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	Ryan Griffin

Oct. 27, 2012

Ryan Griffin set a new Tulane single game record with 466 passing yards and threw a career-high five touchdowns to lead the Green Wave to a 55-45 win over UAB. Turner Petersen ran for 136 yards and a TD to lead Rice past Southern Miss, 44-17. Charles Sims scored three TDs as Houston held off UTEP, 45-35. Zach Line gained 127 yards and a score as SMU defeated Memphis, 44-13.

TULANE 55, UAB 45
NEW ORLEANS -- Ryan Griffin threw for a Tulane single game record 466 yards and five touchdowns Saturday as Tulane defeated UAB, 55-45 in Conference USA play.

Griffin, who missed three weeks because of a shoulder injury, has topped 300 passing yards in Tulane's last three games. He has completed 79 of 118 passes, for 10 touchdowns and one interception during that span. Griffin is the first Green Wave QB to top 300 yards in three straight games since J.P. Losman in 2003.

Griffin's 15-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Rush broke a 7-7 first-quarter tie and the Green Wave (2-6, 2-2) quickly extended that lead to 21-7 behind Griffin's 61-yarder to Ryan Grant.

Grant hauled in his second touchdown catch of the day, this time an 8-yarder, to give Tulane a 31-10 halftime lead.

Grant finished with 184 receiving yards on six catches while Rush caught eight passes for 126 yards.

UAB (1-7, 0-4) cut the deficit to 45-38 in the fourth quarter but Cairo Santos converted his second field goal of the game to seal the victory.

UCF 54, MARSHALL 17
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Latavius Murray accounted for four touchdowns, Quincy McDuffie returned two kickoff returns for scores and Blake Bortles passed for two TDs as Central Florida routed Marshall 54-17 Saturday night to stay unbeaten in Conference USA.

Murray ran for three touchdowns on 156 yards with 16 carries, while also catching two passes for 38 yards and a score. Bortles was 15 of 21 for 277 yards passing with two interceptions for the Knights (6-2, 4-0).

The Thundering Herd (3-5, 2-2) got on the board first with a field goal but, just one play after that, UCF got rolling. Quincy McDuffie returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a 7-3 lead and the Knights never looked back. They scored 27 straight points, including TD runs of 2 and 75 yards by Murray.

McDuffie wasn't done, though, as he took the second-half kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown and a 34-10 UCF lead.

RICE 44, SOUTHERN MISS 17
HOUSTON -- Turner Peterson rushed for 136 yards and scored two touchdowns, helping Rice defeat Southern Miss 44-17 on Saturday.

Peterson caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Driphus Jackson in the second quarter and capped the scoring with an 8-yard TD run with 3:37 left in the game for the Owls (3-6, 1-4 Conference USA).

Jackson completed 4 of 6 passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns in relief of starter Taylor McHargue, who took a hit on his injured shoulder in the second quarter and did not return.

Southern Miss (0-8, 0-4) turned the ball over five times and remained winless this season despite gaining more yards -- 372 to 370 -- than the Owls. Tracy Lampley had four receptions for 101 yards for the Golden Eagles.

One of Southern Miss' turnovers was a 75-yard interception return by Rice's Paul Porras that gave the Owls a 31-10 lead in the third quarter.

HOUSTON 45, UTEP 35
HOUSTON -- Charles Sims rushed for 119 yards and three touchdowns as Houston defeated UTEP 45-35 Saturday.

Sims scored on runs of 43, 6 and 1 yards as the Cougars (4-4, 3-1 Conference USA) built a 45-7 lead before UTEP (2-7, 1-4) scored the final 28 points of the game.

David Piland added 174 yards passing and two TDs while completing 16 of 30 passes for Houston.

UTEP (2-7, 1-4) got 137 yards rushing and two TDs from Nathan Jeffery. The Miners used four quarterbacks after starter Nick Lamaison went 8 for 18 with four interceptions -- one a 97-yard return by Houston's D.J. Hayden for a score. UTEP also lost two fumbles and was sacked five times.

As a team, the Miners threw for 301 yards and three touchdowns while piling up 494 yards of offense -- most of it coming after the game had already been decided.

SMU 44, MEMPHIS 13
DALLAS -- Garrett Gilbert threw for 353 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores to lead SMU past Memphis 44-13 Saturday.

