South Carolina upsets Auburn
Kevin Harris had two touchdown runs and South Carolina turned three interceptions into points to beat No. 15 Auburn for the first time in 87 years, 30-22 on Saturday.
The Tigers (2-2 Southeastern Conference) had won eight straight in the series and jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes. But Bo Nix threw three interceptions and the Gamecocks (2-2) cashed in each time to win consecutive games for the first time in more than a year.
Shi Smith had eight catches, including a 10-yard TD grab midway through the third quarter that put South Carolina ahead for good, 2019.
Auburn was driving on its following series when Nix threw his third interception — and second to cornerback Jaycee Horn who brought the ball down the left sidelines to the Tigers 8. Harris was in the end zone a play later for a 27-19 lead and Auburn could not recover.
The Tigers closed to 3022 on Anders Carlson’s 22 yard field goal with 6:39 left. Auburn got the ball back once more with 2:15 left and drove to the South Carolina 13. Nix, though, was called for intentional grounding trying to avoid a sack and the Gamecocks held on to beat the Tigers for the first time since 1933.
Kentucky 34, No. 18 Tennessee 7 — Kelvin Joseph and Jami Davis returned interceptions for touchdowns in the first half and Kentucky shut out Tennessee in the second half.
It was Kentucky’s first victory in Neyland Stadium since 1984, the Wildcats’ largest margin of victory in Knoxville since 56-0 in 1893 and their most lopsided victory in the series since 1935.
After getting six interceptions and allowing only a safety against Mississippi State last week, Kentucky (2-2) picked off three passes against the Vols (2-2).
Joseph’s 41-yard touchdown and Davis’ 85-yard return — both off interceptions thrown by Jarrett Guarantano — helped put Kentucky up 17-0 in the second quarter.
With about 5 minutes left in the third quarter and trailing by 20, Tennessee went three-and-out for a second consecutive possession and was showered with boos from the sparse crowd of 22,519.
No. 13 Miami 31, Pittsburgh 19 — Miami avoided the post-Clemson letdown and now can set its sight on remaining in the conference championship picture.
A week after a 42-17 road loss to the top-ranked Tigers, the No. 13 Hurricanes beat Pittsburgh.
D’Eriq King threw four touchdowns, including two to Will Mallory, to lead the Hurricanes (4-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who never trailed in this one.
“We were disappointed and a little bit angry coming off last week,” Miami coach Manny Diaz said. “That’s a difficult situation — you have a noon kickoff, not a super juicy environment because of the restrictions that we have and against a team with a sense of desperation. For those guys to go out there and know that it was not going to be an easy game regardless of your mental mindset says a lot about the leadership of our football team.”
The Panthers (3-3, 2-3)
lost their third consecutive game and were without senior quarterback Kenny Pickett, who suffered an ankle injury against Boston College last week. Entering Saturday’s game, Pickett led the nation with 1,389 passing yards but didn’t travel with the team to South Florida.
Redshirt freshman Joey Yellen replaced Pickett, completing 22 of 46 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown.
“You didn’t know what to expect; I thought he played solid,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said of Yellen. “I thought he put the ball in people’s hands to make plays. We’ve got to help him out.”
Liberty 38, Syracuse 21 — Liberty rushing leader Josh Mack came down with a stomach bug Friday night,
so Shedro Louis got the nod and helped sink Syracuse in a big way.
The seldom-used running back scored on touchdown runs of 75 and 52 yards, quarterback Malik Willis passed for one score and ran for another, and Liberty beat Syracuse 38-21 to remain undefeated.
It was the program’s first win ever against a Power Five conference team.
“I said ever since I was hired here I like doing things that are first,” Liberty coach Hugh Freeze said. “I like it for our program, for our kids, our administration, our fans. Really, really proud of our team. Our kids, the character showed. We were without a lot of kids for various reasons. Man, it’s just a great effort. I said this week it kind of expedites our expectations,
where we are.”
Freeze said Mack could have played, but Louis and backfield mate Peytton Pickett more than picked up the slack.
Louis, a third-string sophomore, rushed for a careerhigh 170 yards for the Flames (5-0). Liberty, which averaged 250 yards on the ground entering the game, had 258 yards rushing in the first half and 338 for the game. In a 24-0 shutout over Liberty a year ago, Syracuse (1-4, 1-3 ACC) held the Flames to minus-4 yards on the ground.
West Virginia 38, Kansas 17 — Leddie Brown broke open a close game with a long touchdown run in the third quarter and caught one of Jarret Doege’s three touchdown passes to lead West Virginia to a victory over a winless Kansas team
that was without coach Les Miles.
Before a crowd of 10,759 in the first game that West Virginia allowed the general public to attend amid the pandemic, the Mountaineers (3-1, 2-1 Big 12) overcame a bevy of mistakes to beat the Jayhawks for the seventh straight time.
With West Virginia clinging to a 17-10 lead late in the third quarter, Brown came into the game needing to get a first down.
He got a whole lot more. Brown rumbled 87 yards up the middle untouched, the start of three straight touchdowns for the Mountaineers.
“I’d seen a little crease. I jumped through it and I seen green — a whole bunch of green field,” Brown said. “I just hit it.”