Paterno Ties Record, PSU Beats Northwestern 34-24

Silas Redd ran for 164 yards and a touchdown, Matt McGloin threw for 192 yards and two scores, and the Nittany Lions clamped down in the second half to give their storied coach another milestone victory as he watched from the coaches' box.

Paterno will try to move ahead of Robinson, the Grambling State legend, when the Nittany Lions (7-1, 4-0 Big Ten) host Illinois next Saturday. That starts a tough stretch that also includes a home game against Nebraska before trips to Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Paterno still has a long way to go to catch John Gagliardi of Division III St. John's, Minn. (481 and counting), the only other coach with more wins, but this was another big notch for an icon in his 46th season leading the Nittany Lions.

That he got it against Northwestern (2-5, 0-4) was fitting, too.

After all, when he tied Bear Bryant with 323 wins, he did it against the Wildcats. No. 400 came at their expense, too, last season in Happy Valley when Penn State rallied from 21 down to win 35-21.

This one wasn't quite as dramatic, although it was wild in the early going.

Penn State led 27-24 at halftime after Stephfon Green scored on a 1-yard run in the closing seconds, and Redd made it a 10-point game early in the third when he ran it in from the 19 after Gerald Hodges returned an interception 63 yards. A defense that got picked apart in the first half took over from there, sending Northwestern to its fifth straight loss in a miserable season.

That had to make Paterno feel a little better being away from the sideline, still recovering from right shoulder and pelvis injuries suffered after a receiver ran into him in practice Aug. 7.

The Wildcats simply couldn't stop Redd, who has four straight games with 100 or more yards. He also had a 44-yard run late in the second quarter that set up Green's TD.

McGloin wasn't bad either, completing 17 of 26 passes. Devon Smith had six catches for 110 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown, and once the defense got going, Northwestern had no chance.

Ranked among the stingiest in the nation coming in, Penn State's defense gave up 406 yards, but it also delivered seven sacks — two by Jordan Hill. That includes a pair of big ones on Kain Colter in the fourth quarter right after Dan Persa hobbled off the field.

He came up grabbing his left ankle and limped off the field after a 4-yard run that put the ball on the Penn State 13.

A 17-yard sack by Hill on Colter and an 11-yarder by Sean Stanley drove the Wildcats all the way back to the 41 and forced them to punt, helping preserve the win.

Persa threw for 294 yards, completing 26 of 34 passes, but he got sacked four times and was largely a non-factor in the second half.

The same goes for Colter.

He ran for 51 yards, including a 46-yarder in the second quarter that led to his own 4-yard TD run. He also caught a 12-yard touchdown pass, his first scoring reception, but got shut down in the second half — just like the rest of the Wildcats.

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Davis Sets 2 NCAA Records as ECU Beats Navy 38-35

Davis connected on all 26 of his first-half throws to extend his streak of pass completions to 36 straight over two games, and the Pirates rode his record-setting performance to a 38-35 victory over skidding Navy on Saturday night.

Davis broke the single-game record of 23 straight completions, set in 1998 by Tee Martin of Tennessee against South Carolina and tied in 2004 by Aaron Rodgers of California versus Southern California.

Davis completed his final 10 passes against Memphis last week, so his stunning first half against Navy gave him 36 completions in a row — breaking the NCAA mark of 26 set in 2004 by Rodgers, now a star with the Green Bay Packers.

"I hope he calls me and tells me congratulations," Davis said. "Aaron Rodgers is one of my favorite quarterbacks because he's a guy just like me, coming from a junior college and going to D-1. Now he's in the NFL doing great things. It's an honor."

After going 26 for 26 for 251 yards before halftime, Davis' streak ended when he misfired on his first attempt in the third quarter. He finished 40 for 45 for 372 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Funny thing is, it wasn't until he reached the locker room that Davis learned just how special his numbers were.

"I had no idea until after the game," the 6-foot-3 quarterback said. "When they told me, I was like, 'Wow, really?' It's amazing, but when you do your job and put the ball in your receiver's hands, that's what happens."

Coming into the game, the Pirates led the nation with 23 turnovers. In this one, East Carolina (3-4) didn't give the ball away.

But the game wasn't decided until Navy's Jon Teague hit the right upright on a 42-yard field goal try as time expired. Seconds earlier, a leaping Matt Aiken had his hands on a potential touchdown pass, but lost his grip on the ball as he came down in the end zone.

"I thought he broke the plane and went down with the ball," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "But that doesn't matter; they called what they called. We have to make that field goal."

Navy (2-5) has lost five straight, its longest skid since 2002.

"This is a tough loss for this team and this program," Niumatalolo said.

The Midshipmen trailed 31-21 with 14:53 left before backup quarterback Trey Miller threw a 59-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Turner and a 37-yard strike to Matt Aiken for a 35-31 lead with 7:51 to go.

