SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
It was a double dip Saturday in the Sunshine State. One a humiliating rout, the other a game-winning field goal, and worse, both at the home fields that are usually safe sites.
But not this time, for awhile after 17th-ranked North Carolina overwhelmed 10th-ranked, Miami, 62-26, in the afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, last year’s national champions from unranked LSU had their best game of a disappointing season by hanging around at night with 6th-ranked Florida and then pulling off a 37-34 importable surprise in Gainesville, also labeled “the swamp.”
Both crushing setbacks dropped the Hurricanes to 9-2, the Gators to 8-2, and spoiled any chance of either one to advance in the national ranking. As for the Tar Heels, they are certainly going to move up and the Bayou Tigers, still with a losing record (4-5), but a special win on the road in Gator land.
Before that, Miami was picked apart from the outset to the final whistle.
Said Canes’ second-year head coach MannyDiaz: “We got our butt kicked.”
And a great part of it came from an offensive machine that totaled 566 yards on the ground and 223 through the air, a historic record 785 yards against Miami. Sophomore quarterback Sam Howell threw three touchdowns and was 14-for-19, while on the ground senior Michael Carter and junior Iavonte Williams trampled the Canes as the first two players on a team to carry for over 200 yards, the 5-foot-10, 199-pound Carter carrying 24 times for 308 and the 5-10, 220 Williams gained 236 yards on 23 carries, and that’s an awesome 544 total yards.
North Carolina, now 8-2, quickly reeled off three first-quarter touchdowns and held Miami to a field goal. At the half, the Tar Heels increased their lead to 34-10, and it was 41-18 after three quarters. The Canes’ offense was flat, running up only 67 yards on the ground and 128 through the air. They picked up 11 first downs and NC pieced together 25, including one via a trick play that led to a touchdown.
LSU and Florida were tied at 7-7 after one quarter, but the Tigers were up 24-17 at intermission. They received an impressive outing from sophomore quarterback Matt Johnson, whose father, Brad, played in the NFL, made his first college start and threw for three touchdowns on a 18-for-26 night. He also ran for 72 yards, while it wasn’t a Hiesman Trophy performance for Florida quarterback Kyle Trask. He was intercepted twice in the first half and that led to LSU touchdowns, and he was forced into several quick releases, a few that turning into penalty throwaways. He was 16-for-28 for 226 yards.
With the score at 34-all in the final minutes, the Tigers failed on a fourth and three fourth down, but while their receiver was short when he was tackled by two defenders, an inexcusable penalty went to Florida’s Marco Brown when after the receiver lost a shoe, Brown laughed and threw the shoe downfield. Quickly, yellow flags were thrown for a 15-yard penalty, and LSU now had a
first down that brought it to the toe of Cade York, who drilled it 57 yards through the uprights. Then the Gators tried for a tie with three seconds left, but the 51-yard attempt by Evan McPherson sailed wide left and the Tigers had something to celebrate.
The only undefeated team to lose was 21st-ranked Colorado being trounced by visiting Utah, 38-21. One unbeaten, 11th-ranked Coastal Carolina had a tough tussle before getting past Troy on the road, 42-38. Same with 25th-ranked Buffalo, which hit the road and stomped on Akron, 49-0. Top-ranked Alabama, one of the seven teams with unblemished records, walloped Arkansas, 52-3. At San Diego State, once-beaten, 16th-ranked Brigham Young, carried off a 28-17 triumph, and 11th-ranked Georgia rolled to a 49-14 romp at Missouri.
Then there was 21st-ranked Wisconsin banking on its defense to claim a 21-7 victory at 17th-ranked Iowa. At Illinois, 15th-ranked Northwestern, which is headed for a Big 10 championship games against 4th-ranked Ohio State, won handily, 28-10. In a clash of unranked teams at Maryland, it was Rutgers winning in overtime, 27-21. And unranked Penn State, recovering from a dismal 0-5 start, won its third in a row by topping Michigan State, 28-7.
And in the first Army-Navy game played on a campus since 1943, it was a foggy day at West Point’s Michi Stadium, and with some 9,000 looking on and President Donald Trump flipping the pre-game opening toss, the fog got heavier and neither team could move the ball until Army, now 8-2, scored on a field goal early in the second quarter. It added a touchdown in the third quarter to up its lead to 10-0, and another field goal in the fourth quarter for the 13-0 win that dropped Navy to 3-6. The Midshipmen fought well on defense, but their offensive was ineffective all game.
In the late, late rivalry staged between undefeated USC and UCLA at the Rose Bowl, the Trojans (5-0) won 43-38 on a late touchdown in a back-and-fourth contest.
