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.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my receivers.”

Auburn’s offense got off to a strong start behind Bo Nix, who finished with 377 yards passing and two touchdowns. But, as the defense struggled to slow Mississippi State’s passing attack after halftime, the Tigers were held to 158 yards and six points in the second half.

“We’re not going to make excuses,” Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said. “We’ve got to take this and learn from it . ... You’ve got to be able to start like we did, and you’ve got to be able to finish much better than we did.”

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.

“I told Chez I was going to finish the season for the both of us,” Allen said.

Mellusi, who hurt his left knee during a

52-3 victory at Rutgers last week, entered Saturday’s action ranked fifth in the Big Ten in rushing (815) and second in carries

(173).

Houston secures AAC title game berth: Alton McCaskill rushed for 129 yards and two touchdowns as Houston methodically dispatched Temple 37-8 on Saturday to clinch a berth in the American Athletic Conference championship game.

The Cougars (9-1, 7-0 American Athletic) have won nine straight games since an opening loss to Texas Tech to secure their first appearance in the conference championship game since winning the American Athletic in 2015. They will likely face No. 5 Cincinnati, which has to win one of its remaining two games — at home against SMU next Saturday and at East Carolina on Nov. 26, to join them in the Dec. 4 championship game.

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.

“It’s not about how pretty it looks,” Rising said. “It’s not about having glitz and glamour, it’s about getting the job done and that’s what we did here today.”