< Cole Tracy
is hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates after kicking the winning field goal in No. 12 LSU’s 22-21 win over No. 7 Auburn.
No. 12 LSU 22, No. 7 Auburn 21 Cole Tracy kicked a 42-yard field goal on the final play to give No. 12 LSU a 22-21 victory over No. 7 Auburn on Saturday in their Southeastern Conference opener. Joe Burrow led LSU (3-0) down the field in the final minutes with clutch plays and two pass interference calls against Auburn (2-1). That set up Tracy’s field goal that was almost right down the middle and sent LSU players swarming onto the field to celebrate. Burrow hit Derrick Dillon over the outstretched arms of Auburn linebacker Deshaun Davis for a 71-yard touchdown strike with 8:18 left. Burrow’s two-point attempt failed, leaving Auburn up 21-19. The LSU defense held to set up another chance with 5:38 remaining. The result was a 14-play, 52yard drive. A pass interference call against Jeremiah Dinson on third-and-11 kept the drive alive. Then Burrow hit Stephen Sullivan for 9 yards on fourth-and-7 to keep the offense on the field. Burrow held his own against Auburn’s more heralded Jarrett Stidham. He completed 15 of 34 passes for 249 yards, with Justin Jefferson gaining 97 yards on five catches. Stidham was 16 of 28 for 198 yards and a touchdown but threw two interceptions. JaTarvious Whitlow ran for 104 yards on 22 carries. Auburn’s Anders Carlson missed a 52-yard field goal attempt wide left with nearly 13 minutes left. BYU 24, No. 6 Wisconsin 21
Squally Canada ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns and BYU handed mistake-prone Wisconsin its first nonconference home loss since 2003, giving the Badgers fits with its motion offense. The Cougars (2-1) tossed in a trick play, too, when receiver Aleva Hifo found open tight end Moroni Laulu-Pututau for a 31-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Wisconsin (2-1) had one last chance to avoid an upset with a drive that started with 3:55 left at the 8. But normally reliable senior kicker Rafael Gaglianone’s 42-yard field goal attempt to tie with 41 seconds left went wide left. The Badgers’ 41-game nonconference winning streak — the longest active in the nation —- came to an end. No. 8 Notre Dame 22, Vanderbilt 17
Jalen Elliott knocked the ball loose from Vanderbilt receiver Kalija Lipscomb with 1:07 remaining to give Notre Dame a fourth-down stop. Kyle Shurmur threw for 326 yards and a touchdown for Vanderbilt (2-1), rallying his team from a 16-3 halftime deficit. His fourth-and-4 pass from the Notre Dame 31 to Lipscomb, who caught 11 passes, was nicely thrown and the receiver almost made a reaching catch at the 11. But Elliott, with some help from the ground, knocked the ball loose and incomplete. Tony Jones Jr. finished with 118 yards on 17 carries for Notre Dame (3-0). He also caught two passes from quarterback Brandon Wimbush for 56 yards. Wimbush, who had 297 passing yards but three interceptions in the 24-16 victory against Ball State, threw for 122 yards and added 84 yards on the ground, including a 13-yard scramble for a touchdown as Notre Dame took an early 10-0 lead late in the first quarter. But despite a 2-yard TD pass from backup quarterback Ian Book to tight end Nic Weishar early in the fourth quarter for a 22-10 lead, the Irish struggled over the last three quarters and had to hold on. No. 2 Clemson 38, Ga. Southern 7
A week of worry at Clemson over an approaching hurricane ended with a victory over Georgia Southern in front of a full crowd. Travis Etienne ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns for the No. 2 Tigers (3-0) and Trevor Lawrence threw for 194 yards, including a 57-yard score to fellow freshman Justyn Ross in their first meeting with Georgia Southern (2-1) of the Sun Belt Conference. Clemson was the lone major conference school in the Carolinas and Virginia to play, although school officials did move up the game to noon instead of its planned 3:30 p.m. start in deference to Florence, a one-time Category 4 hurricane that was a slow moving tropical storm by Saturday. At kickoff, though, the crowd of 79,844 had sun and mild breezes for tailgates like many football Saturdays. Conditions changed by halftime with bands of grey clouds over the stadium and the wind picking up. Florence’s drenching rain was forecast to hit the area Saturday night. No. 3 Georgia 49, Middle Tennessee 7
