Manning Powers Mississippi

Eli Manning threw for a career-high 386 yards and two touchdowns, and Ronald McClendon’s 23-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter sealed Mississippi’s 45-38 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday at Oxford, Miss.

Ole Miss (3-1, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) defeated Vanderbilt (1-3, 0-2) for the ninth time in the last 10 meetings but blew a 38-17 fourth-quarter lead.

Kwane Doster and Norval McKenzie each ran for more than 100 yards to lead the Commodores, who scored touchdowns on three consecutive possessions to tie the score at 38-38 with 6:51 left on a three-yard run by Matthew Tant.

The Rebels answered, marching to the Commodores’ 23, with Manning completing all five of his passes on the drive. On second down, McClendon took a handoff up the middle, spun away from a tackler at the line and raced in for a touchdown to put Ole Miss up, 45-38, with 3:12 left.

Manning finished 24 for 41 and extended his streak of games with a touchdown pass to 16.

No. 8 Georgia 45, Northwestern State 7--David Greene tied a school record with four touchdown passes and the Bulldogs finally showed some offense, defeating the Division I-AA Demons at Athens, Ga.

Georgia (3-0) raced to a 31-0 halftime lead against outmanned Northwestern State (3-1), which bused in from Louisiana to save money and held out its best player, safety Terrence McGee, to save him for the conference schedule.

Greene, who averaged only 118 yards passing in the first two games, completed 26 of 43 for 346 yards, including two touchdowns to Terrence Edwards.

The Demons made a two-day bus trip from Natchitoches, La., because the school wanted to save its travel budget for a charter flight later in the season to meet conference foe Jacksonville State.

South Carolina 42, Temple 21--Corey Jenkins threw two touchdown passes and ran for two other scores as the Gamecocks (2-2) defeated the Owls (1-3) at Columbia, S.C.

Jenkins completed 18 of 23 passes for 198 yards, and South Carolina (2-2) solved its turnover problem. After giving the ball away 12 times in their first three games, the Gamecocks had only one against Temple.

Alabama 20, Southern Mississippi 7--Shaud Williams rushed for 135 yards and Ahmaad Galloway had 89 yards rushing and a touchdown as the Crimson Tide (3-1) defeated the Golden Eagles (3-1) at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Kentucky 44, Middle Tennessee 22--Jared Lorenzen threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Wildcats over the Blue Raiders (0-3) at Lexington, Ky., for their first 4-0 start since 1984.