Alabama punishes hapless Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Once No. 1 Alabama got out of its own way, knocking Kentucky from its path became pretty easy on Saturday night.
Just ask T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake, who each ran for two touchdowns as the Crimson Tide brushed off a few early mistakes to blow out the Wildcats 48-7.
After a scoreless first quarter thanks to fumbles by the running backs and dropped passes in Kentucky territory, the Crimson Tide (6-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) scored on their last eight possessions and outgained the Wildcats (1-5, 0-3) 668-170.
“We need to improve and try to dominate the competition, and I think we did that tonight,” Alabama Coach Nick Saban said. “But I also think we made a lot of mistakes. We turned the ball over a couple of times, dropped some passes. If you want to be the best, you can’t be satisfied with that, so there are some things we definitely need to improve on.”
AJ McCarron shook off the handful of drops to throw for a career-high 359 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown to Kevin Norwood.
Yeldon scored from 24 and 3 yards and finished with 124 on 16 carries; Drake added 106 yards and a pair of 1-yard TDs on 14 attempts. Altee Tenpenny (North Little Rock) added a late 7-yard TD run and Cade Foster kicked field goals of 25 and 20 yards.
Alabama’s defense rang up four sacks, though it did allow its first TD in four games since escaping a 49-42 shootout victory at Texas A&M last month. The Crimson Tide have outscored opponents 149-16 over that span, and beat the Wildcats for the fifth consecutive time.
Kentucky’s fourth consecutive loss closed out its most grueling stretch in school history, a schedule of ranked teams including No. 7 Louisville, No. 19 Florida and No. 13 South Carolina before facing the nation’s top-ranked team and two-time defending national champions.
Some things went according to form as the Wildcats found little ground against the SEC’s second-ranked defense and managed only Maxwell Smith’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Javess Blue midway through the third quarter that got them within 31-7. Smith relieved Jalen Whitlow after he left the game in the first quarter with what Coach Mark Stoops said was a sprained left ankle and did not return.
Without their dual-threat quarterback, the Wildcats had no chance.
“We know how good Alabama is, but we can play better,” Stoops said. “We didn’t play our best tonight, and that’s why I’m disappointed. When you’re playing the No. 1 team in the country, at least give them your best shot.”
AUBURN 62, WESTERN CAROLINA 3
AUBURN, Ala. — Freshman Jeremy Johnson passed for 201 yards and four touchdowns in his college debut and Auburn racked up a school-record 712 total yards in a rout of Western Carolina.
Johnson was announced as the starter Friday evening for the Tigers (5-1) with Nick Marshall not fully recovered from a knee injury. He picked apart the Football Championship Subdivision Catamounts (1-6) to complete 17 of 21 passes before leaving midway through the third quarter.
Cameron-Artis Payne ran for 133 yards on 7 carries, including a 59-yard run and a 25-yard touchdown on one drive in the third quarter. Tre Mason gained 100 yards on 6 carries with firsthalf touchdowns of 20 and 53 yards.
Auburn held Western Carolina, which has lost 32 in a row to FBS and FCS teams, to 173 total yards.
The Tigers’ old record of 695 yards came against Southwestern Louisiana in 1985.
Auburn ran for 511 yards on 43 carries and had 30 first downs to 6 for Western Carolina.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 21, BOWLING GREEN 20
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Dak Prescott rushed for 139 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead Mississippi State past Bowling Green.
Bowling Green (5-2) had the ball with 4:00 left, but couldn’t get inside field goal range.
Mississippi State (3-3) had 422 yards of offense, 245 on the ground.
LaDarius Perkins rushed for 83 yards and one touchdown. Perkins, Joe Morrow and Jameon Lewis each caught four passes.
Prescott was also 7-of-11 passing for 75 yards and 1 interception.
Prescott, a sophomore, shared time under center with Tyler Russell. Russell finished 12 of 14 passing for 102 yards.
Bowling Green quarterback Matt Johnson completed 19 of 33 passes for 194 yards. Travis Green rushed for 99 yards and Ryan Burbrink caught 4 passes for a game-high 66 yards.