Charlie Weis led Notre Dame to the same kind of lopsided romp over Washington on Saturday that Tyrone Willingham did a year ago when he was coaching Fighting Irish.
The 16th-ranked Irish, clicking in the air and on the ground after a sluggish start, beat the Huskies 36-17 in a game that had little to do with coaches matching wits and everything to do with slick execution by Notre Dame and huge blunders by Washington.
A year after Notre Dame beat Washington 38-3 in South Bend, they took their show on the road to do virtually the same thing against their former coach on a brilliant fall afternoon before 71,473 fans in Husky Stadium.
PHOTO: AP
Quarterback Brady Quinn, who threw four touchdown passes last year, threw only one this time but compiled 327 yards passing in a more balanced attack that saw sophomore halfback Darius Walker rush for a career-high 128 yards on 21 carries.
Wisconsin 23, No. 14 Michigan 20
At Madison, Wisconsin, John Stocco scored on a 4-yard quarterback draw with 24 seconds left as Wisconsin snapped Michigan's 23-game winning streak in Big Ten openers.
Wisconsin (4-0, 1-0) sealed the win when Michigan's Chad Henne was flushed from the pocket and slipped on the turf, the ball popping loose as time expired and the Badgers stormed the field with their first win over the Wolverines (2-2, 0-1) since 1994.
It was just the second loss in Michigan's last 38 conference openers, and both were to Wisconsin, which also beat the Wolverines in their 1981 Big Ten kickoff.
No. 17 Michigan St. 61, Illinois 14
At Champaign, Illinois, Drew Stanton set a school record with five TD passes and Michigan State scored on six of eight first-half possessions in its romp.
Michigan State (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) rolled up 705 yards. Illinois (2-2, 0-1) gave up 381 yards before halftime as Stanton did as he pleased during a 28-point second quarter. Stanton tied the school record, held by seven others, by halftime and broke it with a 2-yard toss to Kellen Davis on the Spartans' first possession of the second half. Stanton's second pass of the day was a 75-yard TD strike to Kyle Brown, and he hit Dwayne Holmes, Jerramy Scott and Matt Trannon for scores in the second quarter.
Minnesota 42,
No. 11 Purdue 35, 2OT
At Minneapolis, Gary Russell scored three touchdowns, the last a 3-yard run in the second overtime to lift Minnesota.
Laurence Maroney rushed for a career-high 217 yards on 46 carries for the Gophers (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten), who held on in another thrilling back-and-forth game between these rivals.
No. 8 Ohio St. 31, No. 21 Iowa 6
At Columbus, Troy Smith threw two touchdown passes to Anthony Gonzalez and ran for two scores and Ohio State's defense shut down Iowa.
Iowa (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) finished with 18 rushes for minus 9 yards as A.J. Hawk and Mike Kudla each were credited with 1 1/2 sacks for 15 yards in losses. The Buckeyes (3-1, 1-0) harassed Iowa quarterback Drew Tate all day, sacking him five times for minus 43 yards.
No. 12 Miami 23, Colorado 3
At Miami, Kyle Wright threw for 264 yards and a touchdown, plus ran for another, and Miami's defense frustrated Colorado all afternoon.
Only Mason Crosby's 58-yard field goal -- the second longest of his career -- with 11:57 left kept the Buffaloes (2-1) from being shut out for the first time in nearly two decades.
Sinorice Moss had 111 yards receiving, including a 53-yard touchdown catch, for the Hurricanes (2-1) -- who got three field goals from Jon Peattie, then a 2-yard scoring run by Wright with 8:44 left.
No. 1 USC 45, No. 24 Oregon 13
At Eugene, Oregon, Matt Leinart threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns and USC trailed early but took over in the second half for its 25th straight victory.
The Ducks (3-1, 0-1 Pac-10) jumped out to an early 13-0 lead and clung to a 13-10 halftime advantage, but the Trojans (3-0, 1-0) scored 35 unanswered points in the second half.
S Florida 45, No. 9 Louisville 14
At Tampa, Florida, receiver Amarri Jackson ran for two touchdowns and threw for a third to lead South Florida to the biggest victory in the school's brief football history, routing Louisville in the Bulls' Big East debut.
After barely playing a role in the offense in his team's first three games, Jackson was Mr. Versatile in helping South Florida (3-1) beat a ranked opponent for the first time in six tries and stop the nation's third-longest Division I-A winning streak at nine games.
No. 4 Virginia Tech 51,
No. 15 Georgia Tech 7
At Blacksburg, Virginia, Jeff King caught a touchdown pass from Marcus Vick and blocked a field goal that turned into a 78-yard scoring run by D.J. Parker and Virginia Tech routed Georgia Tech.
The Hokies (4-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) shut down the vaunted passing game of the Yellow Jackets (3-1, 1-1), turned Georgia Tech's only sustained offensive drive into a special teams touchdown and scored 17 points in a span of 44 seconds.
Parker scooped up a field goal blocked by King and ran 78 yards for a touchdown, giving the Hokies a 14-0 first-quarter lead. And Xavier Adibi and Chris Ellis returned third-quarter interceptions for TDs just 26 seconds apart.
No. 5 Florida 49, Kentucky 28
At Lexington, Kentucky, Chris Leak threw four touchdown passes, all in the first half, and DeShawn Wynn scored four touchdowns as Florida got its offense rolling.
After a blocked punt led to an early Kentucky touchdown, Florida (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) scored on seven straight possessions and led 49-7 at halftime. Leak, who made his first collegiate start two years ago at Kentucky, was 25-of-32 for 319 yards.
No. 18 Arizona St. 42,
Oregon St. 24
At Corvallis, Oregon, Sam Keller threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns and Derek Hagan had 193 yards receiving for Arizona State in the Pac-10 opener for both teams.
The Sun Devils (3-1) had 475 yards of total offense and scored four touchdowns in the third quarter to pull away. The Beavers (2-2) piled up 525 yards of total offense, but turned the ball over six times.
No. 19 Texas Tech 63, Indiana St. 7
At Lubbock, Texas, Taurean Henderson ran for 141 yards and three touchdowns, and Texas Tech rolled to another early season runaway, beating Division I-AA Indiana State (0-4).
Henderson, the NCAA's active leader in touchdowns, scored on carries of 3, 44 and 6 yards to give Texas Tech (3-0) a 21-0 lead.
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