Louisville's Holliman nears NCAA interception mark
Louisville's Gerod Holliman intercepted three more passes on Saturday and is threatening the long-standing NCAA record for pickoffs in a season.
The sophomore free safety has a nation-leading 13, including six in the last three games, and is one short of the record 14 by Washington All-American Al Worley in 1968.
Holliman was on the receiving end of three of the four picks thrown by Tyler Murphy in the Cardinals' 38-19 win over Boston College. Holliman broke Anthony Floyd's school record of 10 interceptions in 2000, and he has two or more in a school-record four games this season.
Holliman's 13 for the season are the most nationally since North Carolina State's David Amerson had 13 in 2011.
Holliman intercepted Murphy on the game's first play from scrimmage, and his two other picks came in the fourth quarter. The three interceptions resulted in 17 points for the Cardinals.
Some other notable statistics:
PICK SIX SPECIALISTS: Arizona State ran back two interceptions for touchdowns against Notre Dame. That gave them three pick-sixes for the season. Their 11 in three seasons under coach Todd Graham are most in the Bowl Subdivision.
TOP RUSHERS: Cameron Artis-Payne of Auburn had the top rushing game of the weekend, going for 221 yards on 30 carries against Texas A&M. New Mexico rushed for 505 yards against Boise State to become the fourth team in the nation this season to run for 500 or more in a game. Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon, who ran for 205 yards against Purdue, leads the nation at 166.8 a game.
COUGARS KEEP PASSING: Five of the country's top 15 passing-yard games belong to Washington State quarterbacks. Connor Halliday had four of them before having his season end Nov. 1 because of a broken ankle. His replacement, redshirt freshman Luke Falk, threw for 471 yards against Oregon State in his first career start.
BIG PLAY BUCKEYES: Ohio State became the first Michigan State opponent since Minnesota in 2009 to score two touchdowns on plays of 40 yards or longer. Both of the Buckeyes' long TD plays came in the second quarter, on J.T. Barrett's 79-yard pass to Michael Thomas and his 44-yarder to Devin Smith.
EXTRA POINTS: Air Force ran 78 times for 386 yards against UNLV to set a national season high for rushing attempts in a game. ... Blake Frohnapfel of Massachusetts has thrown 16 touchdowns against no interceptions in 213 first-half pass attempts. ... Utah State's JoJo Natson tied the Mountain West career record for punt returns for touchdowns with his fourth, an 80-yarder against Wyoming. ... Nate Orchard has 13 of Utah's nation-leading 43 sacks. Only Washington's Hau-oli Kikaha, with 16 1/2, has more than Orchard. ... Fifty-two FBS kickers are perfect on extra-point attempts. The leader is Marshall's Justin Haig, who is 57 for 57.