Pittsburgh defeats Rutgers, ends 4-year skid against the Knights

Freshman Dion Lewis ran for 180 yards and two touchdowns and visiting Pittsburgh ended 4 years of frustration against Rutgers with a 24-17 victory last night.

Lewis scored on runs of 1 and 58 yards, and Bill Stull threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Dorin Dickerson as the Panthers (6-1, 3-0 Big East) beat Rutgers (4-2, 0-2) for the first time since 2004.

Dan Hutchins added a careerlong 45-yard field goal and the Panthers held Rutgers to a season-low 38 yards rushing in getting off to their best conference start since 2003. Pittsburgh still has No. 8 Cincinnati, West Virginia and South Florida left on its league schedule.

Mohamed Sanu scored on an 11-yard run, Tom Savage threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Tim Brown and San San Te kicked a 23-yard field goal for the Scarlet Knights, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.

* Boston College's Mark Herzlich, of Conestoga High, is among the 16 semifinalists for the Dick Butkus Award, given to the nation's top collegiate linebacker, even though he has not played this season while recovering from a rare form of cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma. He has helped raise more than $80,000 for research and education about the disease.

Award namesake Dick Butkus said the honor also is designed to remind players "that they have a responsibility to serve as role models and to give back to society."

Penn State linebacker Sean Lee is among the other semifinalists.

* Suspended Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount met with a group of at-risk teenagers in Eugene, and spoke about punching a Boise State player, telling them he would not let it define him as a person.

Blount has not been allowed to speak to the media since he was suspended for punching defensive end Byron Hout in the aftermath of Oregon's season-opening loss to the Broncos on Sept. 3.

"I took the long road here," Blount told the students. "I didn't come straight out of high school. My grades was not enough to go Division I, so I had to go to a junior college in Mississippi. I did what I had to do in Mississippi, I got here last year, did what I had to do to get in the position I was in at the beginning of this season . . . and I screwed that up.

"Now I have to work my way back up to get where I need to be and get to participate in the things I want to do, and be a part of this football team."

* An orthopedist will determine whether Cincinnati senior quarterback Tony Pike needs surgery on his left forearm. Pike was hurt late in the first half of the No. 8 Bearcats' 34-17 win at No. 21 South Florida on Thursday and didn't play again. He broke his left (nonthrowing) forearm last season, and still has a plate and six screws. The plate apparently shifted when he hit the ground hard on Thursday.

* Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops says wide receiver Ryan Broyles and safety Quinton Carter will be in the starting lineup today when the 20th-ranked Sooners play No. 3 Texas in Dallas. Broyles, considered to be the Sooners' top receiver, suffered a hairline fracture of his left shoulder blade in the first quarter of a 21-20 loss at Miami on Oct. 3. Carter left during the third quarter of a win over Baylor on Saturday after an apparent left leg injury. *