Robert Morris Wins It on Jaqai Carter's Third Touchdown
Jaqai Carter caught nine passes for 171 yards and three touchdowns, and the last one, a 10-yarder with 1:25 left, was the winner. Robert Morris beat Norfolk State 33-31 and needed every bit of it.
Robert Morris built a 27-10 lead early in the third quarter. Carson Haggard threw touchdowns to Noah Schaerli and Carter (twice), and Tahseen Howard returned a blocked field goal 100 yards with 0:49 left in the first half to make it 21-7. Take that one play away and Robert Morris loses 26-31. Flip it around and call it the best seven points of the weekend.
Norfolk State did not go away. Da'Jean Golmond hit Rocco Ciocca early and threw 27-of-45 for 371 yards, and from 27-10 the Spartans scored 21 straight points: Brevin Caldwell found Golmond (yes, the quarterback caught a touchdown) from 6 yards in the third, then Golmond hit Kiron Benjamin from 2 and Paul Billups II from 3 in the fourth. That put Norfolk State up 31-27 with 3:27 to play. Robert Morris answered in 2:02, and Bryson Costa missed the extra point, so the lead was two. It held.
The yardage sheet says Norfolk State should have won: 491 total yards to 368, no turnovers, against one Haggard interception. It also says passing was the whole story on both sides, with 377 passing yards for Norfolk State and 296 for Robert Morris, against 114 and 72 on the ground. Robert Morris moves to 2-0 and Norfolk State drops to 2-1.
For fantasy, this was a Carter game and a Golmond game, plus Haggard's four touchdown passes. Nobody in the top three ran for more than 5 yards, which tells you what kind of day it was.