College football roundup

Local interest

• Avon graduate Andrew Roesch and Mount Union are headed to the NCAA Division III national semifinals. Roesch, a defensive lineman, had seven tackles, including five solo and three for loss, and two sacks in the Purple Raiders’ 38-10 victory over visiting Muhlenberg on Dec. 1.

Staff and wire reports

The Purple Raiders play John Hopkins (11-1) on Dec. 8 in a national semifinal at a time and site to be determined on Dec. 2.

• Host Notre Dame College (13-0) build a 21-10 halftime lead, then hung on thanks to its defense in the final seconds to secure a 21-17 NCAA Division II quarterfinal win over visiting Slippery Rock. It gave the Falcons the Super Region One championship, and put them in a Dec. 8 national semifinal at Valdosta (Ga.) State. Kickoff is noon.

Top national

• In a dramatic twist on last season’s national championship game, Jalen Hurts came off the bench to pass for one touchdown and run for another in the fourth quarter, rallying No. 1 Alabama to a 35-28 victory over No. 4 Georgia (11-2) in the Southeastern Conference title game in Atlanta.

Heisman Trophy favorite Tua Tagovailoa had to be helped off the field with just over 11 minutes remaining after one of his own linemen stepped on the quarterback’s right ankle as he attempted to throw.

Enter Hurts, who led Alabama to the national title game as a freshman but lost the starting job to Tagovailoa. Hurts calmly guided the Crimson Tide (13-0, No. 1 CFP) to tying touchdown with a 10-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy.

• Kyler Murray threw for 379 yards and three touchdowns and No. 5 Oklahoma (12-1) beat No. 9 Texas (9-4), 39-27, in the Big 12 championship game in Arlington, Texas, with the Sooners avenging their only loss and making their case for a return to the College Football Playoff.

Murray, the Heisman Trophy-contending dualthreat quarterback, threw two TD passes to Grant Calcaterra. That included an impressive 18-yard score on a third-and-10 play with two minutes left as the Sooners won their seventh consecutive game despite being held to fewer than 40 points for the first time in nine games.

Sam Ehlinger was 23-of-36 passing for 349 yards with two touchdowns, and ran for two scores for Texas, but his final pass was picked off by Tre Norwood at the 1 in the final minute.

Oklahoma is the first Power Five team to win four consecutive outright conference titles since Florida in the SEC in the mid-1990s.

The Sooners went ahead to stay on Austin Seibert’s third field goal, a 31-yarder with 12:37 left that was good after ricocheting off the top of the left upright to make it 30-27.

• Darriel Mack shrugged off two early turnovers to rush for three second-half touchdowns and rally host No. 7 UCF (12-0) past Memphis (8-5), 56-41, in the American Athletic Conference championship game.

With the red-shirt freshman filling in for injured McKenzie Milton, the Knights (12-0, No. 8 CFP) won their second straight league title and extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 25 games.