Tulane crushes South Florida; Cincinnati, Memphis cruise
At Tampa, Fla., Darius Bradwell scored a touchdown for the seventh straight game and led a 364-yard rushing attack that carried Tulane to a surprising 41-15 rout of South Florida on Saturday.
The Green Wave (4-5, 3-2 AAC) won in the state of Florida for the first time since 1977, ending a 13-game skid with a dominating performance against an opponent suddenly reeling after spending three weeks ranked in the Top 25.
Bradwell rambled 73 yards untouched to put Tulane up 34-3 late in the third quarter and finished with 134 yards on 15 carries. Corey Dauphine rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns, and graduate transfer Justin McMillan ran for his third TD in two starts as the Green Wave quarterback.
South Florida (7-2, 3-2) has dropped two straight for the first time since 2015. USF saw its nation-best streak of scoring at least 20 points end at 38 games.
Cincinnati 42, Navy 0: At Cincinnati, Desmond Ridder led three touchdown drives before hurting his right leg, and the Bearcats overpowered Navy’s option-based offense while pulling away to a rout.
The Bearcats (8-1, 4-1 American Athletic) controlled the game with the conference’s stingiest defense, limiting Navy to 57 first-half yards despite a quarterback change. The Midshipmen (2-7, 1-4) dropped their sixth straight.
Ridder ran for a touchdown and handed off to Michael Warren II for two more before twisting his right leg while getting tackled late in the first half. He limped off, and Hayden Moore took over and threw an 11-yard touchdown pass for a 28-0 halftime lead.
Ridder returned for the start of the second half and threw a 55-yard TD pass on Cincinnati’s opening drive, then was on the sideline the rest of the way. He finished 13 of 17 for 178 yards, and he ran seven times for 66 yards.
Navy switched quarterbacks after its 44-22 loss to No. 3 Notre Dame last week, with Zach Abey getting his first start of the season. He was sacked all three times he tried to throw in the first half
Memphis 59, East Carolina 41: At Greenville, N.C., Darrell Henderson rushed for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns and Memphis broke away from a second-half tie in a game that saw nearly 1,200 yards of offense.
Henderson scored touchdowns of 20 and 39 yards in the final period on consecutive possessions to finish with 132 yards on 21 carries. He also hauled in a 71-yard pass from Brady White for Memphis (5-4, 2-3 American).
The Pirates (2-6, 0-5) rolled up 556 yards of total offense.