Cato leads Marshall

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Rakeem Cato had four total touchdowns and Marshall had 657 total yards on Saturday in a 56-14 rout of Alabama-Birmingham.

The Thundering Herd (6-3, 4-1 Conference USA) scored quickly and easily. They averaged 12.6 yards per play to break a school record set in 1991 against VMI (12.4).

Cato surpassed Chad Pennington to become Marshall’s all-time leader in consecutive games with a touchdown pass at 27. Cato had 276 yards, three passing touchdowns and no interceptions. His 20 passes were the fewest in his career.

Steward Butler ran for 139 yards, Essray Taliaferro had 118 and Kevin Grooms had 108. It was the first time three Marshall players rushed for at least 100 yards in a game.

UAB (2-7, 1-4) finished with 464 total yards and 22 first downs but did not force a Marshall punt until the fourth quarter.

Jordan Howard had 123 yards on 22 carries for the Blazers.

In other games in Conference USA, Sean Ianno kicked a 34-yard field goal with 14 seconds left as Texas-San Antonio defeated Tulane 10-7. … Brandin Byrd rushed for 202 yards and two touchdowns as North Texas defeated

Texas-El Paso 41-7. … Shane Carden threw for five touchdowns and ran for two more, setting a school record for most touchdowns in a game, to lead

East Carolina to a 58-24 victory against Tulsa. … Shane Tucker rushed for 95 yards and two touchdowns, including a 48-yard run, to help drive Middle Tennessee to a 48-0 rout over Florida International. ... Kenneth Dixon (Strong) ran for 207 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries to lead Louisiana Tech to a 36-13 victory over Southern Miss.