Sunday, 4 a.m.
For a while, they made it interesting. For a moment, they made you wonder.
In the end, however. Miami just had too much depth, too much speed and too much Cam Ward.
The eighth-ranked UM Hurricanes, down 15-14 to USF late in the first half, pulled away for a 50-15 victory Saturday night. It was an ambitious endeavor for the Bulls, still in a rebuild under Alex Golesh. USF has improved, but it’s hard to expect them to hang with a top 10 team.
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In many ways, the game was much like the Bulls' 42-16 loss to Alabama earlier. In that one, the Bulls gave up 28 fourth quarter points to make the score look more one-sided than the competition was.
In other words, USF fans will spend the next week arguing that the game really was close for a while.
Ward hit 24 of 34 passes for 404 yards and three touchdowns against the Bulls, who couldn’t slow the UM passing attack. Receiver Isiah
Horton caught eight passes for 108 yards.
Damien Martinez ran for three touchdowns for the Canes. Jordan Lyle rushed for 103 yards.
The Hurricanes scored on every possession of the second half.
For the Bulls, quarterback Byrum Brown hit 19 of 30 for 254 yards before leaving with an injury early In the fourth period. Brown also had 27 yards rushing and caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Sean Atkins.
Receiver Sean Atkins caught 10 passes for 125 yards.
USF is now 2-2, with its two losses to fourth-ranked Alabama and Miami.
USF is on the road against Tulane Saturday at noon. UM is home on Friday night against Virginia.
Florida 45, Mississippi State 28: Was a good afternoon of offense enough to buy Billy Napier a little time? Or does giving up 480 to a mediocre Mississippi State team make fans look at an upcoming bye week and demand a change.
For Florida, such is where the Gators are. They get an afternoon of great quarterbacking, and a 17-point victory, and think that they have seen enough.
The good news? Starting quarterback Graham Mertz hit 19 of 21 passes for 201 yards. If that wasn’t enough, backup D.J. Lagway hit all seven of his passes for 76 yards.
The bad news? Florida never could stop the Bulldogs, either. They rushed for 240 yards and threw for 240 more. The Bulldogs are just 1-3, but Florida was never able to shut them down.
FSU 14, California 9: Hey, FSU won a game…finally.
The Seminoles came from behind Saturday night to beat California when Ja’Khi Douglas caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from D.J. Uiagalelei. It enabled the Seminoles to avoid a 0-4 start.
The FSU defense recorded seven sacks, including one in the final minute by Marvin Jones, Jr. Cal had 422 yards of offense, but could manage just three field goals. The Bears also missed two field goals of less than 40 yards.
FSU plays at SMU on Saturday.
