After a 76-0 victory over outmanned and overmatched Florida A&M, Urban Meyer couldn't say for certain that his Ohio State team got a lot out of its meek non-conference schedule.
''Obviously, at midnight next week, we'll know,'' the coach of No. 4 Ohio State said, referring to the Big Ten opener on Saturday against No. 24 Wisconsin. ''Are we prepared? I like to think we are.''
There's no doubt that Kenny Guiton is.
For the third game in a row, the perennial backup starred in place of the injured Braxton Miller. Guiton set a school record with six touchdown passes - all in the first half - in a blow-out of historic proportions.
It was an epic mismatch between a team with national-title aspirations and a Football Championship Subdivision member getting a $900,000 guarantee.
FAMU, which picked up the sport in 1899, had never lost by so many points. It was the most lopsided Ohio State win since an 85-7 victory over Drake in 1935.
''We don't want a pity party,'' said Rattlers coach Earl Holmes, who made a point of saying the Buckeyes didn't run up the score on his team. ''I don't have a problem with that. I don't expect the coach to kneel. You play the game. You play for 60 minutes.''
At least it was decided relatively quickly. The Buckeyes (4-0) were up 21-0 in the opening 6 minutes and never looked back. Guiton, who completed 24 of 34 passes for 215 yards, tossed four TD passes in the first quarter.
''I had all day,'' Guiton said. ''The coaches wanted to come out throwing the ball around and I thank them for the trust they had in me to be able to do that.''
FAMU (1-3) was behind 48-0 when it picked up its initial first down in the second quarter.
The stats were as lopsided as the score. Ohio State had a 34-2 edge in first downs and a 603-80 differential in yards.
''I wouldn't say we're unsatisfied,'' tight end Jeff Heuerman said. ''There's always room for improvement. We're not perfect.''
Miller, the Big Ten's offensive player of the year last season and a Heisman Trophy hopeful this year, missed his second game in a row with a sprained medial-collateral ligament in his left knee.
Meyer had said Miller was probable to play against the Rattlers, but he never put on his uniform.
It didn't take long for this game to get out of control, with or without him.
After a short punt ended the Rattlers' first possession, Ohio State took over at the FAMU 30. On third down from the 3, Guiton's pass into the end zone was picked off by Patrick Aiken. Aiken, however, elected to try to run the ball out. He got to the 3 before being hit by running back Jordan Hall and fumbling the ball away.
''I got caught up in the moment,'' Aiken said. ''I made a mental error. I should have just kneed the ball in the end zone.''
On the next play, Hall scored the first of his two touchdowns.
After a 65-yard punt return by Corey Brown put the ball at the 11, one play later Guiton flipped an 11-yard TD pass to Heuerman. That made it 13-0 - the Buckeyes inexplicably went for two but failed - with the touchdowns coming on two plays totaling 10 seconds.
Doran Grant blocked the next FAMU punt and the Buckeyes were right back in business at the 25. It took two more passes to make it 20-0, with Guiton hitting Evan Spencer for the final eight yards and the score.
Carlos Hyde, who had been suspended for the first three games after an alleged altercation with a female in a bar this summer, took a shovel pass the final yard late in the quarter. After the ensuing kickoff, Bradley Roby intercepted a pass by Damien Fleming and returned it to the 5. It was 34-0 after Guiton hit Devin Smith for the score.
Guiton eclipsed the mark that had been held by John Borton in 1952 and Bobby Hoying (who did it in 1994 and again in 1995) with his second TD pass to Spencer in the final seconds of the half.
With the Buckeyes up 55-0 at the half, Meyer took his foot off the gas and filled the field with subs. Fifth-team tailback Ezekiel Elliott ran for 162 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns and third-string quarterback Cardale Jones ran for one.
''You come to Ohio State to compete for the Big Ten championship,'' Meyer said. ''That actually started in a meeting just a minute ago.''
The Rattlers' largest previous margin of defeat was 73-6 against Tuskegee in 1926. They lost to Oklahoma 69-13 a year ago and South Florida 70-17 in 2011.
''It's always worth it,'' Holmes said of scheduling a juggernaut. ''You've got some guys who have aspirations of playing on Sunday. So you find out exactly where you fit.''
The Rattlers found out, all right.
