Mike Kern: College Football Wrap

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKEND

NATIONAL

Michigan State's senior punter and placement holder, Aaron Bates, who played quarterback in high school, threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to tight end Charlie Gantt off a fake field goal to give his team a 34-31 overtime win over visiting Notre Dame.

LOCAL

Owen Thomas, who would have been one of Penn's captains. He committed suicide in April. The team held a 40-second moment of silence to honor him and longtime assistant Dan "Coach Lake" Staffieri, who died that same month after a lengthy bout with cancer at age 85, before its opener against Lafayette. Thomas wore No. 40.

AROUND TOWN

TEMPLE 30, CONNECTICUT 16

Time to bring on those dreaded Nits.

The Owls, off to their first 3-0 start in 31 years, hadn't beaten an FBS opponent, or one from the Big East, since 2004 (Syracuse). They've won eight consecutive home games, which breaks a school record that had stood since 1940-41. And 1941 was also the last time they beat Penn State, where they'll be on Saturday for their first road trip of the season. They won't play in South Philly again until Oct. 16, and have only two more at the Linc after that.

They also exorcised some recent demons against UConn (1-2), which had lost by 30-10 at Michigan 2 weeks earlier but still could be a factor in its conference.

Bernard Pierce picked a good time to have his best game of the young season. He gained 169 yards on 26 carries and scored three touchdowns, one on a 27-yard screen pass.

The Owls trailed 16-14 entering the fourth quarter. Then their defense started hitting everything in sight, and the Huskies didn't seem to want much part of it. With 8 1/2 minutes to go, Adrian Robinson stripped the ball from Jordan Todman (192 rushing yards on 26 attempts, including a 59-yard TD run) and went 24 yards for the go-ahead score.

Following a three-and-out, a 47-yard punt return by Delano Green set up a breathing-room TD.

A few months ago I was asked on "Daily News Live" how many victories Temple would get. I predicted 10. I might have been low.

PENN 19, LAFAYETTE 14

A 12-yard run by Lyle Marsh with just over 6 minutes remaining got the Quakers their 800th all-time victory on an emotional night at Franklin Field.

The winning drive covered 75 yards in 14 plays, all but one of them a run, and consumed 7 1/2 minutes.

The Quakers trailed at halftime, 14-6, thanks to a blocked punt that was recovered in the end zone and an interception return for a TD.

The Leopards (0-2) finished with eight first downs, just one in the opening half. Quarterback Ryan O'Neil missed most of the game with an ankle injury. Penn QB Keiffer Garton, who's coming back from offseason knee surgery, also sat this one out.

O'Neil did replace starter Marc Quilling late, and the game ended with a completion and two laterals before Vaughn Hebron, son of the former Eagle, was tackled at the Penn 8.

Jon Saelinger had three of Penn's four interceptions.

The Quakers will take a nine-game winning streak, the longest in FCS, to Villanova Saturday night.

VILLANOVA 43, TOWSON 7

It was about what you anticipated as the top-ranked, defending FCS champions played their home and Colonial Athletic Conference opener.

The Wildcats (2-1) led 36-0 at the half. Towson (1-2) had 17 yards rushing and eight first downs for the game.

Chris Whitney completed nine of 12 passes for 115 yards and two scores. He also ran for a pair of TDs. Dorian Wells had two TD catches, one from Matt Szczur.

Villanova has beaten Penn each of the last six seasons; four of those wins were by seven points or less.

WESLEY 21, DEL VAL 17

In Division III in Dover, Del., No. 3 Wesley overcame six turnovers to beat the No. 8 Aggies on an 8-yard TD pass from Justin Sottilare to Leonard Stevenson with a little over 3 minutes left.

Del Val (2-1) was down 14-0 at intermission, but had taken a three-point lead with 8 minutes to go on a 20-yard field goal by Jack Sobchak.

Wesley (3-0) then drove from its 34 to the Aggies' 25, where it appeared to lose the ball via a fumble on a third-and-4 run. But the officials would reverse their call, ruling that the runner was down first.

Two plays later, Wesley was back in front.

FRAUD FIVE

Slim pickings, but we'll try our best to sift things out. Don't you just hate those almosts.

-- Mississippi: Probably shouldn't be losing by 14 to Vanderbilt at home. But who should?

-- Washington: It's OK to lose to Nebraska at home. But probably not by 35, with Jake Locker.

-- Brigham Young: That's back-to-back road losses of 21 and 24 points, after the Cougars beat Washington by six at home.

-- Cincinnati: OK, so losing at North Carolina State might not be a felony. But the Bearcats pretty much got sliced and diced.

-- Georgia: Losing at home to Arkansas isn't necessarily a punishable offense, either. Still, the Bulldogs are 0-2 in the SEC for the first time since 1993, which was also the last time they lost to Arkansas. And they're 1-2 for the first time since 1995, which was the last time they had a losing season.

DID YOU NOTICE?

-- Joker Philips became the first Kentucky coach since Bear Bryant in 1946 to start 3-0. The Wildcats have had 10 coaches since Bryant.

-- Miami (Ohio) has won consecutive games for the first time since 2007.

-- Florida has won three straight at Tennessee for the first time in the 40-game series.

-- Southern Methodist beat Washington State to halt a 17-game losing streak to BCS teams going back to a win over Kansas in 2000.

-- Richmond played its first on-campus game since 1928, in the new $25 million Robins Stadium. The Spiders had been using a city-owned facility about 5 miles from the school.

-- Alabama's 45 first-half points against Duke was its most in any half since 1973.

-- Nebraska's 56 points matched the most ever allowed by Washington at home.

-- Stanford is 3-0 for the first time since 2001, when it went 9-3 under Tyrone Willingham. The Cardinal hasn't been 4-0 since 1997, when he was also the coach.