big east roundup | Saturday’s games

No. 5 Cincinnati 28, Syracuse 7

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Zach Collaros threw four touchdown passes, the Cincinnati defense forced two critical turnovers. Collaros hit Armon Binns on scoring passes of 81 and 13 yards, Kazeem Alli for 16 yards off a fake field goal, and Adrien Robinson for 4 yards as Cincinnati (8-0, 4-0 Big East) won its 14th straight regular-season game to remain in contention for the national championship. Collaros finished 22 of 28 for 295 yards and no turnovers against Syracuse (3-5, 0-3), playing again in place of injured quarterback Tony Pike. Drew Frey intercepted Greg Paulus’s pass in the back of the end zone late in the second quarter and defensive tackle Derek Wolfe forced and recovered a fumble on a first-and-goal carry from the Cincinnati 7 by Delone Carter late in the third.

Louisville 21, Arkansas St. 13

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville had to depend on its third quarterback on the depth chart for a win. Redshirt freshman Will Stein completed 20 of 39 passes for 232 yards and one interception for the Cardinals (3-5). Freshman running back Darius Ashley ran for 77 yards and two touchdowns. The Cardinals led 21-3 with less than 2 minutes to play in the third quarter but had a hard time putting the Red Wolves (2-5) away for good. Arkansas State quarterback Corey Leonard found Brandon Thompkins in the end zone in the third quarter. The Red Wolves added a field goal in the fourth to close the lead to eight. Leonard’s last pass flew over the head of receiver Trevor Gillott in the end zone, and Louisville ran the clock out from there. Leonard threw for 303 yards but had two interceptions.

Rutgers 28, Connecticut 24

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Tim Brown scored on an 81-yard touchdown pass with 22 seconds left to give Rutgers an improbable win over Connecticut, handing the Huskies their second straight emotional defeat following the death of cornerback Jasper Howard. Brown, one of Howard’s best friends growing up in Miami, got behind cornerback Robert McClain, just after UConn had scored to take the lead. He finished the game with 162 yards receiving and two touchdowns. It was the first conference win of the season for Rutgers (6-2, 1-2 Big East) and the second consecutive defeat for Connecticut (4-4, 2-2) since Howard was stabbed to death outside a school dance on Oct. 18.

Associated Press