The record was previously held by Montee Ball, and Reynolds has a number of weeks left to break the tie.
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Navy is also still eligible for the Group of Five bid to a New Year’s Six Bowl, which goes to the top ranked conference champion among the Group of Five Conferences (American Athletic Conference, Mountain West, Conference U.S., Mid-American and Sun Belt) as selected by the College Football Selection Committee.
Facing fourth-and-goal from the 1, head coach Ken Niumatalolo had a tough decision to make.
Reynolds was one of three players for Navy (6-1, 4-0) to amass at least 100 rushing yards in a game for the first time in program history. We were able to execute that play. “We were trying to find cracks anywhere we could”, Niumatalolo said. It was the first kickoff for a touchdown against the Midshipmen since 2009 and the first opening kickoff for a touchdown Navy has yielded since the 1996 Hula Bowl. Kicker Emilio Nadelman missed attempts of 46 and 32 yards, which was a big reason why the Mids only trailed 17-16 midway through the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Quinton Flowers completed 12 of 20 passes for 208 yards to lead South Florida (4-4, 2-2), which had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Linebacker Myer Krah forced and recovered that fumble to give Navy the ball at the visitor’s 42-yard line and set up the clinching touchdown drive, which took 5:09 off the clock.
“I thought the defense played phenomenal”, Niumatalolo said.
The opening kickoff left Navy stunned when Bulls junior kick returner Rodney Adams sprinted through a gaping hole and broke loose for a 97-yard touchdown in 15 seconds. “We made a few mistakes that we can’t make against a winning and mature football team like Navy”. Reynolds carried seven times for 56 yards on the 10-play, 80-yard drive. With 6:26 to play, Reynolds walked off the field to the sideline, where he underwent further examination.
South Florida punted, and Reynolds was promptly sacked for an 8-yard loss.
“So it was either sink or add to the blitz, and I just felt like that was the time to add. I blitzed a couple of other times and he got it off just as soon as I got there”. Keep in mind that I am generally averse to road favorites of this magnitude, but here we’re clearly dealing w/ teams in separate classes.
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South Florida went up 17-13 in the third quarter when Marlon Mack scored on a 2-yard run after a short punt and a 25-yard return by D’Ernest Johnson gave the Bulls the ball at the Navy 36. “They’re not going to stop us on the 1”. “If we want to meet the goals we have as a team, this was an opportunity”, Reynolds said.
