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SportsSeptember 12, 2004

The Fresno State Bulldogs are at it again. Fresno State's 45-21 upset of No. 13 Kansas State was its second victory over a team from a BCS conference in seven days -- and its seventh since the BCS was established in 1999. Fresno State (2-0) didn't have to catch many breaks against the Wildcats, either. After giving up an early touchdown on Bret Jones' 42-yard interception return, the Bulldogs dominated the defending Big 12 Conference champions the rest of the game...

The Fresno State Bulldogs are at it again.

Fresno State's 45-21 upset of No. 13 Kansas State was its second victory over a team from a BCS conference in seven days -- and its seventh since the BCS was established in 1999.

Fresno State (2-0) didn't have to catch many breaks against the Wildcats, either. After giving up an early touchdown on Bret Jones' 42-yard interception return, the Bulldogs dominated the defending Big 12 Conference champions the rest of the game.

Bulldogs running back Dwayne Wright scored two touchdowns before tearing a tendon in his right knee in the fourth quarter, sidelining him for the season.

Bryson Sumlin was originally credited with Wright's second touchdown, but Kansas State officials gave the TD to Wright after reviewing the tape.

Paul Pinegar threw two touchdown passes to Matt Rivera and ran for another score, and Sumlin added one TD run in Fresno State's biggest win over a ranked team -- and the Wildcats' worst regular-season nonconference loss in 13 years.

"I've been here for 16 years," Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said. "You can remember some of the 1-10 and 5-6 (years). We never had a football team that just got beat up as badly as we did today."

The Bulldogs' 45 points were the most given up by the Wildcats in a regular-season nonconference game since a 56-3 loss to Washington in 1991. Fresno State's previous most decisive win over a ranked team was a 44-24 defeat of Oregon State, then ranked 10th, in 2001.

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Kansas State (1-1) led 7-0 before it took a snap, but the Wildcats couldn't do much right after Jones' defensive touchdown less than 3 1/2 minutes into the game. They had only 2 yards of offense in the first quarter and trailed 31-14 at the half.

Fresno State's defense held Kansas State star Darren Sproles to 37 yards on 11 carries and forced two key turnovers.

Notre Dame tops MichiganFreshman Darius Walker had two fourth-quarter touchdowns and the Fighting Irish renewed hope for a turnaround season by upsetting the eighth-ranked Wolverines 28-20 on Saturday.

Walker, who did not play in Notre Dame's opening game, ran for 115 yards on 31 carries -- the first Irish freshman to rush for more than 100 yards since Julius Jones had 146 yards against Navy in 1999.

Notre Dame (1-1) earned its first win over a top-10 team since beating fifth-ranked Michigan 25-23 two years ago.

Turnovers hurt NebraskaNebraska quarterback Joe Dailey didn't try to duck responsibility after throwing three interceptions and fumbling the ball away on a key fourth-quarter drive in Nebraska's 21-17 loss to Southern Mississippi Saturday.

"It was all on me," Dailey said. "I created turnovers, gave those guys the ball. It's going to be hard for me to eat that. We could have beat them easily."

Dailey's turnovers led directly to 12 Southern Miss points. The costliest of those came when linebacker Naton Stewart picked off a Dailey pass at midfield and raced 49 yards to the end zone to pull the Golden Eagles to within two points on the final play of the third quarter.

-- From wire reports

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