Rogers leads Bulldogs to upset victory

Will Rogers threw for 415 yards and six touchdowns, and Mississippi State beat No. 17 Auburn 43-34 on Saturday.

Auburn (6-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) scored touchdowns on its first four possessions and led 28-3 midway through the second quarter. But Mississippi State (6-4, 4-3) rallied, scoring 40 unanswered points behind Rogers’ arm.

“I think the biggest thing is that we didn’t get discouraged by the first half, which should have been easy to do,” Mississippi State coach Mike Leach said. “That first half, I thought we kind of played tentatively and played not to lose. Then we played aggressively. We played faster.”

Rogers completed 44 of 54 passes, connecting with 10 different Bulldogs. Jaden Walley had seven catches for 87 yards, and Jakai Polk finished with 61 yards and two touchdowns on eight receptions.

Mississippi State was held to just one field goal on its first three drives. Then Rogers threw for his six touchdowns on the Bulldogs’ next seven drives. He only had three incompletions after the first quarter.

“I felt like we all were just doing a good job,” Rogers said of his second half. “The o-line did a good job of blocking. (Auburn) played a lot of man coverage today, and the receivers were doing a great job of getting off with their routes. It’s kind of crazy to think I completed that many, because some of those were contested.

Tide rolls: For 44 seconds, No. 2 Alabama actually was trailing New Mexico State.

It didn’t take long for Bryce Young, Jameson Williams and the Crimson Tide to change that situation dramatically.

Down 3-0 late in the first quarter, Young threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Williams and Alabama went on to romp 59-3.

“I really challenged the team this week,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “I told them it was kind of Judgment Day for us. We’ve been a little inconsistent.

“We don’t look at the scoreboard. It shouldn’t affect how we play. An opponent is faceless. It’s all about how we play,” he said.

Young passed for 270 yards and five touchdowns, including three to Williams, and completed 21 of 23 passes in just over a half for the Tide (9-1). Alabama rattled off seven touchdowns in 20 minutes for a 49-3 halftime lead over the Aggies (1-9).

Allen’s big day propels Wisconsin: Braelon Allen understood the importance of his role following Chez Mellusi’s injury, sidelining Wisconsin’s leading rusher for the rest of the season.

Allen handled that burden as effectively as he has accepted every other task assigned to him during his exceptional freshman season.

The 17-year-old Allen rushed for 173 yards and three touchdowns to help No. 18 Wisconsin beat Northwestern 35-7 for its sixth consecutive victory on Saturday.

Utah pushes past Arizona: Cameron

Rising threw for 294 yards and two touchdowns, T.J. Pledger ran for 119 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 24 Utah maintained its lead in the Pac-12 South by beating Arizona 38-29 on Saturday.

It was a hard-earned win for the Utes (7-3, 6-1 Pac-12). Arizona led for part of the first half and kept the game tight all afternoon.

Iowa stands tall: Alex Padilla threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in his first career start, and No. 20 Iowa withstood three fourth-quarter comeback attempts to beat Minnesota 27-22 on Saturday.

The Hawkeyes (8-2, 5-2 Big Ten) led 24-16 before Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Chris Autman-Bell with 5:28 to play. The Gophers (6-4, 4-3) went for the two-point conversion, but Morgan’s pass was tipped by Iowa safety Dane Belton and fell incomplete.

OSU dismantles Purdue: C.J. Stroud threw for 361 yards and five touchdowns, freshman TreVeyon Henderson rumbled for two more scores and No. 4 Ohio State struck early and rolled over Purdue 59-31 on Saturday.

The Buckeyes (9-1, 7-0 Big Ten) scored on all seven of their first-half possessions, piling up 45 points against a Purdue team that hadn’t allowed more than 30 in any game this year.

Georgia remains perfect: Stetson Bennett ran for a touchdown and threw for another as top-ranked Georgia remained perfect, wrapping up its Southeastern Conference schedule by routing Tennessee 41-17 Saturday.

The Bulldogs (10-0, 8-0) actually trailed by their largest margin this season after Tennessee scored a touchdown on the opening drive. Georgia also was down 10-7 at the end of the first quarter, new territory for the Bulldogs, who had only trailed by a field goal each to Auburn and Missouri.

Georgia responded by reeling off 27 straight points, including 17 in a dominating second quarter.