Pitt’s bag of tricks turns back UCF
Wide receiver Aaron Matthews hit quarterback Kenny Pickett on a 3-yard, fourth-down touchdown pass with 56 seconds remaining, and host Pittsburgh stunned No. 15 UCF 35-34 on Saturday.
The Panthers (2-2) ended UCF’S 25-game regular-season winning streak on a play head coach Pat Narduzzi called the “Pitt Special” in a nod to the Philadelphia Eagles, who ran a similar play two seasons ago in their Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots.
Pitt trailed by six when Pickett drove the Panthers to the UCF 3. Running back A.J. Davis took a direct snap with Pickett going in motion. Davis handed the ball to Matthews, who rolled to his right and hit Pickett in the end zone. UCF’S lastgasp drive went nowhere.
Pickett completed 25 of 47 for 224 yards with a touchdown despite leaving briefly with a right arm injury. Maurice Ffrench and Dontavius Butler-jenkins caught touchdown passes for the Panthers, who bounced back from an emotional loss to rival Penn State last week by withstanding a 31-point outburst from the Knights (3-1) in the middle of the game.
UCF finished with 423 yards, 180 under its season average.
NO. 13 WISCONSIN 35, NO. 11 MICHIGAN 14 >> Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor ran for 203 yards and two touchdowns, Jack Coan added a careerhigh two rushing touchdowns, and No. 13 Wisconsin made it look easy at Madison, Wisconsin. Michigan is 1-6 on the road against ranked opponents under Jim Harbaugh, who took over the program in 2015.
NO. 22 WASHINGTON 45, BYU 19 >> Jacob Eason threw for 290 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 22 Washington scored two touchdowns off three BYU turnovers to coast to a 45-19 victory in Provo, Utah.
The Huskies (3-1) totaled 470 yards on offense, with Eason completing 24 of 28 pass attempts. Aaron Fuller, his top target, tallied 91 yards on eight catches. Fuller had one touchdown catch and returned a punt 88 yards for another score.
Zach Wilson threw for 277 yards and a touchdown on 26 of 42 passing to lead BYU (2-2), which was coming off wins over Tennessee and USC. NO. 8 AUBURN 28, TEXAS A&M 20 >> No. 8 Auburn’s defense stifled No. 17 Texas A&M until late in the game, and the Tigers did just enough offensively to earn a the win in a matchup of Southeastern Conference West Division title hopefuls in College Station, Texas. The Tigers (4-0, 1-0 SEC) managed only 299 yards in total offense and gave up 391 to the Aggies (2-2, 0-1), but only 56 of that came on the ground.
Quarterback Bo Nix was 12 of 20 passing for only 100 yards and got a big first down that allowed the Tigers to run out the clock after the Aggies got within one score.
SMU 41, NO. 25 TCU 38 >> Shane Buechele passed for 288 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score as SMU upset No. 25 TCU (21) in the Battle for the Iron Skillet in Fort Worth, Texas. The Mustangs are 4-0 for the first time since 1984 and snapped a seven-game losing streak to TCU, its Dallas-fort Worth Metroplex rival.
TCU took over at the SMU 41 with 2:35 left in the game, but the Horned Frogs turned the ball over on downs after an incomplete pass on fourthand-3.
TULSA 24, WYOMING 21 >> Shamari Brooks’ 19-yard touchdown run and a fumble recovery at the 3-yard line lifted Tulsa (2-2) past Wyoming (31) to snap the Cowboys’ seven-game win streak.
BACKUP LEADS USC >> Michael Pittman Jr. caught 10 passes for a career-high 232 yards and a touchdown from backup quarterback Matt Fink, who passed for 351 yards in USC’S 30-23 victory late Friday over No. 10 Utah. Fink went 21 of 30 with three touchdown passes for USC (3-1, 2-0 Pac-12) after taking over when freshman Kedon Slovis left with an undisclosed injury on the second play of the game.
NEW MEXICO 55, NEW MEXICO STATE 52 >> Tevaka Tuioti threw for a career-high 355 yards and three touchdowns, two to Jordan Kress, leading the Lobos (2-1) over the downstate rival Aggies (0-4) in Albuquerque.