Davis then moved East Carolina 77 yards in 15 plays, a drive that ended with Reggie Bullock's third TD of the game, a 1-yard run with 2:14 remaining.

Bullock ran for 104 yards; Lance Lewis had nine catches for 80 yards and a touchdown; and Danny Webster had six receptions for 81 yards for East Carolina.

Davis entered with a 68.5 percent completion percentage this season, and he has completed at least 30 passes in six of his last nine games. A junior college transfer, Davis threw for 3,967 yards and 37 TDs last season and completed 64.5 percent of his passes.

Many of his 26 first-half completions were short flares, but nine of the those passes resulted in double-digit gains, including a 33-yarder to Webster and a 23-yarder to Andrew Bodenheimer.

"That's our offense. We take big shots, we take little shot, whatever," Lewis said.

Navy starting quarterback Kris Proctor was knocked out of the game with a left elbow injury with 7:01 remaining in the second quarter. Proctor was hit in the pocket by Matt Milner, who was penalized for roughing the passer.

Miller came in and lost a fumble three plays later. Davis then orchestrated an eight-play drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Michael Bowman for a 14-7 lead.

After a Navy punt, Davis completed six straight passes around a 3-yard run by Bullock and Michael Barbour kicked a 35-yard field goal as the half ended. Barbour earlier missed field-goal tries of 43 and 32 yards.

Navy's Marcus Thomas took the second-half kickoff 90 yards to cut the gap to 17-14, but a 1-yard touchdown run by Bullock restored the 10-point cushion.

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Michigan State 28, Michigan 14: Michigan State Beats Michigan for Fourth Straight Time

The unbeaten Wolverines entered their game against Michigan State with the shine still on the new coach Brady Hoke, a revamped defense that showed signs of cohesion and a No. 11 ranking.

All that optimism might have been premature.

Faced with their most formidable test of the season on Saturday, Michigan fizzled. The Michigan State defense stifled the Wolverines and their elusive quarterback, Denard Robinson, for almost the entire game. Behind a running game that produced 213 yards, No. 23 Michigan State won, 28-14.

It was the fourth consecutive victory in the annual rivalry for Michigan State, the first time that has happened since a four-year run from 1959 to 1962.

For Michigan (6,1, 2-1 Big Ten), the loss marked another false start.

In 2009, the Wolverines started their season with a 4-0 record before losing at Michigan State, 26-20. In 2010, Michigan opened 5-0 before bowing at home to the Spartans, 34-17. Both losses kicked off precipitous declines for the Wolverines.

Through his first six games, Hoke had given the Wolverines’ hungry fan base every reason to believe this year’s 6-0 start was not another fluke. But after the Spartans (5-1, 2-0) bullied Michigan’s defensive line in the decisive third quarter, those concerns emerged anew.

“They were definitely more physical,” Michigan safety Jordan Kovacs said. “They pounded us.”

The Spartans emerged from halftime and methodically drove the field for two third-quarter touchdowns. Running back Edwin Baker did the bulk of the damage, finishing with 26 carries for 167 yards and a score.

For Michigan, the pounding was even worse on the other side of the football. Michigan State’s defense harassed Robinson all afternoon. He was often prevented from scrambling outside the pocket and rarely looked comfortable in it. The Spartans registered seven sacks.

When it was over, Robinson had completed 9 of 24 passes for 123 yards while rushing 18 times for 42 yards and the game’s first touchdown.

Michigan State reserved additional insults for Robinson until the end of the game.

Trailing by 7 points, the Wolverines took possession with 4 minutes 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter. On the first play of the possession, Michigan State flushed Robinson from the pocket. Safety Isaiah Lewis intercepted his pass and returned it 39 yards for the touchdown that secured the Spartans’ victory.

About 8 yards from the end zone, Lewis taunted the downtrodden quarterback with the ball on his way in for the score.

“I thought maybe I shouldn’t have did it,” Lewis said later. “I was hoping they didn’t throw a flag on it. I didn’t mean anything bad. I was just celebrating.”

Officials overlooked the taunt, but not much else. They flagged Michigan State 13 times for 124 yards. Six of those were for personal fouls, unnecessary roughness or roughing the quarterback. On Michigan’s final, frantic possession, Spartans defensive end Marcus Rush slung Robinson to the ground and drew the last of the flags.

Robinson struggled to rise from the field and did not return to the game. Asked if he thought the Spartans had played dirty, Robinson said: “They were playing football. It’s a dirty game.”

Earlier in the game, Michigan State’s William Gholston punched left tackle Taylor Lewan in the face mask.

Although the matchup is not on the same level as Michigan’s rivalry with Ohio State, the rough play reflected the harsher tone that has developed between the Spartans and the Wolverines.

