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Offense Carries FAU To Victory
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Published: September 7, 2008
Updated: 09/07/2008 12:45 am
FORT LAUDERDALE - Rusty Smith threw three touchdown passes and Charles Pierre ran for two touchdowns Saturday as Florida Atlantic defeated UAB 49-34.
Cortez Gent threw a touchdown pass and caught another, and Lester Jean caught two touchdown passes for Florida Atlantic (1-1). Di'Ivory Edgecomb and Chris Bonner also scored touchdowns for Florida Atlantic.
Smith finished 21-for-34 for 325 yards.
Joe Webb threw two touchdown passes for UAB (0-2). He was 26-for-48 for 326 yards. Aaron Johns and Justin Brooks rushed for touchdowns for the Blazers.
Trailing 42-34, the Blazers were on the Owls' 28-yard line with less than a minute to play when a fourth-down pass by Webb went over the head of receiver Mike Jones. On the ensuing play, Pierre ran 73 yards for a touchdown to put an exclamation point on the Owls' victory.
Trailing 21-3, UAB got back in the game with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns. Webb hit Zach Lankford with a 20-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-10. A gaffe by Florida Atlantic on the ensuing kickoff gave UAB the ball back. The Owls allowed the kickoff to bounce behind kick returner Jeff Blanchard, and UAB's Ugonna Amarikwa pounced on the loose ball at the 28-yard line. Three plays later, Webb threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Frantrell Forrest to close to 21-17.
Florida Atlantic answered with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Gent to stretch the lead to 28-17 at the half.
The Owls scored on their opening drive with a little trickery. Wide receiver Gent took the handoff on a reverse and tossed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Bonner in the corner of the end zone to give them a 7-0 lead. A 5-yard touchdown pass by Smith to Jean made it 14-0.
BETHUNE-COOKMAN 28,
ALABAMA STATE 7
DAYTONA BEACH - Brian Sumlar ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns to help Bethune-Cookman beat Alabama State.
The Wildcats (1-0), who accumulated 370 yards of total offense, took a 14-0 lead in the second quarter when McKinson Souverain threw an 18-yard touchdown to Joe Singleton, who finished with seven catches for 94 yards.
Reid Herchenbach connected with Darius Mathis for a 30-yard touchdown for Alabama State (0-2) to cut the lead to seven points in the second. But Sumlar, who had 22 carries, put Bethune-Cookman ahead for good in the third, scoring a 6-yard touchdown. He also added a 1-yard rushing score.
IOWA 42,
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL 0
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Ricky Stanzi threw three touchdowns passes in his first start, Shonn Greene ran for 130 yards and Iowa pounded FIU for its second straight blowout win.
The Hawkeyes, who routed Maine 46-3 last week, looked even better against the Golden Panthers. Stanzi, who got the start over Jake Christensen, was 8-for-10 for 162 yards in less than a half as the Hawkeyes (2-0) racked up 512 yards and led 35-0 at halftime.
Christensen came on and was 8-for-12 for 99 yards and one touchdown. But it was clear Stanzi has taken the lead in the competition to be Iowa's starter the rest of the season.
FIU (0-2) had no answer for Iowa's defensive front, which stopped the Golden Panthers all day. The Hawkeyes had six sacks, and when they weren't slamming quarterbacks Paul McCall and Wayne Younger to the turf they were stuffing running lanes and forcing both to hurry throws.
Younger came off the bench and was 11-for-20 for 107 yards to lead FIU, which lost for the 25th time in 26 games dating to 2006. The Golden Panthers have now been outscored 82-10 this season.
The Hawkeyes rolled up 209 yards of total offense and a 21-0 lead in the first quarter.
Iowa scored on its opening drive for the second straight week, after failing to get any points on opening possessions last season. Greene capped that drive with a bruising 11-yard TD run, bouncing off a number of defenders before stretching the ball over the goal line.
Stanzi made it 14-0 with a 59-yard touchdown pass to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos. Stanzi hit Johnson-Koulianos in stride about 40 yards downfield, and Johnson-Koulianos used some nifty footwork to sidestep defenders near the out-of-bounds line and reach the end zone.
Christensen came in for Stanzi and threw a third-down pass into the turf on his first attempt, drawing a chorus of boos from the Kinnick Stadium faithful. That was quickly forgotten, as Paki O'Meara pushed Iowa's lead to 21-0 with a 17-yard TD run late in the first quarter.
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