Monday, 4 a.m.

What's the big deal about this new-fangled thing called the forward pass?

And it is it really necessary?

The Tampa Bay Bucs stampeded their way into a first-place tie Sunday, literally running over the Atlanta Falcons, winning 16-0 at Raymond James Stadium.

Bucky Irving had a career-high 170 yards, and teammate Kenneth Gainwell had his first 100-yard day with 140 more. In all, the Bucs ran for a staggering 324 yards against what had been the fourth-best rushing defense in the NFL.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield didn't complete a pass, throwing three incompletions and running four times. It was the first time since 1974 an NFL team has won without completing a pass.

"Listen, I will do whatever it takes to win," said Mayfield, who has thrown only 14 times in the last two weeks.

The Bucs' defense, meanwhile, intercepted Atlanta quarterback Michael Penix Jr. -- who went to high school in Tampa -- four times and allowed him to complete only one-third of his 24 passes.

Irving has 457 yards rushing over his last four games. His day could have been better had he not had the ball stripped from him just before he reached the end zone.

The heavy rains affected both teams. Perhaps that helps to explain why linebacker Alex Anzalone had two interceptions and Zyon McCollum and Jacob Parrish each had one.

"I didn't say we were not going to throw the ball -- the conditions told (Zak Robinson) that," Bucs' coach Todd Bowles said. "You could see it. It's a downpour and wind was blowing. You could kind of see the ball wasn't going anywhere."

Special teams also played well. Kicker Chase McLaughlin hit three field goals and punter Riley Dixon averaged 47.1 yards on his six punts and kicked four of them inside the 20.

Tampa Bay travels to Chicago to play the Bears on Sunday night at 8:20 at Soldier Field.

Sunday, 4 a.m.

Before they ask, no, Ohio State can't have him back.

C.J. Hicks, the former Buckeye, announced his presence as a South Florida Bull in Saturday's 30-10 comeback victory of Alabama-Birmingham at Raymond James Stadium.

Hicks tied a school record with four sacks. On two of them, he forced fumbles that teammates returned for touchdowns.

It allowed the Bulls to come back from a 10-0 deficit and run their record to 6-2 on the season. South Florida did that despite the loss of quarterback Michael Van Buren, who left due to injury after he had completed just one pass.

Backup quarterback Luke Kromenhoek came off the bench and ran for 92 yards. The Bulls didn't use him to throw downfield often, but he hit seven of his 10 passes.

Pup Howard and Asani Redwood ran in fumbles caused by Hicks. Howard also had two sacks.

The Bulls are on the road Friday night against East Carolina at 7:30 p.m.

Miami 38, North Carolina 35: For the eight minutes that mattered the most, Miami was definitely the No. 1 team in the nation.

With eight minutes left to play, the Hurricanes trailed 28-24 against the upset-minded Tar Heels.

But Miami drove 75 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. A strip-sack set the Canes up for a another touchdown that gave Miami a 10-point lead.

North Carolina came back with a touchdown, and then recovered two on-side kicks (both negated by penalties).

North Carolina's Billy Edwards threw for 341 yards and four touchdowns in the loss.

Miami's Darian Mensah threw for 274 yards and three scores.

Miami has perhaps its biggest game next Saturday against Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m. in South Bend, Indiana.

Georgia 27, Florida 8: The Gators didn't give themselves much of a shot against third-ranked Georgia in Atlanta.

The Gators had four turnovers -- three of them interceptions -- and rushed for just 54 yards in their loss, which came a game after the Gators upset Texas.

Georgia, on the other hand, rushed for 217 yards.

Florida is home on Saturday night at 7:45 against Oklahoma at the Swamp.

Clemson 36, FSU 24: For a moment, it looked as if FSU might make their contest against Clemson a comeback.

And then, they did not.

The Seminoles, down 29-10 in the fourth quarter, came back to within 29-24. But Clemson quarterback Tait Reynolds ended any thoughts of a collapse with a game-clinching 79-yard run with 3:17 to play.

FSU quarterback Ashton Daniels hit 21 of 33 passes for 350 yards Micahi Danzy caught four balls for 108 yards.

The Seminoles, however, fell to 3-5 and 1-4 in the ACC.

FSU is on the road Saturday at noon against Boston College.

Sunday, 3 a.m.

If you're wondering, yeah, things have gone better for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Lightning lost their third game in four tries Saturday in Nashville, falling 5-4 in a shootout to the Predators. Former old friend Steven Stamkos scored a goal in regulation and the only goal of the shootout to make it worse. The Bolts have now given up 20 goals in their last four games.

The Bolts also were doing damage control after reports surfaced that star Nikita Kucherov wanted out of Tampa.

Kucherov had three assists in the loss.

The Bolts led sporadically during the game. John Carlson tied the game at 1-1 in the first period, then Jake Guentzel scored his eighth goal for a 2-1 lead. Victor Hedman makde it 3-2 and Colnor Geeie made it 4-3 early in the third period.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 29 of 33 shots, but his record fell to 6-4-1.

The Lightning is home at Benchmark Internatinoal Arena Tuesday at 7 p.m.