Ahlers, Johnson help East Carolina cruise past USF 48-28

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Holton Ahlers threw six touchdown passes, four to C.J. Johnson, and East Carolina rolled to a 48-28 victory over South Florida on Saturday.

The American Athletic Conference announced Tuesday that they moved the game from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida to Boca Raton due to the anticipated impacts of Hurricane Ian on the Tampa Bay area.

Ahlers threw a strike to Ryan Jones at the 10-yard line, who then steamrolled over a defender and into the end zone to cap a 21-yard touchdown and give the Pirates a 28-7 lead midway through the second quarter. Ahlers lofted a 9-yard touchdown pass to Johnson in the end zone that stretched the Pirates' advantage to 48-21 with 3:40 remaining in the third.

Ahlers was 31-of-41 passing for 465 yards. Johnson finished with seven catches for 197 yards receiving, and had scoring catches of 60, 74 and 14 yards in the first half.

Gerry Bohanon threw a 91-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Horn, Jr. in the second quarter for USF (1-4, 0-1). Bohanon completed 18 of 28 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns.

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/mrxhe6f2