Jake Fromm threw three touchdown passes and Elijah Holyfield ran for 100 yards, each playing only the first half for Georgia. Georgia (3-0) led the Blue Raiders (1-2) 42-7 at halftime. It was an impressive warmup for the Bulldogs’ stretch of seven straight Southeastern Conference games, beginning next week at Missouri. There were clouds but no rain in the game that was moved up to a noon kickoff due to Tropical Storm Florence. Freshman Justin Fields ran 15 yards for a touchdown in the first half and threw a touchdowns pass in relief of Fromm. Jeremiah Holloman caught three passes for 90 yards, including an 11-yard scoring pass from Fromm in the first quarter. Mecole Hardman had a touchdown catch and a 70-yard punt return touchdown, and Tyler Simmons had a 56-yard touchdown run. No. 5 Oklahoma 37, Iowa State 27
Kyler Murray threw for 348 yards and three touchdowns and Oklahoma held off Iowa State 37-27 in the Big 12 opener for both teams. Marquise Brown had 191 yards receiving and a TD to help the Sooners (3-0), a year removed from a stunning home loss to the Cyclones, extend the nation’s longest road winning streak to 17 games. Murray also ran for a team-high 77 yards. Iowa State (0-2) rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to make it 34-27 late in the third quarter. But the Sooners killed nearly eight minutes on a drive that ended with a 42-yard field goal from Austin Siebert with 2:51 left, and Parnell Motley’s interception with 1:11 to go sealed. Backup Zeb Noland threw for a career-high 360 yards and a pair of long touchdown passes to Hakeem Butler for the Cyclones. Starting quarterback Kyle Kempt sat out with a knee injury. No. 9 Stanford 30, UC Davis 10
K.J. Costello overcame a rough start to throw two touchdown passes to JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Stanford beat FCS-level UC Davis. Costello threw interceptions on two of the first three drives of the game for the Cardinal (3-0) before settling in a bit against the overmatched Aggies (2-1). The game kicked off at the unusually early time of 11:01 a.m. local time in front of a sparse crowd at Stanford Stadium. The Cardinal even played without star running Bryce Love, who got the week off to heal some minor ailments. Costello finished 17 for 30 for 214 yards with two TDs and two interceptions. No. 11 Penn State 63, Kent State 10
Trace McSorley accounted for five touchdowns and broke Penn State’s record for rushing scores by a quarterback.
McSorley completed 11 of 22 passes for 229 yards with an interception and ran for three touchdowns for the Nittany Lions (3-0). He has 24 rushing TDs, two more than Daryll Clark’s previous mark.
McSorley also became the second Penn State quarterback to rush for 1,000 career yards, joining Michael Robinson with an 18-yard carry in the first quarter.
DeAndre Thompkins caught four passes for 101 yards and hauled in 40-yard touchdown pass to begin the rout. Miles Sanders rushed for 86 yards on 14 carries. No. 24 Okla. St. 44, No. 17 Boise St. 21
Taylor Cornelius ran for two touchdowns and passed for another to help Oklahoma State beat Boise State.
Justice Hill ran for 123 yards and a touchdown, and Tylan Wallace had five catches for 105 yards for the Cowboys (3-0).
Boise State’s Brett Rypien passed for 380 yards and three touchdowns, but was sacked seven times and pressured throughout the day. Jordan Brailford had three sacks, Jarrell Owens had two and Devin Harper had 1.5. Oklahoma State held the Broncos (2-1) to 34 yards rushing on 31 attempts.
A blocked punt by Oklahoma State’s Amen Ogbongbemiga led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Cornelius that gave the Cowboys a 14-7 lead. Oklahoma State led 17-7 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Oklahoma State’s Jarrick Bernard blocked another punt, and Za’Carrius Green scored on the return to push the Cowboys’ lead to 34-14. No. 19 Michigan 45, SMU 20
Shea Patterson threw three touchdown passes to Donovan Peoples-Jones, helping Michigan pull away to beat SMU.
The Wolverines (2-1) didn’t score until Ben Mason converted a fourth down with a 1-yard TD run midway through the second quarter.
The Mustangs (0-3) responded with Ben Hicks’ 50yard pass to James Proche to tie it.
Michigan took control over the last 2:34 of the first half. Patterson threw a tiebreaking, 35-yard TD pass to Peoples-Jones, and Josh Metellus returned an interception 73 yards for a score as time expired. Patterson threw 7- and 41-yard TD passes to Peoples-Jones in the third. No. 21 Miami 49, Toledo 24
Malik Rosier threw for two touchdowns and ran for three more to help Miami beat Toledo.
The Hurricanes (2-1) never trailed and led 21-0 late in the first half, but Toledo (1-1) twice pulled within a touchdown.
Rosier threw for 205 yards and ran for 80, and Jeff Thomas had five catches for 105 yards and a TD.
The Hurricanes lost standout safety Jaquan Johnson late in the second quarter to an apparent injury. He was back on the sideline using a stationary bike during the second half.