Cam Ward and No. 8 Miami keep rolling along.
Ward threw for 404 yards and three touchdowns Saturday night, becoming the 13th player in NCAA history to top 15,000 career passing yards while leading the Hurricanes to a 50-15 victory over South Florida.
Ward tossed TD passes of 6 yards to Isaiah Horton, 5 yards to Xavier Restrepo and 76 yards to Sam Brown, the latter putting Miami (4-0) ahead for good late in the second quarter. Damien Martinez rushed for three TDs, including a pair of 1-yarders that finished long drives and built the lead to 36-15 in the third quarter.
“He’s been great for a long time,” Horton said of Ward. "As soon as he got on campus, he made his mark instantly. I love playing with him.”
Receiver Sean Atkins had 11 catches for 125 yards and also threw a 12-yard TD pass to quarterback Byrum Brown for USF (2-2).
The Bulls led 15-14 with 2:36 remaining in the first half after getting field goals of 58 and 51 yards from Nico Gramatica and 45 yards from John Cannon to give an announced crowd of 58,616 hopes an upset was in the making.
“Proud of our guys for responding like they did. It’s the first time we’ve actually trailed this year," Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. "In the second half we played cleaner and better Miami Hurricane football.”
Ward entered the night needing 89 yards to reach 15,000 for his career and got there on a 22-yard completion to Horton late in the first quarter. Moments later, he threw 6 yards to Horton for a touchdown that finished an eight-play, 90-yard drive and gave the Hurricanes a 14-9 lead.
The only other active college quarterback with more than 15,000 passing yards is Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, whose career total entering Saturday was 15,779 in 53 games at three different schools. Ward reached the milestone in the 48th game of a career that began at Incarnate Word, where he threw for 6,908 yards in two seasons.
The 6-foot-2, 223-pound quarterback spent the last two years at Washington State, passing for 6,968 yards there. He's thrown for 1,439 yards in Miami’s first four games to become the first to start a stint at the school with four consecutive 300-yard games and hike his career total to 15,315.
Ward's lone interception came on a throw that glanced off the hands of Restrepo in the first quarter. Jordan Lyle finished Miami's scoring with a 90-yard TD run in the closing minutes.
“We stayed the course offensively. The one turnover we had, that really shot us in the foot,” Ward said. "We knew going into this game we couldn’t help them. That’s something we emphasized and after that play we got back to our brand of offense.”
USF, rebuilding under second-year coach Alex Golesh, gave a Top 10 opponent problems for the second time in its last three games. The Bulls got Miami's attention when they played No. 4 Alabama close before a fourth-quarter collapse left them with a 42-16 loss.
It was 14-13 going into the fourth quarter against the Crimson Tide, though, and Saturday night they only trailed 22-15 after Cannon missed a 31-yard field goal that would have trimmed the deficit to four just before halftime.
“I’m not going to justify losing, but I’m proud of where we stand after 16 games,” said Golesh, who inherited a team that went 1-11 two years ago. “We’ve raised the standard to a point that our guys go into these games believing they can win.”
Ward threw for five touchdowns and Miami amassed a school-record 750 yards total offense in the previous week's 62-0 rout of Ball State. His three TD passes against USF raised his season total to 14.
Brown completed 19-of-30 passes for 254 yards, ran for 27 yards and caught a touchdown pass from wide receiver Sean Atkins. He left at the start of the fourth quarter with an injury, but later returned to the sideline.
Atkins caught a career-high 11 passes for 125 yards. He moved into second all-time at USF with 145 career catches and stands fifth in career receiving yards with 1,695.
Freshman kicker Nico Gramatica kicked the first two field goals of his career, including a 58-yarder — the second-longest field goal in USF history behind his uncle Bill Gramatica's 63-yarder in 2000.
A crowd of 58,616 attended the game in Raymond James Stadium. It included a record 15,670 student tickets distributed and more than 100 green and gold painted “Beef Studs” in the front row of the north endzone student section.
The takeaway
Miami: The Hurricanes passed what amounted to their first real test after opening the season with lopsided wins over Florida (41-17), Florida A&M (56-9) and Ball State (62-0). Now, they turn their attention to the start of Atlantic Coast Conference play.
USF: Golesh clearly has the Bulls, who begin the American Athletic Conference portion of their schedule next week, headed in the right direction. The one-time Tennessee offensive coordinator led a six-win turnaround to 7-6 in 2023. Playing well before fading against Alabama and Miami should bolster the team's confidence entering league play. USF opens American Athletic Conference play at Tulane Saturday (12 p.m. kickoff, either ESPN or ESPNU will air the game).
Poll implications
Miami, which has scored 209 points in its four games, figures to protect its standing in the Top 10.
Up next
Miami hosts Virginia Tech in ACC opener next Friday.
USF has its AAC opener at Tulane next Saturday.
Additional reporting by WUSF's Mark Schreiner.
