HERD ABOUT THAT?
Running back Brenden Knox and his Marshall teammates move into the AP Top 25, thanks to their 17-7 victory Saturday over Appalachian State.
A week before Big Ten teams become eligible again for The Associated Press college football poll, No. 25 Marshall is ranked for the first time since 2014 and Miami jumped to No. 12 after a conference road victory.
Marshall moved in with a 17-7 home victory over then-No. 23 Appalachian State.
Clemson remained a nearly unanimous No. 1 in the AP Top 25 Sunday after another light week. The Tigers received 59 of 61 firstplace votes from a panel of sports writers and broadcasters. The rest of the top 10 was basically unchanged. No. 2 Alabama received one first-place vote. Oklahoma was No. 3, followed by Georgia, Florida and LSU at No. 6. The defending champion Tigers also received a first-place vote.
Notre Dame is seventh.
Auburn and Texas are now tied for eighth, and Texas A&M is No. 10.
A season disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic is scheduled to crank up next week. The Southeastern Conference, which has eight teams ranked, will kick off. The Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 have full slates of games. At least for now.
The Big Ten set a fall schedule Saturday, but it won’t kick off until the weekend of Oct. 24. Voters will still be allowed to include Big Ten teams on their ballots starting next week. There were seven Big Ten teams ranked in the preseason Top 25, including Ohio State at No. 2.
Depending on how voters approach it, that could crowd out some teams currently ranked.
One of them is Virginia Tech, which remained No. 20 as the Hokies await their rescheduled opener against North Carolina State on Saturday.
Aloha
No. 13 Central Florida, which climbed a spot in Sunday’s poll, has another Heisman Trophy contender quarterback from Hawaii.
Dillon Gabriel, who ended up winning the job last season as a freshman, appears even better this year. Gabriel went to the same high school as teammate McKenzie Milton, who finished in the Heisman top 10 in 2017 and ’18.
Few quarterbacks are as fearless throwing deep as Gabriel. Against Georgia Tech, he passed
for 417 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 10 yards per attempt and 15 yards a completion. It was a convincing victory against a Power Five team, if only a rebuilding squad.
Gabriel’s key backup last year was current redshirt junior Darriel “DJ” Mack Jr., a Norview High graduate who was the American Athletic Conference championship game MVP in
2018. He was one of the Knights who elected not to play this season because of coronavirus concerns.
Milton is still hoping to play again after a gruesome leg injury two seasons ago. Just getting on the field would be a miraculous comeback. But make no mistake, Gabriel is the man at UCF, and the Knights have a team that could again make a case for something more than just an AAC trophy.
“You saw what happened last week,” Gabriel said, referring to Georgia Tech’s victory at Florida State. “I guess you can say we’re the best team in Florida.”
Late Saturday (ACC)
No. 17 Miami 47, No. 18 Louisville 34
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — D’Eriq King threw three touchdown passes as the Hurricanes used big plays to win the ACC opener for both teams.
King threw a 75-yarder touchdown pass to Jaylon Knighton in the third quarter, a series after Cam’ron Harris ran 75 yards for a score.
Miami (2-0) led 20-6 at halftime before Louisville (1-1) scored twice in a wild third to get within seven. The Hurricanes answered both TDs on their next snap
against an out-of-place defense, with Knighton wide open for his catch that made it 34-20.
King also hit Brevin Jordan with a 47-yard TD pass in the fourth and finished with 325 yards on 18-of-30 accuracy. Louisville’s Micale Cunningham passed for 307 yards and three TDs, two to Tutu Atwell, and Javian Hawkins had a 19-yard TD run and finished with 164 yards on 27 carries.
N.C. State 45, Wake Forest 42
RALEIGH, N.C. — Ricky Person Jr. scored a 3-yard go-ahead touchdown with 5:51 left to help North Carolina State win its delayed season debut.
Person ran for 99 yards and two scores to lead the Wolfpack (1-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), which opened the eighth season under coach Dave Doeren a week later than originally
scheduled due to a corona virusrelated postponement. Person also threw a jump pass for a TD near the goal line in the third quarter.
Zonovan Knight added 97 yards rushing and a score for N.C. State, which ended a three-game skid in the long-running instate series.
Person’s 3-yard score finally put the Wolfpack ahead for good. Then the defense came through, with Penn State graduate transfer Daniel Joseph sacking Sam Hartman to force a fourth-and-21, followed by Hartman throwing incomplete over the middle with 1:10 left.
That spoiled a huge game for Wake running back Kenneth Walker III, who ran for 131 yards and three touchdowns — including a 2-yard wildcat keeper with 9:12 left that gave the Demon Deacons (0-2, 0-2) a 42-38 lead.