After a Michigan win in 2007 (Michigan’s last win in the series), Wolverines running back Mike Hart said: “Sometimes, you get your little brother excited when you’re playing basketball, let them get the lead. And then you come back.” That comment still reverberates.

And even though they’ve won four straight games, the Spartans still seem to feel disrespected.

“They just think we’re always the lower team, like they’re going to dominate, this and that,” Lewis said. “No matter how many times we beat them, it’s probably going to be like that. Even though we have this fourth win, they’re probably still going to act like they’re better than us.”

He continued: “You see how they didn’t shake our hands after the game? They walked off the field on us. It’s a lack of respect.”

Right now, that is the least of the Spartans’ concerns. Michigan State has notched wins against Ohio State and Michigan already this year, with Wisconsin on deck next Saturday. In East Lansing, there is talk of a Big Ten title.

In Ann Arbor, the loss serves as a reality check. Michigan has a bye next weekend, so any critique of the team’s resilience must wait two weeks.

“It’s easy to say that this is the same Michigan team from the last two years,” Kovacs said, “but I have no doubt in my mind that we’re not. We’re going to improve, learn from this game, and win.”

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USC Beats Cal for 8th Straight Time, 30-9

The Trojans forced five California turnovers and allowed only one touchdown to bail out the offense on a rare off night as USC won its eighth straight game in the series, 30-9 on Thursday.

"It was huge for us as a confidence booster," said linebacker Dion Bailey, who had two interceptions. "We had to come out and show everybody that we aren't as bad a defense as everybody thinks we are. We held them to only nine points. It was huge today. We picked up our offense. Hopefully next week we're firing on all cylinders and we'll be dangerous."

Matt Barkley threw touchdown passes to Marqise Lee and Brandon Carswell for USC (5-1, 3-1 Pac-12), but was held to a season-low 195 yards against a mostly stout Cal defense.

That didn't matter because of USC's own opportunistic defense. After allowing 84 points and 946 yards the previous two games, the Trojans kept Cal (3-3, 0-3) off the scoreboard until late in the third quarter and doubled their turnovers caused this season with three interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

"We needed that," coach Lane Kiffin said. "It was much more important for this team to win like that and have a game like that for confidence after all the things our defense has been hearing about them, staff, players, everybody involved. To come out here and get five turnovers and harass the quarterback all game long was really good."

The main concern for USC was on the health front as the Trojans lost Lee to a right shoulder injury in the first half and leading rusher Marc Tyler to a shoulder injury in the third quarter. Kiffin did not know the extent of the injuries after the game.

Zach Maynard committed four of Cal's five turnovers — surpassing the team's season total coming into the game — and the Bears dropped their sixth straight conference game since late last season. Cal is off to its worst conference start ever under coach Jeff Tedford.

Maynard threw for 294 yards and ran for a touchdown and his half brother, Keenan Allen, had a career-high 13 catches for 160 yards but it wasn't enough to overcome the litany of mistakes.

"You can't beat a good football team like SC when you turn the football over five times, especially down deep in their territory," Tedford said. "There's no question there is some good things, but there are some things that absolutely need to be improved."

This series has been decidedly one-sided ever since Cal upset USC 34-31 in triple overtime back in 2003. The Trojans have won eight straight and it hasn't even been close of late with USC outscoring Cal 125-29 the last four years.

Cal fell behind 23-0 early in the third quarter before the offense finally got going, with Maynard leading the Bears to a field goal and then scoring on a 3-yard run with 6 seconds left in the third to cut it to 23-9.

But Maynard's third interception midway through the fourth quarter led to Curtis McNeal's 2-yard touchdown run that made it 30-9 with 5:14 remaining.

"They played lights out tonight, no doubt about that," Barkley said of his defense. "They really helped us out on the offensive side of the ball. ... We struggled a little bit on offense, but we protected the ball and they didn't. Ultimately that helped us come out on top."

The Bears turned the ball over four times in the first half, including three alone by Maynard, and failed to convert a fake punt as they fell behind 20-0 at the break.

It wasn't quite as bad for the Bears as the game a year ago in Los Angeles when USC led 42-0 at halftime. Cal's defense actually did a decent job defending Barkley and the Trojans' high-powered offense, but USC took advantage of short fields for its scores.

Allen fumbled on Cal's fourth play from scrimmage to set the tone for the game, but the Bears withstood that miscue thanks to an odd play call by Kiffin.

On fourth-and-goal from the 8, the Trojans lined up in an off formation and snapped the ball diagonally to Rhett Ellison, who dropped it for a turnover. Kiffin tried the trick play instead of opting for the easy field goal.

"That's no fun," Kiffin said. "You're on ESPN. You have to do something fun."

