ROUNDUP : Campbell’s Return Gives Lift to Spartans

Amp Campbell’s prayers were answered, and Michigan State came out a winner.

Campbell, who suffered a broken neck in a loss to Oregon last season, returned a fumble 85 yards in the fourth quarter Thursday night, lifting the Spartans to a 27-20 payback victory over the Ducks at East Lansing, Mich.

“It felt great,” said Campbell, a sixth-year senior who had to graduate over the summer in order to return and attempt to earn back his cornerback slot. “I couldn’t ask for a better night than tonight.”

The Spartans overcame a 17-7 deficit in the opener for both teams, scoring 17 unanswered points to take a 24-17 lead on Campbell’s return of Herman Ho-Ching’s fumble. Linebacker Julian Peterson set up the return by stripping the ball from Ho-Ching.

“I came out in the first half and played a little sluggish and I went back in the locker room and prayed and God answered my prayers again,” Campbell said.

The game marked the return for Campbell, who broke his sixth and seventh vertebrae while attempting a tackle on Oregon’s second touchdown of a 48-14 rout last season. He required spinal fusion surgery that night.

“If I didn’t even score tonight or get an interception or anything, the only thing I wanted was the W,” Campbell said. “This is a dream come true. Right now, I say if I wouldn’t have graduated, God knows what I’d be doing. Thank God I graduated and got the opportunity to be play again and be part of this football team.

“I feel like a little kid again because everything is going right for me and I’m just so glad.”

Syracuse 35, Toledo 12--Dee Brown ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns and the Orangemen held the Rockets to 66 rushing yards at Toledo.

The game was ended with 1:28 to play after Toledo defensive lineman DeJuan Goulde was knocked out along the sidelines. Medical crews attended to Goulde for nearly 10 minutes before he was taken off on a stretcher. He was moving his legs and his right arm as he was carried into an ambulance.

Syracuse, playing its first game in four seasons without record-setting quarterback Donovan McNabb, struggled on its first three possessions before using its ground game to take control.

The Orangemen scored the next four times they had the ball, running out to a 28-0 halftime lead.

Brown, a junior running back, scored on a six-yard scamper with 1:42 to play in the first quarter.

On the next possession, James Mungro took a pitchout 35 yards, capping a seven-play, 65-yard drive.

Brown’s 43-yard touchdown burst made the score 21-0 and Troy Nunes passed eight yards to Maurice Minter just before halftime.

Syracuse Coach Paul Pasqualoni delayed naming Nunes as the starter until just before kickoff, and then rotated his quarterbacks often, also using Madei Williams and Brown.

Maryland 6, Temple 0--Brian Kopka kicked two short field goals in the first half and Bryn Boggs made a game-saving block of a last-second pass in a lackluster season opener at Philadelphia.

Kopka’s 27-yard field goal with 7:12 left in the first quarter came after Maryland stalled at the Temple 10. He added a 26-yarder with 3:08 left in the half.

Maryland ran eight plays inside the Temple 10 in the first half, but managed only two yards.

Maryland had three other kicking chances go awry. The first was a fake field goal that ended with an incomplete pass and the other two were 46-yard field-goal attempts that sailed wide.

Temple threatened in the last minute behind the passing of Devin Scott. He threw a 33-yard completion to Krishan Lewis and his 11-yard pass to Greg Muckerson moved the Owls to the Maryland 16.

Two plays later, Scott’s touchdown pass to Marcus Godfrey was called back because the quarterback had crossed the line of scrimmage before releasing the ball.

Scott completed a pass that Mac DeVito carried to the three. DeVito fumbled, but teammate Jamal Wallace recovered.

The threat, and the game, ended when Boggs knocked down Scott’s pass as time expired.

It was Maryland’s first shutout on the road since a 14-0 victory at Wake Forest in 1997.