COLLEGE Football Capsules

Saturday, September 8th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ Bernard Berrian returned the second-half kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and piled up 300 all-purpose yards as No. 19 Fresno State continued its remarkable start with a 32-20 victory over No. 23 Wisconsin on Saturday.

The Bulldogs are off to their first 3-0 start since 1995 _ the last year Wisconsin lost a nonconference game at home.

Berrian had eight catches for 102 yards, two carries for 16 yards, two punt returns for 29 yards and four kickoff returns for 153 yards. David Carr was 22-of-38 for 240 yards with two TDs.

The Badgers are 1-2 for the first time since 1991, Barry Alvarez's first season as coach.

The Bulldogs, in their first game as a ranked team since 1993, trailed 20-10 at halftime but they weren't intimidated by the Badgers or their frenzied faithful at Camp Randall Stadium.

After Fresno State deferred the opening kickoff, Berrian ignited the Bulldogs to yet another impressive victory _ they've also beat Colorado and Oregon State.

He caught the second-half kickoff at his 4, followed his wedge to the left and raced upfield untouched for the score. That gave him 287 yards just 14 seconds into the third quarter.

No. 1 Miami 61, Rutgers 0

MIAMI (AP) _ Ken Dorsey threw for 315 yards and two touchdowns as Miami overcame several early miscues in sloppy conditions.

Dorsey was 14-of-25 with an interception. He missed several open receivers but also led Miami (2-0, 1-0 Big East) to 34 points before joining the starters on the bench.

The Hurricanes, playing their first game as the No. 1 team in almost nine years, scored on offense, defense and special teams to improve to 22-5 as the top-ranked team.

Rutgers, coached by former Miami defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, had eight fumbles and lost five of them in a steady rain.

Miami is unbeaten in nine games against Rutgers and has outscored the Scarlet Knights 180-6 over the last three years.

No. 2 Florida 55, La-Monroe 6

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) _ Rex Grossman threw for 331 yards and Jabar Gaffney caught two of Grossman's three touchdown passes as Florida overcame an embarrassing start.

It was the blowout everyone expected, but for 15 minutes, Florida (2-0) hardly looked like a national title contender.

Grossman lost a fumble on the first snap from center. On the next play, Louisiana-Monroe's Andy Chance completed a 21-yard pass to Mack Vincent. Two plays later, Ivory Brown plunged in from 2 yards to give the Indians the lead.

The Gators gained 3 yards on their next possession and lost another fumble on their third. It wasn't until Earnest Graham ran in from 12 yards to cap a plodding, 12-play drive on the fourth possession that Florida had its first points and a 7-6 lead with 2:53 left in the first quarter.

No. 4 Texas 44, North Carolina 14

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Cory Redding returned an interception 22 yards for a touchdown and Nathan Vasher added a 44-yard punt return for a TD as Texas beat coach Mack Brown's former team.

Vasher set a school record with 153 yards on eight punt returns, and Dusty Mangum kicked field goals of 24, 49 and 51 yards. Chris Simms was 17-of-35 for 167 yards.

Texas (2-0) held the Tar Heels to 211 total yards, including minus-5 in the third quarter, and sacked quarterback Ronald Curry in the fourth for a safety.

No. 6 Florida St. 29, UAB 7

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ Chris Rix passed for a touchdown, somersaulted for another and set up three more scores.

Rix gave the Seminoles a 13-0 lead with just over six minutes left in the half when he scored on a spectacular 2-yard forward flip. The redshirt freshman quarterback tried to hurdle into the end zone and was hit as he went airborne, doing a 360-degree flip and landing on his feet for the score.

Making just his second collegiate start, Rix completed 15 of 23 passes for 246 yards and added a team-high 52 yards rushing, becoming the first Florida State quarterback to lead the team in rushing since Charlie Ward in 1993 at Notre Dame.

Florida State (2-0) extended its home winning streak to 36 games and upped its unbeaten homefield string to 53 games.

No. 7 Oregon 24, Utah 10

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) _ Joey Harrington threw two touchdown passes to Keenan Howry in Oregon's 22nd straight home victory.

