Florida ends season with statement win
ATLANTA — Lamical Perine had a 5-yard scoring catch and 53-yard touchdown run to lead No. 10 Florida’s strong rushing attack Saturday, helping the Gators cap their comeback season with a 41-15 rout of No. 8 Michigan in the Peach Bowl.
After finishing 4-7 in 2017, Florida enjoyed a dramatic turnaround in Dan Mullen’s debut season as coach. Florida (10-3) closed the season with four straight wins. Michigan (10-3) closed a promising season with two straight lopsided losses.
Feleipe Franks ran and passed for touchdowns to lead Florida’s offense. He had a 20-yard scoring run in the second quarter and finished with 74 yards rushing on 14 carries. Franks passed for 173 yards.
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson led Florida’s defense with two interceptions, including one returned 30 yards for a touchdown with less than five minutes remaining. Gardner-Johnson’s first interception early in the second half, when Florida led only 13-10, set the tone for the Gators.
The Wolverines faced the unenviable task of having four top starters, including top rusher Karan Higdon and leading tackler Devin Bush, skip the game to focus on the NFL draft.
After giving up 567 yards in a crushing 62-39 loss to Ohio State to close the regular season, Michigan’s defense again couldn’t play up to its No. 1 ranking.
Florida compiled 427 total yards, including 257 on the ground. Perine led the Gators with 76 yards rushing. Jordan Scarlett ran for 59 yards, including a 1-yard scoring run.
Michigan led 7-3 after Shea Patterson’s 9-yard scoring pass to Donovan Peoples-Jones in the first quarter — the Wolverines’ only touchdown. Patterson threw two second-half interceptions and completed 22 of 36 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown.
BELK BOWL
CHARLOTTE, N.C. \— Bryce Perkins threw three touchdown passes to Olamide Zaccheaus, Virginia’s defense dominated and the Cavaliers beat South Carolina 28-0 for their first bowl win since 2005.
Perkins completed 22 of 31 passes for 208 yards and ran for 81 yards as the Cavaliers (8-5) ended the ACC’s longest bowl drought. Zaccheaus, named the game’s Most Outstanding Player, had 12 catches for 100 yards. Jordan Ellis ran for 106 yards and a touchdown, helping Virginia hold the ball for more than 42 minutes.
The Gamecocks were shut out for the first time since 2006, when they lost 18-0 to Georgia.
The Cavaliers’ 14thranked pass defense put the clamps on a hot South Carolina offense that had averaged 38.2 points per game over the past five games. Jake Bentley had thrown for 16 touchdowns during that span, including a 510yard, five-TD performance against No. 2 Clemson, but struggled without wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who elected to bypass the bowl game to begin preparing for the NFL draft.
Bentley was limited to 218 yards on 17-of-39 passing and was intercepted twice. South Carolina was 2 of 13 on third down conversions and 2 of 5 on fourth downs.
The Cavaliers controlled the ball for more than 20 minutes of the first half and built a 14-0 lead at halftime. Perkins found Zaccheaus on a fourth-and-2 in the back of the end zone for a 6-yard score, and Jordan Ellis added a 9-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0.
Perkins found Zaccheaus twice in the second half for TDs of 10 and 12 yards
ARIZONA BOWL
TUCSON, Ariz. — Reagan Roberson bulldozed through one tackler and dove into the end zone on an 11-yard catch-and-run in overtime, lifting Nevada over Arkansas State 16-13.
Nevada (8-5) labored against Arkansas State’s defensive front all game before coming to life late, going up 10-7 on Devonte Lee’s 1-yard touchdown run with 1:06 left.
Arkansas State (8-5) racked up 499 yards, but was 1 for 5 in the red zone with two turnovers before marching quickly down the field at the end of regulation. Blake Grupe, who had one field goal blocked and badly missed on another, drilled a 32-yarder to tie it on the final play.
Grupe opened overtime with a 24-yard field goal, but Roberson bulled his way into the end zone to send the Wolf Pack rushing onto the field.
Nevada’s Ty Gangi had 200 yards and a touchdown on 18-of-34 passing with two interceptions.
Arkansas State’s Justice Hansen threw for 275 yards, but also had three interceptions — two in the end zone — after throwing six during the regular season. Warren Wand ran for 140 yards for the Red Wolves.
Nevada and Arkansas State came to the desert known for their prolific quarterbacks and highscoring ways. Neither showed up in a stuck-inthe-mud first half.
Both quarterbacks airmailed receivers multiple times, including one by Hansen that was intercepted at the Wolf Pack 20.
Gangi opened 1 for 6 and hit a few passes after that, setting up Ramiz Ahmed’s 36-yard field goal. Nevada had 72 total yards at halftime, yet only trailed 7-3.
Hansen was a bit more effective despite the pick, setting up the Red Wolves for three scoring chances. They converted one: Marcel Murray’s 2-yard TD run.