Tide rides Jones’ big arm in win over Texas A&M
Mac Jones launched his first pass far to John Metchie III for a 78-yard touchdown. It was most definitely a sign of things to come.
Jones passed for a career-high 435 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair of deep throws to Metchie and an even longer one to Jaylen Waddle, and No. 2 Alabama romped past No. 13 Texas A&M 52-24 on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Briefly threatened early, Jones and the Crimson Tide (2-0) flexed their considerable big-play muscle in the passing game to put away the Aggies (1-1).
“Our guys stayed the course and kept competing in the game,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “That’s really what we wanted to do.”
Metchie looked like the Tide’s latest major receiving threat, alongside Waddle and DeVonta Smith.
Jones topped that initial score with an 87-yard TD to Waddle, who had sprinted past two Aggies defenders to make the grab with nothing but green in between himself and the end zone. Metchie and Jones hooked up for a 63-yarder in the fourth, giving the sophomore five catches for 181 yards.
Jones finished 19-of-26 passing for a second straight surgically precise performance marred by one interception off a deflection.
“We won, so it’s a good game,” Jones said, when asked if it was his best performance.
Wolfpack rally back: North Carolina State head coach Dave Doeren kept waiting for quarterback Devin Leary to take a firm grasp of the starting job. Doeren knew Leary had all the tools necessary to provide some stability at a position where there’s been little of it recently for the Wolfpack.
At some point, Doeren figured it would all come together for the charismatic redshirt sophomore with the big arm.
That point arrived in the fourth quarter on Saturday at Heinz Field against No. 24 Pittsburgh. Twice the Wolfpack needed to go the length of the field to reclaim the lead. Twice they did it, the last time coming on a 13-yard strike from Leary to Emeka Emezie with 23 seconds to go to give N.C. State a stunning 30-29 win.
Leary, making his first start of the season, drove the Wolfpack 79 yards in 12 plays, the last a perfect backshoulder throw to Emezie, who made a perfect spinning grab to give N.C. State its first victory over a ranked team since 2017. Leary finished 28 of 44 for 336 yards and four touchdowns as the Wolfpack (2-1, 2-1 ACC) bounced back from a dismal loss at Virginia Tech to stop Pitt’s bid for the program’s first 4-0 start since 2000.
“We’ve been waiting for him to become ‘The guy,’ ” Doeren said of Leary. “We’ve always known what his arm was.”
Trask, Pitts carry Gators: No. 3 Florida was nearly flawless on offense in its season opener, a 51-point, 642-yard barrage that set a school record. Two turnovers a week later made the Gators look vulnerable.
Kyle Trask and Kyle Pitts hooked up for two more touchdowns, continuing their hot start and leading Florida to a 38-24 victory over South Carolina in Gainesville, Fla.
It wasn’t as clean as the Gators (2-0) had hoped, especially considering they were at home in the Swamp, but they’ll take it and move on.
“We expect to score every single time we have the ball and we should have scored every time we had the ball,” Trask said.
Trask completed 21 of 29 passes for 268 yards and four touchdowns. But his first-half fumble and fourthquarter interception kept the Gamecocks (0-2) in it.
The Pac-12 football season will begin with a morning start on Nov. 7 —Arizona State at USC.
The conference schedule released Saturday includes eight Friday games, at least one every week after the first weekend of the season. Each Pac-12 team has six opponents scheduled, five from its division and from across the conference.
The Nov. 7 opener kicks off at 9 a.m. local time. The conference has been toying with morning starts to boost nationwide exposure. Arizona State and USC will be Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff ” game, with its pregame show coming from the Los Angeles Coliseum.
The Pac-12 championship game will match division winners and be played Dec. 18. The other teams in the conference will also play a cross-division game that weekend for a total of seven games each.
Pac-12 sets schedule: