BIG EIGHT ROUNDUP : Grant, Again the Starter, Leads Nebraska, 49-22

Mike Grant, proving to Coach Tom Osborne that he should be Nebraska’s starting quarterback, passed for two touchdowns and ran for two as the 11th-ranked Cornhuskers scored a 49-22 victory over Utah Saturday at Lincoln, Neb.

Grant started four games to begin the 1990 season before injuries cost him the job, and he sat out last season as a redshirt.

Against the Utes, he completed 12 of 22 passes for 121 yards, including touchdown passes of 14 yards to running back Calvin Jones and 11 to backup tight end Gerald Armstrong.

“He’s won the job three times,” Osborne said. “You don’t win the job here three times without being a good football player. The competition is intense. We grade every snap. We don’t ever hand anything to anybody.”

Grant also rushed five times for 63 yards, including touchdown runs of 16 and six yards. He had another pass dropped in the end zone by tight end William Washington and had a 35-yard touchdown pass to Washington called back on a penalty.

“I think my teammates have confidence in me,” Grant said. “It was just the outsiders and fans who wondered what I could do. I hope that after today they have more confidence in me.”

The Cornhuskers rolled to a 35-0 halftime lead on the strength of 267 rushing yards. Touchdowns were scored on one of Grant’s runs, Jones’ 14-yard reception, a 57-yard run by fullback Lance Lewis, a 26-yard run by Derek Brown and a six-yard run by backup fullback Andre McDuffy.

Colorado 37, Colorado State 17--Sophomore Kordell Stewart, showing off the Buffaloes’ new one-back, pass-oriented offense, passed for four touchdowns and a school-record 409 yards at Boulder, Colo.

Stewart, who beat out Vance Joseph for the No. 1 quarterback job in fall drills, completed 21 of 36 passes in his debut. His 409 yards eclipses the old school record of 361 set by Randy Essington against Nebraska in 1982.

Stewart’s 430 yards of total offense also set a school record, bettering the 353 by Bobby Anderson against Oklahoma State in 1968, and his four touchdown passes tied the school mark set by Darian Hagan against Oklahoma State in 1990.

Iowa State 35, Ohio 9--Bobby Utter ran for one touchdown and connected with Lamont Hill on an 83-yard touchdown pass play as the Cyclones beat the Bobcats at Ames, Iowa.

The Bobcats took a 9-0 lead before Iowa State scored on its final two possessions of the first half. The Cyclones scored twice more in the third quarter.

Oklahoma State 35, Indiana State 3--The Cowboys, 0-10-1 last season, beat the Division I-AA Sycamores at Stillwater, Okla., for their first victory since beating Iowa State on Nov. 18, 1990. It was their first home victory since Oct. 27 of that year, when they beat Missouri.

Rafael Denson rushed for 110 yards in 19 carries and scored on runs of 20 and eight yards. Mark Williams and Russell Berrien also scored on the ground, giving the Cowboys one more rushing touchdown than they had all last year.