Miami Hurricanes beat Bethune-Cookman Wildcats in college football action
MIAMI GARDENS — After replacing Walter Simmons III at quarterback in each of Bethune-Cookman’s first two games, Luke Sprague received his first start Thursday night.
Six plays later, Sprague was done for the night, his right arm immobilized in a sling.
Then came another twist in the Wildcats’ revolving quarterback situation: Tylik Bethea — not Simmons — took over for Sprague and played most of the remaining snaps of a 48-7 loss to the No. 22-ranked Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.
Yet it was Simmons who accounted for the visitors’ only score of the night, a 6-yard touchdown run to the right corner with 1:19 left.
“We wanted to develop competition in that spot because we know how important that position is,” Bethune-Cookman coach Raymond Woodie Jr. said of his three quarterbacks, all transfers, noting that they’ve been “battling” since the start of fall camp. “I see all three of them as leaders and we can win with all three. They have different skill sets so it’s a good situation to have.”
Sprague’s first start ended abruptly after two hits in a span of three plays.
The 6-foot-5, 221-pound redshirt junior immediately clutched his throwing shoulder in pain after Canes defensive end Reuben Bain Jr. slammed him to the turf — a brutal sack that resulted from intentional grounding; left guard Antuan Wells also was flagged for holding on the play. He aggravated the injury on a blow from defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III that came as Kahlil Overton caught a 17-yard pass over the middle.
Sprague, who was 23-for-29 for 223 yards and two touchdowns after replacing Simmons late in the first half against Savannah State a week earlier, completed all three of his passes on Bethune-Cookman’s opening drive Thursday.
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Bethea, who didn’t play in the first two games, completed 5-of-9 passes for 47 yards — he also lost a fumble — before giving way to Simmons late in the third quarter.
“I thought Tylik did well coming in,” Woodie Jr. said. “He’s a little banged up. But he made some good decisions.”
Said Bethea: “It’s been a tough quarterback competition, so we’ve made each other better. That helped all three of us to be ready against Miami.”
Simmons was 3-for-5 passing for 62 yards against the Hurricanes and rushed four times for 21 yards after completing 12-of-24 passes for 57 yards and one interception in the previous two games combined. As a team, Bethune-Cookman managed just 165 yards of offense, including 33 yards rushing on 30 attempts, while averaging 3.5 yards per play. The Wildcats surrendered four sacks and 10 tackles for loss.
“We knew coming in that Miami has one of the best defensive lines, probably the front seven, in the country,” Woodie Jr. said.
The severity of Sprague’s injury — the team planned to get him further evaluated after returning to Daytona Beach — will determine how the Wildcats move forward in preparation for their next game, Sept. 23 at Jackson State. Woodie Jr. said Sprague had earned the start Thursday because of his play the previous week.
“He started to get his rhythm [against Miami], and then the injury happened, and we went to Tylik,” Woodie Jr. said. “Anytime we’ve put Tylik in a pressure situation in practice, he’s shown that he will step up and make plays. So I felt real comfortable when Luke went down to go with Tylik.”
