Quarterback Jordan McCloud accounted for five touchdowns./JOE MESTAS
Sunday, 3 a.m.
Forget the weakness of the opponent. Pay no mind to the lopsided score of the game.
For USF, the important part of Saturday night's victory was simple.
It was a new start.
Say hello to freshman quarterback Jordan McCloud, who is now behind the steering wheel of the USF Bulls.
After eight straight defeats, the Bulls changed quarterbacks, benching Blake Barnett in favor of McCloud. McCloud responded by hitting 16 of 27 yards for 217 yards and three touchdowns ina 55-16 win. He also ran for two scores.
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Wilcox brings in a touchdown catch./JOE MESTAS
“He was able to just give us a difference pace there on offense," coach Charlie Strong said.. It was good that Jordan came in and performed the way he performed.”
Except for McLoud, there wasn't much drama to Saturday night's game. The Bulls took advantage of eight turnovers to pull away from South Carolina State, sputtering early but then winning easily over an outmatched opponent from the MEAC.
"He played very well," Strong said. "When you snap an eight-game losing streak, you need some energy."
Barnett has started his USF career strong, but he faded last year. In the first two games, USF managed only 10 points.
USF plays in two weeks against SMU at Raymond James Stadium. Kentucky 21.
Florida 29, Kentucky 21: The eighth-ranked Gators won by the slimmest of margins, avenging last year's loss to Kentucky.
The Wildcats, trailing 22-21, lined up for a winning field goal with 58 seconds to play. However, Chance Pool missed a 35-yard field goal to the right. After that, Florida's Josh Hammond ran for 76 yards around right end.
The Gators won despite losing quarterback Feleipe Franks to a right leg injury late in the third period. Franks was scrambling before being stopped for no gain by the Wildcats' Calvin Taylor Jr. on a fourth-and-1 play at the Kentucky 38.
Franks completed 12 of 17 passes for 174 yards and a 15-yard touchdown before the injury. Backup Kyle Trask came into the game and hit nine of 13 passes.
The Gators play Tennessee at home Saturday.
"We had to believe we were going to win this," coach Dab Mullen said. "That was the difference. We found a way to make a play to win the game there."
Virginia 31, FSU 24: In a world that seems to be ganging up on coach Willy Taggart, there is new ammunition.
Taggart, faced with a first-and-goal from the four-yard line, tried to run Cam Akers around right end for a touchdown that would lead to a tie game. Instead, Akers was stopped at the line of scrimmage, leaving doubters to wonder why Taggart didn't spike the ball and set up a play.
The Seminoles now fall to 1-2 on the season despite holding leads in every game. FSU led 17-10 and 24-17 in this one.
On FSU's final drive, Virginia was flagged for two pass interference penalties, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a roughing-the-passer penalty. Still, FSU could not score.
FSU plays Louisville next Saturday.
Miami 63, Bethune-Cookman 0: The Hurricanes won their first game of the season in a romp over Bethune, which had just 76 yards passing and 61 yards rushing For Miami, quarterback Jarren Williams threw for 254 yards and three touchdowns.
The Hurricanes' DeeJay Dallas had 108 yards rushing.
“We thought it would be difficult,’’ coach Manny Diaz said. “We talked before the game about dealing with the adversity of expectation and how you go about winning a game and feeling the pressure if there are some struggles early on. And you could sort of sense that with our guys — guys maybe pressing... Once we settled down and just played the game, especially coming out after halftime, I thought we relaxed [and] played a lot better.”
The Hurricanes play Central Michigan Saturday.
UCF 45, Stanford 27: Quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for 347 yards as the Knights knocked off Stanford.
Greg McCrae ran for 109 yards for UCF.
UCF took a 28-7 lead in the first quarter and never blinked. The Knights play at Pittsburgh on Saturday.
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