Harrington completed 17 of 27 passes for 220 yards and did not throw an interception. Howry finished with five catches for 47 yards, including 25- and 14-yard touchdown receptions, and Jason Willis had nine receptions for 107 yards.

Maurice Morris ran for 59 yards and a TD for Oregon (2-0).

No. 9 Virginia Tech 31, W. Michigan 0

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) _ Keith Burnell ran for 74 yards and a touchdown in his first career start and Virginia Tech rushed for 271 yards in its 14th straight home victory.

Grant Noel was 13-for-25 for 144 yards, hitting fullback Doug Easlick for a 22-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter for Easlick's first career reception and TD.

Virginia Tech (2-0) had little problem pushing the ball down the field despite losing star running back Lee Suggs for the season with a knee injury last week.

No. 12 Kansas St. 10, USC 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Josh Scobey rushed for 165 yards and Kansas State's defense came up big as the Wildcats gave Bill Snyder his 100th college coaching victory.

Kansas State built a 10-0 halftime lead in its opener against the Trojans (1-1), then barely held on.

USC, which pulled to 10-6 on Sultan McCullough's 7-yard scoring run in the third quarter, was threatening again in the final three minutes. But Carson Palmer fumbled at the end of a 4-yard scramble and defensive end Henry Bryant recovered at the Kansas State 24 with 2:33 left to play.

No. 15 Washington 23, No. 11 Michigan 18

SEATTLE (AP) _ Omare Lowe blocked a field goal that was returned for a touchdown and scored on an interception return in Washington's season-opening victory.

Lowe blocked Hayden Epstein's field-goal try with 9:11 left in the fourth quarter, and Roc Alexander scooped up the ball and sprinted 77 yards to give the Huskies a 13-12 lead.

With 8:20 remaining, Lowe picked off a pass that deflected off Chris Perry's hands and ran 21 yards into the end zone.

Michigan's Marquise Walker caught a school-record 15 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns. He also blocked a punt for a safety.

Michigan (1-1) remained tied with Yale for the school victory record with 806.

No. 10 Georgia Tech 70, Navy 7

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) _ George Godsey threw for two touchdowns and ran for another during an abbreviated performance as Georgia Tech handed Navy its worst loss ever.

Georgia Tech (3-0) reached the end zone on its first five possessions and also scored on a fumble return in building a 42-0 halftime lead, the Yellow Jackets' most prolific half in 85 years.

Although Georgia Tech coach George O'Leary pulled his starters late in the second quarter, Navy couldn't keep the Yellow Jackets' reserves from scoring. The 63-point margin of defeat was the largest for Navy (0-2) in the 121-year history of the program, surpassing a 70-14 loss at Michigan in 1976.

No. 14 UCLA 41, Kansas 17

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) _ DeShaun Foster rushed for 179 yards and one touchdown and Cory Paus ran for a TD and passed for another for slow-starting UCLA.

The Bruins (2-0), who did not have a turnover or penalty in last week's 20-17 victory at Alabama, had one of each in the first seven minutes and handed Kansas (1-1) the early momentum.

Paus was 10-of-16 for 160 yards.

No. 20 Clemson 38, Wofford 14

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) _ Woody Dantzler threw two touchdown passes to little-used J.J. McKelvey as Clemson rolled to its 36th straight victory against a Southern Conference team.

Dantzler was 21-of-30 for 207 yards for the Tigers (2-0). McKelvey had six catches in the first half, double his amount for 2000, and finished with eight receptions for 73 yards.

No. 24 Ohio St. 28, Akron 14

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ Jonathan Wells rushed for 119 yards and scored twice as Ohio State opened the Jim Tressel era with a less than impressive performance.

Ohio State's Steve Bellisari threw two touchdown passes but fumbled three times and had passes go through the hands of defenders three other times.

Akron's Rickie Coble had an 87-yard interception return for a TD in the fourth quarter, matching the second longest by an opponent in the history of 79-year-old Ohio Stadium, which was rededicated prior to the game after a reconstruction project.

A crowd of 102,602 in the expanded stadium was the largest ever to watch an Ohio State home game.