S. Miss’s Gore rushes for bowl record 329 lawns
MOBILE, Ala.– Frank Gore Jr. ran for an NCAA bowl-record 329 backyards and represented three touchdowns to assist Southern Miss hold back Rice 38-24 on Saturday night in the LendingTree Bowl.Gore, the boy of
the previous NFL star, had a 64-yard scoring run in the 2nd quarter, threw an 18-yard touchdown pass in the 3rd and ran for 55 yards for another score in the 4th. He likewise ran 59 backyards to set up the consent goal for the Golden Eagles (7-6).
Gore, who had 21 brings, broke the mark of 317 lawns set by Appalachian State’s Camerun Peoples in the 2020 Myrtle Beach Bowl against North Texas. Gore broke the Southern Miss record of 304 by Sam Dejarnette versus Florida State in 1982.
“He’s a special guy,” Southern Miss coach Will Hall said. “He’s truly learned how to be a leader. He’s actually found out how to deal with the duty of being Frank Gore Jr., and he has actually embraced that, and he’s welcomed the whole deal of to whom much is provided, much is required.
“He’s constantly intense and competitive and I’m simply actually proud he was able to have an efficiency like this on a national phase where a lot of people might see it. He’s got a chip on his shoulder like his brief coach does.”
Rice quarterback AJ Padgett tossed for 295 backyards and three touchdowns– all in the third quarter– to give the Owls (5-8) a brief 24-17 lead. He tossed 26 and 32 yards to Isaiah Esdale to tie a game Southern Miss led 17-3 at halftime, then connected with Bradley Rozner to put Rice up 24-17 with 5:06 left in the third.Gore’s 18-yard goal pass to Ty Mims– his seventh passing rating of the season– connected it at 24 after 3 quarters. Trey Lowe tossed a 26-yard goal to Jason Brownlee on the 2nd play of the 4th quarter to provide the Golden Eagles the lead at 31-24, and Gore’s 55-yarder topped the scoring with 2:57 left. “We did a lot of good ideas because third quarter, however you have to take your hat off to Southern Miss that they had the ability to run the ball the way they did, “Rice coach Mike Bloomgren stated.” It was sort of the Frank Gore program. However we understood what type of back Frank Gore Jr. is, what an excellent back, what an excellent runner he is. Tonight he was phenomenal. We didn’t do a good enough task tackling, and we didn’t make enough plays on offense to win the game.”
Gore said his father was at the game, and met him on the field prior to the prize discussion. Frank Gore Sr.’s career-best rushing total in a 16-year NFL profession was 212 lawns for the San Francisco 49ers against Seattle in 2006.
“I informed him (about the record) when he began the field and let him know that I’m the very best in the family,” the more youthful Gore said. “Thanks to my O-line, they opened up a great deal of good holes and got me into the secondary. As Coach (Hall) said, the very first individual could hardly ever tackle me. And if you’re able to get down the field unblemished, that leads to a lot of huge plays.”
Gore was not the only player on the field with popular NFL family members. Rice pass receiver Luke McCaffrey, the child of former Denver Broncos receiver Ed McCaffrey and the younger brother of San Francisco 49ers star Christian, caught seven passes for 67 yards and also ran for 11 yards.Luke McCaffrey moved to Rice in 2021 from Nebraska, where he was a quarterback. He transformed to receiver this past spring.The Associated Press contributed to this report.