Oct. 20, 2012

Marshall won at Southern Miss, 59-24. Rakeem Cato was 31-of-42 for 340 yards and 3 TDs, his fifth game with 3 or more TDs this year. East Carolina posted a 45-38 victory at UAB. Shane Carden threw for 386 yards and 2 TDs; Vintavious Cooper ran for career-high 172 yards and scores 3 TDs. Tulsa defeated Rice, 28-24, as Ja'Terian Douglas ran for 169 yards and a TD, while Alex Singleton scored twice.

MARSHALL 59, SOUTHERN MISS 24
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Rakeem Cato threw for 340 yards and three touchdowns and Kevin Grooms added a pair of scores on the ground as Marshall eased past Southern Miss, 59-24 Saturday night.

Cato completed 22 of 31 first-half attempts as the Thundering Herd (3-4, 2-1 Conference USA) built a 31-17 halftime lead on 374 yards of total offense.

The first passing touchdown came early in the second quarter. Cato connected with Antavious Wilson on a wide receiver screen for a 14-yard touchdown, giving Marshall a 17-3 lead.

Southern Mississippi (0-7, 0-3) responded with Kalan Reed's 19-yard interception return for a score, but Grooms answered three plays later with a 64-yard TD to put the Thundering Herd up 24-10.

Cato connected with Tommy Shuler for touchdown passes on consecutive possessions in the second half, and Grooms scored from 11 yards out, extending Marshall's lead to 45-17 at the end of the third quarter.

EAST CAROLINA 45, UAB 38
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Shane Carden threw for 386 yards and East Carolina pulled out a 42-35 victory over Alabama-Birmingham in a see-saw, Conference USA contest Saturday night.

The lead changed hands four times after the Pirates (5-3, 4-1) drew first blood, with Carden tossing the winning score to Justin Hardy early in the fourth quarter.

East Carolina held leads of 10-0 and 13-7, but fell into a 21-13 hole when Austin Brown found Sam Accursio for a 4-yard passing touchdown midway through the third.

Vintavious Cooper cut the lead to 21-20 with a 1-yard touchdown run, and then Carden hit Cooper for a 30-yard touchdown pass to vault the Pirates ahead.

The Blazers (1-6, 0-3) regained the lead when Brown found Kennard Backman for a 9-yard score, but then yielded consecutive Pirates' touchdowns -- including Carden's pass to Hardy -- and couldn't overtake the lead again.

Carden finished 23-of-35 passing with two scores.

TULSA 28, RICE 24 TULSA, Okla. -- Alex Singleton's 1-yard touchdown run with 1:31 remaining proved to be the game winner Saturday, giving Tulsa a 28-24 victory at home over Rice.

Singleton had 18 carries for 63 yards and two scores, the most important coming in the final minutes. It was his fifth game this season with two or more scores and he became Tulsa's all-time leader in rushing touchdowns with 36.

Kicker Chris Boswell gave the Owls a 24-21 lead on his 35-yard field goal with 9:24 to go in the fourth quarter. The two teams traded possessions before Tulsa (7-1, 5-0 Conference USA) scored in the final minutes.

Ja'Terian Douglas had 17 carries for 169 yards and a touchdown, helping the Golden Hurricane record 436 yards of offense. Keyarris Garrett had three catches for 118 yards and a touchdown for Tulsa.

Taylor McHargue had 13 carries for 57 yards and a touchdown for Rice (2-6, 0-4) in the loss.

UCF 35, MEMPHIS 17
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Latavius Murray rushed for 192 yards and two touchdowns and Blake Bortles threw for two more scores as Central Florida pulled away from mistake-prone Memphis 35-17 Saturday night.

The Knights (5-2, 3-0 Conference USA) forced three Memphis turnovers, including a fumble on the UCF 1-yard line in the first quarter.

Murray, starting for the first time since the season opener, had 23 carries and scored twice early. He followed a 1-yard run with an 83-yard romp that was the second-longest run from scrimmage in school history.

After the Tigers (1-6, 1-2) got within 14-10 on Robert Steeples' 27-yard fumble return, an interception by the Knights' A.J. Bouye set up a 61-yard UCF scoring drive.

Bouye had another big play when he recovered a fumble and ran 79 yards for a 28-10 UCF lead.

The Tigers rushed for a season-high 240 yards behind a career-best 88 yards by Jan Steib.

UTEP 24, TULANE 20
EL PASO, Texas -- Michael Edwards caught a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes from Nick Lamaison and UTEP snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating Tulane 24-20 Saturday night.

Edwards had seven receptions for 82 yards, including scoring passes of 28 and 9 yards that helped give the Miners a 24-17 lead at halftime. Josh Bell also scored for UTEP (2-6, 1/3 Conference USA) on a 14-yard run.

Lamaison was 11 of 16 for 157 yards before leaving in the second quarter with a hamstring injury.

Ryan Griffin completed 28 of 44 passes for 363 yards and two touchdowns for Tulane (1-6, 1-2). Justyn Shackleford had six catches for 130 yards, including a 31-yard touchdown; Ryan Grant added six receptions for 115 yards, including a 15-yard TD.

The Green Wave had 440 yards of offense, just 5 less than UTEP, but managed only a field goal on five second-half possessions.