Butler Runs 50 Times, Wins 33-21 After Trailing by 11
Butler was down 14-3 early and finished with 50 rushing attempts. That is the shape of a 33-21 win over Drake: take the punch, then keep handing it off.
Drake opened with Riley Warzynski's 32-yard pass to Lincoln DeLaere and a 7-yard Kavaughn Clark run, and the lead was 11 in the first quarter. Butler got it back in pieces. A 2-yard Gabe Passini pass to Luke Snyder with 5 seconds left in the first made it 14-10, Michael Dellumo ran in from 2 yards to put Butler up 17-14, and then Warzynski hit Lucci Fidone from 11 yards with 7 seconds left in the half for a 21-17 Drake lead. Beck Janki cut it to 21-20 with a field goal in the third, so Drake still led entering the fourth.
Then Desmin Jackson ran in from 2 yards at 8:23 of the fourth (the two-point try failed), and Passini scored from 3 yards at 7:16 to make it 33-21. Drake got no points in the second half. Butler ran for 248 yards on 50 carries and threw for just 149, and its defense had four sacks. Drake threw for 239 yards on 21 of 27 from Warzynski, but lost a fumble and threw an interception, and gained only 73 on the ground.
Michael Dellumo was 1 for 1 for 31 yards and ran 13 times for 68 yards and a touchdown, and Jackson had 17 carries for 91 yards, so Butler had plenty of backs to hand it to.
Butler is 4-2. Drake is 2-5.
Fantasy takeaway: Passini's 25.4 points came on 19 carries and six completions, which is an unusual way to be the top scorer at quarterback.