Cavaliers pull off stunner at Carolina
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Mike Hollins ran for three scores, and Malik Washington had the goahead touchdown catch in the fourth quarter to help Virginia upset No. 10 North Carolina 31-27 on Saturday night, with the Cavaliers up the 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference race with the first road win against a top-10 opponent in program history.
James Jackson had the clinching interception with 26 seconds left, picking off North Carolina star quarterback Drake Maye as he was hit by Paul Akere with the Tar Heels (6-1, 3-1) reaching midfield on a drive for a winning score.
Instead, Virginia players started spilling onto the field to celebrate, and Jackson ran all the way down the field to the end zone in his own jubilation.
“We knew we had the capability to do it,” Hollins said. “We just had to put it all together.”
Washington pushed the Cavaliers (2-5, 1-2) over the top, taking a short feed from Tony Muskett and then turning toward the end zone to push across the goal line with 8:51 left while shrugging off multiple would-be tacklers.
Washington quickly began to celebrate by raising both arms to flex his biceps, which was appropriate considering the way Virginia repeatedly ran the ball at and through the Tar Heels despite coming in as one of the nation’s most anemic ground attacks.
Virginia came in averaging 99.5 yards rushing per game, worst in the ACC and 122nd in the Football Bowl Subdivision. But the Cavaliers ran for a season-high 228 yards, with Hollins, Muskett and Perris Jones all rushing for at least 60.
“I’ve seen this coming for several weeks,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said. “In all those games that we’ve been close, I’ve seen it coming. At some point, we had to make a decision to finish a game and not be close.”
As for the Tar Heels, it was a stunning stumble for a team that had looked like possibly the ACC’s best behind a star quarterback discussed as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Maye threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns, including his fourth in two games to Devontez “Tez” Walker, who had 11 catches for 146 yards. But he completed just half of his passes (24-for-48), missing numerous throws while his receivers also dropped numerous passes, and the Tar Heels never found the high-scoring form from recent romps amid the program’s best start in 26 years.
› No. 3 Ohio State 20, No. 7 Penn State 12
COLUMBUS, Ohio — AllAmerica receiver Marvin Harrison made all the difference for the Buckeyes in a pivotal Big Ten matchup, making 11 catches for 162 yards and a late touchdown to take down Penn State.
Ohio State’s defense smothered Drew Allar and the Nittany Lions (6-1, 3-1), extending the Buckeyes’ winning streak in the series to seven games.
Penn State needed 58 minutes to convert a third or fourth down and didn’t get into the end zone until 29 seconds were left in the game. The visitors failed to convert on their first 15 third-down attempts.
Kyle McCord was 22-for-35 passing for 286 yards for the Buckeyes (7-0, 4-0), who put up 367 total yards, a season high against Penn State’s stingy defense.
› No. 6 Oklahoma 31, UCF 29
NORMAN, Okla. — Dillon Gabriel threw three touchdown passes against his former team, Oklahoma stopped a 2-point attempt in the closing minutes, and the Sooners held on to beat the University of Central Florida.
Gabriel, who transferred before the 2022 season, connected on 25 of 38 passes for 253 yards.
Nic Anderson caught five passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns, and Drake Stoops caught seven passes for 60 yards and a score for the Sooners (7-0, 4-0 Big 12).
John Rhys Plumlee, who missed most of the past month with a leg injury, passed for 248 yards and two touchdowns for UCF. Javon Baker had five catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns, and RJ Harvey ran for 101 yards for the Knights (3-4, 0-4), who are still seeking their first Big 12 win.
› No. 8 Texas 31, Houston 24
HOUSTON — CJ Baxter rushed 16 yards for a touchdown with 5 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and Texas stopped the Cougars on 4thand-1 in the final minute on the way to a surprisingly hardfought win for the Longhorns.
Jonathon Brooks rushed for 99 yards and Xavier Worthy had 92 receiving yards and a touchdown for Texas (6-1, 3-1 Big 12).
Quinn Ewers was 23-of-29 passing for 211 yards and two touchdowns, but he exited after taking a hit on a scramble late in the third quarter. Ewers was replaced by Maalik Murphy on the Longhorns’ first drive of the fourth quarter, and there was no immediate word on Ewers’ condition.
Texas outgained Houston 141-14 in rushing yards, but Houston (3-4, 1-3) outgained Texas 392-360 in total yards.
› No. 9 Oregon 38, Washington State 24
EUGENE, Ore. — Bo Nix threw for 293 yards and two touchdowns while setting the NCAA record for most career starts, and Oregon rebounded from its first loss of the season with a victory over Washington State.
Nix, who began his career at Auburn, started in his 54th college game, and the Ducks (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12) reached bowl eligibility a week after a disappointing 36-33 loss at rival Washington.
Bucky Irving ran for 129 yards and two scores, and he also caught a touchdown pass from Nix to help Oregon remain undefeated at home this season.
Washington State (4-3, 1-3) lost for the third straight game.
› No. 13 Ole Miss 28, Auburn 21
AUBURN, Ala. — Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart had 246 yards of offense and three touchdowns to help the Rebels beat Auburn.
Dart led the Rebels (6-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) to touchdowns on their first two drives before plunging into the end zone from a yard out on the final play of the third quarter for a lead the visitors wouldn’t relinquish, avoiding the danger of any late Jordan-Hare magic.
Quinshon Judkins added 124 yards on the ground and a fourth-quarter touchdown run for the Rebels. Tre Harris had 102 receiving yards.
Auburn dropped to 3-4 overall and 0-4 in the SEC in former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze’s first year leading the Tigers after most recently working at Liberty.
