Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
No. 2 Alabama losesWaddle, beats Tennessee
KNOXVILLE, TENN. » Losing their most dynamic player left Alabama in no mood to celebrate— not evena bigwinover a longtime rival.
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle brokehis right ankle on the opening kickoff Saturday, about theonly thing that didn’t go the Crimson Tide’s way in a 48-17 victory over Tennessee.
Mac Jones threwfor 387yards and ran for a touchdown, and Najee Harris ran for threemore TDs asNo. 2 Alabama added the 14th straightwin in this rivalry.
The Crimson Tide (5-0) outgained Tennessee (2-3) 587-302. But playing the Vols proved costly for Alabama a second straight season. A year ago, Tua Tagovailoa hurt an ankle in the second quarter and missed the next game against Arkansas.
On Saturday, Waddle rolled his right ankle as he was tackled on the opening kickoff and was taken by cart to the locker room. Waddle came out after catching the ball deep in the end zone, something coaches usually don’t want. But Alabama coach Nick Saban said he trusts the judgment of the talented player.
Saban said Waddle has a similar injury to what Kenyan Drake had with a high ankle sprain with a fracture that probably will need surgery. Waddle will be flown back privately with doctors and taken toBirminghamto see if surgery is needed right away.
“If that’s the case, and we’re pretty certain that it is, he would probably be out for the year,” Saban said. ( 1) CLEMSON 47, SYRACUSE 21 » Trevor Lawrence threw two touchdown passes, Travis Etienne ran for three scores and
Clemson (6-0, 5-0) shook off a sluggish performance to win its 27th straight Atlantic Coast Conference game and put away pesky Syracuse (1-5, 1-4).
The Tigers opened 6-0 for the sixth straight season, but it took a late burst to get it done — just like usual against Syracuse. The Orange were the last ACC team to beat the Tigers with a 27-24 victory in 2017. A year later at Death Valley, Syracuse again looked primed for the upset as it held a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter before Clemson’s 27-23 escape to keep its national championship season intact. (3) NOTRE DAME 45, PITTSBURGH3 » Ian Book passed for 312 yards andthree touchdowns — two of them long catch-andruns to graduate transfer Ben Skowronek— andNotre Dame (5-0, 4-0 ACC) overwhelmed reeling Pittsburgh (3-4, 2-4).
Aweekafter scuffling itsway past Louisville, Notre Dame had no such issues while handling the Panthers their fourth consecutive loss.
Book hit Skowronek for a 34yard score on Fighting Irish’s first possession and Pitt — playing without injured senior quarterback Kenny Pickett for a second straight week — simply could not keep up. (5) OHIOSTATE51, NEBRASKA17 » Justin Fields completed 20 of 21 passes for two touchdowns and ran for another score, Master Teague III rushed for a pair of scores andOhio State rolled over Nebraska in the Big Ten teams’ pandemic-delayed opener.
Fields completed his first 12 passes and threw for 276 yards. He ran for another 52 yards — including a stunning 17-yard third-quarter touchdown scramble around the left
side that saw him spin past a defender into the end zone.
The Ohio State defense took most of the first half to figure out a way to contain quarterback Adrian Martinez, who marched theHuskers down for a touchdown in the opening 2 minutes of the game.
(6) OKLAHOMA STATE 24, (17) IOWASTATE21 »
Spencer Sanders passed for 235 yards and ran for 71 and a touchdown in his return from injury and Oklahoma State (4-0, 3-0 Big 12) beat Iowa State (3-2, 3-1).
Sanders had been out since injuring his right ankle in the season-opener against Tulsa.
Chuba Hubbard ran for 139 yards and a touchdown to help Oklahoma State join Kansas Stateas theonlyremainingundefeated teams in conference play. (14) NORTH CAROLINA 48, (23) NORTH CAROLINA STATE 21 » Javonte Williams ran for 160 yards and three touchdowns and North Carolina (4-1, 4-1 ACC) beatNorth Carolina State (4-2, 4-2) in the renewal of the longtime state rivalry.
Michael Carter ran for 106 yards and a score of his own for the Tar Heels, who used a run-through-and-over-tacklers ground game that helped them take control in the thirdquarter. UNC ran for 326 yards and finishedwith 578 overall, bouncing back from an upset loss at Florida State to beat theWolfpack. WAKE FOREST 23, (19) VIRGINIA TECH 16 » Walk-on freshman safety Nick Andersen had three
interceptions, Christian BealSmith ran for 129 yards and Nick Sciba kicked three field goals to help Wake Forest (3-2, 2-2 ACC) beat Virginia Tech (32, 3-2).
Andersen stopped two deep Hokies drives and the third ended their final possession. (20) KANSASSTATE55,KANSAS 14 » Phillip Brooks returned a pair of punts for touchdowns, Kansas State (4-1, 4-0) took advantageof anembarrassingday of special teams by its biggest rival, and the Wildcats rolled past Kansas (0-5, 0-4).
Will Howard threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns while Justin Gardner returned an interception 25 yards for another score, helping the Wildcats improve to 4-0 in the Big 12 for the first time since 2014. (22) MARSHALL 20, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 9 » Brenden Knox rushed for 101 yards and caught one of redshirt freshmanGrant Wells’ two touchdown passes to lead Marshall (5-0, 3-0 Conference USA) over pandemic-depleted Florida Atlantic (1-1, 1-1).
FAU brought 57 players on its first trip of the season, just above themandatedminimum of 53 available scholarship players during the pandemic. (25) COASTAL CAR0LINA 28, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 14 » Backup quarterback Fred Payton threwthree TDpasses and Coastal Carolina (5-0, 3-0 Sun Belt) won its first game as a ranked teamwith a victory over Georgia Southern (3-2, 1-2).