No. 7 Louisville blows out FIU, 72-0
This was one dominant performance, and Teddy Bridgewater and No. 7 Louisville think they can perform even better.
It's definitely a nice problem to have heading into conference action.Bridgewater threw four touchdown passes and Louisville's defense allowed a school-record 30 yards during a 72-0 wipeout of Florida International on Saturday.
It was the highest scoring game for the Cardinals (4-0) since a 73-10 victory over Murray State in 2007. They matched the school's fifth-largest margin of victory while recording their first shutout since a 26-0 win over Connecticut in 2010.
Asked afterward if the Cardinals' victory was the most complete effort he has seen, Bridgewater said: ''As a team, yes. But we feel we have a little way to go and continue to get better each and every day.
''We'll take this win and build off that.''
The margin might have been even worse if not for a clock issue in the second half. Gerald Austin, the coordinator of officials for Conference USA, acknowledged in a statement that the clock was allowed to run at times when it should have been stopped.
FIU coach Ron Turner ''made a comment to one of the officials that, given the amount of injuries and the limited numbers of players he had available, he wanted to run the ball in the second half,'' Austin said in a release. ''One official misinterpreted that comment.
''After reviewing the tape there were five times that the clock should have been stopped and it did not. Four times were on first down and one play where the runner went out of bounds, based on a quick review of the video.''
Austin and Turner both said the coach never requested a running clock.
''I did notice it was going quicker,'' Turner said. ''First of all, I don't have the authority to request it. I wish I had the authority. I'm not saying I wouldn't have, you know, but I did not request it.''
Bridgewater hit DeVante Parker for two TD passes and Gerald Christian and Eli Rogers for one apiece before Will Gardner came on and passed to Michaelee Harris for another score in the fourth quarter. Dominique Brown, Senorise Perry, Michael Dyer and Brandon Radcliff rushed for TDs.
Charles Gaines returned the second-half kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, and recovered a muffed punt to set up Bridgewater's second TD pass in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Louisville's defense didn't allow a first down until early in the second quarter and just two overall, also a program record. FIU converted just 1 of 13 third-down chances.
Louisville coach Charlie Strong believes that kind of effort will eventually result in perfection.
''We try to reach that level and we're going to get there,'' Strong said. ''The way you practice, you feel like that (being perfect). ... I tell players all the time just try to give your best, that's all we're looking for each and every down.''
Bridgewater had 212 yards on 17-of-22 passing, part of Louisville's 464-yard effort against winless FIU (0-4). It was another efficient performance for the junior quarterback.
A week after tossing just one touchdown pass against in-state rival Kentucky, Bridgewater threw for three scores by halftime and added another in the third quarter.
That got the Cardinals rolling toward the offensive performance they wanted in their final game before traveling to Temple for their American Athletic Conference opener on Oct. 5.
''It was just a great overall performance in all three phases of the game,'' Bridgewater said. ''We just went out today and competed and played a complete game.''
It was a much different outcome than the previous two games in the series. The schools had split two prior meetings, with each earning seven-point road wins. Louisville won 28-21 in Miami last year.
The Cardinals were 42-point favorites for this one, with overwhelming advantages in every statistical category. And it went as expected.
Four of Louisville's eight first-half possessions began at midfield or in Panthers territory. The Cardinals converted three of those chances into a 17-0 lead.
Bridgewater hit Parker for a 3-yard touchdown pass that was initially ruled incomplete. The call was reversed after a video review showed the receiver got his right foot down in the end zone while making his second acrobatic TD catch in as many weeks.
John Wallace added a 26-yard field goal and Perry had a 26-yard run off left tackle to keep the roll going.
It was just more of the same as the game wore on. Brown's 77-yard run set up his 1-yard TD dive in the second quarter and Bridgewater completed four passes for 68 yards on another scoring drive, connecting with Parker for 6 yards for his third TD.
Another nightmarish game for FIU continued into the third quarter, with Gaines returned the second-half kickoff for another touchdown.
Louisville has 23 players from South Florida, including Bridgewater, so the Panthers were more than familiar with the Cardinals' personnel. But they lacked the talent to keep up with Louisville, which led 38-0 at the break.
''Nothing will surprise me with this team,'' Turner said of Louisville. ''They're a great football team all the way around. There are no weak areas. They're very well coached, they play hard and they have exceptional athletes.''
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