Saturday's Peach State College Scoreboard (final edition)
12 p.m.
South Florida 49, Georgia Tech 38
Former Northside quarterback Tobias Oliver came off the bench and scored three touchowns in three series, but Georgia Tech surrendered two kickoff returns for touchdowns and the offense stagnated after a QB change in a 49-38 loss at South Florida.
Terrence Horne became the 25th player to take back two kickoffs in a game for a touchdown.
Oliver came in when starter TaQuon Marshall was hurt early in the third and engineered three series into three touchdowns, that he scored. It was the 48th time a Tech player has rushed for three touchdowns.
Oliver finished with 97 yards – no negative yards – on 18 carries.
Marshall came back in and the Jackets offense struggled. Qua Searcy fumbled after taking a pitchout, fumbled on his own, and then Marshall had a pass tipped for an interception.
Both turnovers led to USF touchdowns, to overcome a 10-point deficit and take the lead and put it away.
Tech outgained USF 602-426 on the same number of plays, 75.
Northside alum Oliver steps up big
12:30 p.m.
NC State 41, Georgia State 7
Georgia State scored first, within three minutes of the kickoff.
N.C. State had enough, and shut the Panthers out the rest of the way for a 41-7 win.
N.C. State outgained Georgia State 541-349, but the Panthers managed only six fewer first downs.
Wolfpack QB Ryan Finley went 30 for 38 for 370 yards and two scores, overcoming only 115 rushing yards for N.C. State.
The Panthers missed two field goals and had a touchdown erased by an offensive interference call.
3:30 p.m.
Georgia at South Carolina
Georgia got started early with an interception that became a touchdown, took a 20-10 halftime lead and put it away in the third quarter for a 41-17 win at South Carolina.
Houston County grad Jake Fromm was 15 of 18 for 194 yards, with an interception and a touchdown. USC’s Jake Bentley was 30 of 47 for 269 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
UGA had 11 more first downs, was 4 for 10 on third, and outgained the Gamecocks by 137 yards on three more plays.
The Bulldogs held the Gamecocks to 54 rushing yards, and to 0 for 2 on fourth down.
That time he dropped the ball at the 1
Bentley second-guesses self a bit
6 p.m.
Mercer 45, Jacksonville 3
The year was different, but the results pretty much the same as Mercer rolled to a 45-3 win over visiting Jacksonville.
Incumbent QB Kaelan Riley threw for a touchdown and ran for one, and Tee Mitchell got 118 rushing yards to become the third player in Mercer program history to crack 2,000 career yards.
JU had only 87 yards in the first half in the 100th career win for Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb, who coached for his alma mater Furman before coming to Mercer.
Tyray Devezin added 99 yards and two touchdown to the Mercer offensive cause. The Bears outgained the Dolphins 404-212, Mercer’s defense holding JU to 13 first downs.
Six Bears scored, along with kicker Cole Fisher. Mercer lost only three yards on 55 offensive plays.
Riley was 8 for 10 for 46 yards, and Robert Riddle 8 for 11 for 84 yards. Marquise Irvin caught five passes for 72 yards.
“I thought our defense dominated the first half and controlled the line of scrimmage,” Lamb said. “Offensively, I was proud of our linemen for being a force all night and I thought both of our quarterbacks distributed the ball well. You can't say enough about Tee Mitchell and Tyray Devezin, either. They were great on the ground."
The 1-1 Bears visit Samford, which led Florida State most of the game Saturday before losing 36-26.
Savannah State (0-1) at Miami (0-1)
The only suspense was the score, and Miami’s 77-0 win offered little, except exactly how much the Hurricanes, even after a rough effort in a loss last week to LSU, would score.
As it turned out, they passed the 70-0 win over SSU in 2013, the previous largest margin in Miami history.
Nine Hurricanes scored, and it was Miami’s first shutout since beating Bethune-Cookman in 2015.
Georgia Southern 34, UMass 13
UMass won the first quarter, but Georgia Southern took the next three for the three-touchdown home win.
GSU ran for 334 yards and averaged 25.7 yards per catch on a 488-yard day.
QB Shai Werts’ touchdown pass to Cam Brown gave GSU a 7-3 lead. It was tied at 10 when Werrts scored on a 3-yard run – it took only 1:36 – for a 17-10 lead.
Werts threw for 154 yards and two touchdowns, running for 83 and another.
GSU visits No. 2 Clemson next.
7 p.m.
Valdosta State 55, Fort Valley State 6
Perennial Division II top-25 team Valdosta State scored only six points in the middle quarters, but the 49 the Blazers scored in the edge quarters was plenty to beat Fort Valley State 55-6.
VSU outgained FVSU 537-153 on offense, stuffing the running game for -5 yards. The bright spot for the Wildcats? Only seven penalties for 68 yards.
The game, at Memorial Stadium in Waycross, was called the Okefenokee Classic.
FVSU QB Slade Jarman was sacked five times, yet still managed a 15-for-27 night for 152 yards.
Dodge County grad Cam Young led FVSU with nine tackles.
FVSU managed field goals from Abisai Gutierrez, a freshman from Macon County, in the second quarter and third quarter.
The 0-2 Wildcats are at Miles and then Benedict before hosting Virginia-Lynchburg on Sept. 29.
Northeastern Oklahoma A&M 14, GMC 10
GMC lost another close game, this one to a top-5 team, but again by only a few points.
The postgame action was physical as well as a brawl broke out after a game that included four unsportsmanlike penalties.
Both head coaches expected to review video to determine the start of the disagreement and who to discipline, but didn’t know, according to the Joplin Globe, if the NJCAA would do anything.
The Bulldogs were no doubt frustrated, having taken a 10-o first-half lead. GMC mistakes hurt the visitors as they tried to add to the lead. The Bulldogs need points, because the Norse got theirs in the fourth quarter.