Bama scores in all phases to win big
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama scored on a long touchdown pass, an interception and a blocked punt.
And that was just the first six minutes.
Bryce Young passed for three touchdowns and rushed for a fourth, linebacker Will Anderson Jr. picked off a pass and headed to the end zone, and No. 2 Alabama rolled to a 63-7 victory over the University of Louisiana at Monroe on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide (3-0) scored on offense, defense and special teams in the first six minutes and raced to a 28-0 first-quarter lead. It was a whirlwind start against the Warhawks (1-2) — the visitors were 49.5 point underdogs — a week after an underwhelming one-point victory at Texas cost Alabama the No. 1 ranking.
Afterward, coach Nick Saban challenged the team he has led to six national championships to play to the program’s always lofty standard more consistently.
“There’s some evidence out there that this is the standard we want to play to,” Saban said, noting the competition gets tougher with Southeastern Conference play upcoming.
It wasn’t a seamless performance throughout for either the Tide offense or Young, the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner, but special teams came through, including a school-record for punt return yards.
Young was 13-of-18 passing for 236 yards but also threw his first two interceptions of the season. He did run for a 7-yard score, spinning near the goal line and diving across.
Anderson returned his first career interception 25 yards for a touchdown, one play after Young’s initial pick. The national sacks leader a year ago, he also got his second sack of the season.
Malachi Moore had a short scoop-and-score play after Ja’Corey Brooks’ blocked punt.
Former Dalton High School running back Jahmyr Gibbs remained the Tide’s most versatile weapon. He gained 36 yards on nine carries and caught four passes for 65 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown when he juked one defender and shed a couple of downfield tackle attempts.
› No. 10 Arkansas 38, Missouri State 27
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Rocket Sanders and Bryce Stephens had long touchdowns in a 2:22 span of the fourth quarter to help Arkansas steer clear of an upset at the hands of a Football Championship Subdivision program led by former Razorbacks coach Bobby Petrino.
Sanders caught a shovel pass for a 73-yard touchdown with 11:38 left, and Stephens returned Missouri State’s ensuing punt 82 yards to give Arkansas (3-0) its first lead of the game at 31-27.
Petrino coached the SEC program from 2008 to 2011 before his motorcycle wreck led to the discovery of a scandal that resulted in his firing in spring 2012. He won 11 games and 10 games in his final two seasons with the Razorbacks, who haven’t reached the double-digit win mark since.
Arkansas rallied after Missouri State (2-1) took a 17-0 lead, tying it at 17 in the third. Backto-back scores late in the quarter gave the Bears a 10-point edge with 12:04 left before Sanders and Stephens scored.
› No. 4 Michigan 59, Connecticut 0
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Blake Corum rushed for a career-high four touchdowns in the first half and added a fifth score in the third quarter to match a school record, and the Wolverines (3-0) led 38-0 at halftime before coasting in the second half. The Huskies (1-3) had just 64 yards of offense in the first half, when they also had a punt blocked and gave up a punt return for a touchdown.
Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy was 15-of-18 for 214 yards, a week after coach Jim Harbaugh said he had won the quarterback competition. Cade McNamara entered late in the first half and was sacked on the first snap, was hit hard just after completing his only pass and didn’t play in the second half due to a leg injury.
Without the senior backup available in the lopsided game, several reserve quarterbacks were given the chance to play.
› No. 6 Oklahoma 49, Nebraska 14
LINCOLN, Neb. — Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, running back Eric Gray added 113 yards and two scores on 11 carries, and the Sooners hammered Nebraska in the Cornhuskers’ first game since firing Scott Frost three games into his fifth season as coach.
This matchup was put on the schedule 10 years ago as the back end of a home-and-home series intended to celebrate what once was among college football’s greatest rivalries. Instead, it was further confirmation the Huskers, who played their first game under interim coach Mickey Joseph, are just a shell of the program that decades ago annually battled the Sooners for conference titles.
Oklahoma (3-0) posted its most lopsided victory over Nebraska (1-3) since a 45-10 win in 1990, when both programs were members of the conference now known as the Big 12. The Sooners, set to leave that league for the SEC by 2025, have won seven of eight series meetings with the Huskers, who joined the Big Ten in 2011.
› No. 9 Kentucky 31, Youngstown State 0
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Will Levis accounted for three touchdowns, Kavosiey Smoke ran for a score and Kentucky shook off a slow start to shut out FCS member Youngstown State.
Boosted by their first top10 ranking since October 2007, the Wildcats (3-0) followed last weekend’s win at Florida in their SEC opener by physically dominating the Penguins (2-1) in their inaugural meeting.
Kentucky outgained the Missouri Valley Football Conference program 480-192 on the way to its first shutout since beating Miami (Ohio) 42-0 on Sept. 5, 2009. The Wildcats also gave coach Mark Stoops, who was recognized in a pregame ceremony for becoming the program’s wins leader, a victory over his hometown school.
The Penguins failed to convert all 10 of their chances on third down, two more on fourth down, and their only red-zone trip was ended by Kentucky cornerback Carrington Valentine’s interception in the end zone.
› No. 25 Oregon 41, No. 12 BYU 20
EUGENE, Ore. — Bo Nix threw for two touchdowns and ran for three as the Ducks (2-1) posted their 21st straight home win, the third-longest active streak in the nation.
Nix, a transfer from Auburn, completed 13 of 18 passes for 222 yards and ran for 35 yards on nine carries. Terrance Ferguson caught both of Nix’s touchdown passes, and Markeise Irving rushed for 97 yards on 14 carries for Oregon, which led 38-7 entering the fourth quarter.
