No. 3 Ohio State beats back comeback bid by No. 9 Indiana
Temple has game delayed because of COVID-19 concerns
COLUMBUS, OHIO » Master Teague ran a career-high 169 yards and two touchdowns, Justin Fields accounted for three scores and No. 3 Ohio State held off a comeback bid by Michael Penix Jr., Ty Fryfogle and No. 9 Indiana to win 42-35 on Saturday.
The Hoosiers (4-1) rallied from a four-touchdown deficit in the second half and made it a one-score game with 10:26 left, when Penix and Fryfogle connected on a 56-yard touchdown.
Penix was 27 for 51 for a career-high 491 yards and five touchdown passes for Indiana.
The Buckeyes (4-0) put up 607 yards and led 35-7 early in the second half, but struggled to contain Penix and Fryfogle, who caught seven passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns.
Fields was 18 for 30 for 300 yards and two touchdown passes, but he also threw his first three interceptions of the season and was sacked five times.
Garrett Wilson had seven catches for 169 yards — his fourth straight game of 100plus yards — and two scores for the Buckeyes.
The running game helped Ohio State steady maintain control when things were getting dicey.
Penix passed for four touchdowns in the second half but also made a critical error, tossing an interception that Ohio State’s Shaun Wade returned for a touchdown at the end of the third quarter.
Indiana had climbed its highest ranking in the AP Top 25 in more than a half-century, and the Hoosiers had pumped up their confidence by beating conference rivals Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State for the first time in program history.
NO. 6 FLORIDA 38, VANDERBILT 17 » Kyle Trask passed for 383 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 6 Florida rallied from an early deficit to beat Vanderbilt 38-17 on Saturday.
The Gators (6 -1, 6 -1 Southeastern Conference) pulled into Vanderbilt Stadium an hour before kickoff already in uniform, hoping to avoid the visitors locker room as a coronavirus precaution. The Commodores (0-7, 0-7) opened the game by driving for a touchdown, but Trask helped get Florida on track for its seventh consecutive win in the series.
Trask, a Heisman Trophy hopeful, completed 26 of 35 passes to nine differ
ent receivers. He is the first quarterback in SEC history to accrue 30 touchdown passes in seven games.
Vanderbilt drove 75 yards on 11 plays in the opening series, scoring on Ken Seals’ 16-yard pass to Chris Pierce Jr. with 10:50 left in the first quarter.
The Gators tied it less than three minutes later. Trask found wider receiver Kadarius Toney wide open around the 15-yard line, and Toney carried the ball in the end zone to complete a 27yard play at 7:47.
Vanderbilt countered with Pierson Cooke’s 25yard field goal on the next drive, and the Gators tied it at 10 when Evan McPherson kicked a 33-yarder at 4:13 of the second quarter.
Trask threw a 34-yard TD pass to Trevon Grimes with 49 seconds left until halftime for a 17-10 lead, and Dameon Price rushed in from a yard out for a 2410 advantage early in the second half.
With 2:55 lef t in the third, Trask found tight end Kemore Gamble in the back of the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown pass.
Vanderbilt answered 54 seconds later with a 58yard pass from Seals to Pierce, who caught the ball around the Florida 45-yard line and eluded two tackle attempts on his way to the end zone. It was the longest touchdown catch for Pierce in his career, and the longest TD throw for Seals.
Florida struck again at 6:46 of the fourth quarter with Emory Jones completing a 30-yard pass to Gam
ble, his second of the game.
Seals set a Vanderbilt record for passing yards by a freshman, besting the 1,483 yards thrown by John Gromos in 1985. He completed 22 of 34 passes for 319 yards, his fourth straight game with 200 or more yards and his third in the last four with more than 250. It was the third time this season he has passed for at least 300 yards.
NO. 15 COASTAL CAROLINA
34, APPALACHIAN STATE 23 » Reese White scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 3-yard run with 2:24 to play, and No. 15 Coastal Carolina continued its perfect 8-0 start with its first-ever win over Appalachian State, 3423 on Saturday.
The Chants (6-0 Sun Belt Conference) had lost all six previous games to the fourtime defending Sun Belt champion Mountaineers. But they held Appalachian State to just two field goals in the second half after falling behind 17-9 at halftime.
The Mountaineers tried to rally after White’s score. But D’Jordan Strong intercepted Zac Thomas’ 4thand-22 pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown to clinch it.
Coastal Carolina, picked last in the Sun Belt in the preseason, is now a victory away from winning the league’s East Division and playing West winners Louisiana-Lafayette for the conference title next month.
The Chants play at Texas State next week and a make-up of a COVID19-postponed game at Troy on Dec. 12. In between is a potential undefeated showdown against No. 22 LIberty on Dec. 5.
Coastal Carolina freshman quarterback Grayson McCall threw for 200 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another 69 yards and a score. Wide receiver Isaiah Likely had 118 yards receiving and a score, and the Chants’ defense forced three turnovers, all interceptions, off the usually steady Thomas.
Two of those came in the second half, when the Mountaineers led twice. Appalachian State, thanks in part to Camerun Peoples’ huge first half, was up 2015 after a 36-yard field goal by Chandler Staton a little over four minutes into the third quarter. Less than five minutes later, McCall hit C.J. Marable for a 19yard touchdown to push the Chants in front.
Staton added his third field goal of the game with 11:47 to go, giving ASU a 2321 advantage.
It stayed that way until the scores from White and Strong.
Thomas threw for 211 yards and a touchdown, and Peoples finished with 178 yards rushing, although nearly all of those came before halftime.
ECU 28, TEMPLE 3 » Tyler Snead scored two touchdowns, including a 95-yard kickoff return, and East Carolina beat Temple 28-3 on Saturday in a game delayed nearly an hour because of COVID-19 concerns.
The game started roughly 50 minutes late after a Temple player was taken back to campus for a rapid COVID-19 test shortly before kickoff. As a result of the situation, five Temple defensive players, including three starters, were ruled out for game because of protocols.
Another game-day announcement resulted in the Owls (1-6, 1-6 American Athletic Conference) starting their fifth-string quarterback, walk-on Kamal Gray, after fourth-stringer Matt Duncan was suspended for violating team rules. Temple’s first three quarterbacks were already unavailable because of COVID-19 protocols or injuries.
Snead’s kickoff return gave the Pirates (2-6, 2-5) a 10-point lead and his 46yard touchdown catch in the final minute of the half made it 21-3. Holton Ahlers set up his own 1-yard score with a 75-yard run. He also threw for two TDs and was intercepted once. Keaton Mitchell rushed for 103 yards.