Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Jackson shines again, No. 3 Louisville beats Marshall 59-28
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — Lamar Jackson threw five touchdown passes, ran for two more scores and No. 3 Louisville breezed past Marshall 59-28 on Saturday night.
Jackson capped off a September to remember with another solid effort against an overmatched opponent.
The sophomore completed 24 of 44 passes for a career-high 417 yards against a Marshall secondary whose most experienced player had five starts. Jackson also ran for 62 yards.
Louisville (4-0) didn’t slow down against a nonconference opponent on the road a week after beating Florida State 63-20 at home.
The Cardinals raced to a 35-7 halftime lead on Marshall and cruised in the second half to break a four-game losing streak to the Thundering Herd. Jackson’s scoring passes covered 71, 8, 30, 8 and 51 yards.
Marshall (1-2) was limited to 207 yards of offense in the first start for freshman quarterback Garet Morrell. Chase Litton missed the game with an undisclosed injury that was announced an hour before kickoff.
THE TAKEAWAY:
LOUISVILLE: Jackson simply hasn’t been stopped, although Marshall’s pass rush at times forced him into inaccurate throws and his streak of five straight 100-yard rushing games dating to last season came to an end. After four games, he’s thrown 13 TD passes and run for 12 more scores.
MARSHALL: The Thundering Herd need Litton back in a hurry and could use some help on defense after allowing 124 points in their last two games. …
Old Dominion 33, UTSA 19: David Washington threw for 207 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 69 yards and another score to lead Old Dominion to a 33-19 win over UTSA in the Conference USA opener for both teams on Saturday.
Jeremy Cox totaled a careerhigh 103 rushing yards and two touchdowns for Old Dominion (2-2, 1-0). Jonathan Duhart hauled in six passes for 86 yards and two scores
UTSA (1-3, 0-1) closed to 25-19 when Brady Jones hit Kirk Johnson on an 8-yard scoring strike after Johnson had passed back to Jones with 46 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Monarchs got some breathing room in the final period when Washington passed to Duhart from the 1 for the final score.
Jarveon Williams rushed for 93 yards for the Roadrunners. Dalton Strum threw for 103 yards but was sacked for a minus 34 yards on the ground. …
Vanderbilt 31, W Kentucky 24, OT.:Vanderbilt’s defense turned away a 2-point conversion play at the end of the first overtime as the Commodores escaped with a 31-30 victory over Western Kentucky on Saturday.
Kyle Shurmur’s 5-yard pass to Nathan Marcus on the first possession of overtime gave Vanderbilt (2-2) its first lead of the game, and Tommy Openshaw added the point after for the Commodores.
Western Kentucky (2-2) answered quickly, needing just two plays to find the end zone on Mike White’s 8-yard pass to Shaquille Johnson.
Hilltoppers coach Jeff Brohm elected to go for two points. White rolled to his right, but his pass was batted into the air and intercepted in the middle of the defensive line, as Vanderbilt players rushed the field to celebrate the comeback victory.
The Commodores went 75 yards in the final 1:02 of regulation in seven plays to tie the game at 24-24 and force overtime. A pass interference call in the end zone on Western Kentucky’s De’Andre Simmons against Vanderbilt’s Trent Shurfield gave the Commodores the ball at the Hilltopper 2 with three seconds to play in regulation. Vanderbilt running back Ralph Webb, who had three rushing touchdowns in the game, leaped from just inside the 5 and landed just beyond the front edge of the end zone for the tying score.
The Hilltoppers built a 14-0 lead in the first half, getting a 4-yard run from Anthony Wales to cap the opening drive of the game. WKU added a second-quarter score when backup quarterback Tyler Ferguson hit Nacarius Fan on a 61-yard pass play.
Webb capped touchdown drives for Vanderbilt of 4 and 2 yards to tie the game briefly at 14-14.
Wales put the Hilltoppers back in front with a 20-yard touchdown and the teams traded fourthquarter field goals before the Commodores game-tying drive. …
North Texas 42, Rice 35 2OT: Willy Ivery plunged in from 4-yards out, Rice’s Darik Dillard was stuffed on 4th-and-1 on the ensuing drive, and North Texas escaped Rice with a 42-35 win in 2OT on Saturday night.
