Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Jackson’s huge day catapults Louisville
NO. 17 LOUISVILLE 47, NORTH CAROLINA 35
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Lamar Jackson shrugged off preseason questions about his chances of becoming only the second two- time Heisman Trophy winner, saying it wasn’t a focus when he won it last year, nor would it be this fall.
That approach is working just fine, too.
Jackson accounted for 525 total yards and 6 touchdowns to help No. 17 Louisville pull away late and beat North Carolina 47-35 on Saturday, giving him more than 1,000 yards of total offense in two games.
“Last night I thought about that, like, ‘Wow, this man here is special,’” said receiver Dez Fitzpatrick, who had two TD catches from Jackson. “He can do it all. He can throw, he can run, his football IQ is off the charts — everything. Really, just a once-in-a-lifetime type of quarterback.”
The junior threw for 393 yards and three scores while also running for 132 yards and three TDs. The last came on a spinning-through-tacklers 11- yard run with 3: 06 left to punctuate a dominant fourth-quarter effort by the Cardinals (2-0).
Jackson had 485 total yards in last week’s victory against Purdue, with 107 of those coming on the ground.
“When you’re in a situation, in a 1-on-1 with him, in open space, he’s going to win,” UNC Coach Larry Fedora said. “And there’s times when you’re in a 2- on-1 in open space he’s going to win. There aren’t a whole lot of guys that can do that.”
Junior Jaylen Smith had 9 catches for a career-high 183 yards and a score for Louisville, which rolled to 705 yards.
The Cardinals trailed 28-27 entering the final quarter, but went ahead on Jackson’s 3-yard keeper with 13:50 left. Louisville’s defense then came up with two fourthdown stops — one at its own 1-yard line — to end promising drives by the Tar Heels (0-2).
NO. 4 PENN STATE 33, PITTSBURGH 14
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Trace McSorley threw for three touchdowns, including Saquon Barkley’s 46-yard catch-and-run, and Penn State pulled away.
McSorley completed 15 of 28 passes for 164 yards, helping the Nittany Lions (2-0) avenge a loss to their in-state rivals a year ago. Tight end Mike Gesicki had two touchdown receptions and Barkley ran for 88 yards to help Penn State ended a two-game skid against the Panthers.
Qadree Ollison ran for 96 yards for the Panthers (1-1), but Pitt’s offense struggled to finish drives early on and the Nittany Lions pulled away late. Max Browne completed 19 of 32 passes for only 138 yards and was intercepted twice.
NO. 8 MICHIGAN 36, CINCINNATI 14
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Ty Isaac ran for a career-high 133 yards and Wilton Speight threw two touchdown passes to help Michigan pull away.
The Wolverines (2-0) led by just three points early in the second half before scoring 19 consecutive points to turn a closely contested game into a lopsided one.
The Bearcats (1-1) failed to take advantage of Michigan’s many mistakes and made some miscues of their own to spoil an upset bid.
Cincinnati’s Hayden Moore was 15 of 40 for 132 yards with a TD pass to Kahlil Lewis that cut Michigan’s lead to 17- 14 in the third quarter. Moore had some passes dropped and had some errant throws, two of which were intercepted and returned for scores by Tyree Kinnel in the first quarter and Lavert Hill late in the fourth.
Speight completed 17 of 29 passes for 221 yards. He had touchdown passes to Kekoa Crawford early in the game and to Grant Perry in the third that gave Michigan a 10-point cushion.
NO. 9 WISCONSIN 31, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 14
MADISON, Wis. — Freshman Jonathan Taylor ran for 223 yards and 3 touchdowns and Alex Hornibrook threw for 201 yards and a score for Wisconsin.
The bigger Badgers (2-0) wore down the Owls (0-2) despite some middling play in the middle of the game. Wisconsin opened up 14-0 lead in the first quarter on Taylor’s 64- and 29-yard touchdown runs, but didn’t have the game in hand until his third score with 1:12 left in the third quarter,
The threat of Hurricane Irma bearing down on South Florida put the stakes in perspective for the Owls and first-year Coach Lane Kiffin.
NO. 18 VIRGINIA TECH 27, DELAWARE 0
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Greg Stroman returned a punt 61 yards for a touchdown and Josh Jackson threw two scoring passes for Virginia Tech.
Stroman is the first player in Virginia Tech history to return a punt for a touchdown in three consecutive seasons.
The Hokies (2-0), coming off a last-second victory over West Virginia, struggled offensively for much of the game, but got scoring strikes of 4 and 28 yards from Jackson. The latter one went to Cam Phillips, who broke free on a post pattern to give the Hokies breathing room in the fourth quarter.
Jackson completed 16 of 27 passes for 222 yards.
NO. 19 KANSAS STATE 55, CHARLOTTE 7
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kendall Adams scored on interception and fumble returns in the first half for Kansas State in the rout over Charlotte (0-2).
Adams returned an interception 30 yards to give the Wildcats (2-0) a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, and had a 46-yard fumble return late in the second to make it 31-7.
Alex Barnes, Jesse Ertz and Winston Dimel had touchdown runs.