STAT WATCH: Davis' FBS season-best rushing game for Kentucky pushes him over 3,000 career yards

Updated Oct. 2, 2023 5:50 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Kentucky's Ray Davis turned in one of the Southeastern Conference's top individual performances against Florida and became the fourth active player in the Football Bowl Subdivision to go over 3,000 career rushing yards.

Davis' career-best 280 yards on 26 carries in a 33-14 win Saturday was the national season high and second-most ever against the Gators. Davis ran for three touchdowns and caught a pass for another score.

That made him the first SEC player since 2019 to record at least 250 yards and four touchdowns from scrimmage, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Davis' rushing total was the third highest in Wildcats history, and 19 yards short of the school record, and it pushed his career total to 3,091 yards.

Davis played his first two seasons at Temple and his third and fourth at Vanderbilt. He opted to transfer to Kentucky for his final season rather than declare for the NFL draft.

His 118.8 yards per game ranks fourth nationally and first in the SEC.

Two other players went over 200 yards, increasing the season total to nine. Old Dominion's Kadarius Callway ran 11 times for 236 yards with TD runs of 70, 69 and 75 yards in a loss to Marshall and Texas' Jonathan Brooks had 20 carries for 217 in a win over Kansas.

HE DOES IT ALL

Texas State's Ismail Mahdi became the FBS leader in all-purpose yards when he piled up a national season-high 316 against Southern Mississippi.

Mahdi returned the opening kickoff 100 yards, making him the first Texas State player to do that since Willard Dearing in 1959. He finished with 89 rushing yards, 89 receiving yards and 138 kick return yards.

Mahdi, who leads the nation with 186.8 all-purpose yards per game, finished with four touchdowns. He was the first Texas State player since Karrington Bush in 2008 to have touchdowns as a rusher, receiver and kick returner.

Texas Tech's Drae McCray also had a 100-yard kick return over the weekend, taking one all the way against Houston.

LOT OF LEG

San Diego State's Jack Browning kicked the longest field goal in Mountain West Conference history with his 61-yarder to end the first half at Air Force.

Browning broke the conference record of 59 yards by Air Force's Joey Ashcroft in 2003 and the school record of 57 yards by Ed Corral in 1980. Both of those kicks were made at Air Force's Falcon Stadium, which sits at an elevation of 6,621 feet in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Only Wyoming's stadium is higher.

Browning, whose previous long field goal was 52 yards, matched Missouri's Harrison Mevis for longest this season. Mevis' 61-yarder beat Kansas State on Sept. 16.

HALF-DOZEN THROUGH AIR

Returning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams of Southern California and Arkansas State's Jaylen Raynor became the first quarterbacks this season to throw six touchdown passes.

Williams did it against Colorado and Raynor against Massachusetts.

Williams became the first player in 25 years to throw six TD passes for two different schools, according to ESPN Stats & Info. His other six-TD game came in 2021, against Texas Tech, when he played for Oklahoma.

FEAR THIS TURTLE

Taulia Tagovailoa became the first Maryland quarterback since Scott Milanovich in 1994 to throw for five touchdowns in a game.

Tagovailoa did it in a 44-17 win over Indiana, finishing 24 of 34 for 352 yards. He connected with Jeshaun Jones for 62 yards on the game's first play from scrimmage, setting up a touchdown and pushing him past 9,000 career passing yards. His 292.8 yards per game leads the Big Ten.

___

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

share

in this topic

Kentucky Wildcats

College Football

SEC