AFTER THOUGHTS Homecoming blues: Well, now what do the alumni do? UAB was supposed to be easy homecoming fodder for the LSU Tigers. More importantly, it was supposed to be a much needed easy week coming off a tough loss to Auburn and Tennessee looming next week. Someone forgot to tell UAB the plan. The Blazers, in just their fifth year in Division-I A, decided to do more than just take the easy payday. They took the win. "I give my kids a lot of credit to come in here and win this game," UAB coach Watson Brown said. "All week they had been reading in the paper that this was just a `buy win' (for LSU), but we've been on the road playing people hard for four years now." And LSU looked like it might be a good homecoming opponent they way it played Saturday. The Blazers held the Tigers 263 total yards, shut them out for almost three quarters, intercepted LSU quarterback Josh Booty four times, including once in the end zone, caused five fumbles and allowed the Tigers to convert only 4 of 18 third downs. "It was tough for all of us from the get-go," Booty said. "We didn't come out ready to play. They were doing everything right. We were doing everything wrong." Namely, scheduling this game. Road warriors: Don't expect anyone to invite Southern Miss as a homecoming opponent anytime soon. College football's road warriors went into Oklahoma State and ended it 17-game non-conference home winning streak with a 28-6 victory. The Golden Eagles, fresh off an upset of Alabama last week and a near upset of Tennessee three weeks ago, are 2-1 rolling into Conference USA league play. "I don't know of anybody starting out tougher from a scheduling standpoint," Golden Eagles coach Jeff Bower said. "I'm really happy with how we performed. I wish we had a few more plays back from the Tennessee game." Memo to LSU -- don't call Southern Miss when you're looking for an "easy game." U-S-A! U-S-A!: Wait a second. Conference USA gets a pair of golden wins during the Olympics. Coincidence? We think not. USA Rules! SATURDAY'S STARS Eric Crouch, Nebraska: Completed 10 of 13 passes for five TDs as the Huskers rolled over Iowa 42-13. Michael Bennett, Wisconsin: Rushed for a career high 293 yards on 48 carries and two TDs in the Badgers' 47-44 double overtime loss to Northwestern. Tony Zimmerman, Duquesne: Completed 12 of 15 passes for 262 yards and a school-record five touchdown passes as Duquesne beat Marist 49-7. Damien Anderson, Northwestern: Rushed for 174 yards and two TDs, including the game winner in double overtime, as the Wildcats shocked No. 6 Wisconsin 47-44. Jonathan Beasley, Kansas State: Scored a school record five TDs in the Wildcats' 55-10 win over North Texas. Jesse Palmer, Florida: Accounted for five TDs, including a school record four rushing, as the Gators rolled over Kentucky 59-31. L.J. McKanas, Northeastern: Rushed for 226 yards on a school-record 47 carries as Northeastern beat Connecticut 35-27. Rashaan Matthews, Delaware State: Threw four touchdowns to Darnerien McCants in the second half, and five overall, as Delaware State beat Liberty 42-25. Maurice Morris, Oregon: Rushed for 139 yards and two TDs as the Ducks knocked off No. 8 UCLA. Woodrow Dantzler, Clemson: Rushed for 220 yards on 18 carries and scored two TDs and threw for another as Clemson defeated Virginia 31-10. Thomas Polley, Florida State: The Seminole linebacker returned an interception for a score and forced a fumble to set up another as Florida State knocked off Louisville 31-0. Neil Rose and Carl Morris, Harvard: Rose passed for 412 yards and three touchdowns and Morris also set a school record with 220 yards receiving on ten catches in Harvard's 42-37 victory over Brown. So this is how far things have come at South Carolina under Lou Holtz. A backup QB for South Carolina, a kid named Erik Kimrey, a kid who's thrown all of eight passes this season and barely even warmed up before entering the game for the injured Phil Petty on 4th and 10 against No. 25 Mississippi State with his team trailing by three, won the game. And, that this kid walked up to Holtz and told him what South Carolina should run with the game on the line. "I looked at Erik Kimrey, and he said 'Coach, I can throw the fade,' " Holtz said. "If a guy says he can do something, I'm all for that." So, one 25-yard fade route for a touchdown later, South Carolina is 4-0. Kimrey's line: 1-for-1, 25 yards, TD, legend and recipient of many, many, many free drinks as long as he's in South Carolina (and, yes, he is 21). "I only got a little bit of warm up. I wanted something that didn't take too much precision," Kimrey said. "I said, 'Let's throw the fade route.' The line did a great job of protecting me, and Jermale Kelly made a great play." He's not the only one. But great plays seem normal at South Carolina this season. Shhhhhhh Hmmm...UCLA's Ryan McCann sure is quiet. McCann, he of the "We should be No. 1" quotes after UCLA beat a No. 3 team for the second time this season when it knocked of Michigan last week, didn't say much after Oregon spanked the Bruins 29-10. McCann fumbled twice and threw one interception. He finished with 13 completions in 33 passes for 152 yards, and was sacked three times to end up with minus 35 yards on the ground. "It took us awhile to get started, and then we didn't execute," McCann said. Reading between the lines, that means UCLA should not be No. 1. Traffic jam The start of the Nevada-Wyoming football game was delayed because the Nevada team bus became stuck behind a 12-car pileup about 10 miles from Laramie. The team had stayed in Cheyenne, 50 miles east of Laramie, on Friday night, and left at 3:15 p.m. Saturday but did not arrive at War Memorial Stadium until 6:40 p.m., 20 minutes before the scheduled kickoff. Apparently, it took a little time to get going, but Nevada scored 22 fourth quarter points and knocked off the Cowboys 35-28. NUMBERS GAME Ben Matthews tied an NCAA record with five interceptions as Bethel beat Gustavus 14-13 on Saturday. Matthews tied the all-division record shared by eight players.Chris Butts of Worcester State was the most recent player to achieve it on Oct. 10, 1992. Wisconsin's Michael Bennett has rushed for over 290 yards in two straight games. Bennett, who rushed for 290 yards against Oregon two weeks ago, rushed for 293 against Northwestern after sitting out the Badgers' game against Cincinnati as part of NCAA suspension for his part in "Sneaker-gate." Bennett has 718 yards on 106 carries this season. With Saturday's loss to North Carolina, Marshall lost back-to-back games for the first time in five years. Ohio State's 45-6 victory over Penn State was Joe Paterno's worst loss as the Nittany Lions head coach, surpassing a 49-11 loss to UCLA in 1966 -- Paterno's first season as the head coach -- and a 44-6 loss to Nebraska in the 1983 Kickoff Classic. Drew Brees was 33-for-49 for 409 yards with two touchdowns and set Big Ten career records for completions and attempts in No. 21 Purdue's 38-24 victory over Minnesota. Brees topped the marks of 797 completions set by Illinois' Jack Trudeau and 1,309 attempts by Purdue's Mark Herrmann. Brees has 1,325 attempts, 820 completions, 9,487 yards and 73 touchdown passes in 36 games. His total offense of 497 yards made him the second player in conference history to accumulate 10,000 yards. Brees has 10,036 and needs 219 to top the record set by Iowa's Chuck Long. Reggie Wayne, who had seven catches in No. 12 Miami's 47-10 win over West Virginia, now has 146 career receptions, breaking the school record of 144 set by Lamar Thomas from 1989-92. Wayne, who had 127 yards receiving, has caught a TD pass in five straight regular season games.