The former Texas quarterback scored on a short run after Memphis had pulled within three in the third quarter, and his 10-yard scramble put the Mustangs up 30-13 in the fourth.

Zach Line rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown for SMU (4-4, 3-1 Conference USA). Darius Johnson had a season-high 141 receiving yards.

Brandon Hayes had 55 rushing yards and scored the only touchdown for the Tigers (1-7, 1-3).

Trailing 16-13 after a 13-play field goal drive, Memphis sacked Gilbert on SMU's first play of the second half. On the next snap, Johnson turned a short pass from Gilbert into a 70-yard gain, and Gilbert stretched across the goal line on third-and-goal from the 2.

NAVY 56, EAST CAROLINA 28
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Navy always runs wild when it visits East Carolina. This was certainly no different.

The Midshipmen rolled up a season-high 563 total yards -- including 512 on the ground -- in a 56-28 rout of East Carolina on Saturday.

It was Navy's biggest day both on the ground and on the scoreboard since its last trip to Greenville in 2010, when it had 521 yards rushing in a 76-35 romp.

"It's just execution -- that's all I can say," running back Gee Gee Greene said. "I can't really attest it to anything else but execution."

This time, most of the damage was done by Greene and freshman quarterback Keenan Reynolds. Greene had 131 yards rushing while Reynolds rushed for three touchdowns and threw for two more. In improving to 3-0 as Navy's starter, Reynolds scored on runs of 1, 1 and 2 yards to go with TD throws of 15 yards to Casey Bolena and 20 yards to Geoffrey Whiteside.

"We've worked hard -- probably our best week of preparation all season -- and it was good to see all that stuff come to fruition," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "To see it come out on the field was very gratifying for our program."

Marcus Thomas added a 17-yard touchdown run and Noah Copeland scored from 5 yards out for Navy. The Midshipmen (5-3) rolled up a season-best 512 yards rushing and won their fourth straight. Playing on a field that was soaked because of the approaching Hurricane Sandy, Navy scored on eight of its 11 possessions.

Vintavious Cooper rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown and Reggie Bullock added two touchdown runs for the Pirates (5-4), who were favored by a field goal and entered with one of Conference USA's top defenses but allowed its season high in yards rushing well before halftime.

"You have to make sure you're assignment-sound, and each play is a strain to make sure you carry that out," East Carolina coach Ruffin McNeill said. "Sometimes what happens, a guy has his assignment and tries to do something else. That's usually when the big play happens. ... It's a discipline thing. You have to do it, play-in and play-out."

Navy pulled away by scoring the first five times it touched the ball in the second half. Reynolds ran in from 2 yards out to cap a 10-play, 75-yard drive. Lance Ray fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Whiteside recovered at the East Carolina 29. Four plays later, Reynolds hit Bolena over the middle for just his second completion of the day to make it 35-14 with 8:09 left in the third. He added a 1-yard scoring sneak to push it to 42-14.

Reynolds's earlier 1-yard scoring run put the Midshipmen ahead for good at 21-14 with 2:04 to go before the break, and capped a first half in which their triple-option offense was nearly unstoppable except when they stopped themselves.

"They're a potent offense, so we were trying to get as much space as we could," Niumatalolo said.

Navy gained positive yardage on all but four offensive plays in the half -- including the final snap, when Reynolds took a knee -- and its 244 yards rushing at the break were nearly 100 more than the most the Pirates had allowed in any full game this season.

East Carolina turned Navy's only mistake -- Chip Thompson picked off Reynolds in the end zone -- into the 2-yard touchdown run by Bullock that briefly tied it at 14. It came after Shane Carden pulled the Pirates to within 14-7 with a 9-yard scoring pass to Justin Hardy on the first play of the second quarter.

Carden finished 19 of 29 for 194 yards with an interception.

Navy was clicking early, producing touchdowns on its first two possessions. First, an untouched Thomas capped the Midshipmen's opening series by bursting through the right side to make it 7-0. Navy then went up by two touchdowns for the first time with 4 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter on Copeland's 5-yard scoring run.

"I think it did get into our team's head a little bit, that they kept scoring," Carden said. "And that's one of the things, offensively, we can't have. That doesn't affect how we're moving the ball. If they score on our defense, that doesn't affect our offense moving the ball."