Gore runs for bowl record 329 yards, Southern Miss tops Rice

Associated PressDec 17, 2022, 11:36 PM EST

Robert McDuffie-USA TODAY Sports

MOBILE, Ala. – Frank Gore Jr. ran for an NCAA bowl-record 329 yards and accounted for three touchdowns to help Southern Miss hold off Rice 38-24 on Saturday night in the LendingTree Bowl.

Gore, the son of the former NFL star, had a 64-yard scoring run in the second quarter, threw an 18-yard touchdown pass in the third and ran for 55 yards for another score in the fourth. He also ran 59 yards to set up the go-ahead touchdown for the Golden Eagles (7-6).

Gore, who had 21 carries, broke the mark of 317 yards set by Appalachian State’s Camerun Peoples in the 2020 Myrtle Beach Bowl against North Texas. Gore broke the Southern Miss record of 304 by Sam Dejarnette against Florida State in 1982.

“He’s a special guy,” Southern Miss coach Will Hall said. “He’s really learned how to be a leader. He’s really learned how to handle the responsibility of being Frank Gore Jr., and he has embraced that, and he’s embraced the whole deal of to whom much is given, much is required.

“He’s always intense and competitive and I’m just really proud he was able to have a performance like this on a national stage where a lot of people could see it. He’s got a chip on his shoulder like his short coach does.”

Rice quarterback AJ Padgett threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns – all in the third quarter – to give the Owls (5-8) a brief 24-17 lead. He threw 26 and 32 yards to Isaiah Esdale to tie a game Southern Miss led 17-3 at halftime, then connected with Bradley Rozner to put Rice up 24-17 with 5:06 left in the third.

Gore’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Ty Mims – his seventh passing score of the season – tied it at 24 after three quarters. Trey Lowe threw a 26-yard touchdown to Jason Brownlee on the second play of the fourth quarter to give the Golden Eagles the lead at 31-24, and Gore’s 55-yarder capped the scoring with 2:57 left.

“We did a lot of good things in that third quarter, but you have to take your hat off to Southern Miss that they were able to run the ball the way they did,” Rice coach Mike Bloomgren said. “It was kind of the Frank Gore show. But we knew what kind of back Frank Gore Jr. is, what a great back, what a great runner he is. Tonight he was phenomenal. We didn’t do a good enough job tackling, and we didn’t make enough plays on offense to win the game.”

Gore said his father was at the game, and met him on the field prior to the trophy presentation. Frank Gore Sr.’s career-best rushing total in a 16-year NFL career was 212 yards for the San Francisco 49ers against Seattle in 2006.

“I told him (about the record) when he came on the field and let him know that I’m the best in the family,” the younger Gore said. “Thanks to my O-line, they opened up a lot of good holes and got me into the secondary. As Coach (Hall) said, the first person could rarely tackle me. And if you’re able to get down the field untouched, that leads to a lot of big plays.”

Linebacker Daylen Gill had three of Southern Miss’ season-high five sacks.

Lowe threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Jakarius Caston to give Southern Miss a 7-0 lead at the 12:20 mark of the first quarter. Gore’s 64-yard run made it 14-0 early in the second.

Field goals of 34 yards by Rice’s Christian VanSickle and 18 yards by Southern Miss’ Brooks Bourgeois closed out the first-half scoring.

IMPRESSIVE BLOODLINES

Gore was not the only player on the field with famous NFL relatives. Rice wide receiver Luke McCaffrey, the son of former Denver Broncos receiver Ed McCaffrey and the younger brother of San Francisco 49ers star Christian, caught seven passes for 67 yards and also ran for 11 yards.

Luke McCaffrey transferred to Rice in 2021 from Nebraska, where he was a quarterback. He converted to receiver this past spring.

THE TAKEAWAY

Southern Miss: The Golden Eagles finish with a winning record in the second season under coach Will Hall and snapped a two-game losing streak vs. the Owls, their former Conference USA rival. Southern Miss now leads the all-time series 7-6 and is 12-15 in bowl games.

Rice: The Owls, the only FBS team with a losing record to play in a postseason game this year, is now 7-6 all-time in bowls. Rice was in the postseason for the first time since 2014.

No. 15 Miami pulls away in 2nd half, tops Southern Miss 30-7

Associated PressSep 10, 2022, 10:10 PM EDT

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Some in-game adversity hit Miami for the first time this season. The Hurricanes responded.

A pair of third-quarter touchdowns – barely 2 minutes apart – changed the game, Henry Parrish rushed for 102 yards and a score, and No. 15 Miami pulled away in the second half to beat Southern Miss 30-7 on Saturday.

The Hurricanes (2-0) trailed for most of the second quarter, then shook off the slow start by scoring the game’s final 27 points.

“I think it’s a good thing, actually,” said Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who completed 19 of 29 passes for 230 yards, a touchdown and an interception. “Obviously, we want to move the ball with ease … but I think adversity, we needed that for the rest of the season, just to experience that a little.”

Thaddius Franklin Jr. rushed in from 7 yards out for a 17-7 third-quarter lead, Van Dyke connected with Key’Shawn Smith for a 35-yard flea-flicker touchdown on Miami’s next offensive snap, and the outcome wasn’t in doubt again.

