Inside The College Football Boxscores Week 3 – Part 2
by Matt Fargo
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025Fargo looks past the top line scores and goes deep into the box scores to get a better picture of what really happened for all of the FBS games the past weekend.West Virginia 31, Pitt 24The Backyard Brawl did not disappoint as a pretty uneventful first half turned into a second half shootout with West Virginia coming back from 10 points down late in the fourth quarter and scoring the game-tying touchdown with 11 seconds remaining. The Mountaineers converted a fourth and one in overtime and punched it in two plays later and then stopped Pittsburgh on a fourth and 20. Both teams averaged 4.8 yppl and the Panthers were hurt by 14 penalties for 118 yards.USC 33, Purdue 17USC took a 17-3 lead into halftime and had to settle for a field goal in its first second half possession while Purdue cut it to a two-possession game on its next possession before the Trojans scored the next 10 points to pull away. USC outgained the Boilermakers 460-357 as Purdue was guilty of throwing three interceptions, one returned for a touchdown and it could not get nothing going on the ground, rushing for 58 yards on 28 carries (1.9 ypc). USC was just 4-13 on third down but 4-4 on fourth down.SMU 28, Missouri State 10The Mustangs spotted Missouri St. a 10-0 lead after the first quarter and then outscored the Bears 28-0 the rest of the way as the defense clamped down. Missouri St. got an interception on the Mustangs first possession and turned it into a field goal and scored its touchdown after a missed field goal and did not have a drive more than 32 yards the rest of the game and finished 0-12 on third down. The Mustangs finished with 448 total yards but committed 12 penalties for 130 yards.North Texas 59, Washington State 10North Texas went 75 yards on its opening possession for a touchdown, picked off a Washington St. pass five plays later and scored another touchdown on its next play and it was game over. The Mean Green did have to punt after their next two drives failed but then scored on their next seven possessions. They outgained the Cougars 410-275 which was not a huge discrepancy based on the score but took advantage of five turnovers, four that turned into touchdowns covering just 63 total yards of offense.Iowa State 24, Arkansas State 16It was a letdown for Iowa St. following the CyHawk game as it fell behind 10-9 with 39 seconds remaining in the first half but went 76 yards in four plays to take a 17-10 lead into halftime. The Red Wolves kicked a pair of field goals to pull within one and the Cyclones responded with another 76-yard drive to go up eight and made a fourth down stop with 3:47 left and ran out the clock. Iowa St. outgained Arkansas St. 452-382 and 7.7 to 6.2 yppl as the Red Wolves had 10 penalties for 90 yards.Texas 27, UTEP 10Texas started slow as it held a 7-3 lead with under two minutes remaining in the first half but took the kickoff after the Miners field goal to score another touchdown to start a 20-0 run. UTEP went 87 yards late in the fourth quarter for a garbage touchdown as it had only 172 yards prior to that final possession. Texas finished with only 340 total yards, including 114 yards passing, as they won the time of possession by over 15 minutes thanks to 56 rushes and were outgained 4.4 to 4.2 yppl.Miami (FL) 49, USF 12South Florida could not pull off the third straight upset as the Hurricanes offense came out strong with touchdown drives of 75 and 85 yards in its first two possessions and it was pretty much done. The Bulls would get two field goals in their next two drives while Miami then put up 21 unanswered points. The Hurricanes outgained South Florida 576-332 and won the time of possession by 12 minutes while gaining 8.5 yppl. South Florida turned it over four times (2 turnovers and 2 fourth down failures).Middle Tennessee 14, Nevada 13Nevada was pitching a shutout through three and a half quarters before Middle Tennessee went 60 yards for a touchdown with 6:30 left, the Wolf Pack then missed a field goal and Middle Tennessee then went 76 yards and scored the game winning touchdown with 21 seconds remaining. The Blue Raiders were outgained 369-352 despite running 15 more plays which led to being outgained 6.2 