Harris passes Miami past No. 18 Florida State, 38-34

Ailing arm and all, Jacory Harris put on a show Monday night that Miami won’t soon forget.

And the Hurricanes’ defense came up huge when it mattered most.

The sophomore quarterback threw for 386 yards -- including a 40-yard pass over double coverage to Travis Benjamin, setting up Graig Cooper’s three-yard touchdown run with 1 minute 53 seconds left -- and led Miami past No. 18 Florida State, 38-34, at Tallahassee, Fla.

Florida State got to the Miami two with 14 seconds left. But Christian Ponder threw three consecutive incomplete passes, the last coming on a ball that Jarmon Fortson nearly caught in the end zone on the game’s final play, and Miami escaped.

Harris completed 21 of 34 passes for two touchdowns with two interceptions. He was shaken on the second of those turnovers; Harris was drilled by blitzing cornerback Greg Reid and his throw on that play resulted in nothing more than a pop fly that Markus White ran back 31 yards for a 31-24 Florida State lead with 11:45 remaining.

Harris walked to the sideline, holding his right arm tightly to his chest.

He was fine. Better than fine, actually.

“It was just a bad funny bone incident,” Harris said. “My whole arm went numb. I had to fight through. I had to help this team win.”

He did.

Harris connected with Cooper for a 24-yard touchdown to tie the score, 31-31, and after Florida State took the lead again on Dustin Hopkins’ 45-yard field goal with 4:11 left, the Hurricanes went back to work.

They went 59 yards in six plays, Harris’ perfect lob to Benjamin accounting for most of them, and Cooper plowed in for the go-ahead score.

“I was just thinking my team fought through this so long and so hard. All the preparation and it came down to this,” Harris said of watching the final series from the sideline. “Our defense, I know they were going to pull through at the end.”

Ponder completed 24 of 41 passes for a career-best 294 yards and two second-half touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to keep Florida State from losing for the fourth time in Miami’s last five trips to the state capital.

“You have to cast it aside and look at the errors we made,” Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said. “If we don’t correct them, we’ll lose another one the same way.”

Miami outgained Florida State, 476 yards to 404.

Cincinnati rolls over Rutgers

Tony Pike threw for a career-high 362 yards and three touchdowns, and Cincinnati used its high-speed, no-huddle offense to hurry past Rutgers, 47-15, at Piscataway, N.J.

The defending Big East Conference champion got a jump on the conference race by improving to 4-0 against Rutgers since joining the league.

New Scarlet Knights starter Domenic Natale threw three first-half interceptions and the senior left open the possibility that his first start could be his last. Highly touted freshman Tom Savage played the second half.

Pike completed 27 of 34 passes, Mardy Gilyard caught eight passes for 89 yards and a score, and Isaiah Pead scored two touchdowns.

Bradford likely out at least two weeks

Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford is not expected to need surgery on his sprained right shoulder and the quarterback could play again for Oklahoma in two to four weeks, Coach Bob Stoops said.

Stoops said the initial evaluations by doctors showed that Bradford did not suffer any damage to his collarbone, rotator cuff or other parts of his shoulder when he sprained his AC joint just before halftime in Oklahoma’s 14-13 loss to Brigham Young on Saturday.

Those evaluations also did not suggest surgery, although another doctor’s opinion is due in today.