Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Mills’ late TD run lifts Georgia Tech past Eagles
DUBLIN (AP) — Dedrick Mills knew he just had to “finish the play” when given a chance to atone for a fumble in his first college game.
He made up for the mistake by also finishing Georgia Tech’s comeback win.
Mills’ 4-yard touchdown run with 35 seconds remaining capped a drive that included two big completions from Justin Thomas and lifted Georgia Tech to a 17-14 win over Boston College on Saturday.
Mills, a freshman from Ware County High School in Waycross, Georgia, said he had to regroup after fumbling in the third quarter.
Thomas threw two key completions on the goahead drive. The senior passed to Qua Searcy for 22 yards on a fourthand-19 play and found Ricky Jeune for 26 yards on third down.
Georgia Tech (1-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) won its first game played outside of the United States in the 124-year history of the program. Mills, who led the Yellow Jackets with 68 yards rushing, was especially impressed by the dramatic setting.
The Yellow Jackets’ only touchdowns came on their first and last drives of the game. Backup quarterback Matthew Jordan’s 3-yard scoring run capped the opening drive. Boston College held Georgia Tech’s spread-option attack to 240 yards, including 121 yards rushing.
It was a crushing loss for Boston College (0-1, 0-1 ACC), which was winless in conference games in 2015 and has lost nine straight overall. The Eagles took a 14-7 lead on quarterback Patrick Towles’ 6-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
Towles, a graduate transfer from Kentucky making his first start for the Eagles, threw an interception and lost a fumble in the first half.
Harrison Butker’s 39-yard field goal cut the lead to four points.
Jon Hillman’s 73-yard touchdown run on the Eagles’ first play of the second half tied the game at 7-7. Hillman ran for 102 yards on 17 carries . ...
No. 19 Louisville 70, Charlotte 14: Lamar Jackson not only hit 16 Louisville receivers with passes — six for touchdowns — he weaved his way through Charlotte’s beleaguered defense for a couple of hard-earned scores himself.
Jackson accounted for a school-record eight touchdowns and 405 offensive yards by halftime to help No. 19 Louisville dismantle Charlotte on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.
Jackson rushed 11 times for 119 yards, including a 36-yard TD run on Louisville’s opening drive. Louisville outgained Charlotte 663-208.
The 49ers barely touched Jackson several plays later as he broke through a left-side hole and barreled for the first of eight TDs on nine first-half possessions.
Jackson weaved a 1-yard TD run between a run of powerful throws that broke the game open. He hit six receivers with touchdowns long and short, and the 49ers could do nothing to stop them.
He made good use of his running backs, hitting Jeremy Smith out of the backfield for a 24-yard TD, Brandon Radcliff with a 16-yard TD and L.J. Scott for a 20-yard score.
Jackson’s best TD throw came late in the first half when he hit senior James Quick in the back of the end zone, a play initially ruled out of bounds. Replay showed Quick pulling in Jackson’s pinpoint pass with little room to spare as his feet dragged past the end line; the call was reversed to the delight of a red-clad crowd as the score broke Redman’s mark.
Given another scoring opportunity as seconds ticked down toward halftime, Jackson positioned Louisville with a 6-yard run to the 1 before coaches called timeout with nine seconds remaining. H-back Cole Hikutini then took Jackson’s short pass for a 1-yard TD reception four seconds later, capping the record-setting night. …
Wake Forest 7, Tulane 3: Kendall Hinton ran for a short early touchdown and Wake Forest overcame some offensive struggles and held on for a season-opening victory over Tulane on Thursday night.
Nothing came easy for the Demon Deacons (1-0) against a Tulane team playing its first game under new coach Willie Fritz and breaking in his run-heavy offense that produced the Bowl Subdivision’s top rushing team in each of his two seasons at Georgia Southern.
Wake Forest managed just 175 total yards — 59 yards and three first downs in the second half — yet won a matchup of teams coming off consecutive 3-9 seasons. Tulane finished with 280 total yards for the game and held a nearly 10-minute advantage in time of possession.
The only touchdown came on Hinton’s 1-yard run on the third play of the second quarter.
Andrew DiRocco capped Tulane’s opening drive with a 41-yard field goal, but had a 43-yarder blocked early in the fourth quarter. That loomed large late because Tulane came up empty on its final two possessions. …
N.C. State 48, William & Mary 14: N.C. State’s offense has a new look, and a new quarterback, but the same reliable playmakers.
Jaylen Samuels scored three touchdowns and Matt Dayes added a pair of scores to lead the Wolfpack to a win over William & Mary on Thursday night.
Quarterback Ryan Finley played most of the game and was efficient in his first start in offensive coordinator Eli Drinkwitz’s first game. Finley completed 17 of 21 passes for 174 yards with two touchdowns.
Finley led the Wolfpack offense on scoring drives the first two times it had the ball. Dayes, a senior running back, had rushing touchdowns of 5 and 4 yards. He finished 138 yards.
Sophomore Jalan McClendon played the third series of the game, with N.C. State up 14-7, but threw an interception on his only drive of the first half.
Finley came back in and led two more scoring drives before the end of the half, including a 16-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Bra’Lon Cherry.
Samuels, who took most of his snaps in the slot, led the Wolfpack in receiving with five catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. He ran for two touchdowns, both on his trademark jet sweep play. …
Syracuse 33, Colgate 7: Syracuse christened the Dino Babers era of racetrack football by sprinting away from Colgate in the season-opener for both teams Friday night.