to 4.7 yppl. Nevada finished just 3-13 on third down but rushed for 203 yards on 35 carries (5.8 ypc).Bowling Green 23, Liberty 13Bowling Green took a 10-0 lead into halftime as it was gifted by a pair of Liberty fumbles that turned into those two scores as the Falcons had only 111 total yards in six first half possessions. It was not much better in the second half as they had only 193 yards and were outgained for the game 346-304. The Flames had four turnovers, turned it over on a missed fourth down conversion from its own 26 yard line that led to a Bowling Green touchdown and also missed a field goal.FIU 38, Florida Atlantic 28These teams traded scores through the first half with Florida Atlantic taking a 21-17 lead with 57 seconds remaining until halftime and then Florida International took over. The Panthers took the second half kickoff and went 75 yards on eight plays for its first of three unanswered touchdowns. The Owls cut the lead back to 10 with 7:45 left on a blocked punt but never threatened after that. The Panthers were outgained 478-408 but the Owls had three turnovers and 11 penalties for 92 yards.Southern Miss 38, Appalachian State 22Appalachian St. jumped out to a 7-0 lead before the Golden Eagles went on a 38-7 run that included a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown and four offensive touchdown drives of 75, 75, 69 and 61 yards. The Mountaineers actually won the yardage 470-389 but threw three interceptions and the total yards were skewed as they had the ball for over 13 more minutes while running 34 more plays and they were outgained 6.9 to 5.2 yppl so Southern Mississippi was the better team.Ole Miss 41, Arkansas 35It was score for score for the entire first half with Mississippi jumping ahead 7-0 and eventually taking a 31-28 lead into halftime. The Rebels scored the first 10 points of the second half before Arkansas pulled to within six points with 4:56 remaining but the Razorbacks fumbled at the Mississippi 24-yard line with 1:52 left on its way to try and win the game. Arkansas outgained the Rebels 526-475 as it was buoyed by a strong running game as it rushed for 221 yards on 37 carries (6.0 ypc).Old Dominion 45, Virginia Tech 26Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry was the other coaching casualty after the weekend following a 0-3 start. The Monarchs took a 28-0 lead into halftime and for the game, it racked up 526 yards of offense while averaging 8.5 yppl with a balanced attack of 276 yards passing and 250 yards rushing. Old Dominion encountered only nine third downs, converting four of those but did have eight penalties for 85 yards. The Hokies had 12 penalties for 113 yards and lost the turnover battle 3-0.Illinois 38, Western Michigan 0It was a third straight blowout win for Illinois to open the season but it took a while to get going as the Illini had just a 10-0 lead at halftime as they were forced to punt three times after three and outs before all three. The offense came alive in the second half as Illinois scored four touchdowns yet it managed only 358 total yards on 5.7 yppl but the defense made up for it. The Broncos had only 204 yards on 3.5 yppl while going 3-14 on third down and entered the Illinois redzone only once.Ohio State 37, Ohio 9We had a game for a while as Ohio St. only had a 13-3 lead at halftime and Ohio got the opening kickoff in the second half and scored on a 67-yard touchdown pass on its second play to make it 13-9 and the Buckeyes saw enough. They scored on four of their five second half possessions while the defense allowed just 22 yards on the Bobcats next four possessions and Ohio was only 3-15 on third down. Ohio St. outgained Ohio 572-181 and the offense put up 9.1 yppl and did not punt.Georgia Southern 41, Jacksonville State 34Georgia Southern did not trail until close to the end of the third quarter when Jacksonville St. scored with 22 seconds remaining to take a 34-31 lead. The Eagles tied it on its next possession with a 43-yard field goal and scored the winning touchdown with 6:23 left. The score was indicative of the game flow as the numbers were very even as Georgia Southern outgained the Gamecocks 410-394 including 219-214 in rushing and yppl at 6.2 to 5.8 and each team turning it over once.
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