Sports
No. 8 Miami, QB Cam Ward bring prolific offense against South Florida
Sep 14, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward (1) passes the football against the Ball State Cardinals during the first quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images The eighth-ranked Miami Hurricanes have already scored 159 points – a program record for the first three games of a season.
Miami (3-0) will now travel to Tampa to challenge the host South Florida Bulls (2-1) on Saturday. Miami is a 16.5-point favorite.
After all, the Hurricanes are coming off a 62-0 win over Ball State. That marked Miami’s biggest shutout win ever over an FBS program. With the Ball State game essentially locked up, Miami quarterback Cam Ward was pulled three minutes into the third quarter. But even with such a short stint, Ward still passed for 346 yards and a career-high five touchdowns.
Ward, a transfer from Washington State who is completing 73 percent of his passes this season, is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, according to FanDuel. He has passed for 11 touchdowns, and he is averaging 345 passing yards per game. Even better, Ward has no fumbles and just one interception.
“He is laser-focused,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “He has the right mentality.”
Defensively, the Hurricanes are allowing just 8.7 points per game. Miami’s best defensive player has been defensive end Tyler Baron, who tops the team in tackles for loss (seven) and sacks (4 1/2).
On the other side, South Florida’s defense has impressed Cristobal.
“Their speed, their physicality, their intensity, their ability to tackle in space,” Cristobal said. “There’s a lot to (USF) that made them successful.”
Outside linebacker Mac Harris leads USF in total tackles (19) and stops for loss (3 1/2).
Offensively, the stars are quarterback Byrum Brown, running backs Nay’Quan Wright and Kelley Joiner Jr., and wide receivers Sean Atkins and Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen.
Brown tops USF in passing yards (448) and rushing yards (254). He has two TD passes and two running TDs, as well as zero interceptions.
At running back, Wright – a Miami native – and Joiner are both sixth-year seniors.
Wright has rushed for 188 yards, a 5.7 average and two TDs. Joiner has rushed for 220 yards, a 7.3 average and four TDs.
Atkins, another sixth-year senior, arrived at USF as a walk-on in 2019. Yet he has played 50 games. Last year, he set USF season records for catches (92) and yards (1,054).
Yaseen, who arrived at USF this year as a Purdue transfer, has nine catches and a 13.0 average this season. He’s a fifth-year player.
In its season opener, USF beat heavy underdog Bethune-Cookman 48-3. USF then lost 42-16 at Alabama, although the Bulls trailed just 21-16 with less than six minutes left in that game.
Last Saturday, USF trailed 14-0 midway through the first quarter before rallying for a 49-24 win over Southern Mississippi.
In that game, Joiner had TD runs of 43 and 50 yards, and Wright scored on a 33-yarder.
Joiner and Wright both rushed for over 100 yards.
“I really don’t care about the stats,” said Joiner, who is 26 years old. “I really care about the win.”
This will be the first time Miami and USF have met since 2013, when the Hurricanes won 49-21 in Tampa.
USF coach Alex Golesh said Saturday’s game will be one of the biggest in the 28-season history of Bulls football, and he’s looking for a crowd in excess of 70,000.
“It’s going to a huge night in Tampa,” Golesh said. “We’ve got to get ourselves ready against a really good football team.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
No. 7 Florida drubs No. 20 Arkansas, wins SEC regular-season title
Florida forward Alex Condon (21) drives on Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile (7) during the first half of an NCAA basketball game at Steven C. O’Connell Center Exactek arena in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, February 28, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun] Thomas Haugh scored 22 points, Ruben Chinyelu had 12 points and 16 rebounds for his 17th double-double, and No. 7 Florida clinched the Southeastern Conference regular-season title with a 111-77 rout of No. 20 Arkansas in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday.
Alex Condon scored 17 points, Urban Klavzar and Boogie Fland scored 14 apiece and Xaivian Lee added 13 as the Gators (23-6, 14-2 SEC) placed seven players in double figures in their highest scoring game of the season.
The defending champion Gators lead second-place No. 17 Alabama (22-7, 12-4) by two games with two games left, and they own the tiebreaker after a 100-79 victory in their lone regular-season meeting.
Florida has won a season-high nine in a row — eight by at least 13 points — and is a projected No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Billy Richmond scored 22 points and Darius Acuff Jr. added 17 for the Razorbacks (21-8, 11-5), who had won five of six. They are a projected No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Acuff, the SEC’s leading scorer at 22.2 points per game, had a streak of nine straight 20-point games broken. He was 6 of 19 from the field.
Florida led by at least 24 in the final 15 minutes and stretched its advantage to 37 on Condon’s layup in the final three minutes.
The Gators secured their first regular-season title since 2013-14, when they also won the SEC tournament.
