Florida wins on Hail Mary
Feleipe Franks heaved a 63- yard touchdown pass to Tyrie Cleveland as the clock expired, and No. 24 Florida beat No. 23 Tennessee 2620 in a wild, wacky and sometimes unwatchable rivalry game.
Franks scrambled away from the rush on a first- and- 10 play with nine seconds remaining and found Cleveland behind safety Micah Abernathy for a Hail Mary that no one — especially the Volunteers — saw coming.
The final play capped a crazy fourth quarter in which the teams combined for 37 points and little, if any, defense.
Tennessee ( 2- 1, 0- 1 Southeastern Conference) can blame three missed field goals for not being ahead late. The Gators ( 1- 1, 1- 0) looked as if they had the game in hand early in the final frame, but found a way to let the Volunteers get back in it.
Franks had one huge mistake — an interception in Florida territory that set up Tennessee’s tying field goal. The Vols had three plays from the 9, but failed to get in the end zone and settled for three points with 50 seconds left.
Mississippi State 37, No. 12 LSU 7
Nick Fitzgerald threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores in the Bulldogs’ rout.
Aeris Williams led the Bulldogs with 146 yards rushing and averaged 6.3 yards per carry. Mississippi State ( 3- 0, 1- 0 Southeastern Conference) beat LSU for just the second time in 18 tries dating to 2000.
LSU ( 2- 1, 0- 1) easily won its first two games of the season, but was overmatched by Mississippi State on both sides of the ball. The Tigers were also sloppy — two touchdown plays were negated because of penalties. In all, LSU was penalized nine times for 112 yards.
Fitzgerald was 15- for- 23 passing for 180 yards. Keith Mixon caught six passes for 97 yards and a touchdown. Freshman Jace Christmann made the first three field goals of his career, connecting from 30, 45 and 27 yards.
LSU’s Danny Etling completed just 13 of 29 passes for 137 yards. Derrius Guice had 76 yards rushing.
No. 1 Alabama 41, Colorado St. 23
Jalen Hurts passed for 248 yards and two long touchdowns and rushed for 103 yards to lead the host Tide.
The Crimson Tide ( 3- 0) dominated early and emphatically answered a comeback attempt before outlasting the Rams ( 2- 2).
Hurts delivered his best allaround game this season. He ran for a 27- yard touchdown and hit on a career- long 78- yard scoring pass to Calvin Ridley and a 52- yarder to Robert Foster.
Memphis 48, No. 25 UCLA 45
Riley Ferguson threw for 398 yards and six touchdowns, and Jacobi Francis broke up a fourthdown pass in the closing seconds in the Tigers’ victory.
Francis’ breakup with 56 seconds left prevented another fourth- quarter comeback by Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen. He was 34- for- 56 for 463 yards and four TDs.
But unlike in the Bruins’ opener when Rosen led a fourth- quarter comeback to beat Texas A& M, the Memphis defense stiffened on UCLA’s final possession.