Spartans off to best start since 2015

After turning the ball over seven times in a loss to Rutgers last year, No. 11 Michigan State turned to the the big-play approach with its new cast of players. It worked to perfection.

Jalen Nailor caught touchdown passes of 63, 63 and 65 yards from Payton Thorne and transfer Kenneth Walker scored on a school-record 94-yard run as the Spartans remained unbeaten with a 31-13 victory over the reeling Scarlet Knights on Saturday.

Michigan State (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) is off to its best start since it won its first eight games in 2015, when it reached the College Football Playoff.

“We still have multiple playmakers that y’all haven’t seen yet,” said Nailor, who finished with five catches for a careerbest 221 yards, a stadium record. “We have a lot of young guys that are emerging, but it’s just getting more in tune with the playbook and we’ve just been working hard, just trying to get everybody on the same page so far.”

The loss was the third straight for Rutgers (3-3), all against ranked opponents. The Scarlet Knights fell to No. 9 Michigan two weeks ago and No. 7 Ohio State last week. Overall, Rutgers has dropped 33 straight to ranked teams since beating then-No. 23 South Florida 31-0 on Nov. 12, 2009.

“I look at this game, we gave up big plays,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. “We gave up four big plays. We haven’t done that. We haven’t given up big plays. You give up big plays, it’s going to be hard to do anything, right? You’re behind the 8-ball.”

OSU cruises behind Stroud’s five touch

down passes: Ohio State scored on nine straight possessions and piled up 598 yards of offense as the Buckeyes (5-1, 3-0 Big Ten) had their way with Maryland (4-2, 1-2) on Saturday.

C.J. Stroud threw for 406 yards, including two touchdown passes each to star wideouts Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson against a depleted Maryland secondary.

Buckeyes freshman TreVeyon Henderson, after managing just 17 yards rushing in the first half, finished with 102 and two touchdowns. He also caught a 26-yard TD pass in the first half. Master Teague had a touchdown plunge as Ohio State beat Maryland for the seventh consecutive time.

It wasn’t until the Buckeyes’ 10th and final drive of the game, when the regulars were all out of the game, that the Terps managed to stop them on downs.

Sanders’ late TD catch lifts Georgia

Tech: Adonicas Sanders caught a 36-yard touchdown throw from Jeff Sims with 51 seconds left to help Georgia Tech rally past Duke 31-27 on Saturday.

The Yellow Jackets (3-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) were coming off an ugly home loss to Pittsburgh. But they responded by earning their first win in Durham, North Carolina, since 2013.

“I thought our guys battled,” Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins said. “They fought. We were decimated at certain positions. And it didn’t matter. We just kept rolling guys through to find a way to get the win.”

Hooker leads Vols past Gamecocks: The Volunteers’ (4-2, 2-1) 45-20 victory over South Carolina (3-3, 0-3) Saturday was the first time since 2016 that they have scored more than 40 points (including a 62-24 win over Missouri last week) in back-to-back SEC games.

Quarterback Hendon Hooker, a Virginia Tech transfer, now 3-1 as a starter, threw for 225 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another.

Vols’ running back Tiyon Evans rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown before leaving midway through the third quarter with an injury. Tennessee led 35-0 late in the first half before the Gamecocks made a run.

“Hendon continues to grow into complete command of the run game, pass game and taking care of the football,” said Heupel. “The players around him have responded in a positive way.”

Baylor responds: Gerry Bohanon saw something in his Baylor teammates during the week with the offense coming off a poor showing that helped knocked the Bears out of the Top 25.

Whatever the quarterback saw showed up on game day.

Bohanon had career highs of 336 yards passing and four touchdowns, including a 75-yarder to Tyquan Thornton on the second play of the game, while also scoring on a 1-yard sneak in Baylor’s 45-20 victory over West Virginia on Saturday.

Thornton caught eight passes for a career-best 187 yards and two TDs as the Bears scored on four of their first five possessions a week after starting with eight consecutive punts in a 24-14 loss to Oklahoma State right after Baylor had entered the poll.

“That wasn’t our offense,” Bonahon said. “So this week, we had a really good week, like a really, really good week. Just stacked days on days this week and we knew we were going to come out and dominate. We knew last week, we couldn’t do that anymore.”