Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. — Reece Udinski threw two touchdown passes, Milan Howard ran for two more and Richmond beat Davidson 41-0 on Saturday in the first round of the Football Championship Series playoffs.

Richmond (9-3), ranked 14th in the FCS coaches poll, will face second-ranked Sacramento State in the second round.

Udinski was 28-of-31 passing for 246 yards. He threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jakob Herres early in the second quarter, and his 30-yarder to Jerry Garcia Jr. about seven minutes later stretched the Spiders’ lead to 24-0.

Howard carried the ball 12 times for 73 yards. He broke one tackle, spun and then carried one defender into the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. It was his second score on the day and his first multi-touchdown game.

Trailing 24-0 late in the first half, Jayden Waddell drove Davidson (8-4) to the Richmond 8-yard line. But on third-and-goal, he scrambled back to the 25 trying to avoid a sack and then threw an ill-advised underhand toss that was picked off by redshirt freshman Matei Fitz.

It was Fitz’s first career interception and the Wildcats only trip into the red zone.

Furman 31, Elon 6

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Tyler Huff threw for one touchdown and ran for another to lead Furman to a 31-6 victory over Elon in the first round of the FCS Championship.

Furman led 14-3 at halftime on the strength of a 30-yard TD pass from Huff to Ryan Miller and a 10-yard touchdown run by Devin Abrams.

The Paladins wrapped it up with a 75-yard drive that took more than nine minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter, capped by Huff scoring on a 9-yard run. Grant Robinson later added a 25-yard touchdown run.

Huff completed 16 of 26 passes for 140 yards and Dominic Roberto had 98 yards rushing for Furman (10-2). Huff added 93 yards rushing and the Paladins had 251 yards on the ground.

The Phoenix (8-4) gained 315 yards but were 5-for-17 on third down, 1-for-5 on fourth and reached the red zone once.

Elon’s Skyler Davis kicked 51- and 52-yard field goals, making him 7 of 8 on 50-plus-yard attempts this season. He tied the FCS single-season record for 50-plus-yard FGs. ULM’s Jesse Garcia in 1983 and Western Carolina’s Kirk Roach in 1987 were 7 of 12 each.

Furman was the Southern Conference runner-up and Elon finished tied for third in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Furman will play Incarnate Word in the second round.

East Carolina 49, Temple 46

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Keaton Mitchell ran for 222 yards and three touchdowns, and Holton Ahlers threw his third touchdown pass of the game with 1:11 left to lift East Carolina to a 49-46 win over Temple on Saturday.

The victory gives East Carolina seven wins for the second straight season.

Temple took the lead on E.J. Warner’s fifth touchdown pass of the game, a 15-yard strike to David Martin-Robinson with 6:19 left in the game for a 46-42 lead.

The teams traded punts and the Owls pinned East Carolina at its own 11-yard line with three minutes to play. Ahlers drove the Pirates 89 yards in eight plays to take the lead. He threw the game-winning touchdown pass on a dead run after evading a fierce Temple pass rush. Jaylen Johnson broke off his route to catch the ball on front of an Owls safety at the 5 and scored.

The East Carolina defense stopped Temple on four plays to preserve the win.

Mitchell got East Carolina (7-5, 4-4) on the board in the first quarter, bursting 49 yards for a touchdown and then added two more short runs to the end zone in the third quarter. He pulled in a 73-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

Warner threw for 527 yards and five touchdowns for Temple (3-9, 1-7), completing 45 of 63 pass attempts. The freshman finished the season with 2,501 yards and 13 touchdowns.

South Carolina 31, Clemson 30

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) —  South Carolina followed up its 63-38 stunner over Tennessee last week with a 31-30 victory over No. 7 Clemson on Saturday, ending the title chances of another College Football Playoff contender for a second straight week.

South Carolina has played in the shadow of two-time national champion Clemson the past nine years, losing the past seven against the Tigers (10-2, 8-0 ACC, No. 8 CFP), who had been on a 40-game winning streak at home.

But the Gamecocks (8-4, 4-4 SEC) rallied from 14-0 down after 10 minutes to beat Clemson for the first time since 2013.

“We were the feel-good story in college football last week, but nobody thought we were good enough to win this game,” Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer said.

Spencer Rattler passed for 360 yards and two touchdowns.

Antwane Wells Jr. had nine catches for 131 yards, including touchdowns of 4 and 72 yards.

The Tigers were up 30-21 midway through the third period.

But Wells, a James Madison transfer, broke behind the defense for a 72-yard scoring catch two plays later.