South Florida stuns Louisville in both schools’ Big East debut

Receiver Amarri Jackson ran for two touchdowns and threw for a third Saturday night in Tampa, Fla., to lead South Florida to the biggest victory in the school’s brief football history, a 45-14 rout of No. 9 Louisville in the Bulls’ Big East debut.

After barely playing a role in the offense in his team’s first three games, Jackson was Mr. Versatile in helping South Florida (3-1) beat a ranked opponent for the first time in six tries and stop the nation’s third-longest Division I-A winning streak at nine games.

Louisville (2-1) had not lost since a 41-38 setback at Miami last Oct. 14. The Cardinals entered the conference opener with one of the country’s most prolific offenses but never fully got on track in losing to South Florida on the road for the second time in three years.

USF, which is in its ninth season, also upset Louisville two years ago in the Bulls’ Conference USA debut. The Bulls and Cardinals left C-USA for the higher profile Big East after last season.

Jackson, who had two receptions for 15 yards in South Florida’s first three games, set up Andre Hall’s 1-yard, first-quarter TD run with a 57-yard catch-and-run on the Bulls’ second offensive play.

The 6-foot-5 receiver scored on a 51-yard reverse up the right side of the field to make it 14-0, then circled left end on a 12-yard reverse for a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

Three minutes after South Florida’s Chad Simpson returned the second-half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown, Jackson struck again when took a handoff from quarterback Pat Julmiste and tossed an 11-yard scoring pass to Derek Carter to put the Bulls ahead 38-7.

Jackson finished with 63 yards rushing on two carries and two receptions for 75 yards.

Despite the lopsided score, Louisville again compiled some gaudy offensive statistics with Brian Brohm completing 29 of 47 passes for 389 yards, and the Cardinals amassing 493 yards total offense to South Florida’s 355.

(4) Virginia Tech 51, (15) Georgia Tech 7

Jeff King caught a TD pass from Marcus Vick and blocked a field goal that turned into a 78-yard scoring run by D.J. Parker and the Hokies (4-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) routed the Yellow Jackets (3-1, 1-1) in Blacksburg, Va.

The Hokies shut down the Yellow Jackets’ vaunted passing game, turned Georgia Tech’s only sustained offensive drive into a special teams touchdown and scored 17 points in a span of 44 seconds.

(5) Florida 49, Kentucky 28

Chris Leak threw four touchdown passes, all in the first half, and DeShawn Wynn scored four touchdowns as the Gators (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) got their offense rolling in a victory over the Wildcats (1-3, 0-1) in Lexington, Ky.

After a blocked punt led to an early Kentucky touchdown, Florida scored on seven straight possessions and led 49-7 at halftime. Leak, who made his first collegiate start two years ago at Kentucky, was 25 of 32 for 319 yards.

(7) Georgia 23, Mississippi State 10

D.J. Shockley passed for a career-high 312 yards in his first career road start, leading Georgia (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) past Mississippi State (2-2, 0-2) in Starkville, Miss.

Shockley, who’s finally enjoying a chance to start after spending four years as David Greene’s backup, also set career highs with 20 completions and 33 attempts.

(8) Ohio St. 31, (21) Iowa 6

Troy Smith threw two TD passes to Anthony Gonzalez and ran for another score and the Buckeyes (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) cruised past the Hawkeyes (2-2, 0-1) in Columbus, Ohio.

Iowa finished with 18 rushes for minus-9 yards and the Buckeyes harassed Iowa quarterback Drew Tate all day, sacking him five times for minus-43 yards.

(12) Miami 23, Colorado 3

Kyle Wright threw for 264 yards and a touchdown, plus ran for another, and the Hurricanes (2-1) rolled past the Buffaloes (2-1) in Miami.

Only Mason Crosby’s 58-yard field goal – the second longest of his career – with 11:57 left kept the Buffaloes from being shut out for the first time in nearly two decades.

Wisconsin 23, (14) Michigan 20

John Stocco scored on a 4-yard quarterback draw with 24 seconds left, giving the Badgers (4-0, 1-0) a win over the Wolverines (2-2, 0-1) in Madison, Wis., snapping Michigan’s 23-game winning streak in Big Ten openers.

Wisconsin sealed the win when Michigan’s Chad Henne was flushed from the pocket and slipped on the turf, the ball popping loose as time expired, giving the Badgers their first win over the Wolverines since 1994.

(17) Michigan St. 61, Illinois 14

Drew Stanton set a school record with five touchdown passes and the Spartans (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) scored on six of eight first-half possessions in a romp over the Fighting Illini (2-2, 0-1) in Champaign, Ill.

Michigan State, which entered the game with the fourth-ranked offense in the nation, rolled up 705 yards. Illinois gave up 381 yards before halftime as Stanton did as he pleased during a 28-point second quarter.

(19) Texas Tech 63, Indiana St. 7

Taurean Henderson ran for 141 yards and three touchdowns, and the Red Raiders (3-0) rolled to another early-season runaway, beating the Division I-AA Sycamores in Lubbock, Texas.

(20) Alabama 24, Arkansas 13

D.J. Hall caught two touchdown passes from Brodie Croyle, including a 5-yarder in the final minutes, to help the Crimson Tide (4-0, 2-0 SEC) knock off the Razorbacks (1-3, 0-2) in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

It’s the first time since 1996 that Alabama has opened the season with four straight victories.

(23) Virginia 38, Duke 7

Marques Hagans threw four touchdown passes and Virginia’s defense forced four turnovers to give the Cavaliers (3-0, 1-0 ACC) a victory over the Blue Devils (1-3, 0-2) in Charlottesville, Va.