SIOUX FALLS -- If first impressions go a long way, Luke Papilion is already a pretty popular guy with USF football fans.
The 19-year-old, true freshman quarterback rushed for 240 yards and five touchdowns in the first home start (and second overall) of his college career, leading the Cougars to an entertaining, ground-and-pound 45-37 win over Northern State Saturday night before a crowd of 3,356 at Bob Young Field.
Papilion's effort was far from perfect, in fact, his passing performance was, statistically, one of the worst by a USF quarterback in a long time (8-for-25 for 94 yards). But the 6-foot-5, 230-pounder was impossible to stop running the read option, showing good agility on his feet and very impressive speed. Once he started gouging the Wolves (1-1) with the option, things opened up for tailback Nephi Garcia, who ran for 159 yards himself, as the Cougars (1-1) finished with 411 yards on the ground. Papilion's yards and touchdowns are both believed to be school records for quarterbacks.
"That's what we've seen out of him in practice," said USF senior guard Sam Dooyema. "The guy can make plays. And to see the confidence growing and the excitement building on our sideline, that was the best part. That's contagious, and it really got the whole team going. We fed off of it."
Even late, when NSU was geared up for Papilion, as the Cougars tried to run clock after the Wolves had rallied to within 38-30, the freshman couldn't be stopped. His 34-yard run with just over six minutes to go put the Cougars deep in Wolves territory (and put Papilion officially over 200 yards), setting up his own five-yard run for his final score of the game.
The Wolves added a John Hughes scoring run in the final minute, but USF recovered the onside kick to hang on.
Papilion was all smiles afterward, though he did admit to being disappointed in his passing. But it's clear he took something from last week's humbling 32-7 loss to Minnesota Duluth, and that his confidence is only going to grow to match his talent.
"We wanted to come out and be physical and run the ball," said Papilion, a Denver product who had 220 of his 240 yards after the first quarter. "It all starts with the guys up front. They got a good push and were moving people around and opening up holes, and the timing really came together well as the game went on with our option."
Jared Jacobson threw for 234 yards and four TDs for the Wolves, while rushing for 74 yards and a touchdown. But like USF, it took them at least a quarter to get going offensively.
"It was a weird game -- in the first quarter it was kind of a defensive struggle and it looked like it might stay that way," said Wolves coach Tom Dosch. "Then in the second half it turned into a shootout. We didn't really see a lot of the same stuff (from USF) that they showed last week against Duluth. They didn't take care of the ball in that one, this game they really did. That and us not tackling very well was the big difference in this one."
Things heated up quickly in the second quarter.
After a two-yard scoring run from Garcia gave USF a 10-7 lead, Papilion dashed 42 yards for a score to make it 17-7, a run that showed off the youngster's breakaway speed for the first time.
It looked like USF would carry that momentum into half, but Jacobson directed NSU on a scoring drive that ended with a five-yard strike to Cody Kraft to make it 17-14, and the Cougars then blew the enusing kickoff, failing to cover what was not even an attempt at an onside kick by the Wolves. NSU recovered, and Jacobson found Connor Doherty from 3-yards out to give the Wolves a 21-17 lead with 55 seconds left.
But rather than go to half deflated or furious, USF got a boost when Wes Smith returned the kickoff 58 yards to the NSU 39, and another long run by Papilion gave USF first and goal. Papilion then called his own number, going in from a yard out on 3rd down with 16 seconds and no timeouts left to give USF a 3-point lead at the break.
"That kick return really turned it for us," said USF coach Jed Stugart. "We made a couple real bad mistakes on special teams and it looks like they're going to go into the half with all the momentum, and on that one play we took it right back. That was huge."
Papilion quickly went in for two scores in the third to give USF a comfortable 38-21 advantage. NSU fought back admirably, but the Cougars' punishing ground game never stopped rolling.
"If you can run the ball like we did tonight, it's going to demoralize a defense," said Stugart, whose own defense was led by Carter Ahlers' 14 tackles. "I don't think you ever envision running for 400 yards, but we're definitely happy with how our line and our quarterback got things done for us."
Northern State will host Upper Iowa this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Swisher Field.
Complete statistics were not available.