Sunday, 3 a.m.
When a coach has won two games in his career, it's hard to make a list of his most impressive moments.
But at least after this one, perhaps USF coach Jeff Scott has a chance, after all.
After a slow start, the Bulls played well in a 35-27 loss to BYU Saturday night. The Bulls fell behind 21-0 in the first 10:40 of the game and looked to be on its way to being blown out. At halftime, it was 28-6.
But the Bulls fought back in the second half behind freshman quarterback Tim McClain. USF put together drives of 75, 54 and 94 yards to get close.
“Our goal was to come out, obviously, and play well early,” coach Jeff Scott said. “We talked about that all week, … we needed to come out and play well early and we didn’t. Ultimately, that ended up being the difference in this game.
“When you’re playing a really good team like BYU, who’s won 12 home games in a row, … you’ve got to be able to execute for four quarters.”
McClain hit 17 of 24 passes for 186 yards and ran for 55. Running. back Jaren Mangham ran for 86 yards.
USF is on the road against SMU next week.
Florida 38, Tennessee 14: As a quarterback, he was unbeaten, untied and unloved. For Emory Jones, that last category might have changed somewhat Saturday night.
Jones took over the game and led Florida to a comfortable 38-14 victory over regular punching bag Tennessee. It was the Gators' 16th win over the Vols in the last 17 meetings.
Jones rushed for 144 yards and threw for 209 and two touchdowns. The Gators led just 17-14 at the half, but outscored the Vols 21-0 in the second half.
"You're seeing him settling down, making the right reads," Florida coach Dan Mullen said of Jones. "It shows he's managing things."
Miami 69, Central Connecticut 0: In the days of football expansion, does anyone know: Is the Northern Conference of the FBS hiring?
If so, the Miami Hurricanes might want to apply. Miami, playing without its starting quarterback D'Eriq King, punished opponent Central Connecticut of the Northern Saturday afternoon, winning 69-0. The bad news is that Central had given up only 56 a week ago; on the other hand, that was against Southeast Louisiana.
Miami had a school record 739 yards in the win. Backup quarterback Tyler Van Dyke hit 10 of 11 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns. His backup, Jake Garcia, hit 11 of 14 for 147 yards.
Two running backs, Cam'Ron Harris and Thad Franklin, each had 100 yards rushing.
"Against an overmatched opponent I thought the most important thing today was Miami, and how we played," Diaz said.
Miami plays against Virginia on Thursday night.
Louisville 31, FSU 23: The FSU Seminoles are going in the wrong direction.
The Noles fell to 0-4 Saturday, losing to Louisville after a sluggish start. FSU trailed 31-7 just before halftime. FSU came back in the second half, but quarterback McKenzie Milton threw an interception with his team behind by eight points.
Norvell is now 3-10 as coach of FSU. Milton completed 24 of 39 passes for 248 yards.
“We didn’t play well in the first half in any phase," Norvell said. "Gave up big plays, had miscommunications, struggled on third down in the first half. Missed opportunities, we had our chances. Didn’t finish drives. We’ve got to finish.
"We did not start how you need to start football games. That’s a reflection on me. We’ve got to get these guys ready from the beginning.”
FSU plays Syracuse Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.