BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — Austin Reed passed for 381 yards and five touchdowns and Western Kentucky rolled to a 73-0 victory over Florida International on Saturday.
Reed completed 29 of 35 passes for Western Kentucky (3-1) in a Conference USA opener. The Hilltoppers have scored at least 30 points in 18 straight games.
Reed connected with Malachi Corley for a 76-yard touchdown to open the scoring and teamed up with Joey Beljan for a 9-yard score on the final play of the first quarter.
Reed hit Corley for a 21-yard touchdown and found Dalvin Smith for a 12-yard score — giving him touchdown passes on four straight possessions. Reed’s final scoring toss was a 4-yarder to Daewood Davis with 26 seconds left in the first half for a 42-0 lead.
Davion Ervin-Poindexter had two touchdown runs for Western Kentucky and L.T. Sanders ran 35 yards for a score. Backup quarterback Darius Ocean threw a 44-yard scoring strike to Easton Messer and Aaron Key returned a fumble 48 yards for a touchdown.
The last shutout for the Hilltoppers came in 2011 against Florida Atlantic. WKU piled up 688 yards of offense, while yielding just 180. The Hillltoppers’ next victory will be the program’s 600th.
It was the most points FIU has allowed in program history. The Panthers surrendered 72 in a 2013 loss to Louisville.
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