› No. 20 Missouri 34, South Carolina 12
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Cody Schrader ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns, and the Tigers sacked Spencer Rattler six times in a dominant win against struggling South Carolina.
Missouri (7-1, 3-1 SEC) has seven victories in its first eight games for the first time since 2013.
Brady Cook completed 14 of 24 passes for 198 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score, and Luther Burden III caught four passes for 90 yards and a touchdown.
Rattler completed 23 of 40 passes for 217 yards, and South
Carolina kicker Mitch Jeter was 4-for-5 on field-goal tries.
After South Carolina (2-5, 1-4) cut Missouri’s lead to 24-12 with 10:31 left on a Jeter kick, Schrader sealed it with an 11-yard touchdown run with 2:46 to go.
› No. 22 Air Force 17, Navy 6
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Zac Larrier threw a 94-yard touchdown pass to Dane Kinamon — the longest completion in Air Force history — and the Falcons shut down Navy in the matchup of service academies.
Air Force (7-0) gained almost as many yards on that one play as Navy (3-4) did in the entire game. The Falcons seemed to back off defensively late, allowing the Midshipmen to drive 78 yards for their only touchdown. They finished with 124 yards.
Larrier — whose availability for the game was a surprise after coach Troy Calhoun said earlier in the week the quarterback would be out “a while” due to a knee injury — completed only four passes, but they went for a total of 151 yards.
Tai Lavatai threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Eli Heidenreich in the final minute to deny Air Force its first shutout of Navy. The only shutout in series history was a 17-0 win by the Midshipmen in 1975.
The Falcons can win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy for a second straight year if they beat Army in two weeks.
› No. 23 Tulane 35, North Texas 28
NEW ORLEANS — Michael Pratt passed for three touchdowns and scrambled 19 yards for a go-ahead score with 2:34 to go, and Tulane staved off a frantic North Texas comeback bid to defeat the Mean Green in an American Athletic Conference matchup.
Mekhi Highes ran for a 10-yard touchdown and finished with 121 yards on 20 carries, his third straight game eclipsing the 100-yard mark.
Tulane (6-1, 3-0) appeared to be cruising toward its fifth straight victory when tight end Alex Bauman hauled in his second touchdown catch of the game on a 21-yard throw from Pratt, making it 28-7 in the third quarter.
But North Texas (3-4, 1-2), which had been shut out in the first half, scored touchdowns on its next three possessions, the second of which began with a successful onside kick.
› Minnesota 12, No. 24 Iowa 10
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Dragan Kesich made four field goals, and Minnesota won at Iowa for the first time since 1999 to snap an eight-game losing streak in the series, holding the Hawkeyes to 12 yards in the second half.
With the Floyd of Rosedale bronze hog statue at stake in the cross-border rivalry between Big Ten teams, Iowa appeared to take the lead with 1:21 left when Cooper DeJean fielded a punt that bounced near the Minnesota sideline and returned it 54 yards for a touchdown. But after a replay review, DeJean was ruled to have signaled for a fair catch before fielding the ball, disallowing the return.
Iowa still had possession, but Justin Walley intercepted Deacon Hill’s pass with a minute to play in the fourth quarter.
Down 10-3 at halftime, the Golden Gophers (4-3, 2-2) held Iowa (6-2, 3-2) to minus-2 yards in the third quarter.
› Mississippi State 7, Arkansas 3
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Mike Wright threw for 85 yards and a touchdown, and he added 60 yards on the ground in his first start of the season to help Mississippi State (4-3, 1-3 SEC) beat Arkansas (2-6, 0-5).
The Bulldogs were without prolific veteran passer Will Rogers because of a shoulder injury suffered in the fourth quarter of their previous game. Wright, a Vanderbilt transfer, had a second-quarter touchdown pass to Jo’Quavious Marks, and was plenty for the Mississippi State defense.
The Arkansas offense, ranked 118th nationally in yards per game, struggled worse than usual, especially in the first half, when the Razorbacks had just four first downs and 78 yards. The three first-half points came courtesy of a 26-yard field goal from Cam Little, which capped a 29-yard drive that started at the Bulldogs’ 35 after an interception on Mississippi State’s first series.
The Razorbacks appeared to take the lead midway through the fourth quarter when a bad snap resulted in a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown. But a flag was thrown, signaling the play never counted due to a false start by Mississippi State. The Bulldogs punted, and the Razorbacks then went threeand-out from deep in their own territory, walking off to a chorus of boos.
Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson was 19-of-31 for 97 yards with an interception, and he ran for 38 yards on 16 carries.
› Boston College 38, Georgia Tech 23
ATLANTA — Thomas Castellanos rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns, including a 43-yarder on a fourth-down scamper in the fourth quarter, and resurgent Boston College (4-3, 2-2 ACC) beat Georgia Tech (3-4, 2-2) and posted its third straight victory.
Amari Jackson’s 33-yard interception return for a touchdown gave Boston College its first lead, and Kye Robichaux ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns for the Eagles, who led 24-23 before Castellanos skipped through the line of scrimmage on a fourth-and-1 run, then beat Ahmari Harvey to the goal line, pushing the visitors’ lead to eight points.
Georgia Tech, playing for the first time since its stunning last-minute victory at Miami on Oct. 7, lost despite quarterback Haynes King running for 150 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown. King threw three interceptions, including two in the fourth quarter, while completing 14 of 32 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown.
Castellanos, who began the day tied for the national lead among quarterbacks with seven rushing touchdowns, had a 12-yard scoring run in the second quarter. He was 17-of-29 passing for 255 yards with an interception to finish with the upper hand against King in the matchup of dualthreat quarterbacks.