Miami Earns Win Without Running It Up

Miami Coach Butch Davis refused to run up the score Saturday against Pittsburgh.

Ken Dorsey passed for two touchdowns and ran for another as Miami overcame a slow start for a 35-7 Big East Conference victory at Miami that keeps the Hurricanes in the hunt for the national championship.

“Crucify me, but it would have been much worse if we had lost Ken Dorsey or Damione Lewis to an injury with the game out of reach,” Davis said. “You’d like to think that 35-7 was enough. Everybody says that winning by 20 points is enough, that they don’t give you any more for 20 than they do for a 1,000.”

Dorsey was sharp, completing 22 of 35 passes for 264 yards. So was Miami’s defense, which forced three turnovers, had two sacks and held Antonio Bryant, the nation’s leading receiver, to 31 yards on four catches.

Even though Miami, 8-1 overall and 5-0 in the Big East, needed to make up ground in the eight Bowl Championship Series computer polls, seven of which factor in margin of victory, Davis pulled most of his offensive starters midway through the fourth quarter.

The Hurricanes are third in the latest BCS rankings, a little more than three-tenths of a point behind Florida State. The top two teams in the final BCS standings will play in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3. Miami finishes the season at Syracuse and at home against Boston College.

Pittsburgh (5-4, 2-3) led 7-6 in the second quarter before the Hurricanes scored 29 unanswered points. Dorsey’s one-yard run gave Miami a 13-7 halftime lead and started the scoring.

Miami’s Santana Moss caught six passes for 100 yards and set the school record for career receiving yards. Moss broke Michael Irvin’s mark of 2,423 yards set in 1987. Moss has 2,462 yards.

No. 8 Virginia Tech 44, Central Florida 21--Lee Suggs ran for 143 yards and five touchdowns at Orlando, Fla., as the Hokies rebounded from their only loss.

With quarterback Michael Vick sitting out because of a sprained right ankle, Suggs took the pressure off replacement Dave Meyer. Suggs scored on three one-yard runs in the first half and runs of 13 and four yards in the third quarter.

The 6-foot, 207-yard tailback also set Big East single-season records for touchdowns (24) and points (144).

The victory, which came a week after a 20-point loss to Miami, kept Virginia Tech (9-1) in the running for an at-large berth in the BCS.

Ryan Schneider completed 25 of 41 passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns for Central Florida (7-4).

Syracuse 31, Temple 12--James Mungro and Dee Brown both ran for two touchdowns and Syracuse took advantage of three Temple turnovers at Philadelphia.

Mungro rushed for 136 yards in 16 carries. Brown had 84 yards in 13 carries. The three Owl turnovers led to 17 Syracuse points.

The win keeps Syracuse’s bowl hopes alive with home games remaining against No. 2 Miami and Rutgers. The loss assures Temple (4-6, 1-5) its 10th consecutive losing season and stretches its losing streak against Syracuse to 15 games.

Syracuse (5-4, 3-2) took advantage of consecutive second-quarter turnovers to take a 10-5 lead.

Temple’s Tanardo Sharps gained 104 yards in 22 carries and became the first Owl to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since Todd McNair did it in 1987.

West Virginia 31, Rutgers 24--Brad Lewis threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Sean Berton in the second overtime as the Mountaineers gave Don Nehlen his 200th victory with the win at Piscataway, N.J.

West Virginia (5-4, 3-3) blew a 17-0 fourth-quarter lead, had a late punt blocked to set up Rutgers’ tying score, and then had to convert a fourth-and-15 play in the first overtime to stay in the game.

Rutgers (3-6, 0-6) was trying to win one for Coach Terry Shea, who resigned last week effective at the end of the season.