Gators' Brad Stewart Jr returns an interception for. a score to clinch win./STEVEN MUNCIE
Sunday, 1 a.m.
In the trial of Willie Taggart, it looked as if all things would be forgiven. After this, a new trial may begin.
There for a while, Taggart's Seminoles were in charge. They were playing well as they built a 20-point lead, and it seemed as if Taggart's FSU team would win the first big game of his coaching era.
And then it was gone. Once again, Taggart was left to try to explain a lead that had squandered and a game that had been blown. Miami scored 21 unanswered points to capture a 28-27 victory.
N'Kosi Perry, making only his second start for UM, threw four touchdown passes, including a 41-yarder for the lead with just under 12 minutes to play.
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Franks gets the ball near the end zone./STEVEN MUNCIE
FSU had a touchdown called back when the first part of a double-pass was ruled to be forward. Ricky Aguayo missed a field goal.
“Our guys know how to play football. We have to teach them how to win,” FSU coach Willie Taggart said.
In the second half, FSU had eight possessions. They ended with a punt, a fumble, a punt, a punt, a missed field goal, a fumble, a punt and a punt. That was enough wiggle room for Perry to lead the comeback.
"Florida State came in here and took control of this game," Miami coach Mark Richt said. "We found a way to fight back ... somehow, we gutted it out."
Lamical Perine scored twice for Florida./STEVEN MUNCIE
Florida 27, LSU 19: Unlike Taggart, Florida coach Dan Mullen didn't let his big victory slip away. The Gators, led by their defense, upset fifth-ranked LSU at the Swamp to move to 5-1 on the season and remain in the SEC East race.
Lamical Perine scored on two short touchdown runs and had 85 yards rushing for the Gators. Florida sealed the game when Brad Stewart Junior intercepted a pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown with 1:45 to play.
"Success is probably a tricky word for me to use with our offensive line tonight,"
Kyle Trask sacks Burrow./STEVEN MUNCIE
Mullen said. "Success might not be the right word. But they battled. When we needed it, they came out and knocked LSU off the ball."
Quarterback Feleipe Franks threw for only 161 yards, but Mullen liked what he saw.
"He did a heck of a job," Mullen said. "He was getting banged up. They did a good job getting pressure on us. He never flinched. He did a great job managing plays and doing what we asked hin to do, He kept his focus and kept making plays."
Tim Tebow was inducted in to Gators Hall Of Fame./STEVEN MUNCIE
FAU 52, Old Dominion 33: Devin Singletary became the all-time leading rusher for FAU in its win over ODU. Singletary rushed for 168 yards and two scores to lead the Owls.
Singletary now has 3,568 career rushing yards.
Quarterback Chris Robison also had a big night with 339 yards passing and two scores.
"It wasn't exactly how we like it to be, but like I told the guys, we probably need to enjoy a win," said coach Lane Kiffin. "We should probably be pretty excited about a 10-game home winning streak … Credit to (Old Dominion), it's a good team and a good quarterback and some good receivers. There is a reason they beat Virginia Tech, and had East Carolina beat last week … Good response by Chris (Robison) in the passing game today after not playing real well, so that was good to see. I think we made some strides in a very difficult week after swallowing that loss. We felt we should have won that game. That one's over with, so all we could do is go 1-0 and we did today."
UCF 48, SMU 20: Central Florida coach Josh Heupel suggests that the American Football Conference "can play with anyone." Weekly, his Knights prove that isn't really true.
UCF won its 18th straight game Saturday night, cruising past the Mustangs. UCF took a 21-3 first-period lead, and it was never close afterward.
Quarterback McKenzie Milton threw for 278 yards, and running back Adrian Killins had 113 yards rushing.
The Knights are now 5-0 on the season, and they've scored at least 38 points in all of them. Over two years, UCF has scored at least 30 in every game.
“It’s hard to go 1-0 every week,” Heupel said.
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