Alabama pulls away after tense first half
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Tua Tagovailoa passed for 340 yards and three touchdowns, but No. 1 Alabama struggled for more than 30 minutes before putting away The Citadel in a 50-17 victory on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide (11-0), which had coasted against Southeastern Conference opponents, went into halftime tied 10-10 with the Bulldogs (4-6) of the Football Championship Subdivision’s Southern Conference.
It wasn’t until Alabama scored two touchdowns in a 12-second span on its way to a 27-point third quarter that Tide fans could rest easy.
Tagovailoa completed 18 of 22 passes in three quarters, including touchdowns of 21 and 5 yards to Jaylen Waddle and a 68-yarder to tight end Irv Smith Jr. He broke AJ McCarron’s school single-season record of 30 touchdown passes, reaching 31.
Damien Harris got most of his 83 yards on a 73-yard run in the fourth quarter but was injured on the play. He stayed on the ground for a couple of minutes before trotting off after coach Nick Saban went across the field to check on him.
Henry Ruggs III had 114 yards on six catches.
After the Tide fumbled away the second-half kickoff, the Bulldogs missed a field-goal attempt that would have given them the lead, and Alabama’s offense finally got going after that.
› No. 10 LSU 42,
Rice 10
BATON ROUGE, La. — Joe Burrow passed for a career-high 307 yards and two touchdowns in less than three quarters as LSU rolled to a nonconference win.
The Tigers (9-2) led 35-3 midway through the third quarter en route to a victory in which the only drama involved whether LSU would cover a point spread hovering around 44 points before kickoff.
Nick Brossette rushed for two touchdowns for LSU, which can clinch its first 10-win season under coach Ed Orgeron — and virtually ensure a New Year’s Day bowl bid — by winning its regular-season finale next weekend.
LSU outgained Rice (1-11) 552 yards to 198.
› No. 15 Florida 63, Idaho 10
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Feleipe Franks passed for 274 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half, and the Gators cranked out 600 total yards to rout overmatched Idaho (4-7).
Florida (8-3) led 49-0 at halftime after defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson returned an interception 26 yards for a touchdown on the first play to start the onslaught. Four other touchdown drives took less than two minutes, and the longest of the seven first-half scores came in 2:24.
Franks was 19-of-27 passing and led the Gators to a 42-0 lead before he was lifted with 5:22 left in the second quarter.
› No. 20 Kentucky 34, MTSU 23
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mike Edwards had two takeaways that led to Kentucky’s first two touchdowns, and the Wildcats made several fourth-quarter defensive to escape Middle Tennessee State University.
Kentucky (8-3) ended a twogame slide but had to survive the Blue Raiders’ rally to 31-23 early in the fourth. Wildcats senior linebacker Josh Allen sacked Brent Stockstill for a 7-yard loss on fourth down and set up Miles Butler’s 32-yard field goal with 4:01 remaining.
A face-mask penalty helped the Blue Raiders (7-4) reach the Kentucky 5-yard line in the final minute before consecutive sacks of Stockstill by Allen and Jamar Watson totaling 16 yards ended that final chance. Allen’s two sacks made him the Wildcats’ leader for sacks in a season (13) and a career (27.5) as he finished with a career-best 15 tackles.
› No. 25 Mississippi St. 52, Arkansas 6
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Senior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald threw for four touchdowns and ran for another score to lead the Bulldogs to a big win in his home finale, completing nine of 14 passes for 127 yards and running for 85 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown.
Senior running back Aeris Williams, who started in place of the injured Kylin Hill, added 104 yards on 15 carries.
Mississippi State (7-4, 3-4) led 17-3 by halftime thanks to 166 yards on the ground, including rushing touchdowns by Fitzgerald and Nick Gibson.
The Bulldogs left no doubt about the outcome in the third quarter, scoring 21 points on three of Fitzgerald’s touchdown passes. Mississippi State’s defense held Arkansas (2-9, 0-7) to just 219 total yards.
› Auburn 53, Liberty 0
AUBURN, Ala. — Seth Williams caught five passes for 109 yards and a touchdown, Kam Martin ran for 116 yards and Auburn’s defense pitched a shutout as the Tigers (7-4) held a pass-happy Liberty (4-6) offense in check, recording their first shutout against a FBS opponent since beating Louisiana-Monroe 34-0 in 2008.
Williams, a freshman, recorded his first 100-yard game in college, and Martin passed the century mark for the first time this season. The Tigers offense racked up 531 yards of offense, their highest output against an FBS foe this year. It was also their most points scored since beating Arkansas 56-3 in 2016. Liberty is 4-6.
› Texas A&M 41,
UAB 20
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Trayveon Williams ran for 167 yards and two touchdowns as Texas A&M snapped the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s program-record winning streak at eight games.
Kellen Mond threw two touchdown passes to Jace Sternberger as the Aggies (7-4) earned their second straight win after losing their previous two games.
UAB (9-2), which clinched its first Conference USA West division title a week earlier, lost for the first time since Sept. 8 in a mistake-filled game that included two interceptions thrown by Tyler Johnston, a fumble returned for a touchdown, three missed field goals and a blocked extra point.