MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The last team that started a season with three consecutive wins over AP-ranked opponents was Miami in 1987.

And the Hurricanes made sure that didn’t change.

Carson Beck threw three touchdown passes, Mark Fletcher Jr. rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 5 Miami remained unbeaten with a 49-12 win over No. 18 South Florida on Saturday.

It was Miami’s biggest victory margin over a ranked opponent since beating Washington 65-7 in 2001, the Hurricanes’ most recent national championship season. And it denied USF (2-1) the chance at a third straight ranked win to start this season, following victories over Boise State and Florida.

“There was a lot of motivation going into this thing, besides the fact that they were a ranked football team because I have a lot of respect for their coaches and their players,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “This was an in-state game. And those games, you have to play your very best.”

The Hurricanes are 6-0 since the start of last season against in-state opponents, winning those games by an average of 34.5 points.

Beck completed 23-of-28 passes for 340 yards and ran for a touchdown for Miami (3-0). Fletcher had a two-TD game for the second consecutive week and Joshua Moore had two first-quarter scoring catches.

“The young man’s lost three games in his college career,” USF coach Alex Golesh said of Beck, a Georgia transfer. “He’s tough. He’s gritty. I thought he was super accurate tonight. ... I think that young man’s really, really good.”

Byrum Brown completed 20-of-36 passes for 274 yards and a touchdown for USF. Brown threw an interception late in the first half, ending his school-record streak of 252 passes without being picked off.

Christian Neptune had a 12-yard touchdown catch for the Bulls, who got 128 yards on four catches from Chas Nimrod. USF had four passes go for more than 25 yards, including 53- and 43-yarders to Nimrod.

The game was delayed for 1 hour, 41 minutes in the first half because of severe weather in the area. It ended just shy of five hours after kickoff.

“We certainly didn’t execute like we have been,” Golesh said. “Just didn’t look like us.”

The Takeaway
South Florida: USF led Miami 15-14 with 2 minutes left in the half of their game last year. Miami outscored the Bulls 36-0 the rest of the way in that game — and was up 28-6 with 2 minutes left in the half this year. Add it up, and USF was outscored 64-6 by the Hurricanes over 60 minutes of play.

Miami: The game was essentially sealed when the Hurricanes’ Rueben Bain Jr. stopped Brown on a fourth-and-3 carry from the Miami 9 late in the third quarter, with the hosts leading 28-6. Miami needed only six plays to go 91 yards; Beck had three passes for 64 yards on the drive and Fletcher capped it with a 13-yard TD run.

Up Next
South Florida: Hosts South Carolina State next Saturday.

Miami: Hosts Florida next Saturday.