The Mocs pull off an OT win at The Citadel
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Tua Tagovailoa got Alabama rolling with a long touchdown pass, then another and another. Then he handed the reins to Jalen Hurts for pretty much more of the same.
Tagovailoa passed for three first-quarter touchdowns and Hurts added two more before halftime, a quarterback duet that was good enough to lead the top-ranked Crimson Tide to a 57-7 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday.
The Tide (2-0) racked up big plays on the way to a 40-0 halftime lead against the Red Wolves (1-1) while rotating the quarterbacks who battled for the job throughout the offseason. Coach Nick Saban officially announced Tagovailoa would remain the starter Monday, but both were big parts of the plan again.
“I think that both guys did a really good job,” Saban said. “I think both guys played well. We made some big plays in the passing game, were pretty efficient.”
› No. 2 Clemson 28, Texas A&M 26
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Kelly Bryant passed for 205 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score to help the Tigers escape with a road victory.
Aggies quarterback Kellen Mond was spectacular in the second half, throwing for three touchdowns, with a 14-yard pass to Kendrick Rogers cutting the lead to its final margin with 46 seconds left. His big performance came up just short when the 2-point conversion attempt was intercepted in the end zone.
Mond finished with a career-high 430 passing yards, and Rogers had 120 yards receiving and two TDs.
Freshman Trevor Lawrence started the second half, but failed to move the ball effectively, and Bryant took over and led the Tigers on two touchdown drives in the last five minutes of the third quarter to extend the lead to 15 points.
› No. 4 Ohio State 52, Rutgers 3
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dwayne Haskins Jr. threw four touchdown passes as the Buckeyes rolled to the 900th victory in program history by routing outmanned Rutgers.
Johnnie Dixon grabbed two of Haskins’ scoring strikes, and backup quarterback Tate Martell added another touchdown pass and a 47-yard scoring run on a gray, misty afternoon. The Buckeyes, playing in their second game without suspended coach Urban Meyer, piled up 579 offensive yards after amassing 721 in their opener.
Meyer was back conducting practices this week but will miss one more game — next weekend’s prime-time clash with No. 16 TCU — to finish out his three-game
suspension.
› No. 5 Wisconsin 45, New Mexico 14
MADISON, Wis. — Jonathan Taylor ran for 253 yards and three touchdowns, and the Badgers asserted their dominance after allowing a score on the game-opening drive.
A.J. Taylor had 134 receiving yards and a score for the Badgers (2-0), who won their 41st straight home nonconference game, the longest active streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
With the injury-plagued Lobos down to third-string quarterback Sheriron Jones — who was previously at Tennessee — the Badgers converted two turnovers into touchdowns within about a five-minute span of the third quarter to pull away.
› No. 6 Oklahoma 49, UCLA 21
NORMAN, Okla. — Kyler Murray threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more scores as the Sooners won decisively, but they lost star running back Rodney Anderson to a leg injury.
Anderson ran for 10 yards on the final play of the first quarter, then got up slowly. He limped off on his own, and trainers tended to the preseason All-Big 12 pick before he headed to the locker room. He was back on the bench later, out of uniform.
Murray passed for 306 yards and ran for 69 yards for the Sooners (2-0). Thompson-Robinson completed 16 of 26 passes for 254 yards for UCLA, which is 0-2 under firstyear coach Chip Kelly.
› No. 7 Auburn 63, Alabama State 9
AUBURN, Ala. — Ja Tarvious Whitlow ran for 122 yards, and receiver Anthony Schwartz accounted for 117 total yards and two touchdowns as the Tigers got to 2-0 with ease.
Starting quarterback Jarrett Stidham played only into the second quarter, with the Auburn
already ahead 42-0.
Stidham’s backup, sophomore Malik Willis, gifted the Hornets (1-1) their first points of the night when he was sacked in the end zone on his first snap for a 4-yard safety in the second quarter.
› No. 8 Notre Dame 24, Ball State 16
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Jalen Elliott had two interceptions that Notre Dame turned into touchdowns as the Fighting Irish held off stubborn Ball State.
The Irish, coming off an emotional 24-17 season-opening victory over Michigan, looked lackluster against their visitors from the Mid-American Conference. The Cardinals (1-1) also played nothing like the 34.5-point underdogs they were labeled in the schools’ first meeting in football.
Elliott picked off a pair of Riley Neal’s passes that the offense converted into rushing touchdowns of 31 and 1 yards by junior Tony Jones Jr. for a 21-6 lead in the third quarter.
› No. 9 Washington 45, North Dakota 3
SEATTLE — Jake Browning passed for 313 yards and two touchdowns, Ty Jones had two touchdown catches and Washington pulled away in the second half.
The Huskies’ home opener was a chance to regroup after the letdown of last week’s season-opening loss to Auburn at the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta.
Against North Dakota, Browning was 23-of-37 passing with short touchdown tosses to Jones and Cade Otton. Backup quarterback Jake Haener added a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jones in the fourth quarter.
