Alabama, Florida win division titles
BATON ROUGE, La. — Mac Jones passed for 385 yards and four touchdowns and No. 1 Alabama used a slew of explosive plays to run away from LSU 5517 on Saturday night.
Jones threw three of his touchdown passes to Louisiana native Devonta Smith, who went to the same high school as Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and finished with eight catches for 231 yards in his return to his home state.
Smith’s first two touchdowns went for 65 and 61 yards to cap three-play, 75-yard drives for Alabama (9-0, 9-0 SEC). But his third touchdown catch from 20-yards out appeared to be his most difficult. He shed close coverage from top LSU cornerback Derrick Stingley Jr. and made a twisting, leaping catch high over his head before landing on his back deep in the end zone.
Najee Harris rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries, juking, shedding and even leaping over LSU defenders along the way.
LSU (3-5, 3-5) showed signs of life in the second quarter, scoring on a pair of long plays.
One nearly didn’t happen when receiver Kayshon Bouttee caught a 43-yard pass and released the ball in celebration just before crossing the goal line. Luckily for LSU, Jontre Kirkland was following the play and picked the ball up in the end zone to complete LSU’S first scoring play against Alabama in Tiger Stadium since 2014.
Florida 31, Tennessee 19
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Kyle Trask threw for 433 yards and four touchdowns, and No. 6 Florida beat Tennessee to clinch a spot in the SEC championship game.
Trask, a front-runner for the Heisman Trophy, put together another impressive performance. He completed 35 of 49 passes without committing a turnover. He even had a 32-yard punt late in the game.
Kyle Pitts had seven receptions for 128 yards, helping the Gators (8-1, No. 6 CFP) wrap up the SEC’S East Division. Kadarius Toney finished with eight catches for 108 yards and a TD.
The aerial performance by Trask and company took on added significance with Florida struggling to run the ball, finishing with just 21 yards on the ground.
Playing with a depleted roster, Tennessee (2-6) dropped its sixth consecutive game. The Vols were missing 16 players.
Freshman Harrison Bailey got the start at quarterback. He completed 14 of 21 passes for 111 yards and a 15-yard touchdown to Eric Gray. He was sacked five times.
Trask has 38 touchdown passes this season, moving him into sixth place in SEC history for a single season, ahead of Texas A&M’S Johnny Manziel and Tim Couch of Kentucky. He has the most touchdown passes through a team’s first nine games.
Texas A&M 31, Auburn 20
AUBURN, Ala. — Texas A&M looked every bit the playoff contender with a seemingly unstoppable offense and impenetrable defense — in the fourth quarter, at least.
And that was plenty.
Kellen Mond passed for two touchdowns and ran for a third and the fifth-ranked Aggies scored 17 points in the fourth quarter of a come-from-behind victory over Auburn.
The Aggies (7-1, CFP No. 5) dominated the final quarter to win their sixth straight and remain in College Football Playoff contention. The Tigers (5-4), who have gone 0-3 against teams ranked in the top five at the time, led 20-14 entering the fourth.
Mond rebounded from his worst game of the season against LSU with a strong performance. He completed 18 of 23 for 196 yards, highlighted by two TDS to Jalen Wydermyer, and ran for 60 yards.
Missouri 50, Arkansas 48
COLUMBIA, Mo. — When Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz saw his team fall behind Arkansas on the most improbable 2-point conversion imaginable, he turned to quarterback Connor Bazelak with a simple message.
Bazelak drove the Tigers down the field in the final 43 seconds and then turned the game
over to freshman kicker Harrison Mevis, who drilled a 32-yard field goal as time expired to lift Missouri to a victory.
The Tigers (5-3) trailed by 14 points in the fourth quarter, charged back to take a sevenpoint advantage and then surrendered the lead in the final minute.
Arkansas quarterback K.J. Jefferson, who started in place of the injured Feleipe Franks, threw a touchdown pass to Mike Woods to cut the Missouri lead to one point. Coach Sam Pittman decided to go for 2 rather than tie the game. Jefferson floated a soft pass toward Woods cutting across the back of the end zone. It went right into the hands of Missouri
linebacker Jamal Brooks, then right out of Brooks’ hands and into the arms of Woods.
Kentucky 41, S. Carolina 18
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Chris Rodriguez Jr. rushed for three
touchdowns, Terry Wilson and A.J. Rose each rushed for one, and Kentucky rolled South Carolina in the regular season finale for both schools.
Looking to halt a two-game slide and remain in consideration for the postseason, the Wildcats
(4-6, 4-6 Southeastern Conference) scored on five of their first seven possessions to lead 27-3 at halftime. Their highest first-half output this season was aided by 10 points off two of their three takeaways, including two fumble recoveries by Jordan Wright.