Kurtis Rourke threw one touchdown pass, ran for another and Ty Son Lawton rushed for two more scores Saturday as the Indiana Hoosiers routed the Charlotte 49ers 52-14.
Indiana is 4-0 for just the third time since 1991 and only the eighth time in school history. Curt Cignetti also became the first coach to open his Hoosiers career with four consecutive wins.
Charlotte (1-3) kept it close through the first 21 minutes but allowed two TDs in the final three minutes of the first half and another to open the second half and it never recovered.
The Hoosiers asserted themselves quickly, too.
Fourteen of their first 15 snaps were in Charlotte territory with Lawton scoring on an 8-yard run to open the scoring and Nicolas Radicic capping Indiana’s second drive with a 27-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead a little less than 11 minutes into game.
Charlotte finally answered with a 13-yard TD run from C.J. Stokes.
But after the teams traded two more TDs, Indiana broke the game open with Rourke’s 12-yard scoring run and a 19-yard scoring strike from Rourke to Ke’Shawn Williams in the final four minutes of the first half to take a 31-14 lead. Lawton sealed it with a 5-yard TD run with 12:13 left in the third quarter.
Rourke, the Big Ten’s reigning offensive player of the week, finished 16 of 20 with 258 yards and ran four times for 32 yards. Lawton carried seven times for 35 yards and Justice Ellison finished with nine carries for 58 yards. The Hoosiers had six different players score TDs and finished with 510 total yards.
Bearcats shutout Houston for first ever Big 12 home win: Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby threw for two touchdowns and ran for another and the Bearcats defense kept Houston off the scoreboard in a 34-0 Bearcats win.
The Bearcats (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) have already equaled their 2023 win total.
Sorsby threw touchdowns of 19 and 15 yards each to wide receiver Xzavier Henderson in the first half. The first touchdown came off an interception by safety Josh Minkins Jr., picking off Houston quarterback Donovan Smith on the Cougars first possession of the game. It’s the third straight game Cincinnati’s defense has gotten an interception on their opening possession.
It was the start of three straight scoring drives for the Bearcats, as they raced out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. Two of those drives covered 80 yards. Running back Corey Kiner’s 44-yard touchdown run bookended the two 80-yard touchdown drives.
Daily rushes for 3 scores, passes for 2 more, to lead Army over Rice: Bryson Daily ran for three touchdowns and passed for two more to lead Army over Rice 37-14 on Saturday.
Daily had already run for two scores and passed for two by halftime, accounting for 207 of Army’s 272 yards offense in the opening half. The Black Knights (3-0, 2-0 American) came in as the nation’s rushing leader at 390 yards per game and finished with 288 against Rice.
Daily dove over the line on fourth down for a 2-yard score and a 21-0 lead, to cap a drive that began with a blocked field goal. Andon Thomas’ interception at the 50 led to Daily’s 17-yard scoring pass to Casey Reynolds for a 28-0 halftime lead.
Daily rushed for 145 yards and passed for 107. He found Noah Short deep over the middle for the game’s first points with a 41-yard TD.
Army has won seven straight dating to last season.
Kentucky offense wakes up in win over Ohio: Demie Sumo-Karngbaye scored Kentucky’s first touchdowns in two games and Dane Key caught seven passes for a career-high 145 yards yards as Kentucky handled Ohio 41-6 Saturday.
Quarterback Brock Vandagriff was 17-of-24 passing for 237 yards as the Wildcats (2-2) put together a balanced offensive attack of 488 yards. Jamarion Wilcox led the ground game with 82 yards as Kentucky ran for 206 yards.
The Bobcats (2-2) were held to 108 yards rushing, well below their average of 203 yards per game.
Mertz, Gators top Miss. St.: With Florida head coach Billy Napier’s job security grabbing the bulk of the attention on Saturday afternoon, the Gators rose to the occasion against Mississippi State.
Graham Mertz passed for three touchdowns and rushed for another to lead Florida over Mississippi State 45-28 on Saturday. The win ended a seven-game losing streak for the Gators against FBS opponents.
“It’s good to win on the road in this league and this can be a challenging place to play,” Napier said. “We have more work to do. We won (Saturday), but we are very much a work in progress. We’re not even close to being who we can be and they know that.”
The Gators had 503 yards of total offense and completed 93 percent of their passes with Mertz 19 of 21 for 201 yards and DJ Lagway completing all seven of his throws for 76 yards.