“Certainly, when you’re 1-0 for the week, that’s your goal,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “But certainly, we want to play more polished, more precise, football. So, we’ve got to practice better, we’ve got to keep coaching better and we’ve got to keep working it better. We’ve got to go get better.”

Parrish had a 1-yard touchdown run late in the first half for the Hurricanes, who have started with two wins for only the seventh time in the past 18 seasons.

Jason Brownlee caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Zach Wilcke for Southern Miss (0-2). That capped a six-play, 75-yard drive for the Golden Eagles — but they managed only 122 yards on their next seven drives, five of which ended in punts, one with an interception in the end zone and the other with a fumble.

“We came out here to win the game,” Southern Miss coach Will Hall said. “Credit to Mario and his guys. Man, I’ve got great respect for him and a lot of the guys on their staff for making the adjustments to win the game. I thought they wore on us as the game went on.”

Frank Gore Jr., the son of Miami Hall of Famer Frank Gore, was held largely in check by the Hurricanes’ defense in his return to his hometown. Gore Jr. had seven carries for 10 yards, and two catches for 18 more yards. That’s after he rushed for 178 yards last week in Southern Miss’ opening-game loss to Liberty.

Wilcke completed 16 of 27 passes for 207 yards for the Golden Eagles. Brownlee had five of those catches for 102 yards.

Andy Borregales kicked three field goals for Miami.

THE TAKEAWAY

Southern Miss: The Golden Eagles were 20 seconds away from doing something that the program hasn’t done in nearly 12 years. The last time Southern Miss led an AP-ranked team on the road at halftime was Nov. 13, 2010 in what became a win over then-No. 25 UCF. That week marked UCF’s first-ever appearance in the AP poll; Miami was ranked this week for the 511th time.

Miami: There will be much on the film, especially the first-half film, for the Hurricanes to correct before going to Texas A&M next week. The offensive line will be a key point of emphasis, after it let Southern Miss sack Van Dyke four times and get in his face on several other occasions.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Hurricanes will remain ranked, probably right around the No. 15 spot they held this week and set up a ranked-vs.-ranked game in College Station next week. The last three of those games – when both teams enter ranked – haven’t exactly gone great for the Hurricanes; they’re 0-3, having gotten outscored 148-56.

INJURIES

Miami DE Akeem Mesidor, who had four tackles, a sack and a pass breakup in last week’s win over Bethune-Cookman, was held out with a lower body injury.

UP NEXT

Southern Miss: Host Northwestern State on Sept. 17.

Miami: Visits No. 6 Texas A&M on Sept. 17.

Art Briles out at Grambling less than 1 week after being hired

Associated PressMar 1, 2022, 7:01 PM EST

Art Briles‘ tenure as offensive coordinator at Grambling State is over less than a week after it started.

The former disgraced Baylor coach said he didn’t want to be a “distraction” at the prominent HBCU with a storied football program in northern Louisiana, leaving the program just five days after he was surprisingly hired by coach Hue Jackson.

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of your coaching staff at Grambling State University,” Briles said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I feel that my continued presence will be a distraction to you and your team, which is the last thing that I want. I have the utmost respect (for) the university, and your players.”

Briles has been a pariah in college football since 2016, when he was fired by Baylor after an investigation concluded he and his staff took no action against players named in sexual assault allegations.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Grambling asked Briles to resign or the coach did so on his own.

The baggage surrounding Briles was well-known, but that didn’t stop Jackson from making the hire last week. The 66-year-old Briles coached briefly in Italy and then at a Texas high school after he was dismissed from Baylor.

Grambling’s decision received renewed attention Monday when a three-day old social media statement from the Hue Jackson Foundation gained traction. It was the latest in an avalanche of criticism for the university.

The foundation’s statement said that Briles’ hiring “will be instrumental in teaching others teaching others the importance of knowing how to prevent victimization, proper reporting procedures, provide adequate resources to individuals who have been victimized and develop strong law enforcement partnerships within the community.”

Former Grambling quarterback Doug Williams – the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl with Washington in 1988 – was one of many who voiced his displeasure with the school’s decision to hire Briles in the first place. The NFL executive with the Washington Commanders said the foundation’s statement didn’t sway his opinion.

“I don’t know what you get from that statement,” Williams told the AP. “I don’t think anything needs to be added. Everybody knows what I think about it. I’m not going to change.”

In the Baylor case, the NCAA infractions panel stated that Briles “failed to meet even the most basic expectations of how a person should react to the kind of conduct at issue in this case. Furthermore, as a campus leader, the head coach is held to an even higher standard. He completely failed to meet this standard.”

Baylor paid Briles more than $15 million after firing him. He later acknowledged making mistakes and apologized for “some bad things” that happened under his watch.

This isn’t the first time a coach has attempted to hire Briles since 2016. Southern Miss coach Jay Hopson attempted to hire Briles as the program’s offensive coordinator in 2019, though university administration eventually vetoed it.

Briles was considered one of the top offensive coaches in the country when he led Baylor from 2008-15, leading the program to a 65-37 record. His spread offense kept the Bears regularly ranked in the AP Top 25 and the program had four 10-win seasons in a five-year span from 2011-15.

Jackson is the former head coach of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns.