Wouldn’t it be something if Marcus Mariota won the Heisman, and Bryan Bennett won the Walter Payton Award as the nation’s most outstanding player in the Football Championship Subdivision?
It could happen. Last night Bennett led the Southeastern Lousiana State to a 45-7 victory over Southeast Missouri State, running for 106 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries, passing for 169 yards as his offense rolled up 494 yards on college football’s opening night.
Ready for his close-up: Bryan Bennett, show here in action during SELA State’s spring game, looked sharp and effective in his FCS debut at Strawberry Stadium, leading the Lions to a 45-7 pasting of Southeast Missouri State (Randy Bergeron, Baton Rouge Advocate photo).
The former Duck scored on a 3-yard keeper in the game’s opening drive, completing an 18-yard pass to Devante Scott to set up the score. Bennett started the game 5-5 passing, engineering another crisp drive on the Lion’s second possesion, Xavier Robinson punching it in from the two for an early 14-0 lead.
Bennett tacked on a 30-yard run for a TD in the third quarter, and 7-yard scoring dash in the fourth. In all he was 9-15 passing and ran 12 times for his 106, an 8.8 yard average toting the rock. He was not intercepted.
Next week Bennett and the Lions travel to TCU, a 9 a.m. kickoff on Fox Sports 1.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
