USC rallies to beat Arizona State in Pac-12 opener
LOS ANGELES — Drake London caught a 21-yard touchdown pass with 1:20 to play, and No. 20 Southern California overcame a late 13-point deficit to beat Arizona State 28-27 on Saturday in the Pac-12’s long-delayed season opener.
Bru McCoy caught a deflected 26-yard touchdown pass with 2:52 left for the Trojans, and McCoy recovered the ensuing onside kick as well. On fourthand-9, Kedon Slovis fired a pass down the middle to London, and the two-sport athlete beat double coverage to haul it in for an electrifying score.
Southern Cal stopped Arizona State on downs near midfield with 50 seconds left to preserve an astonishing comeback for perpetually embattled coach Clay Helton’s team.
Until their rally, the Trojans were struggling for poise and precision in a game that began at 9 a.m. local time. They agreed to their earliest kickoff in at least 70 years for a national television audience, but it looked like another embarrassment for Helton and his Trojans — until it abruptly turned into a thrilling triumph.
They racked up 556 yards of offense and outgained the Sun Devils by 164 yards, but the Trojans were nearly finished because they committed three turnovers and turned the ball over on downs two more times — all inside enemy territory.
Slovis passed for 381 yards, while Stephen Carr and Markese Stepp made scoring runs in the first half. London also caught eight passes for 125 yards, none bigger than his winning catch.
Freshman DeaMonte Trayanum rushed for 87 yards and two touchdowns, while Rachaad White had a 55-yard touchdown reception in a similarly strong debut for the Sun Devils.
› No. 6 Cincinnati 38, Houston 10
CINCINNATI — Gerrid Doaks rushed for a career-high 184 yards and one touchdown, Desmond Ridder ran for three scores and threw for another and Cincinnati rolled past Houston.
Doaks ran for the most yards by a Bearcats player since Mike Boone’s 212 in 2014 against South Florida. It was Doaks’ best total since he had 149 on Nov. 4, 2017, at Tulane.
Ridder rushed for 103 yards and threw for 162. He has accounted for 13 touchdowns (eight running, five passing) in the past three games.
The Bearcats (6-0, 4-0 American Athletic Conference) extended their school-record home winning streak to 18 games.
Houston (2-3, 2-2) had 187 total yards in the first half, and 65 came on one drive.
› No. 7 Texas A&M 48, South Carolina 3
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Kellen Mond threw four touchdown passes to become Texas A&M’s career leader, Isaiah Spiller ran for 131 yards and the Aggies routed South Carolina.
Mond moved past Jerrod Jefferson with the 68th touchdown pass of his career, a 52-yarder to Devon Achane in the third quarter with the game long decided.
Mond also ran for a score to help Texas A&M improve to 5-1 for its best start since opening 6-0 in 2016. The Aggies are 7-0 against the Gamecocks.
Mond and Spiller helped the Aggies open a 21-0 halftime lead and cruise to their fourth consecutive victory since a loss at Alabama last month.
Spiller had two short pickups for first downs — one on a fourth-and-1 with Texas A&M in chip-shot field goal range — before Mond flipped a 4-yard touchdown pass to Ainias Smith.
Mond found tight end Jalen Wydermeyer for two first-half scores. Wydermyer was left all alone and walked into the end zone on a 15-yard scoring grab. Right before half, Mond hit Wydermyer on a crossing route near the goal line to go up three scores.
South Carolina (2-4), coming off an open date, had no answer.
› No. 13 Indiana 38, No. 23 Michigan 21
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Michael Penix Jr. passed for 342 yards and three touchdowns as Indiana beat Michigan for the first time in 33 years.
Penix helped Indiana (3-0) snap a 24-game losing streak in the series — tied for the longest active skid in the Football Bowl Subdivision. It was the Hoosiers’ first victory over the Wolverines since Oct. 24, 1987, just their second in 41 games and only the second in the 21 games played at Memorial Stadium.
The Wolverines (1-2) still don’t have a top-15 road win since beating Notre Dame in 2006. Their second consecutive loss could turn up the pressure on coach Jim Harbaugh in his sixth season at Michigan
Penix was 30-of-50, helping Indiana convert nine of 16 third downs. Ty Fryfogle caught seven passes for a career-high 142 yards — all in the first half.
› No. 14 Okla. State 20, Kansas State 18
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Jason Taylor II returned a fumble 85 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and Oklahoma State stopped Kansas State’s 2-point try that would have tied it with 2:08 to go, allowing the Cowboys
to escape with a victory.
The Cowboys’ Spencer Sanders was held to just 108 yards passing without dynamic wide receiver Tylan Wallace and with running back Chuba Hubbard slowed by an injury. LD Brown helped to pick up the load, running 15 times for 110 yards, as Oklahoma State (5-1, 4-1 Big 12) leaned on its defense to bounce back from an overtime loss to Texas.
The Wildcats (4-3, 4-2) were forced to try for a 2-point conversion after Will Howard’s short touchdown run because of their odd decision to attempt a 2-point try to stretch a 12-0 lead in the first half. Howard was incomplete on that one, and he never got a pass off on the second — he fumbled the ball as the pocket collapsed around him.
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No. 19 Oklahoma 62, Kansas 9
NORMAN, Okla. — Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns as Oklahoma routed winless Kansas.
Stevenson, in his second game back from a suspension, also caught four passes for 60 yards.
Spencer Rattler passed for 212 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score to help the Sooners (5-2, 4-2 Big 12) win their fourth straight game. It was Oklahoma’s 22nd consecutive November win dating to 2014.
Jalon Daniels completed 11 of 31 passes for 115 yards for the Jayhawks (0-7, 0-6).
› No. 16 Marshall 51, Massachusetts 10
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Grant Wells threw three touchdown passes, Brenden Knox ran for two scores and Marshall pummeled Massachusetts.
The game was added to Marshall’s schedule last month after several other opponents had previously pulled out due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Marshall (6-0) continued to produce a season-long balance on offense that keeps opponents guessing. Knox scored on first-quarter runs of 45 and 14 yards and got nearly all of his 118 yards in the first half. It was his fifth straight game over 100 yards.
Massachusetts (0-2), in its fourth season as an FBS independent, has 22 freshmen on its depth chart.
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PHILADELPHIA — Shane Buechele threw four touchdown passes, two to Tyler Page, and SMU broke away from undermanned Temple.
The game was pushed back from its original Thursday date while Temple dealt with the coronavirus. The Owls were missing 15 players who were in COVID-19 protocol.
SMU led 20-16 before Buechele connected with Kylen Granson
No. 18 SMU 47, Temple 23
on a 24-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Mustangs (7-1, 4-1 AAC) scored four touchdowns in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the period. Temple (1-4, 1-4) scored on the first play of the game, with wide receiver Randle Jones going 75 yards on a screen pass from Trad Beatty.
› No. 22 Texas 17, West Virginia 13
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas stopped West Virginia on fourthdown passes into the end zone twice in the fourth quarter, enabling the Longhorns to escape.
Texas (5-2, 4-2 Big 12) overcame an offense that produced nearly 100 yards and 27 points fewer than its average.
Sam Ehlinger, typically the Longhorns’ offensive star, completed just 15 of 31 passes for 184 yards, but he connected with Brennan Eagles for a 7-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and with Jake Smith for a 33-yard scoring strike in the third. Freshman Bijan Robinson rushed for 113 yards on 12 carries for Texas.
Jarret Doege was 35-of 50 for 317 yards for West Virginia (4-3, 3-3).
› No. 25 Liberty 38, Virginia Tech 35
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Alex Barbir hit a career-long 51-yard field goal with a second left to lift Liberty past Virginia Tech.
The Flames rallied from a 20-14 halftime deficit to move to 7-0 for the first time in program history.
Barbir had a 59-yard attempt blocked with 8 seconds left, and Virginia Tech’s Jermaine Waller returned it to the end zone for what appeared to be the winning score for the Hokies (4-3). But officials ruled Virginia Tech called a timeout before the attempt.
Liberty went for it on fourthand-6 from the 41. Malik Willis found CJ Yarbrough for an 8-yard gain at the Virginia Tech 33 with 5 seconds left, allowing Barbir to come out for the 51-yarder.
› Mississippi State 24, Vanderbilt 17
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Will Rogers threw for 226 yards and a touchdown, and Mississippi State’s defense combined for five turnovers to narrowly eke out a 24-17 victory over visiting Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Mississippi State (2-4, 2-4 SEC) finally won its first home game under first-year coach Mike Leach after losing its first two attempts to Arkansas and Texas A&M last month.
Vanderbilt (0-5, 0-5) had 478 yards of total offense, more than twice Mississippi State’s total, but ultimately couldn’t overcome its turnover woes. Due to a crippling mix of COVID-19 infections, injuries and suspensions, the Commodores dressed only 58 scholarship players for the game. The SEC minimum is 53.
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Memphis 34, South Florida 33
MEMPHIS — Brady White threw a pair of late touchdown passes to lift Memphis to a win over South Florida. After Spencer Schrader kicked his fourth field goal of the game with about 4 1/2 minutes left to extend the Bulls’ lead to 33-20, White threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Sean Dykes and then a 9-yard score to Calvin Austin III with just more than a minute remaining to go ahead before the Bulls turned the ball over on downs. The final Memphis drives were both over 70 yards and took the Tigers (4-2, 3-2 AAC) a little more than 2 1/2 minutes combined to complete.
White was 30-of-50 for 437 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. He has 81 career touchdown passes, tying Danny Wimprine for the Memphis record. Dykes had 147 yards receiving and two scores, and Austin 102 yards and two scores. Austin has more than 100 receiving yards in four straight games, tying a school record.
USF scored 24 points in the second quarter in taking a 27-13 halftime lead with the teams combining for three touchdowns in just over 1 1/2 minutes at one point.
Noah Johnson threw for 217 yards and two touchdowns for USF (1-6, 0-5), which lost its sixth straight game.
Late Friday › No. 9 BYU 51, No. 21 Boise State 17
BOISE, Idaho — Zach Wilson threw for 359 yards and two touchdowns and Tyler Allgeier rushed for 123 yards and a pair of scores as BYU routed Boise State.
BYU (8-0), which beat Boise State on the road for the first time in six tries, is off to its best start since 2001 when the Cougars started 12-0.
Boise State (2-1) suffered its worst loss since a 64-19 rout by rival Idaho in 1996, the Broncos first year as an FBS program. Boise State lost the 1997 season opener to Cal State Northridge by 40 at home but that game was later forfeited to the Broncos.
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No. 11 Miami 44, North Carolina State 41
RALEIGH, N.C. — D’Eriq King threw five touchdown passes, the last a go-ahead 54-yard catch-and-run play with Michael Harley with 2:43 left, and No. 11 Miami rallied to beat North Carolina State 44-41 on Friday night.
Miami (6-1, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) scored the final 13 points to win its third game in a row and match last season’s victory total under second-year coach Manny Diaz.
Zonovan Knight had a 100yard kickoff return for N.C. State (4-3, 4-3).