College Football | Cincinnati improves to 8-0 with 28-7 victory over Syracuse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Zach Collaros threw four touchdown passes, three off broken plays, the Cincinnati defense forced two critical turnovers and the No. 5 Bearcats remained perfect with a 28-7 victory over Syracuse on Saturday.

"We do a scrambling drill every day," Collaros said after just his second start in place of injured quarterback Tony Pike. "We have good chemistry with the receivers. All I know is I like to improvise a little bit."

To the dismay of the Orange (3-5, 0-3 Big East), who registered eight tackles for loss but only one sack.

"It's hard to run around and get someone open to make a big play," first-year Syracuse coach Doug Marrone said. "You have to have great vision. You have to keep the play going. We didn't finish."

Collaros was 22 of 28 for 295 yards and no turnovers. Always a threat to run, he managed just 22 yards on nine carries, preferring to use his strong right arm to inflict the damage.

"He's definitely a kid that understands what's going on out there," Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said.

Collaros hit Armon Binns on scoring passes of 81 and 13 yards off scrambles, Kazeem Alli for 16 yards off a botched field goal, and Adrien Robinson for 4 yards as Cincinnati (8-0, 4-0 Big East) won its 14th straight regular-season game.

Other games

At No. 6 Boise State 45, San Jose State 7

Kellen Moore was his usual, excellent self.

For his brother, contributing to another Boise State runaway was a new experience.

Kirby Moore caught his first college touchdown pass from big brother Kellen and the No. 6 Broncos were sharp once again, rolling over San Jose State 45-7 Saturday for their eighth straight win.

"I think everybody on our sideline had a smile on their face after that play because to get a chance to play Division I football with your brother when not that many guys get to play Division I football — and then your brother is good enough to play and you can then hook up for touchdowns, I think that's really awesome," Broncos coach Chris Petersen said. "I think that's why Kirby came here for those exact situations."

Kellen Moore finished with three TD passes and ran for another one, and the Broncos stayed perfect at 8-0 and in the hunt for a BCS bid with TCU, the other undefeated team from a conference that doesn't automatically qualify for the prized postseason games.

"This is what I think: When you get caught up in those numbers and get caught up in the scores of games and get caught up in how bad you should be beating people, it works against you," Petersen said. "I think sometimes in the first half when it's not 24-0 in our favor, guys are looking around and fans are looking around and asking, 'What's going on?' That's not realistic football."

Moore, who came into the game the nation's most efficient passer, was 21 of 33 for 278 yards. He now has 24 touchdown passes this season, and the Broncos rolled up 430 yards in beating San Jose State (1-6, 0-3) for the 10th straight time.

At No. 7 Iowa 42, Indiana 24

Ricky Stanzi overcame a career-high five interceptions to throw two long touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, helping No. 7 Iowa rally for a 42-24 victory over Indiana on Saturday.

Brandon Wegher had a career-high 118 yards rushing and three TDs for the Hawkeyes (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten), who scored 28 points in the fourth quarter to stun the shell-shocked Hoosiers.

Iowa is off to the best start in school history, thanks to four wins by three points or less. And after needing two blocked field goals to beat FCS school Northern Iowa in its opener, the Hawks control their own destiny in the Big Ten — with a chance to play for the BCS title.

It almost came undone on a windy day in Iowa City, where Stanzi threw four picks in the third quarter alone and Indiana (4-5, 1-4) took a 24-14 lead into the fourth.

"No matter what happens, we know there's still time left on the clock," Stanzi said. "There's a chance to win, so you can't give up."

"We got into the fourth quarter again and we couldn't fight it off," Indiana coach Bill Lynch said. "We just didn't have enough plays in our arsenal to hang with them."

At No. 8 Texas Christian 41, UNLV 0

Andy Dalton threw three touchdown passes, Ed Wesley scored running and catching the ball and the TCU defense smothered UNLV to get its first shutout of the season.

It was another dominating performance for the eighth-ranked Horned Frogs (8-0, 4-0 Mountain West), who probably did enough to stay in position to be this season's BCS buster.

TCU won its 10th consecutive game overall, and 12th in a row at home — a span at Amon Carter Stadium in which the Frogs have outscored their opponents by an average margin of 43-9 since a loss to Utah two years ago. The 19th-ranked Utes will be in Fort Worth in two weeks.

UNLV (3-6, 1-4) never challenged the Horned Frogs, a week after a 38-7 victory at BYU boosted them to sixth in the Bowl Championship Series standings and past Boise State, the only other undefeated team from a non-BCS conference.

"We talked about starting fast. We told them, if you want to win a championship, you've got to get on a roll," TCU coach Gary Patterson said.