The Trojans capitalized on the next turnover as Nick Perry forced a fumble by Maynard that led to Andre Heidari's first field goal.

USC then broke the game open with 17 points in the second quarter, getting a 39-yard TD catch from Lee over fellow freshman Stefan McClure, a field goal after Chris Galippo intercepted Maynard's pass deep in Cal territory and a 7-yard TD pass from Barkley to Carswell after punter Bryan Anger was stopped on a fake that made it 20-0.

Cal's only sustained drive of the half ended in the final minute when Maynard threw into triple coverage and was intercepted in the end zone by Bailey.

"I tried to force the ball on a couple plays," Maynard said. "There's a lot of mental errors. We've got to get better on our check downs and make a better play."

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Arizona Beats Out Tampa and Lands 2015 Super Bowl

The league awarded the 2015 Super Bowl to Arizona on Tuesday and also committed to playing regular-season games in Britain through 2016 — with more than one game a year likely.

The first owners meeting since the lockout focused almost exclusively on big events, with the biggest of them all heading to the Phoenix area in four years. Arizona beat out Tampa, the only other candidate, on the second ballot.

"We are thrilled to be back in Arizona," Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "I will say it was a difficult choice."

Though not a unique one like the Super Bowls that will sandwich 2015. In '14, the league makes a frosty foray into the New York/New Jersey area for the first outdoor title game in a cold-weather site since the merger. And in 2016, the 50th Super Bowl will be, according to Goodell, "a significant event for us" and could wind up in Los Angeles.

"I don't think there is anything off the table on who would host it," Goodell said, noting that the league is keeping close tabs on two potential stadium projects in Los Angeles.

"We think there are two opportunities in Los Angeles and we are going to pursue both of them aggressively," Goodell said.

Neither Arizona nor Tampa received the required 24 of 32 votes on the first ballot Tuesday, meaning a simple majority was needed on the next vote. The University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale got the nod, prompting screams of joy from the Arizona committee.

"Everyone pulled together throughout the Phoenix area to put together a terrific package we were able to present to the owners," Arizona Cardinals President Michael Bidwill said. "We are delighted."

It's difficult to be critical of the choice weather-wise: average temperature in early February in Glendale is about 60 degrees. In East Rutherford, N.J., site of the 2014 game, the average is a slightly chillier 31 degrees.

The NFL also set Feb. 2, 2014, as the date of the Super Bowl in New Jersey; that date will not conflict with the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

"It's historically warmer on Feb. 2," Giants owner John Mara said with a smile. He didn't mention the possibility of snow, freezing rain, blustery winds and all the accompanying elements.

That will not be a factor in Arizona. The NFL has seemed eager to return to the Valley of the Sun since the Giants' upset of the then-unbeaten Patriots on Feb. 3, 2008. Tempe, Ariz., was the 1996 host, with Dallas defeating Pittsburgh 27-17.

"This is huge for Arizona," bid leader Mike Kennedy said. "It feels really satisfying."

Tampa hosted the game in 1984, 1991, 2001 and 2009.

"Both cities are great sites for the Super Bowl and both had impressive bids," added Mara, whose team has won championships in both places. "They've each been to the altar a few times recently and were denied. They both deserve to host a game again."

Next year's game is indoors in Indianapolis, followed by New Orleans in 2013 and then the Big (possibly frozen) Apple.

Goodell spoke with the Tampa Bay group immediately after it lost the bidding.

"Anytime we are invited to participate, we will do so," said Paul Catoe, outgoing CEO of Tampa Bay & Co.

Bidwill said the estimated economic impact in Arizona in 2008 was more than $500 million, and he expects it to be higher in 2015. While that number seems high because subsequent Super Bowls didn't reach that level, it's still a major boon to local business.

Also Tuesday, owners approved a resolution to play regular-season games in Britain for at least five more seasons. Teams can volunteer to play at least one regular-season home game per year in Britain for up to five years. Goodell said several teams have expressed interest and there are financial incentives for hosting games overseas. Visiting teams can play abroad only once in five years.

Tampa Bay will host Chicago on Oct. 23 in London, the fifth straight year the NFL has held an October game there. The Buccaneers will be making their second London appearance in three years; they lost to New England 35-7 in 2009.

Several teams that struggle to sell out home games, such as the Jaguars, Raiders, Bengals and Chargers, could be in line for more frequent trips overseas. Houston Texans owner Robert McNair said he'd be interested in a trip to Britain as the visiting team.

No specifics on venues, dates or teams for future games have been set, but Goodell made it clear more games in London are coming, perhaps two as soon as next season.

"We are very pleased with the reception to the game and the way our business has grown over there," he said. "Can it be sustained for multiple games?"

The meetings began with a five-minute NFL Films tribute to Al Davis after the Oakland Raiders owner died on Saturday.

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