Sooners hold off Jayhawks in tough test

Facing a far tougher test than expected against Kansas, Caleb Williams bailed out No. 3 Oklahoma with quick feet and quick thinking.

The freshman converted two crucial fourth downs in the fourth quarter, one with a 40-yard touchdown run, and Oklahoma rallied to avoid an enormous upset and beat Kansas 35-23 Saturday,

The Sooners (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) trailed by double figures on two occasions — including 10-0 at the half —- but outscored the Jayhawks 35-13 in the second half to win their 16th straight game.

“I’m excited for the win, but we played poor football in the first half,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “We couldn’t get Kansas off the field and missed several opportunities. I give our team credit for rising up. Kansas deserves a lot of credit, and they did a few things that gave us trouble.”

Jason Bean passed for 246 yards and a score for Kansas (1-6, 0-4), which led 17-7 late in the third quarter.

A 66-yard run by Trevon West sparked the Oklahoma offense, and two plays later Williams tossed a short TD pass to cut the lead to 17-14 in the third quarter.

Kansas was able to stay in the game because of the legs of Devin Neal, who ran for 100 and a pair of touchdowns. Kansas didn’t punt until the fourth quarter.

“I’m proud of our guys and the way the first half especially went,” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said. “We were able to mix some things together and keep their explosive offense off the field.”

In his second start, Williams threw for

178 yards and two scores and ran for 70 yards.

Williams used a sharp cut to avoid two tacklers on a fourth-and-3 and then raced the distance for a 40-yard score to make it

28-17 midway through the fourth quarter. After KU cut it to 28-23, Oklahoma faced a fourth-and-1 near midfield. Kennedy Brooks looked as if he would be stopped short of the line to gain, but Williams took the ball from the back.

“I saw Caleb so I gave it to him,” Brooks said. “I knew it would be close if I was behind the line of scrimmage and I was happy Caleb ran for a first down.”

Williams scampered 5 yards to keep alive what turned out to be the sealing touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter.

“That was just a really smart play by both of those guys,” Riley said. “We talk about situations like that, but I can’t take credit because that’s all Caleb and Kennedy.”

Michigan tops Northwestern: Michigan got off to a sluggish start, perhaps peeking ahead to playing Michigan State. Then the Wolverines used a strong finish to seal a matchup of undefeated rivals.

Blake Corum and Hassan Haskins combined for 229 yards rushing and four touchdowns, carrying No. 6 Michigan to a 33-7 win over Northwestern on Saturday.

Shortly after the victory, Jim Harbaugh’s thoughts had already shifted to facing the ninth-ranked Spartans on the road.

“All focus is there,” he said.

The Wolverines (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) led the Wildcats (3-4, 1-3) by just three at halftime. They pulled away by outscoring them 23-0 in the first 16:40 of the second half.

Jefferson leads air raid: On the heels of a three-game losing streak, Arkansas coach Sam Pittman and his players were in dire need of a confidence boost.

The Razorbacks got that, at the expense of an in-state opponent.

Sophomore quarterback K.J. Jefferson threw for a career-high four touchdowns, all coming before halftime, as Arkansas scored the first 45 points and defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 45-3 on Saturday in Little Rock. The Razorbacks had entered the game having dropped three straight games - all against Southeastern Conference foes - after starting the season 4-0 and being ranked in the Top 10 nationally.

Harvard-Princeton settle things in overtime: Jacob Birmelin made a catch in the corner of the end zone in a fifth overtime and Princeton defeated Harvard 18-16 on Saturday, sending a homecoming crowd of some 10,000 streaming onto the field.

Trevor Forbes broke up Harvard’s last-chance pass in front of the goal line, avoiding a sixth overtime and Princeton (6-0, 3-0 Ivy League), ranked 17th in the FCS coaches poll, won a monster of a game filled with defensive gems and wild twists. Jake Smith, who came in when starter Charles Dean was injured early in the game, threw two apparent game-winning passes in the third overtime for Harvard (5-1, 2-1) and ranked No. 16, only to have both wiped out.

Kansas State ends Big 12 losing streak:

Skylar Thompson passed for 296 yards and the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter and Kansas State came up with sacks on Texas Tech’s final two plays to take a 25-24 victory Saturday.

Thompson’s TD pass to Deuce Vaughn with just over six minutes left helped the Wildcats snap an eight-game Big 12 Conference losing streak going back to last year. It was K-State’s longest since joining the Big 12 in 1996.