Central Florida beats Marshall 35-14 in storm

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - The lightning that halted play seemed to energize Ronnie Weaver and Central Florida.

Bouncing off Marshall defenders like a pinball, Weaver rushed for 150 yards on 30 carries - both career highs - and the Knights flourished in a steady rain with a storm-delayed 35-14 win Wednesday night over the Thundering Herd.

UCF (4-2, 2-0 Conference USA) broke open a close game with two touchdowns in the span of a minute in the third quarter and Marshall (1-5, 0-2) never recovered.

Weaver bounced back from a 50-yard effort last week against UAB. He surpassed his previous high of 130 yards set at Kansas State on Sept. 25.

"College football is definitely a game of momentum," Weaver said. "When we feel confident about ourselves, confident about our team, things just work a little better. Things flow a little better. It's easier to execute our assignments."

UCF is off to its best start since opening 5-1 in 1998. The Knights have beaten Marshall in all six meetings since the schools entered Conference USA in 2005.

The nation's ninth-best defense got an interception return for a touchdown for the third time in four games and limited Marshall's running game to 37 yards. And on a soggy night, two Marshall quarterbacks couldn't complete enough passes to overcome a big deficit.

"We didn't run the football very well and we haven't all year," Marshall coach Doc Holliday said. "I keep repeating myself - when we become one dimensional, we struggle. We have to continue to work to find a way to run the ball."

The game was stopped for more than an hour in the second quarter because of the storm. Only a few thousand fans returned to their seats when play resumed, and halftime was canceled.

When the third quarter started, the Knights were ready.

Jamar Newsome returned the kickoff 70 yards and freshman quarterback Jeff Godfrey, who earlier had a 9-yard scoring run, finished the short drive with a 5-yard scamper up the middle.

On Marshall's third play from scrimmage in the quarter, A.J. Bouye intercepted Brian Anderson's pass and went 42 yards for a touchdown that made it 28-7.

Freshman Eddie Sullivan replaced Anderson after the turnover and quickly provided a spark. He threw a short pass on first down to Aaron Dobson, who broke a tackle and went the rest of the way for an 86-yard score.

It was the second score of the game for Dobson, who had a 12-yard TD reception in the second quarter, and the first career touchdown pass for Sullivan, who had completed one of 10 passes to that point.

Anderson returned after sitting out two series but Marshall punted on four straight series and Sullivan replaced Anderson a second time late in the game. Anderson finished 15 of 30 for 129 yards.

Marshall had hoped to feed off its home crowd on national television, but little went right. The stadium was half filled at the start of the game. The storms chased most of the fans away and left the Thundering Herd sluggish when play resumed.

"It was kind of hard coming back," said Dobson, who had five catches for 119 yards. "I think we did OK, but things didn't go our way when we came back out."

UCF's two-quarterback rotation was thrown off when Rob Calabrese hurt his left knee on a 2-yard TD run in the first quarter and didn't return. That left Godfrey to take the remainder of UCF's snaps. Godfrey went 11 of 21 for 138 yards.

"I thought Jeff, still a freshman making some mistakes, makes big plays when he has the opportunity," UCF coach George O'Leary said.