No. 1 Clemson rolls 42-17 at home past No. 7 Miami
Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdowns passes and rushed for another as No. 1 Clemson proved once more who's boss in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 42-17 beatdown of seventh-ranked Miami on Saturday night.
Travis Etienne rushed for 149 yards and two scores, including a 72-yard burst downthe left sidelines, as the host Tigers opened 4-0 for a sixth straight season. This is was billed as an ACC showdown where the Hurricanes (3-1, 2-1 ACC) could prove the swagger had truly returned to “The U.”
Instead, Miami's offense was suffocated by the Tigers (3-0 ACC) and held without an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter.
Hurricanes quarterback D'Eriq King came in alongside Lawrence as the ACC's dynamic playmakers. The Houston transfer, though, was swarmed by Clemson all game and completed just 12 of 28 passes for 121 yards and his first two interceptions of the season.
Miami entered as the ACC leader in offense at 499 yards a game. Itwas held to 210 and never truly came close to challenging the Tigers.
“I cannot fault our effort, but our discipline in terms of doing things right made it very difficult to execute against a top-ranked team on the road,” Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz said.
Clemson got out fast on its first two drives with TDs: tight end Braden Galloway's 24-yard catch and a 2-yard run by Etienne.
Etienne, the two-time ACC player of the year who returned for his senior season, became college football's all-time leader with a score in his 39th career game. He broke a three-way tie he was in with Florida's Tim Tebow and Louisiana Tech's Kenneth Dixon.
Another Galloway TD catch, this one from 11 yards, put Clemson ahead 21-3 with 1:14 remaining in the half.
Lawrence ended with 292 yards, completing 29 of 41, and went without an interception for a 12th straight game.
LSU loses at Missouri: In a game that was dominated by a pair of offenses that seemingly couldn't be stopped, it was the much-maligned Missouri defense that managed to stand tall against No. 17 LSU when it came time to decide the game. Connor Bazelak threw for 406 yards and four touchdowns despite missing three of his top receiving targets due to COVID-19 protocols and coach Eli Drinkwitz's bunch held four times at the the 1-yard line in the final minute to escape with a 45-41 victory in a game moved from Baton Rouge to Columbia, Mo., because of Hurricane Delta.
“Our guys didn't flinch today,” Drinkwitz said. “They didn't flinch after terrible turnovers. They didn't flinch at the goal line. They just kept fighting. And that's our No. 1 core value, always compete.”
LSU had taken a 41-38 lead when Cade York hit a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the third quarter. But when York tried to extend the lead midway through the fourth, his 45-yarder was blocked, and Missouri (1-2) needed just four plays— the big one a 69-yard pass to Chance Luper — before Bazelak hit Nico Hea with the go-ahead touchdown with 5:18 to go.
Myles Brennan, who threw for 430 yards and four TDs, quickly moved LSU the other direction. Terrace Marshall Jr. had four catches on the drive, the last a completion to the 1-yard line with 44 seconds left. But after Tyrion DavisPrice was stuffed twice up the middle, Missouri batted down two straight passes to preserve the upset.
“The defense did a great job at the end,” Bazelak said. “Just unbelievable.”
Tyler Badie took part in an early flea-flicker for a touchdown, then had TDs on the ground and through the air, as Mizzou (1-2) piled up 586 yards of total offense behind a freshman quarterback and his talented running backs. The defending national champions, who were 0for-10 on third down, fell to 1-2 for the first time since 1994.
“We couldn't stop anybody. Really poor showing on defense,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. “I thought our offense played an outstanding game except for down there, we're inside the 1, andwe have to score.”
Heels click on ground: Michael Carter ran for a career-high 214 yards and two touchdowns — including a 62-yarder mid way through the fourth quarter — to help eighth-ranked North Carolina (3-0, 3-0ACC) prevail 56-45 over No. 19 Virginia Tech (2-1, 2-1) in Chapel Hill, N.C.