Jaren Hall threw for 305 yards and two scores for BYU (2-1), which struggled on the ground against the Ducks (2-1), mustering just 61 rushing yards.
› No. 17 Baylor 42, Texas State 7
WACO, Texas — Just when Texas State thought it had a big stop on fourth down right before halftime, Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen faked a handoff and took off untouched for a 35-yard touchdown run, and the Bears went on to a lopsided win to reach 3-0.
As defenders tackled running back Richard Reese in the backfield on fourth-and-1, Shapen raced past a blitzing safety to cap a nine-play, 96-yard drive for a 21-7 lead. That came immediately after Texas State (1-2) had pulled within one score with 1:59 left in the half and the Bears were backed up to their own 4 after Craig Williams muffed the ensuing kickoff.
Reese, a freshman, rushed for 156 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries, and Shapen was 15-of-26 for 184 yards with a 28-yard touchdown to Gavin Holmes.
› No. 19 Wake Forest 37, Liberty 36
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Liberty scored a touchdown with 1:11 to play, but the Demon Deacons stopped CJ Yarbrough’s 2-point conversion attempt several yards short of the goal line for a tight home win.
In a second half that turned into a shootout, Liberty (2-1) pulled within a single point on that late 18-yard touchdown catch by Demario Douglas, who jumped high and took the ball away from two defenders in the end zone on fourth down.
Wake Forest (3-0) generated just 21 rushing yards on 26 carries but got enough from its defense and the passing game as Sam Hartman threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns.
Liberty quarterback Kaidon Salter, a former four-star signee for Tennessee, was 19-of-34 for 256 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He added 77 yards and a score on 15 carries.
› No. 20 Ole Miss 42, Georgia Tech 0
ATLANTA — Ole Miss shrugged off its uncertainty at quarterback by running right through Georgia Tech, with Zach Evans and Quinshon Judkins leading a 316-yard pummeling on the ground.
Jaxson Dart returned as the starting quarterback for the Rebels (3-0), but the plan to focus on rushing was apparent from the first possession. On thirdand-7 at the Georgia Tech 17, Judkins ran for the first down. The freshman then rumbled to the end zone on third-and-goal from the 7.
Ole Miss ran for all six of its touchdowns and averaged 5.1 yards on 62 carries. Evans had scoring runs of 3 and 26 yards while rushing for 134 yards. Judkins gained 98 yards and also scored twice.
The Rebels held Georgia Tech (1-2) to 214 yards of offense while sacking quarterback Jeff Sims seven times.
› No. 21 Penn State 41, Auburn 12
AUBURN, Ala. — Freshman running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton combined for 176 rushing yards and four touchdowns as the Nittany Lions (3-0), the first Big Ten team to play at Jordan-Hare Stadium, reached the end zone on their first four trips inside the Tigers’ 20-yard line.
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford passed for 178 yards, and the defense forced four turnovers by Auburn (2-1) while also holding star running back Tank Bigsby to 39 rushing yards. The Nittany Lions’ offense lost a fumble near midfield on the first series of the game, but the defense limited the Tigers to a field goal on the ensuing possession.
The SEC hosts were down by just a point late in the second quarter before Allen scored his first of two touchdowns. After Auburn opened the third quarter with a three-and-out possession, Singleton broke a 54-yard run and reached the end zone two plays later.
Auburn starting quarterback T.J. Finley was 11-of-19 for 152 yards, while Robby Ashford was 10-of-19 for 144 yards with a touchdown. Each threw an interception as the Tigers’ streak of losses to fellow Power Five programs reached five games.
› LSU 31, Mississippi State 16
BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels accounted for more than 300 yards of offense, passing for one touchdown and running for another, as the Tigers (2-1) wiped out a 13-point deficit and beat Mississippi State (2-1) in the SEC opener for both teams.
Daniels was 22-of-37 for 210 yards without an interception, and he rushed for 93 yards — mostly on scrambles that frustrated and wore down the Bulldogs, who were outscored 21-0 in the fourth quarter and 31-3 during the game’s final 31 minutes.
The Tigers didn’t take their first lead until early in the fourth quarter. Armoni Goodwin sealed the win with his 47-yard touchdown run with 4:50 left.
› Vanderbilt 38, Northern Illinois 28
DEKALB, Ill. — Freshman quarterback AJ Swann threw four touchdown passes as the Commodores (3-1) scored 24 unanswered points in the second half and rallied to the nonconference win at Northern Illinois (1-2).
Swann, making his third appearance and first start, engineered the comeback from a two-touchdown deficit and finished 18-of-28 for 255 yards. Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said he decided at midweek to start Swann over veteran Mike Wright in an attempt to “open up” the offense.
Will Sheppard had 171 receiving yards on 10 catches, hauling in the tying and go-ahead touchdowns in a four-minute span in the third quarter.
› Missouri 34, Abilene Christian 17
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri made it a clear priority to get wide receiver Luther Burden III more involved in the teams final tuneup before entering SEC play, and the move paid immediate dividends against the Wildcats (2-1) of the Western Athletic Conference.
Abilene Christian punted on the game’s fourth play from scrimmage, and Burden fielded the ball on a bounce along the left sideline, then followed his blockers across the field before racing down the right stripe for a 78-yard score. A week after finishing with two touches for 9 yards, Burden also lined up behind center in the wildcat formation on his way to generating 177 all-purpose yards.