Texas A&M; Is Beaten by Southwestern Louisiana

Britt Jackson intercepted three passes, returning one 30 yards for the deciding touchdown, and Southwestern Louisiana took advantage of eight turnovers in a 29-22 victory over No. 25 Texas A&M; on Saturday night in a nonconference game at Lafayette, La.

Damon Mason’s interception of Branndon Stewart’s pass at the Southwestern Louisiana 13-yard line with 31 seconds left finished off Texas A&M; (0-2) and touched off a massive celebration. Fans flooded the field, hugging players and ripping down a goal post. Police surrounded the other one before fans could tear it down.

It was Southwestern Louisiana’s first victory over a ranked team.

Southwestern Louisiana (1-1) turned three Texas A&M; turnovers into touchdowns, including Damon Mason’s 46-yard interception return and Charles Johnson’s 17-yard return of a fumble that gave the Ragin’ Cajuns a 14-7 first-quarter lead.

No. 19 Virginia Tech 45, Boston College 7--The Hokies used their no-huddle offense to score touchdowns on their first three possessions for the Big East Conference victory at Boston.

It was the Virginia Tech’s 12th consecutive victory, surpassing the school record of 11 set from 1917 through 1919. It is also second-longest active winning streak in the nation, behind two-time champion Nebraska’s 26.

Virginia Tech (2-0, 1-0 in conference) coming off a surprisingly close 21-18 opening-week victory over Akron but dominated this game to the extent that third-string tailback Shyrone Stith had 20 carries for a game-high 80 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Boston College (1-1, 0-1) suffered its most-lopsided Big East loss and dropped its fourth consecutive home opener.

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Mitchell Galloway caught Marcus Crandell’s pass on a two-point conversion with 22 seconds left but couldn’t keep his feet inbounds, allowing West Virginia (2-0) to escape with a 10-9 nonconference victory over East Carolina (1-1) at Morgantown, W. Va. East Carolina, which had a winning streak snapped at seven games, had pulled within one when Crandell connected with Lamont Chappell for a 20-yard touchdown. West Virginia, fourth nationally in scoring defense and sixth in total defense, gave up 281 yards--59 rushing--and had three interceptions. . . . Chuck Clements lobbed a nine-yard scoring pass to Robbie Wheeler in the corner of the end zone in overtime as Houston rallied to win at Pittsburgh, 42-35. Antowain Smith’s school-record 96-yard touchdown run and three of Clements’ four touchdown passes led a 28-point comeback that gave the Cougars a 35-21 lead. But the Cougars (2-1) again couldn’t hold on as Matt Lytle directed two Pitt scoring drives that tied it, 35-35. In overtime, Clements lofted the go-ahead scoring pass over defender John Jenkins just before Wheeler’s foot hit the out-of-bounds line. . . . Joe Hewitt rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns as Army, the last of the nation’s 111 major colleges to open the season, overcame a two-touchdown deficit at West Point, N.Y. for a 37-20 victory over Ohio (2-1). Army had 324 yards rushing.

MIDWEST

Courtney Davis ran for a career-best 119 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries as Bowling Green (1-1) held on for a home-field 20-16 victory over Temple (1-2).

SOUTH

Tony Dingle returned an interception 10 yards for a touchdown and recovered a fumble to set up another score as Virginia (2-0, 1-0) won, 21-3, over Maryland (2-1, 0-1) in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Charlottesville, Va. Maryland (2-1, 0-1) lost quarterback Brian Cummings after he was hit by Dillon Taylor late in the first quarter and backup Ken Mastrole, a redshirt freshman, was 9-of-15 passing for only 66 yards with two interceptions. Tiki Barber rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown in 29 carries for Virginia Tech. . . . C.J. Williams scored on two one-yard runs and freshman quarterback Joe Hamilton guided Georgia Tech (2-0) with the calm of a veteran, leading the Yellow Jackets past Wake Forest (2-1), 30-10 in an ACC game at Atlanta. Williams scored his first touchdown on Tech’s opening drive, leaping over right guard with 11:22 left in the first quarter. His second score came with 4:22 left in the first half and pushed the Yellow Jackets to a 17-0 advantage. . . . Rodney Hudson ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as Alabama-Birmingham (1-2) defeated Arkansas State (1-2), 42-17, in a nonconference game at Birmingham, Ala. . . . Eric Booth ran for 127 yards and a touchdown and Heath Graham passed for a score and ran for one at Hattiesburg, Miss. as Southern Mississippi (2-1) earned a 31-24 nonconference victory over Utah State (2-1).

WEST

Wyoming 66, Hawaii 0--Quarterback Josh Wallwork, the nation’s second-ranked passer, completed 19 of 34 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns in playing a little more than two quarters at Laramie, Wyo., as the Cowboys (3-0, 1-0 in the Western Athletic Conference) scored their most points in 47 years. Wyoming defeated Northern Colorado, 103-0, in 1949.

The Cowboys had 27 first downs and 509 yards in taking a 35-0 lead at halftime. Hawaii (0-3, 0-1) had six first downs and 154 yards in the first half.

SOUTHLAND

Quarterback Aaron Flower completed 29 of 40 passes for 369 yards and four touchdowns in three quarters to lead Cal State Northridge (1-1) to a 56-31 victory over UC Davis at Northridge. . . . Freshman fullback Steve Lecroy scored a touchdown on an eight-yard run in overtime as Pomona-Pitzer (2-0) defeated Colorado College, 17-10, at Colorado Springs. . . . Junior Jim-Jim Grimes rushed for two touchdowns as Menlo (1-0) defeated Claremont-Mudd (0-1), 21-0, at Atherton, snapping a 10-game losing streak. . . . Junior J.D. Fox completed 16 of 25 passes for 199 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown to Elijah Rapahel with 5:12 remaining, as Azusa-Pacific (1-0) defeated La Verne (0-1), 18-12, at Azusa Pacific. . . . Chapman scored 24 consecutive points, including 17 in the second quarter, to defeat Eastern Oregon, 24-6, at Chapman (1-0). Quarterback Curtis Robinson passed 128 yards and two touchdowns and Darnell Morgan rushed for 127 yards and one score.