Saturday's Peach State College Football Scoreboard: (Woof!?)
Wofford 42, Mercer 21
The top-10 Terriers racked up 558 yards in total offense and 359 on the ground to pull away from Mercer in SoCon play in Spartanburg, S.C.
Mercer fell to 4-4 and 3-2 and No. 7/9 Wofford improved to 6-2 and 5-1 in extinguishing the Bears’ very remote postseason hopes.
Wofford scored two touchdowns in each of last three quarters, holding Mercer scoreless until the 3:50 mark of the third quarter, Marquise Irvin catching a 17-yard scoring pass from Kaelan Riley. THe Terriers answered 66 seconds later with a 50-yard touchdown pass.
Mercer’s final touchdown came with five seconds left, a 25-yard pass from Harrison Frost to Tucker Cannon.
The clock-eating Terriers ran it 54 times to 29 for Mercer, and added an effective passing game, going 9 of 16 for 199 yards, although the Bears picked off two passes.
Wofford ran only seven more plays and had the ball almost five more minutes.
Tyray Devezin had 97 yards on 18 carries for Mercer, while Tee Mitchell was lost with a first-quarter injury. Malique Fleming had a career-high 12 tackles, with a tackle for loss.
FVSU 27, Morehouse 22
Fort Valley State pulled off the road upset, thanks to Chris Weems taking a kickoff 84 yards for the eventual game-winning touchdown with three minutes left.
The Wildcats (2-7, 2-3) improbably marched out to a 21-2 halftime lead.
Demontay Jones scored from the 8, and then Smothers took in a 16-yard scoring pass from Jones 52 seconds into the second quarter. Morehouse scored on a safety, but the Wildcats got momentum with a 27-yard TD pass from Jones to Jeffery Mack with 1:02 left in the half.
Morehouse (7-2, 3-2) scored midway through the third and early in the fourth to pull within 21-15, and then took the lead with 3:32 left on a 4-yard run to end a 15-play drive that ate up a whopping 8:06.
The lead didn’t last long, Weems going 96 yards with 3:16 left to regain the lead.
The stats posted by Morehouse are very questionable.
Stats show that FVSU had the ball 18:12 and Morehouse 35:34, which is about seven minutes short of 60 minutes, a complete game. Stats show FVSU with four penalties for 15 yards and Morehouse nine for 124.
Play-by-play had Morehouse flagged for a 25-yard offsides penalty, and another 25-yard penalty. The maximum yardage marked off in college is 15 yards.
FVSU was outgained 153-70 on the ground and 169-101 through the air, gave up three interceptions and picked off none, and had nine fewer first downs.
Jones was credited with seven completions on 18 tries for 101 yards, two scores and three interceptions. Smothers caught three for 43. Aaron Doore and Andrew Robinson each had nine stops for the Wildcats.
Coastal Carolina 37, Georgia State 34
The host Chanticleers scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, getting the game-winning field goal from 23 yards with 2:54 left in the game after tying it seven minutes earlier.
All that came after the Panthers overcame a 17-0 deficit to take a 27-20 lead midway through the third quarter.
The Panthers managed one first down and punted after Coastal tied it, and then the hosts ate up nearly four minutes in going from its 19 to GSU’s 5 to set up the game-winning field goal.
Dan Ellington was 14 of 25 for 231 yards and a score, and Tra Barnett carried 11 times for 161 yards and two touchdowns, Penny Hart with six catches and 118 yards for the Panthers.
Savannah State 32, Norfolk State 3
The Tigers ran for 295 yards, a program high since joining the MEAC and most since 2009.
Savannah State led 17-3 at halftime, and clinched it with second-half touchdowns from Jaylen McCloud on a 22-yard TD catch and 2-yard run.
Norfolk State managed only eight first downs, 97 rushing yards and 109 passing yards.
Georgia 36, Florida 17
Georgia trailed for only three minutes and then pulled away with 23 points in the final 15 minutes and seven seconds.
Jake Fromm was 17 of 24 for 24 yards and three touchdowns with one sack, while D’Andre Swift ran 12 times for 14 yards and Elijah Holyfield 20 times for 71.
Georgia held Florida to 275 yards total offense.
Georgia had the O, the D, and the special T
Column: that was a grind-down to set division title table
Kennesaw State 38, Charleston Southern 10
Quarterback Chandler Burks became the first player in Big South football history with 30 rushing and 30 passing touchdowns after running for two and passing for two in the No. 2 Owls’ easy road win.
KSU (7-1, 3-0) has won seven straight this season.
Burks has 30 passing and 46 rushing touchdowns in his career.
The Owls racked up 508 yards of total offense on a dominating 77 plays, 29 more plays and 322 more yards than CSU.
The Bucs took a 3-0 lead with a field goal four minutes into the game, and actually made that stand until Burks’ 3-yard run with 1:52 left in the first quarter. The Owl scored 17 straight points in the second quarter for a 24-10 halftime lead.
GMC 28, Arkansas Baptist 26