Peach State College Football Scoreboard (final edition)
Saturday’s Peach State results
Austin Peay 48, Mercer 34
The home opener for Mercer went as expected for a half, at which it was tied. And then the visitors had some fun.
Austin Peay scored, and then returned an interception for score seconds later. Mercer answered, and so did Austin Peay, and the Governors kept the Bears at a distance from then on, growing the lead to three touchdowns four minutes into the second quarter with a second pick-6.
The Bears picked were down three scores before a touchdown with 39 seconds left.
The Govs stormed through Mercer’s defense for 420 yards, 252 through the air and 168 on the ground. Meanwhile, AP held Mercer to only 43 yards rushing, which helped overcome 13 penalties for 155 yards.
Washington County alum Will Coneway paced the Mercer defense with 15 tackles, 1.5 for loss. Robert Riddle was 29 of 47 for 287 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions. David Durden caught nine passes for 129 yards and two scores for the Bears.
Florida A&M 57, FVSU 20
The Rattlers needed a little while to take control, and that came in a 33-point second quarter, converting three turnovers in seven minutes to scores.
FAMU survived a whopping 14 turnovers for 130 yards by nearly doubling FVSU in first downs and by holding the Wildcats to -15 yards rushing. The Rattlers were 14 of 20 on third downs, and passed for 421 yards.
Demontay Jones took over at quarterback for Slade Jarman and passed for 139 yards and two touchdowns for FVSU.
GMC 31, ASA Brooklyn 30
The Bulldogs improved to 3-1 with the comeback road win.
The Avengers led 23-10 with 8:14 left in the third quarter, and that’s when their Twitter account was unplugged.
Georgia 55, Arkansas State 0
Georgia racked up nearly 700 yards in offense for its biggest win under Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs holding ASU to 220 yards.
Jake Fromm was 17 of 22 for 279 yards and three touchdowns.
Thousands of UGA fans – Sanford Stadium was well short of filling all the seats – wore pink in honor of ASU head coach Blake Anderson, whose wife Wendy died of cancer in August.
Cool postgame moment with Anderson, UGA fans (video)
Now, they can talk about Notre Dame
The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24, OT
Georgia Tech missed a PAT and a field goal against The Citadel, who were paid $400,000 to come to Atlanta and make the game-winning field goal in overtime.
Junior Jacob Godek hit a 37-yarder in overtime after Tech’s Brent King missed a 46-yarder. He nailed a 34-yarder on the final play of regulation, but was pushed back in OT when the Tech offense lost three yards, going first in overtime. The Bulldogs gained five yards before kicking.
Tech will deal with the heat of getting beaten by a team that ran the Jackets’ oft-maligned option offense, and of being unable to stop it. The Bulldogs ran for 320 yards, and ran 71 times.
Northside alum Tobias Oliver appeared to have scored the game-winner in the final seconds, but head coach Geoff Collins called time, and the Jackets had to settle for a game-tying field goal.
A hotseat – or warmseat – for Collins?
Minnesota 35, Georgia Southern 32
Georgia Southern had the upset in sight.
And then the home team came up clutch, with a 13-play, 75- yard drive, free of timeouts, to get the game-winning 2-yard pass with 13 seconds left.
The Eagles took their second lead – after 7-0 inside the first four minutes – with 3:47 left in the game on a 44-yard fumble recovery, which followed a 77-yard return of a blocked field goal.
Kennesaw State 42, Alabama State 7
The Owls cruised to 481 yards on the ground and 26 first downs while adding two interceptions for the easy road win.
Seventh-ranked KSU sent ASU backward for minus-37 yards for 45 net rushing yards, and a long of 12 yards. Six Owls rushed for more yards.
Western Michigan 57, Georgia State 10
Georgia State was brought down to earth by a Western Michigan team that put up 694 yards in total offense and gave up a 15-for-20 passing night for 246 yards.
The hosts set a program record with seven rushing touchdowns.