Alabama blows out Arkansas State, 57-7
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—Tua Tagovailoa passed for three first-quarter touchdowns and Jalen Hurts added two more before halftime, combining to lead No. 1 Alabama to a 57-7 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide (2-0) racked up big plays on the way to a 40-0 halftime lead while rotating the quarterbacks who battled for the job throughout the offseason. Coach Nick Saban officially announced Tagovailoa would remain the starter Monday, but both were big parts of the plan again.
Tagovailoa finished 13 of 19 for 228 yards and four TDs. He led seven drives and tossed in runs of 15 and 12 yards in the second half. Tagovailoa had TD passes of 58 yards to Jerry Jeudy, 31 to Henry Ruggs III and 41 to DeVonta Smith— all in the first quarter—and tacked on a 14-yarder to Derek Kief.
Hurts, who started the past two seasons, was effective, too. He was 7 of 9 for 93 yards but did fumble at the goal line after taking a hit while airborne.
Najee Harris ran for a careerhigh 135 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
Justice Hansen couldn’t get the Red Wolves’ fast-paced offense going against the Tide defense. He was 15 of 36 for 140 yards with a touchdown and interception after tying a school-record with six touchdown passes last week.
Alabama outgained Arkansas State 599-391 in total yards.
No. 3 Georgia 41,
No. 24 South Carolina 17
COLUMBIA, S.C.—Jake Fromm threw for 194 yards and a touchdown, all three of Georgia’s latest running combo scored touchdowns and the third-ranked Bulldogs turned an expected Southeastern Conference showdown into a blowout with a 41-17 victory over No. 24 South Carolina on Saturday.
The Gamecocks (1-1, 0-1 SEC) came in ranked for the first time in four years, and some thought they had a chance of upsetting the defending SEC champions early in the season. Instead, the Bulldogs (2-0, 1-0) used dominating offense and suffocating defense to win their fourth straight over South Carolina.
Fromm was 15-of-18 passing, including a 34-yard TD pass to Mecole Hardman. D’Andre Swift, Elijah Holyfield and Brian Herrien looked every bit as effective as NFL runners Nick Chubb and Sony Michel did a year ago in leading Georgia to the College Football Playoff.
Holyfield led the way with 76 yards and a 5-yard score. Swift had a 17-yard TD run, and Herrien piled on with a 15-yard scoring burst in the third quarter as Georgia went up by 31 points. That’s when many in the crowd of 83,140 began to file out in disappointment—a familiar ritual against the Bulldogs.
Vanderbilt 41, Nevada 10
NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Vanderbilt overcame two early red-zone disappointments and bottled up a high-scoring Nevada offense, winning a critical early-season nonconference game 41-10 Saturday with a dominant second-half performance.
Carrying on from last week’s opener against Middle Tennessee, the Commodores (2-0) were rock-solid defensively from the start, holding the Wolf Pack to 124 yards in the first half and 250 overall, a week after coach Jay Norvell’s team scored 72 points on 636 yards against Portland State.
But Vanderbilt’s failure to score on two promising drives into the red zone to start the game allowed the visitors from the Mountain West Conference to keep things close, tightening the score to 17-10 on a 9-yard Ty Gangi pass to Brendan O’LearyOrange in the final minute of the first half.
Ole Miss 76, Southern Illinois 41
OXFORD, Miss.—Jordan Ta’amu threw for 448 yards and five touchdowns, Scottie Phillips ran for 107 yards and two more scores, and Mississippi survived an upset scare by beating Southern Illinois 76-41 on Saturday.
SIU led 38-35 at halftime in a game that was much more competitive than originally anticipated. In fact, this one was downright bizarre.
The Salukis (1-1) had never beaten a team from the Southeastern Conference and were 3-30 coming into the game against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents. But they pushed the Rebels (2-0) to the brink for three quarters on Saturday, flinging the ball all over the field against a completely unprepared Ole Miss defense.
Tennessee 59, East Tennessee 3
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—Jeremy Banks and Madre London each rushed for two touchdowns and Tennessee followed a weather delay with a second-quarter scoring flurry to trounce Football Championship Subdivision program East Tennessee State 59-3 on Saturday.
Marquill Osborne scored on a blocked punt return and Darrin Kirkland Jr. scored on an interception return as Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt earned his first head coaching victory in his home debut. The Volunteers had lost 40-14 to No. 14 West Virginia in Pruitt’s opening game last week at Charlotte, North Carolina.