John Santiago had 18 carries for 139 yards for North Dakota (1-1).
› No. 11 LSU 31, SE Louisiana 0
BATON ROUGE, La. — Joe Burrow passed for two touchdowns and ran for a short score, and the
Tigers rode an opportunistic defensive performance to victory against a Football Champioinship Subdvision foe.
While the result was never in doubt, LSU’s offense lacked consistency and often struggled to sustain drives. The Tigers managed only one first down during their first three possessions of the second half, which could bode ill as LSU (2-0) heads into Southeastern Conference play against Auburn this week.
Southeastern (0-2) had most of the possession of the second half but turned the ball over twice deep in LSU territory.
› No. 12 Va. Tech 62, William & Mary 17
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Steven Peoples had two first-half touchdown runs, and Josh Jackson threw for a touchdown and ran for another as Virginia Tech rolled over its FCS foe.
Jackson went to the bench before halftime with the Hokies (2-0) up 31-7, and backup Ryan Willis led a touchdown drive on his first college series.
The Tribe (1-1) were outgained 401-100 in the opening 30 minutes, and 71 of their yards came on a pass from Shon Mitchell to Nick Muse, setting up their lone points in the half.
› No. 14 W. Virginia 52, Youngstown State 17
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Will Grier threw three of his four touchdown passes to Gary Jennings, and the Mountaineers piled up 625 total yards while winning their home opener for the 15th straight year.
Jennings led West Virginia (2-0) with 97 catches for 1,096 yards a year ago, but he had just one touchdown reception the entire season. He got plenty of attention from Grier on Saturday, boosting his total to four scores in two games.
Jennings had a 33-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter after scores
of 11 and 24 yards in the second. Grier, who also had a 40-yard scoring toss to Dominique Maiden in the fourth quarter, completed 21 of 26 passes for 332 yards.
Youngstown State (0-2), an FCS program, was limited to 293 total yards.
› No. 18 Miss. State 31, Kansas State 10
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Nick Fitzgerald returned from a suspension to throw two touchdown passes, and Kylin Hill ran for 211 yards and accounted for three scores for Mississippi State.
It was the first road win over a Power Five conference opponent for the Bulldogs (2-0) since 1995 against Baylor.
Fitzgerald missed the Bulldogs’ bowl game last year with an injury, then was suspended for last week’s blowout of Stephen F. Austin. After getting off to a rusty start, the dualthreat quarterback threw for 154 yards and ran for 159 yards as the Bulldogs piled up 372 on the ground.
Kansas State (1-1) finished with 213 yards of offense.
› No. 19 Central Florida 38, South Carolina State 0
ORLANDO, Fla. — Adrian Killins Jr. ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns to help the Knights run their winning streak to 15 games.
Killins scored on runs of 3 and 24 yards in the first quarter. Greg McCrae rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown, and Otis Anderson added 42 yards and a touchdowns as Central Florida (2-0) racked up 315 rushing yards.
The Knights held South Carolina State (0-2) to 80 passing yards and 257 total.
› No. 21 Michigan 49, Western Michigan 3
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Shea Patterson threw three touchdown passes, one in each of the first three quarters, as the Wolverines cruise.
Patterson, the heralded transfer from Ole Miss, was 12-for-17 passing for 125 yards. He connected for two scores to wide receivers after the position
group accounted for a total of just three touchdowns last season for the Wolverines (1-1).
Karan Higdon ran for 140 of his 156 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter against the overmatched Broncos (0-2).
› No. 22 Miami 77, Savannah State 0
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Malik Rosier threw for two scores and rushed for another, and N’Kosi Perry came off the bench to throw the first three touchdown passes of his collegiate career as the Hurricanes set a school record for margin of victory.
Brevin Jordan had two touchdown catches and Lorenzo Lingard ran for two scores for Miami (1-1), which set a school record by winning its 12th consecutive home opener. The previous record for victory margin was 70 — set against Savannah State in 2013.
Savannah State (0-2) is dropping from the FCS to Division II next season.
› No. 23 Oregon 62, Portland State 14
EUGENE, Ore. — Justin Herbert threw for 250 yards and four touchdowns for Oregon before heading to the bench in the third quarter.
Herbert was 20-of-26 passing against the Vikings of the FCS. He has 10 total touchdowns — nine passing and one on the ground — in the Ducks’ two opening victories. The have won 22nd straight nonconference games.
Portland State (0-2) has lost 15 in a row dating to 2016.
› Kentucky 27, No. 25 Florida 16
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Kentucky ended one of college football’s longest losing streaks by upsetting the Gators in the Swamp.
Terry Wilson accounted for three touchdowns and Benny Snell ran for 175 yards as the Wildcats beat Florida for the first time since 1986. Kentucky hadn’t won in Gainesville since 1979.
The 31-game streak was the fourth-longest in NCAA history in an uninterrupted series.