Undefeated Ball State pulls out all the tricks

Ball State's Nate Davis used every option in the arsenal last night at Muncie, Ind.

There was the nifty pump-fake, the soft lob, the deep ball, the low liner, the long runs, and, oh yeah, all those Northern Illinois mistakes.

Davis threw for four touchdowns and ran for another as the 16th-ranked Cardinals routed Northern Illinois, 45-14, to remain undefeated and alive in the chase for a BCS bowl game.

The matchup between the Mid-American Conference's top offense and No. 1 defense wasn't even close.

MiQuale Lewis topped 100 yards rushing for the ninth straight game for Ball State (9-0, 5-0), which produced eight plays of 25 yards or more in scoring its season high.

Northern Illinois (5-4, 4-2) allowed nearly six times its average of 8.2 points.

Davis finished 18 of 22 for 300 yards and broke Mike Neu's career record for completions. The junior has 592, 12 more than Neu. Lewis ran 19 times and topped the 1,000-yard mark, while Louis Johnson had six catches for 165 yards and a TD.

Prince won't return

Kansas State football coach Ron Prince will not return for the 2009 season, pushed out after failing to rebuild the Wildcats into a Big 12 contender.

Prince took over for Bill Snyder in 2006, his first head coaching job after 14 years at six different schools. He never lived up to the standard Snyder set, going 16-18 in 2 1/2 seasons in Manhattan, including 4-5 this year.

"We are in a performance-based profession and have made this decision in the best long-term interest of both the university and its football program," Kansas State athletic director Bob Krause said. "Our goal remains the same: to build a winning program that is positioned to consistently compete for championships."

Kansas State was 7-6 and went to a bowl game in Prince's first season, but has regressed since, going 5-7 last season, losing four of five Big 12 games this year.

The Wildcats have lost three straight headed into Saturday's game against Missouri, including a 56-21 setback to Kansas last weekend that dropped Prince to 0-3 against Kansas State's in-state rival.

Kansas State has one of the nation's worst defenses, ranking 107th in scoring defense at 33.7 points per game and 108th in total defense at 444.67 yards per game.

Leaf on leave

Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was placed on administrative leave from West Texas A&M, where he is quarterbacks coach and men's golf coach for the Division 2 school. Athletics director Michael McBroom said he met with Leaf Sunday to "go through some options, and we agreed that a leave is the best option." He said he could not comment on what prompted the decision and said he would not speculate on when or whether Leaf would return. Leaf was in his third season as quarterbacks coach at West Texas A&M, which is 9-1 heading into its final regular season game . . . The Mountain West Conference has reprimanded Wyoming's coach and quarterback for criticizing a TCU player's hit. Quarterback Karsten Sween had a concussion from the Oct. 25 hit by TCU linebacker Robert Henson, who was flagged for a personal foul. After the game, coach Joe Glenn said he thought the hit was a "cheap shot," and Sween said it was a "dirty hit." . . . Florida sophomore guard Jai Lucas, the son of former NBA player and coach John Lucas, has decided to transfer.

Gold standard

A pair of seniors, UMass quarterback Liam Coen and Bridgewater State back Bruce Burley, received this week's Gold Helmet awards from the New England Football Writers. The 6-foot-2-inch, 225-pound Coen was 15 of 17 passing for 241 yards and three touchdowns as the Minutemen rolled over host Rhode Island, 49-0, earning his second helmet of the season. The 5-9, 170-pound Burley rushed for a school-record 292 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries to power the Bears to a 47-14 New England Football Conference win over Worcester State.