The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tagovailoa propels No.1 Alabama
Tua Tagovailoa passed for 387 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another score to lead No. 1 Alabama to a 45-23 rout of visiting No. 22 Texas A&M on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) easily passed the first test against a ranked team. Kellen Mond and the Aggies (2-2, 0-1) couldn’t put up nearly the fight they had in a 28-26 loss to No. 3 Clemson.
Tagovailoa completed 22 of 30 passes before leaving after Henry Ruggs III took a shuttle pass 57 yards for a score late in the third. His first attempt went for a 30-yard touchdown to a diving DeVonta Smith, and he hit tight end Hale Hentges for two more scores.
Damien Harris didn’t get many touches but had a 35-yard run and a 52-yard catch.
“We were fortunate that we made a lot of big plays on offense,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “We really threw the ball effectively and scored a lot of points, but we really didn’t control the game. We didn’t control the line of scrimmage. We struggled to run the ball offensively.”
Mond completed 16 of 33 passes for 196 yards with a touchdown but was intercepted twice, including on his first throw. He collected 98 yards rushing despite getting sacked seven times.
The SEC’s top rusher, Tray- veon Williams, found little room to run. He gained 31 yards on eight carries.
Texas A&M seemed poised for a while to give the Tide its first test of the season. But Tagovailoa & Co. kept answer- ing and scored 10 points in the final 1:09 before halftime for a 31-13 lead.
Tagovailoa set up a touch- down with a 52-yard pass down the right sideline to Harris. Then freshman cor- nerback Patrick Surtain Jr. intercepted Mond’s deep ball, and the Tide drove for a field goal.
(At) Ole Miss 38, Kent State 17: Jordan Ta’amu threw for 442 yards, two touchdowns and ran for another score to lead host Mississippi.
Ole Miss (3-1) had some good moments, especially in the second half, but strug- gled to shake the malaise from last week’s 62-7 loss to No. 1 Alabama. The Rebels and Golden Flashes went into halftime tied at 7.
The game had two delays for lightning, a 53-minute stoppage at the beginning of the second half and another 1-hour, 43-minute delay in the fourth quarter.
Kent State (1-3) pulled within 21-17 midway through the third quarter on Woody Barrett’s 2-yard touchdown run but couldn’t get closer. Ole Miss responded with two lengthy offensive drives that added 10 points and gave the Rebels a comfortable advantage.
Barrett completed 24 of 42 passes for 224 yards and an interception. He also ran for 53 yards, including the 2-yard touchdown.
Ole Miss got off to a decent start when Ta’amu threw a short swing pass to Scottie Phillips, who ran for a 38-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. But then the Rebels’ offense inexplicably went cold.
The usual long passes from Ta’amu to his talented receivers weren’t connecting and the running game wasn’t able to offset that problem. That kept the Golden Flashes in the game, but they weren’t able to totally capitalize.
Kent State had 264 total yards in the first half, but managed just one touch- down. It came on a Barrett lateral to Kavious Price, who threw for an 18-yard touchdown to a wide open Jo-El Shaw.