Florida shot 56.5% from the field and had a 51-31 rebounding advantage. Condon had six rebounds and Haugh had five. The Gators led the nation with a plus-14.1 rebound margin.
The Razorbacks shot 40.0% from the field.
Florida coach Todd Golden and Arkansas coach John Calipari were hit with double technical fouls with 17:27 left with the Gators holding a 23-point lead.
Klavzar kickstarted the Gators with two 3-pointers and Condon added a dunk in a 12-0 run to give Florida a 23-16 lead nine minutes in.
Lee made three layups later in the first half and Isaiah Brown (11 points) hit two 3-pointers and a transition dunk to push the Gators’ lead to 51-27 with 2:33 left in the first half.
Florida led 53-34 at half, when it totaled 32 points in the paint.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Thomas Muller's first-half brace leads Vancouver to rout of Toronto
Feb 28, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Whitecaps FC forward Thomas Muller (13) celebrates scoring on a corner kick from midfielder Sebastian Berhalter (16) (not pictured) against Toronto FC goalkeeper Luka Gavran (1) during the first half at BC Place. Mandatory Credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images Thomas Muller scored a first-half brace, leading the Whitecaps to a 3-0 victory over visiting Toronto FC on Saturday night in Vancouver.
Brian White also scored a first-half goal, while keeper Yohei Takaoka made three saves for his second consecutive clean sheet to open the MLS season.
With the victory, Vancouver (2-0-0, 6 points) improved to 4-0-1 in its last five regular-season matches against Toronto.
The Reds (0-2-0, 0 points) are now 6-9-4 in 19 MLS meetings against their Western Canadian rivals.
Trailing 3-0, Toronto had an excellent chance to cut into the lead early in the second half. Djordje Mihailovic thought he’d put Toronto on the board in the 55th minute, but the midfielder was caught offside.
Then in the 74th minute, Takaoka made a diving save off Toronto midfielder Jose Cifuentes – the Reds’ first shot on target of the match.
Vancouver controlled possession in the first half with five shots on target.
Aziel Jackson was awarded a penalty kick after being taken down in the area by Walker Zimmerman in the 24th minute. On the ensuing penalty kick, Muller opened the scoring, putting his right-footed strike in the bottom-left corner past Luka Gavran.
Muller added his second of the half 12 minutes later as Sebastian Berhalter’s corner was headed across to Muller by Mathias Laborda, and the German midfielder ripped his left-footed shot into an open goal.
In first-half stoppage time, off another Berhalter corner, Gavran was caught out of position, allowing White to score on a right-footed strike.
Up next, Vancouver travels to Portland for its first away match of the season next Saturday. Toronto visits Cincinnati next Sunday to wrap up a three-game road trip to open the season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Pelicans close 1st half strong to beat Jazz for 4th straight win
Feb 28, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Herbert Jones (2) dunks the ball during the second quarter against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images Saddiq Bey scored 24 points and the visiting New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Utah Jazz for the second time in three nights on Saturday, 115-105.
Bey, who scored a season-high 42 points in the Pelicans’ 129-118 victory Thursday night, was joined in double figures by rookie Jeremiah Fears (18), who added a season-high 11 rebounds, Bryce McGowens (18), Herb Jones (17), and Jordan Poole (11) as New Orleans won its fourth consecutive game.
Leading scorer Trey Murphy III missed his fifth consecutive game because of a right shoulder contusion, and second-leading scorer Zion Williamson had just four points in 11 minutes before leaving the game with a right ankle injury.
New Orleans still had plenty of firepower, leading by as many as 27 points just as it did two nights earlier.
Isaiah Collier scored 21, Keyonte George (ankle) returned from a six-game absence to score 17, Elijah Harkless added 14, Ace Bailey had 13, Kyle Filipowski had 12 and Brice Sensabaugh 10 to lead the Jazz, who lost their fifth straight game.
The Pelicans pushed their 25-point halftime to 27 with 3:57 left in the third quarter, but the Jazz climbed within 89-73 at the end of the period. Utah got as close as seven points early in the fourth quarter, but New Orleans scored the next eight points and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
The Pelicans scored the first nine points of the game as the Jazz went nearly five minutes before making their first field goal. Utah pulled even at 17 and 19 before New Orleans held a 27-22 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Yves Missi, returning from a five-game absence due to a calf strain, made a dunk to start the second-quarter scoring and Poole followed with a 3-pointer to expand the lead to 10 points.
Jones made two 3-pointers and Bey had five points during a 15-0 run that completed a 20-2 surge, giving New Orleans a 65-40 halftime lead. The Jazz didn’t make a field goal in the final 4:55.
–Field Level Media
