USC’s Lee has nation’s top receiving day since ‘07

Southern California’s Marqise Lee turned in one of college football’s best offensive performances in years this weekend. Too bad his team lost.

The sophomore receiver caught 16 passes for a Pac 12-record 345 yards against Arizona. He finished with 469 all-purpose yards thanks to his three kick returns for 123 yards, including a 72-yarder that set up the Trojans’ last touchdown in a 39-36 loss.

No Football Bowl Subdivision player had piled up as many receiving yards in a game since Donnie Avery of Houston had 346 against Rice in 2007, according to STATS LLC.

Lee’s all-purpose yardage was the most since Reggie Bush, another USC Trojan, piled up 513 against Fresno State in 2005.

Despite his big game against Arizona and two other 190-plus-yard receiving games, Lee is well behind national leader Terrence Williams of Baylor.

Williams averages 171.9 yards receiving. Lee is second at 141.1.

The second-best receiving performance of the week also came in that USC-Arizona game. The Wildcats’ Austin Hill had 10 catches for 259 yards.

HAPPY RETURNS: Utah’s Reggie Dunn had two 100-yard kickoff returns in a 49-27 win over California and now has three in his career.

He’s the 16th player in NCAA history to record two touchdowns on kick returns in a game.

Dunn totaled 222 kick return yards on three returns, setting both an NCAA record and school record for kickoff return average in a game (74.0).

MICHIGAN MALAISE: Michigan has gone two straight games without a touchdown _ the Wolverines’ longest drought since 1962.

Their most recent TD came in the fourth quarter of a 45-0 win over Illinois on Oct. 13. All the Wolverines could muster against Michigan State (12-10 win) and Nebraska (23-9 loss) was a combined seven field goals.

The last time Michigan went without a touchdown for so long was during the 2-7 campaign in 1962, when Michigan State, Purdue and Minnesota shut out the Wolverines in succession.

TACKLE MACHINES: Three of the season’s top four tackle performances occurred this past weekend, two of them by teammates.

Nevada’s Albert Rosette made a school-record 25 tackles and fellow Wolf Pack linebacker Dray Bell 22 in a 48-31 loss to Air Force. Bell, a senior, was making his first career start.

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