COLLEGE REPORT: Ball State romps, raises mark to 9-0

Nate Davis threw for four touchdowns and ran for another as Ball State, No. 17 in the BCS rankings, routed Northern Illinois 45-14 Wednesday night in Muncie, Ind., to remain undefeated and alive in the chase for a top bowl game.

The matchup between the Mid-American Conference’s top offense and No. 1 defense wasn’t even close.

MiQuale Lewis topped 100 yards rushing for the ninth straight game for Ball State (9-0, 5-0), which scored its season high.

Northern Illinois (5-4, 4-2) allowed nearly six times its per game average of 8.2 points.

Davis finished 18-for-22 for 300 yards and broke Mike Neu’s career record for completions. The junior has 592, 12 more than Neu. Lewis ran 19 times and topped the 1,000-yard mark, while Louis Johnson roamed free behind the secondary with six catches for 165 yards and a TD.

Vol faces citations

Tennessee cornerback Brent Vinson was cited by police for possession of marijuana and a violation of the state’s open container law last week, prompting his one-game suspension.

According to a Knoxville police report, Vinson was issued five citations after being pulled over for speeding around 10 p.m. Oct. 29.

Police say the 21-year-old sophomore did not have his driver’s license with him and was found with a plastic bag of marijuana in his right shoe and an open container of alcohol in his vehicle.

He was issued citations for speeding, driving without a license and driving without insurance.

The next day, coach Phillip Fulmer announced Vinson would serve a suspension for the Vols’ game at South Carolina, which they lost 27-6.

Fulmer says Vinson, who served an academic-related suspension in the Vols’ season opener at UCLA, will be available Saturday when Tennessee faces Wyoming for homecoming.

Penn State QB OK

The hit jarred his helmet, shoved the chin strap into his nose and knocked him woozy. Those were the last things Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark remembered before blanking out for several minutes following a hard tackle at Ohio State that left him with a mild concussion.

After a bye last weekend allowed him to rest, Clark expects to be ready Saturday to lead the Nittany Lions (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten) when they’re at Iowa.

“It was really weird. I’ve never had something like that happen to me before, to blank out and lose a couple minutes of your life,” Clark said Wednesday in his first interview since the Oct. 25 win over the Buckeyes.

Clark wasn’t actually knocked unconscious from what he described as a “boom-boom hit” involving a couple players late in the third quarter.