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MIAMI (Ticker) -- Twenty-two years to the day after his late and legandary father set the NFL single-game rushing record, Miami true freshman Jarrett Payton had the best game of his young collegiate career. Payton, whose father Walter died from liver cancer on November 1, ran for his first career touchdown and 87 yards on 20 carries to lead the Hurricanes to a 55-0 thrashing of Rutgers in a Big East Conference mismatch. It was a dominating performance by Miami (6-4, 4-1 Big East), which became eligible for a bowl berth, even with a win over a Division I-AA team, Florida A&M. The Hurricanes finish their season with games against Syracuse and Temple, still hoping for a share of the conference title. But they would have to win both and have Virginia Tech lose to Boston College. Miami put up 450 yards of total offense and limited Rutgers to a mere 64. The Hurricanes sacked Rutgers quarterbacks nine times for minus-59 yards in their largest Big East victory and their first shutout in 41 games since 1996. It was a big game for Payton's classmates. Quarterback Ken Dorsey made his first career start, subbing for the injured Kenny Kelly, while Clinton Portis once again starred while tailback James Jackson recuperated. Dorsey completed 19-of-26 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions and also ran for a score. Portis carried 17 times for 133 yards, his fourth straight 100-yard game and his fifth of the season. On his sixth carry of the game, Portis broke Jackson's school record for rushing yards by a freshman of 597. With two games remaining, Portis has 674 yards. Dorsey found tight end Ivan Mercer for a 20-yard scoring pass 3:52 into the game to open the scoring and Payton scored his first career touchdown with 3:23 left in the first quarter on a 16-yard run. Payton has dedicated his season to his father, changing to No. 34. Andy Crosland connected on field goals of 30 and 43 yards in the first four minutes of the second quarter and Dorsey found fullback Mondriel Fulcher from seven yards for a touchdown to make it 27-0 midway through the second quarter. Santana Moss brought back a punt 67 yards for a touchdown and a 34-0 halftime lead. Portis made it 41-0 with a three-yard touchdown run and Dorsey scored on a one-yard plunge in the third quarter. Zachary Hart threw a seven-yard TD pass to Robert Williams in the fourth to account for the final margin. Chad Schwenk was 8-of-18 for 51 yards with one interception for the Scarlet Knights (1-10, 1-6), who could not build off their surprising 24-21 overtime win over Syracuse last weekend and are 0-7 all-time against the Hurricanes.
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