Jeffrey Wilson led North Texas (2-2, 1-0 Conference USA) with 157 yards rushing and three touchdowns and Mason Fine added 224 yards through the air with a touchdown.
Dillard sent the game into overtime with a 1-yard run that capped an 8-play, 74-yard drive with 2:34 left. After each team exchanged touchdowns in the first overtime period, Ivery ran in his second TD of the game for a 42-35 Mean Green lead. Rice drove the ball to the North Texas 16 on its final possession before Dillard was stopped for a loss to end the game.
Tyler Stehling threw for 232 yards and ran for 92 with a passing touchdown to lead Rice (0-4, 0-2). Dillard had added 67 yards and two scores. …
Middle Tennessee 38, Louisiana Tech 34: Brent Stockstill fired a 23-yard pass to Ty Lee with 2:36 left to rally Middle Tennessee past Louisiana Tech, 38-34 in a Conference USA showdown Saturday night.
Ryan Higgins threw his second TD pass to Trent Taylor early in the third quarter to give the Bulldogs a 27-7 advantage.
Stockstill hit I’Tavius Mathers with a 37-yard scoring strike to start the comeback and Mathers ran for two more scores in the fourth quarter — the second giving the Blue Raiders 31-27 lead.
Kam McKnight capped an eightplay, 82-yard drive with a 1-yard run to give Louisiana Tech a 34-31 lead with 3:56 left, but Stockstill completed the comeback with a five-play, 75-yard drive for the win.
Stockstill finished with 356 yards on 27 of 46 passing for Middle Tennessee (3-1, 1-0).
Higgins was 36 of 59 for 504 yards and three touchdowns for Louisiana Tech (1-3, 0-1). …
UCF 53, FIU 14: Dontravious Wilson rushed for three touchdowns as UCF steamrolled Florida International 53-14 on Saturday night.
Wilson scored all his TDs — on runs of 1, 15 and 12 yards — on just 10 carries in the first half, the first UCF back to rush for three touchdowns in a half since Storm Johnson in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl.
Adrian Killins added a TD run of 62 yards, C.J. Jones added a 1-yard rush and Nick Patti scored on a 9-yard run as the Knights (2-2) compiled six rushing TDs in a game for the first time since 2011.
UCF racked up 501 yards total offense with 26 first downs to 189 yards and 11 first downs for FIU (0-4). None of the Knights’ scoring drives lasted longer than three minutes, with Wilson’s second TD capping a six-second drive.
Alex McGough and Maurice Alexander combined for 11 of 23 passing for 109 yards for FIU. …
Ball State 31, FAU 27: Riley Neal threw two touchdowns and ran for two more, including the winning score, as Ball State rallied in the second half to edge Florida Atlantic 31-27 on Saturday night in a game that was delayed several times due to lightning.
Neal was 23-of-37 for 252 yards passing for the Cardinals (3-1) and rushed for another 74 yards.
Neal ran for the game-winning touchdown from short yardage, capping a 10-play, 70-yard drive with 1:47 left to play.
Florida Atlantic led 24-17 at the break.
Following a lengthy game delay midway through the third quarter, Neal threw a 29-yard touchdown to tie it up, 24-24, with 1:46 left in the period.
In the fourth, a 41-yard field goal put FAU back on top 27-24 with 9:18 remaining.
Jason Driskel threw for 324 yards and a touchdown for the Owls (1-3). He also ran for a score. …
Southern Miss 34, UTEP 7: Nick Mullens threw for 176 yards and three touchdowns to help lead Southern Mississippi to a 34-7 win over UTEP on Saturday night.
Ito Smith ran 16 times for 108 yards and added 33 yards receiving with a touchdown for Southern Miss (3-1, 1-0 Conference USA), who outgained UTEP by 120 yards (378-258) and forced three Miners turnovers. D.J. Thompson and Allenzae Staggers also caught TD passes for the Golden Eagles.
An Aaron Jones 68-yard touchdown run gave UTEP (1-3, 0-1) its only lead of the game late in the first quarter. But Southern Miss responded, reeling of 21 unanswered points in the second quarter for a 24-7 halftime lead.
Curtis Mikell added to the Golden Eagles lead midway through the third, intercepting a Zack Greenlee pass at the goal line and returning it 100 yards for a touchdown.
Jones led the Miners with 127 yards and one TD.