Hurricanes hit a Pitt stop
PITTSBURGH — Miami’s perfect season is over. The Hurricanes can only hope their shot at a spot in the College Football Playoff isn’t gone, too.
Freshman Kenny Pickett ran for two touchdowns and threw for another and Pittsburgh stunned No. 2 Miami 24-14 on Friday, ending the Hurricanes’ nation-best winning streak at 15 games.
Pickett bulled over from 6 yards in the first half, flipped a 5-yard shovel pass to Qadree Ollison in the third quarter to put the Panthers up 10 and gave Pitt (5-7, 3-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) all the cushion it would need with a 22-yard fourth-down sprint to the end zone with 2:54 remaining.
Pickett completed 18 of 29 passes for 193 yards and the one score while adding 60 yards rushing in his first career start as Pitt finished a disappointing season.
Malik Rosier completed 15 of 34 for 187 yards and two scores but was ineffective for most of the day, even briefly getting replaced by backup Evan Schirreffs in the fourth quarter. The Hurricanes (10-1, 7-1) were held to a season-low 229 yards. The Coastal Division champion will face No. 4 Clemson in the conference championship game next Saturday.
CENT. FLORIDA 49, S. FLORIDA 42: Mike Hughes returned a kickoff 95 yards for the final touchdown with 1:28 remaining as No. 12 Central Florida completed the first unbeaten regular season in program history with a wild win over No. 19 South Florida in Orlando to clinch the American Athletic Conference’s East Division title.
The Knights (11-0, 8-0 AAC, CFP No. 15) will host Memphis in the conference title game on Dec. 2.
Hughes’ touchdown capped a crazy 53-second span where the Knights took an eight-point lead, South Florida tied it and then the Knights took the lead for good.
The Bulls (9-2, 6-2) tied it at 42 when Quinton Flowers connected with Darnel Salomon for an 83-yard touchdown, and then found D’Ernest Johnson for a 2-point play.
Flowers finished with 605 yards of total offense. On the ensuing kickoff, Hughes found an opening on the right side and scored.
South Florida drove to midfield late, but Mitchell Wilcox fumbled and it was recovered by Chequan Burket.
TCU 45, BAYLOR 22: Kenny Hill threw touchdown passes to three receivers and ran 3 yards for another score to help TCU wrap up a spot in the Big 12 championship game.
The Horned Frogs (10-2, 7-2 Big 12, CFP No. 12) will play No. 3 Oklahoma for the Big 12 title on Dec. 2. That will come three weeks after TCU’s 38-20 loss to the Sooners.
COACH CANNED
Arkansas has fired coach Bret Bielema after five disappointing seasons, moments after a seasonending 48-45 loss to Missouri on Friday.
The loss left Arkansas with a 4-8 record, capping only the second losing season of Bielema’s 12-year career.
It also left him with a 29-34 record in his five seasons with the Razorbacks, including 11-29 in the SEC.
It was a shockingly poor performance from a coach who led Wisconsin to three Rose Bowl appearances before being hired at Arkansas from Wisconsin after the 2012 season. —AP