Explosive Miami outscores Louisville with big plays

D'eriq King threw three touchdown passes and 17th-ranked Miami used big plays to beat No. 18 Louisville 47-34 on Saturday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference 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 on the way to finishing with 134 yards on nine carries.

Miami (2-0) led 20-6 at halftime before host Louisville (1-1) scored twice in a wild third quarter to get within seven. The Hurricanes answered both TDS on their next snap with an unbalanced look against an out-of-place defense, with Knighton wide open for his catch that made it 34-20.

The ’Canes had 10 chunk plays of at least 18 yards, including seven passing.

King also hit Brevin Jordan (seven catches, 120 yards) with a 47-yard TD pass in the fourth to finish with 325 yards on 18-of-30 passing.

Central Florida QB shines in win

Sophomore Dillon Gabriel threw for a career-best 417 yards and four touchdowns, leading No. 14 Central Florida to a 49-21 victory over Georgia Tech in their season opener Saturday in Atlanta.

It was a rewarding performance for UCF, which was coming off a disappointing season in 2019 by its recent standards. The Knights lost three games — all on the road — by a total of seven points.

Georgia Tech closed within a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, but Gabriel led a dominating performance the rest of the way, finishing 27 of 41 to eclipse his previous career game high of 365 yards, set last season at East Carolina.

Navy’s rally sinks Tulane

Jamale Carothers rushed for 125 yards, Daniel Davies kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired, and Navy rallied from a 24-0 third-quarter deficit to beat Tulane 27-24 on Saturday in an American Athletic Conference game in New Orleans.

Navy (1-1, 1-0), which lost its opener 55-3 to Brigham Young, ran just two plays in Tulane territory in the first half and looked in danger of being blown out again. But an interception near the Midshipmen goal line turned the tide, and Navy scored 16 points in the final seven minutes of the third quarter to make a game of it.

No Big Ten in poll yet

A week before Big Ten teams become eligible again for the Associated Press poll, No. 25 Marshall is ranked for the first time since 2014 and Miami jumped to No. 12 after beating Louisville.

Voters will 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.

Clemson remained a nearly unanimous No. 1 after another light week of games. The Tigers received 59 of 61 first-place votes, with Alabama second and Oklahoma third.

Alabama and defending champion LSU, ranked sixth, split the remaining two first-place votes.