Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
No. 13 Florida State rebounds and routs South Florida
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Dalvin Cook rushed for a career-high 267 yards and two touchdowns Saturday as No. 13 Florida State rebounded from the most lopsided loss in school history with a 55-35 rout of previously unbeaten South Florida.
Cook scored on a 75-yard run on the Seminoles’ first play from scrimmage, an immediate response to USF starting the game with Quinton Flowers and Rodney Adams teaming on an 84-yard catch-and-run for a quick 7-0 lead. The 213-pound junior’s rushing total on 28 carries topped his previous best of 266 yards against South Florida last year.
Florida State (3-1) bounced back from being trounced 63-20 by Louisville, a road shellacking that dropped the Seminoles 11 spots in the AP Top 25 from No. 2.
South Florida (3-1) is off to its fastest start since 2011, however the Bulls were no match for a talented bunch that began the season with expectations of contending for its second national title in four years.
Marlon Mack’s 1-yard TD run gave USF a brief lead before Cook, Freddie Stevenson and Bobo Wilson scored on Florida State’s next three possessions to put the Seminoles up 28-14.
Deondre Francois threw for 169 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. The red-shirt freshman added a 35-yard TD run midway through the fourth quarter. …
TCU 33, SMU 3: Kenny Hill threw for 452 yards and two second-half touchdowns, including a 75-yarder to John Diarse on the first play after halftime, and TCU pulled away from SMU 33-3 on Friday night.
Diarse’s catch-and-run score on a quick slant came after he left the game in the second quarter following a hard hit from Darrion Millines that led to a targeting ejection for the SMU safety.
Millines delivered the hit in the end zone after Anthony Rhone’s interception in front of him, leaving a staggered Diarse on two knees as athletic trainers and coach Gary Patterson came out to check on him.
Diarse came back later in the second quarter to catch a 23-yard pass on the drive to a field goal that put TCU ahead for good in a fifth straight victory over the Mustangs and the 15th win in the past 17 meetings between the crosstown rivals.
The junior had a career high in yards receiving for the second straight week, finishing with 139 on six catches.
SMU (2-2) played a touchdown-free first half against a high-scoring Big 12 team for the second time this season, trailing 6-3 at the half following a 6-6 halftime tie against No. 16 Baylor in Waco two weeks ago. The Bears went on to a 40-13 win. …
Temple 48, Charlotte 20: Phillip Walker threw two touchdown passes as Temple used a quick-strike offense in a 28-point second quarter to roll to a 48-20 win over Charlotte on Saturday.
Walker threw touchdown passes of 51 yards to Adonis Jennings and 40 yards to Brodrick Yancy to cap a pair of drives that combined for five plays and 125 yards. Jahad Thomas scored on a 13-yard run one play after a turnover as the Owls raced to a 31-7 halftime lead.
Austin Jones kicked a pair of field goals for Temple (2-2), giving him 16 straight.
Kalif Phillips had 114 yards and a touchdown, on 16 carries for the 49ers (1-3). It was his 12th 100-yard game and the 66-yard TD was the fourth-longest scoring run in school history.
Walker finished 15 of 26 for 268 yards for Temple. Thomas, who added a TD in the third quarter that made it 45-14, has 24 career touchdowns, fourth in Temple history. …
Syracuse 31, UConn 24: Amba Etta-Tawo caught 12 passes for a school-record 270 yards and two touchdowns and Syracuse beat UConn 31-24 on Saturday.
The graduate transfer from Maryland scored twice in the game’s first five minutes on touchdown receptions of 57 and 30 yards. His 59-yard catch on third down from the shadow of his team’s goal line highlighted a 12-play 99-yard fourth quarter drive that put the game away for the Orange (2-2).
Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey completed 26 of 40 passes for 407 yards and those two scores. He also scored on a 6-yard run to complete the length-of the field drive.
Noel Thomas had 14 receptions for 111 yards for UConn (2-2).
It took Syracuse just 51 seconds to score its first touchdown and 92 on its second for Dungey and Etta-Tawo to make it 14-0. Etta-Tawo had five catches for 115 yards in the first quarter. …
Cincinnati 27, Miami (Ohio) 20: Tion Green ran for 83 yards and a late touchdown on Saturday, rallying Cincinnati to a 27-20 victory over Miami (Ohio), its 11th in a row over the regional rival.
The Bearcats (3-1) pulled it out with a field goal and Green’s 2-yard run with 5:09 to go, overcoming the loss of starting quarterback Hayden Moore. Moore was hurt late in a 40-16 loss to Houston in the last game. Redshirt freshman Ross Trail got into that game late and threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown.
Cincinnati didn’t reveal the quarterback change until right before kickoff. In his first start, Trail was 25 of 38 for 276 yards with two interceptions and an 11-yard touchdown run. He also fumbled on a sack.
Miami (0-4) hasn’t won at Nippert Stadium since 2002, losing six in a row in Cincinnati.
Cincinnati also had a new kicker — Andrew Gantz is recovering from a leg injury. Josh Pasley was good from 28 and 23 yards, but missed badly on a 42-yard try in the closing seconds of the first half, which ended 10-10. …
Memphis 77, Bowling Green 3: Riley Ferguson threw six touchdown passes to six different receivers and ran for a seventh — all in the first half — tying a school record for most touchdowns responsible for and Memphis drubbed Bowling Green, 77-3 in a non-conference game Saturday night.
Ferguson, who walked away from a scholarship at Tennessee and spent the 2014 season out of college football, threw his first touchdown pass less than two minutes in, finding Daniel Montiei from 19-yards out and added scoring throws of 40-, 43- and 21-yards in the final 4:38 of the first quarter.
Less than three minutes into the second Ferguson plunged in from the 1, then fired 60- and 31-yards for touchdowns before intermission.
Ferguson finished 20 of 27 for 359 yards for Memphis (3-0).
Three Bowling Green quarterbacks combined to pass for 203 yards, but the Falcons (1-3) were limited to just 91 yards rushing on 28 carries. …
Tulane 41, Louisiana-Lafayette 39, 4OT: Glen Cuiellette threw four touchdown passes, including a 7-yarder to Terren Encalade that lifted Tulane to a 41-39 win over Louisiana-Lafayette in the fourth overtime on Saturday night.
The Ragin’ Cajuns (2-2) had a chance to tie, but failed on a 2-point conversion after Anthony Jennings hit Elijah McGuire on a 22-yard scoring strike.
It was Tulane’s first 4OT game in program history and LouisianaLafayette’s third 4OT contest.
Cuilette was 10 of 23 for 165 yards passing, with TD strikes of 34 and 27 yards to Encalade before tossing the game-winner and then a 2-point conversion pass to Kendall Ardoin. He also threw a 25-yard TD pass to Darnell Mooney.
Encalade had seven catches for 103 yards for Tulane (2-2) and Andrew DiRocco kicked four field goals, including a career-long 48-yarder.
Jennings threw for 240 yards and two TDs for the Ragin’ Cajuns and Stevie Artigue kicked a career-high four field goals.