Falcons (7-2, 5-1 Mid-American Conference). All but 3 of Pope’s yards and all of his scoring plays came in the opening half.
Bowling Green finished with 666 yards to 295 for Western Michigan (1-8, 0-6).
Passing fancy
Hawaii’s Timmy Chang became the most prolific passer in college football history, surpassing Brigham Young’s Ty Detmer.
Chang needed just 14 yards to break Detmer’s NCAA career yardage mark of 15,031 yards set in 1988-91, and overtook him with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jason Rivers on Hawaii’s second offensive series against Louisiana Tech.
On the first play of the second quarter, the fifth-year senior from Honolulu also broke the NCAA career completions mark of 1,231 held by Texas Tech’s Kliff Kingsbury.
Chang, who needed nine completions entering the game, broke the record on a 5-yard strike over the middle to Gerald Welch.
Riding Benson
No. 6 Texas trailed No. 19 Oklahoma State 35-7 in the second quarter, but the Longhorns scored 49 unanswered points in winning 56-35.
Running back Cedric Benson scored five touchdowns to lead the charge.
“There was a lot of energy in the locker room [at half],” Benson said. “Most teams would have laid down and given up. We fought back to see what the final score was.”
Record return
Despite a 41-35 overtime loss to Southern Methodist, Ashlan Davis of Tulsa set an NCAA record with his fourth kickoff return for a touchdown in a season, returning a kick 96 yards for a score.
Davis, a junior, broke a record that had been held by seven players. He also set the record for most consecutive games with a kickoff return for a touchdown with four. Purdue’s Stan Brown had the previous mark of three in 1970.
Davis’ record-breaking return came early in the third quarter. He fielded Chris McMurtray’s kick at the 4, cut upfield at the Tulsa 35 and raced down the left sideline untouched.
Airing it out
Quarterback Martin Hankins broke two NCAA Division I-AA records by completing 50 passes and passing for 7,000 career yards over his first two seasons, leading Southeast Louisiana to a 51-3 win over Jacksonville.
Hankins completed 50 of 61 passes (82 percent) for 484 yards and four touchdowns for the Lions (6-3).
Hankins finished the game with 7,000 career yards, breaking the two-year record of 6,793 yards set by Northern Arizona’s Travis Brown during the 1996-97 seasons.
Navy keeps trophy
Despite a 42-10 loss at Tulane, Navy learned that it will retain the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, which is awarded to the service academy football team that usually has the best record against the other two.
Air Force’s 31-22 victory over Army on Saturday ensured that the Midshipmen will keep the trophy, because they defeated Air Force 24-21 on Sept. 30 in Colorado Springs.
Regardless of the result of Navy’s Dec. 4 game with Army in Philadelphia, the Midshipmen can do no worse than 1-1 against the other service academies, which would give all three schools a 1-1 record. When there is no clear-cut winner, the previous winner keeps the trophy.
Hurricanes washed away
Miami lost its second straight contest on the game’s final play, falling to Clemson 24-17 in overtime at home. Clemson (5-4, 4-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) rallied from a 17-3 halftime deficit and took the lead on Reggie Merriweather’s 2-yard run in overtime.
Brock Berlin misfired on three consecutive passes on the Hurricanes’ overtime possession as No. 10 Miami fell to 6-2, 3-2, a game behind both Virginia and Virginia Tech.
“This loss will really test us,” Hurricanes coach Larry Coker said. “We haven’t lost a lot, and now we’ve lost back-to-back games. It is extremely disappointing.”
Halloween a week late
It was a frightful day for Maryland in a 16-0 loss to No. 12 Virginia.
The Terrapins’ usually stout defense allowed 295 rushing yards, while the offense registered just 214 total yards — just one week after a 20-17 upset of then-No. 5 Florida State.
“It was like the walk of the zombies,” Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said. “No one was home. We were talking to them, trying to motivate them. Nothing was registering.”
Quotable
“I was angry at me too. Coach [Chan Gailey] doesn’t have to verbalize it.”
— Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball, who threw seven straight incomplete passes early in the Yellow Jackets’ 24-14 win over North Carolina State. Ball was 9 of 28 for 91 yards and three interceptions.