Eric Dungey completed 34-of-40 passes for 355 yards and two touchdowns and Ervin Phillips snagged 14 passes to tie the school single-game record set by Art Monk in 1977. Amba Etta-Tawo grabbed 12 balls for 210 yards.
The Orange zipped off 33 straight points after FCS Colgate, defending Patriot League champion, scored the game’s first points on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jake Melville to Owen Rockett with nine minutes left in the first.
But Dungey was on fire from the start. He tied the game on a 43-yard strike to Etta-Tawo to cap a 79-yard, 6-play scoring drive just 1 minute 45 seconds later. Syracuse freshman running back Moe Neal ignited the rout 2:31 into the second quarter, taking his first college carry 49 yards for a touchdown. …
Vrginia Tech 36, Liberty 13: Virginia Tech quarterback Jerod Evans threw for 221 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Hokies to a season-opening victory over Liberty on Saturday, handing new coach Justin Fuente his first victory as the Hokies’ head coach.
Fuente, who spent the previous four seasons at Memphis, took over in January for Frank Beamer, who retired after 29 years as Virginia Tech’s head coach. Fuente’s decision last week to name Evans the starting quarterback certainly looked like a good move after Evans completed 20 of 32 passes.
Evans threw touchdown passes on the Hokies’ last two possessions of the first half to help Virginia Tech rally from a 13-10 deficit. Evans, who won a three-man battle for the job, played less than three quarters.
Liberty amassed just 160 yards of offense, scoring all of its points off of Virginia Tech turnovers. The Hokies lost four fumbles. …
Pittsburgh 28, Villanova 7: James Conner caught one touchdown and ran for another in his return from a battle with cancer to lead Pittsburgh to a win over Villanova on Saturday.
Conner’s first official carry in 364 days lost a yard but was met by a standing ovation. He eventually found his footing to help the shaky Panthers avoid an upset at the hands of the Wildcats, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision.
Conner raced around the left end for a 3-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter then added a 9-yard touchdown catch, a difficult grab in traffic across the middle. He finished with 53 yards on 17 carries and caught three passes for 16 yards.
Quadree Henderson returned the second-half kickoff 96 yards for a score to break things open. Nate Peterman completed 19 of 32 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns, including a pretty 16-yard lob to Jester Weah with six minutes to go. Still, the Panthers managed just 211 total yards. …
Richmond 37, Virginia 20: Kyle Lauletta threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns and Richmond manhandled Virginia 37-20 on Saturday in Bronco Mendenhall’s debut as the Cavaliers’ coach.
The Spiders, of the Football Championship Subdivision, outgained Virginia 524-302 in winning for just the third time in 33 meetings. The victory was the fourth in Richmond’s last nine meetings with a FBS-level school, but its first victory against the Cavaliers since 1946.
Lauletta teamed up with Tyler Wilkins for scoring throws of 11 and 5 yards, and hit Brian Brown for 11 yards.
Kurt Benkert threw for three touchdowns in his first start at Virginia, but two came in the final quarter with Richmond well ahead. He also threw an interception deep in Spiders territory. It was one a four turnovers for the Cavaliers, who managed just 38 yards rushing. …
Duke 49, NC Central 6: Daniel Jones threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in his first college start, and Duke routed North Carolina Central 49-6 on Saturday night.
Jela Duncan set the tone with a 50-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage, added a 3-yard TD run and matched a career high with 115 yards.
The Blue Devils (1-0) once again had an easy time against their lower-level crosstown opponent, building a three-touchdown lead before the Eagles (0-1) ran a play inside Duke territory and leading 49-0 at halftime after scoring TDs on seven of their 10 first-half possessions.
“It was a lot of fun out there tonight, and I think everyone enjoyed it,” Jones said.
A year after rolling up 655 total yards against Central, Duke gained 535 yards, gave up just 112 and improved to 5-0 in the series.
Jones certainly didn’t look like he’d never played in college before. The redshirt freshman finished 10 of 15 for 189 yards with touchdown passes of 55 yards to Johnathan Lloyd and 20 yards to Erich Schneider, and added a 17-yard scoring run.
Brandon McLaren kicked field goals of 48 and 34 yards for Central.
“The first half was not what we wanted it to be, by any stretch of the imagination,” Central coach Jerry Mack said. …
Miami 70, FAMU 3: Brad Kaaya threw for four touchdowns on his 21st birthday, Miami scored a school-record 42 points in the third quarter and the Mark Richt era began with an easy 70-3 win over Florida A&M on Saturday night. “I love being at Miami,” Richt said. The Hurricanes (1-0) had three backs — Joe Yearby, Mark Walton and Gus Edwards - all top 100 yards, the first time a Miami trio has done that since 1987. Yearby ran for two scores, Walton and Edwards each ran for one, and seven other Hurricanes reached the end zone.
Miami scored touchdowns on 10 of its first 12 possessions.
“We were just ready,” said Miami receiver Braxton Berrios, who returned a punt for a touchdown.
Kaaya’s four TD throws tied a career-best. He completed 12 of 18 passes for 135 yards.
Kenneth Coleman completed nine of 16 passes for 135 yards for the Rattlers (0-1), who lost to Miami for the 10th consecutive time.
“We didn’t come to play,” Coleman said. “We’ve got work to do.”
It was Richt’s first game leading the Hurricanes. He played at Miami until his graduation in 1982, and spent the previous 15 seasons coaching at Georgia. His team took a 28-3 lead into halftime, then scored touchdowns on all six of its opportunities in the third - with Edwards going 74 yards for a score as the quarter expired. …