The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No. 24 Canes fall flat; No. 15 Hokies come up short
Michigan State spent the week preparing for a fight. That was the analogy that the Spartans used all week, telling each other that their game at Miami would be a grind-it-out bout decided in the later rounds.
Sure enough, it happened. And the Spartans were the ones throwing the knockout punch.
Payton Thorne passed for 261 yards and four touchdowns, two of those scoring throws going to Jalen Nailor, and Michigan State extended its unbeaten start by topping No. 24 Miami 38-17 on Saturday. The Spartans outscored Miami 21-3 in the fourth quarter to pull away, somehow looking like the fresher, fitter team on a day where the on-field temperature hovered near 100 degrees.
“There was a point in time when we said, ‘Let’s finish this thing,’ ” Thorne said.
Kenneth Walker III rushed for 172 yards and caught a touchdown pass for the Spartans (3-0), who are off to their best start since 2015.
Jayden Reed also had a scoring catch and a touchdown run for Michigan State, which forced four turnovers.
King was 38 of 59 passing — both of them Miami school records — for 388 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also fumbled the ball away once and lost another on a stripsack in the fourth quarter, plus was shaken up at least twice and needed to leave the field once for evaluation.
King — who rehabbed a torn ACL throughout the offseason and didn’t miss a game — said he would get his right shoulder examined today but insisted it was “not too bad.”
(At) West Virginia 27, No. 15 Virginia Tech 21: Jarret Doege threw two touchdown passes, Leddie Brown rushed for 106 yards and a score, and West Virginia survived No. 15 Virginia Tech’s furious rally from a 20-point deficit to beat the Hokies.
The Mountaineers (2-1) built a 27-7 lead midway through the third quarter but saw that mostly evaporate behind Virginia Tech’s Braxton Burmeister.
Burmeister threw for two scores, including a 29-yard toss to Jalen Holston with 3:10 left. Virginia Tech got the ball back with 2:11 remaining on Jermaine Waller’s interception of Doege at the West Virginia 17, but Burmeister threw incomplete on fourthand-goal from the 3, and West Virginia ran out the clock.
It was one of three Virginia Tech (2-1) drives that stalled inside the West Virginia 10, with the Hokies coming away with no points.
Western Michigan 44, (at) Pittsburgh 41: Kaleb Eleby threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns, and Western Michigan stunned Pittsburgh.
La’Darius Jefferson ran for 78 yards and two scores for the Broncos (2-1), who came into Heinz Field as a 15-point underdog and left it with their first victory over a Power Five school in five years.
Kenny Pickett tossed six touchdowns for the Panthers (2-1) and threw for 382 yards to move past Hall of Famer Dan Marino into second-place on the school’s alltime passing list, but Pitt fell flat a week after a victory on the road at Tennessee.
Western Michigan rolled up 516 yards of total offense and held the ball for 40 minutes.
Boston College 28, (at) Temple 3: Pat Garwo, Travis Levy and Dennis Grosel scored rushing touchdowns, and Boston College cruised to a victory over Temple.
Grosel — who stepped into the quarterback spot following the injury to starter Phil Jurkovec during last week’s win over UMass — also added a touchdown pass to Jaden Williams.
The Eagles defense recorded four sacks of Owls quarterback Justin Lynch, who was under constant pressure. Boston College (3-0) was especially effective on 3rd down, where they held Temple (1-2) to 3 for 14 overall.
(At) Syracuse 62, Albany 24: Sean Tucker scored five touchdowns, the Syracuse defense recorded eight sacks and yielded just 135 total yards, and the Orange defeated Albany.
Playing without leading wide receiver Taj Harris, who was out with an undisclosed injury, Syracuse (2-1) amassed 623 yards of offense. The Orange defense held the Great Danes (0-3) to two first downs and 67 yards in the first 30 minutes.
Late Friday
(At) Louisville 42, UCF 35: Jaylin Alderman returned an interception off a tipped pass for a 66-yard touchdown with 13 seconds remaining, giving Louisville (2-1) a thrilling victory over UCF (2-1).
The Knights and their highspeed offense appeared primed to win the back-and-forth battle after intercepting Louisville’s Malik Cunningham off a deflection on the previous play for possession at the Cardinals’ 41 with under a minute to play. But Alderman, a freshman linebacker, was there to snatch a tip of Dillon Gabriel’s pass on the next snap before finding room down the right sideline for the TD to spark a delirious celebration for Louisville.
UCF announced Saturday that Gabriel suffered a broken clavicle on the final play but gave no timetable for his return. The junior is one of the top quarterbacks in the country.