Notre Dame survives Temple’s scare

PHILADELPHIA — DeShone Kizer hit Will Fuller with a 17-yard touchdown pass with 2:09 left in the game, KeiVarae Russell intercepted a pass to end the last threat and No. 9 Notre Dame escaped with a 24-21 victory over No. 21 Temple on Saturday night.

The biggest game in the history of Temple football lived up to the billing. The Owls (7-1) pushed the Fighting Irish (7-1) to the brink and took the lead with 4:45 left on a 36-yard field goal by Austin Jones. But Kizer came right back with a long scoring drive, capped by the TD to his star receiver.

Then the Notre Dame defense stepped up. Temple’s P.J. Walker went deep down the right side, but Russell cut underneath the throw and made a diving interception.

Not until the very last play, when Kizer dropped the ball, picked it up and then threw it away to kill the clock, did the Irish get to celebrate.

Kizer finished with 299 yards passing and a 79-yard touchdown run.

Temple came in 7-0 for the first time in school history, playing as a ranked team against a ranked team for the first time ever.

This was an unprecedented weekend for college football in Philadelphia. ESPN

GameDay drew a big and loud crowd to Independence Mall. The Phillie Phanantic was the guest picker, using Lee Corso as his straight man.

In other games involving AAC teams, Keenan Reynolds scored twice in the fourth quarter to tie the NCAA record for career rushing touchdowns, and Navy set a school record with three 100-yard rushers in a 29-17 victory over South Florida. ... Gunner Kiel completed all 15 of his passes for 319 yards and 5 touchdowns as Cincinnati spoiled Danny Barrett’s debut as the head coach at Central Florida with a 52-7 victory. … Paxton Lynch threw for 343 yards and a touchdown and ran for 43 more as 16th-ranked Memphis routed Tulane 41-13. … D’Angelo Brewer ran for 119 yards and a touchdown and Zack Langer scored on three short runs as Tulsa beat SMU 40-31 for SMU’s sixth consecutive loss.

CONFERENCE USA

Mullens throws 4 TDs

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Nick Mullens threw four touchdown passes to spark Southern Mississippi to a 3413 victory over Texas-El Paso on Saturday afternoon.

Southern Miss (6-3, 4-1 Conference USA) played in all-black uniforms while UTEP (3-5, 1-3) got permission from the conference to wear all orange for the Halloween game, and the weather turned scary with a lightning storm that caused the stadium to be cleared at the start of the fourth quarter in a weather delay.

Mullens sandwiched an 11yard pass to Michael Thomas and a 9-yard strike to Jalen Richard around a Jay Mattox 38-yard field goal that put the Golden Eagles ahead 13-3 going into intermission.

Mullens found DJ Thompson with two second-half touchdown passes and finished with 277 passing yards on 23-of-33 passing.

Southern Miss finished with 246 yards rushing, led by Richard’s 127 yards on 20 carries.

The Golden Eagles held the Miners to 298 yards of offense.

In other games involving C-USA teams, Anthony Wales rushed for a career-high four touchdowns and Brandon Doughty threw for three scores to lead Western Kentucky to a 55-30 victory over Old Dominion. … Chase Litton threw for a career-high 486 yards with two touchdowns as Marshall beat Charlotte 34-10. … Trey Rodriguez rushed for 94 yards and two touchdowns to help Florida Atlantic beat Florida International 31-17. … DaMarcus Smith ran for 137 yards with a late touchdown run to help North Texas beat Texas-San Antonio 30-24.

MID-AMERICAN

Neal leads Ball State

MUNCIE, Ind. — Riley Neal threw a touchdown pass, James Gilbert ran 2 yards for a score and Ball State beat Massachusetts.

Neal was 20 of 32 passing for 275 yards and 1 interception. His 10-yard TD pass to Jordan Williams capped a three-play, 15-yard drive that put the Cardinals (3-6, 2-3 Mid-American Conference) up 17-3 in the third quarter. KeVonn Mabon had six catches for 150 yards.

Gilbert gained 73 yards on 25 carries and his score gave Ball State a 10-3 halftime lead.

UMass outgained Ball State 448 total yards to 427, but strong defense helped the Cardinals. Linebacker Ben Ingle intercepted a pass in the end zone to halt one UMass drive and the Cardinals twice stopped the Minutemen on downs, including at Ball State’s 21 late in the fourth quarter.

Blake Frohnapfel completed 32 of 44 for 259 yards for UMass (1-7, 0-4), including a 7-yard touchdown pass to Elgin Long to pull within 17-10.

In another game involving MAC teams, Cooper Rush threw two touchdown passes and Central Michigan shut down Akron 14-6. Rush completed 23 of 37 passes for 226 yards. Anthony Rice had nine catches for 105 yards.

MOUNTAIN WEST

Freshman guides Broncos

LAS VEGAS — Brett Rypien completed 35 of 52 passes for a career-high 469 yards to lead Boise State to a 55-27 victory over UNLV.

Rypien, a true freshman, threw for two touchdowns and caught another as Boise State (7-2, 4-1 Mountain West) held the Rebels to 10 points in the second half. The Broncos finished with 705 yards against UNLV (26, 1-3), whose defense looked non-existent.

Boise State scored on its first three drives of the game. The Broncos scored on nine of their 14 drives in the game, including their last four.

UNLV’s Blake Decker couldn’t connect with any of his receivers in the end zone. Decker completed 29 of 50 passes for 357 yards.

In another game involving Mountain West teams, Donnel Pumphrey rushed for two touchdowns and caught a third as San Diego State ran its winning streak to five games with a 41-17 victory over Colorado State.