Sports briefs

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 7, 2007

Football

LOUISVILLE HANGS ON: Brian Brohm threw for a career-high 401 yards and five touchdowns and Anthony Allen added a school-record 275 yards rushing and two scores as No. 8 Louisville avoided a major upset by surviving Middle Tennessee 58-42 Thursday night at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

Mario Urrutia, Gary Barnidge and Harry Douglas all topped 100 yards receiving as the Cardinals (2-0) extended the nation's second- longest home winning streak to 20 games. It wasn't easy. the Blue Raiders (0-2) never led, but the Sun Belt Conference champions never let the Cardinals get comfortable.

BEARCATS ROUT BEAVERS: At Cincinnati, freshman Marcus Barnett caught a touchdown pass and recovered a blocked punt in the end zone, helping Cincinnati turn Oregon State's mistakes into a 34-3 victory Thursday night.

The Bearcats (2-0) got a signature win for first-year coach Brian Kelly, who has installed a wide-open, no-huddle offense and tried to inject excitement into a football program that is treated like an afterthought locally.

Oregon State (1-1) got a sideline visit from alumni Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the Bengals' receiving tandem. It sure didn't help. Sophomore Sean Canfield threw interceptions that set up a field goal and Ben Mauk's 5-yard touchdown pass to Barnett, putting Cincinnati up 10-3 at halftime. After the intermission, the Beavers continued their self-destruction.

Soccer

MLS TIE: D.C. United and Chivas USA played to a 2-2 tie Thursday. United went up 2-0 on goals by Luciano Emilo, but Chivas answered with goals by Ante Razov and Lawson Vaughn.

Auto racing

F1 RIVALRY HEATS UP: Lewis Hamilton believes McLaren has a mental edge over Ferrari in the Formula One world championship despite the discovery of new evidence in the spy scandal.

"If you look at what's gone on, I do think we are the stronger team," the McLaren driver said Thursday ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

The International Automobile Federation has called a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council on Sept. 13, which could lead to a two- year ban for McLaren from F1 for obtaining confidential information from Ferrari.

That would spell the end of Hamilton's title challenge.

"I'm trying to get on with my job and act as if it's a normal weekend," Hamilton said.