Big performances turned in by several quarterbacks and one pass catcher in Saturday college football

It was a Saturday field day for college quarterbacks from Florida, North Carolina, Marshall, Notre Dame, Liberty and Tulsa, as well as pass catcher Ty Fryfogle of Indiana.

Let’s first shine the light on Zack Smith of unranked Tulsa. He passed for 325 yards and a trio of touchdowns as the Golden Hurricanes rallied from a 21-0 deficit to stun 19th-ranked Southern Methodist, 28 -24, drop the Mustangs to 7-2 and advance to 4-1 in the home field victory.

Next there’s surprising Liberty with its best-ever record of 8-0 at this point. It is ranked 22nd, its highest ever, and its quarterback, Malik Willis, had a 306-yard game through the air that included three TDs, and he also ran for two of his own in the 58-14 romp over visiting Western Carolina, which fell to 2-5.

Marshall is ranked 16th and also up there with those owning unblemished records, as the 7-0 Thundering Herd got behind signal-caller Grant Wells in what was the 75th anniversary of the fatal Marshall football contingent’s airline clash — the worse disaster in U.S. sports history –while flying home after a defeat at East Carolina, and so Wells was on target passing before the limited home crowd passing for 325 yards and five touchdowns in the 42-14 win over visiting Middle Tennessee.

In an Atlantic Coast Conference contest, North Carolina, now 6-2 after falling out of the top-25, trailed by 28-7 and 46-28 before coming back behind its quarterback Sam Howell as he threw for team records of 550 yards and six TDs, plus running in the go-ahead touchdown with 4:11 left to claim an exciting 59-53 win over Wake Forest, which dropped to 4-3.

Unbeaten, 9th-ranked Indiana, now takes on No. 3, undefeated Ohio State Saturday in the biggest Big Ten tilt of the shortened season. The Hoosiers, 5-0, waited a long time, 32 years, before being victorious, 24-0, on the road at unranked Michigan State. This standout was an Indiana wide receiver, Ty Fryfogle, and he reeled in 11 receptions for 200 yards, two surprising career highs he’d just set a week earlier.

Florida, the 6th-ranked, upped its mark to 5-1, as quarterback Kyle Trask threw for 356 yards for six touchdowns, and extended his second record for consecutive games from four to six in the overwhelming 63-25 rout over visiting Arkansas, which fell to 3-5 following the Southeastern Conference tussle.

Then there was undefeated No. 2 Notre Dame winning its seventh straight by bouncing back from an early gap as quarterback Ian Book turned a 24-14 deficit into a 45-31 road win over Boston College by passing for three touchdowns and running for another just one week after downing than-No. 1 Clemson at home.