Check South Florida off the unbeaten list
Quarterback passes for five touchdowns and runs for two as the Cougars roll.
Houston quarterback King has a hand in seven scores in Cougars’ 57-36 victory.
HOUSTON — D’Eriq King had a hand in a careerhigh seven touchdowns, throwing for 419 yards and five scores, and running for 134 yards and two touchdowns in Houston’s 57-36 victory over No. 21 South Florida on Saturday.
King threw touchdown passes of 15, 38, 30, 52 and 27 yards and had scoring runs of 47 and 36 yards.
“If you don’t have a tough quarterback, you’re going to struggle as a football team, and he’s very tough,” coach Major Applewhite said. “He’s one of the best competitors, if not the best competitor, that I’ve ever been around. He plays his butt off. I mean, he jumps over people, he tries to run through people. He does whatever he needs to do.”
Marquez Stevenson caught six passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns, Jeremy Singleton had five receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown, and Courtney Lark caught four passes for 85 yards before exiting early in the fourth quarter because of an injury.
The Cougars (7-1, 4-0 American Conference) finished with 684 yards and won their fifth game in a row.
Johnny Ford rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns, and Jordan Cronkrite rushed for 73 yards and a touchdown for the Bulls (7-1, 3-1), which had its winning streak end at eight games. Blake Barnett threw for 263 yards and a touchdown.
“When you lose a game the way we just lost, it was just totally embarrassing,” coach Charlie Strong said. “We are a better football team than we showed today. You can't give up five touchdown throws.”
After a safety on King for intentional grounding in the end zone, South Florida cut the lead to 28-26 on a 23-yard field goal by Coby Weiss with 10 minutes 47 seconds to play in the third quarter but would not get any closer.