Troy State surprises No. 25 LSU
Tigers handed first non-SEC home loss since 2000 season.
Jordan Chunn ran for 191 yards and a touchdown, Troy’s defense forced four turnovers and the surging Trojans upset No. 25 LSU 24-21 on Saturday night.
Troy, which celebrated wildly with traveling fans in largely empty Tiger Stadium as time ran out, became the first team from outside the Southeastern Conference to win in LSU’s Death Valley since UAB in 2000. They snapped the Tigers’ streak of 49 straight home victories over non-league opponents. Although the Tigers (3-2) were three-touchdown favorites, the result wasn’t entirely unfathomable. LSU had looked vulnerable in a tense victory over Syracuse a week earlier, while Troy came in on a three-game winning streak and is among the favorites to win the Sun Belt Conference after a 10-victory 2016 campaign.
Troy (4-1) raced to leads of 17-0 and 24-7 before Danny Etling’s fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Russell Gage and Foster Moreau got LSU as close as a field goal with 1:59 left. But after failing to recover an onside kick, LSU had only 23 seconds to get into field goal range, and any hope of that ended when Blace Brown intercepted Etling’s pass on the Troy 42 with 11 seconds to go
No. 13 Auburn 49, No. 24 Mississippi State 10: Jarrett Stidham passed for 264 yards and two touchdowns, and Kerryon Johnson ran for three scores to lead the Tigers (4-1, 2-0 SEC past the Bulldogs (3-2, 1-2).
The Tigers established themselves as the most likely challenger to No. 1 Alabama in the Western Division with a prolific offensive performance.
The Bulldogs have lost two straight lopsided games since blowing out LSU.
Stidham threw a handful of deep passes for Auburn, including a 47-yard touchdown to a wide-open Will Hastings and a 57-yarder to Eli Stove from his own end zone. He wound up 13 of 16 passing.
Johnson gained 116 yards, including an early 59-yarder.
Mississippi State’s Nick Fitzgerald passed for 157 yards and ran for 56 but was intercepted twice.
Texas A&M 24, South Carolina 17: Keith Ford ran for 70 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead 17-yard score in the fourth quarter, to lift the host Aggies (4-1, 2-0) against the Gamecocks (3-2, 1-2).
Freshman Kellen Mond threw for 159 yards and ran for 95 to help the Aggies rally.
Texas A&M trailed by a touchdown entering the fourth quarter before Ford tied it with a 7-yard run.
Arkansas 42, New Mexico State 24: Austin Allen threw for a season-high 264 yards as the host Razorbacks (2-2) ended a two-game losing streak by defeating the Aggies (2-3).
Allen finished 19 of 26 passing and threw three touchdowns, two to Jonathan Nance.
Devwah Whaley led an Arkansas rushing attack with 119 yards on 19 carries. The Razorbacks finished with a season-high 494 yards of total offense, including 230 on the ground.
Kentucky 24, Eastern Michigan 20: Benny Snell scored on a 12-yard run early in the fourth quarter as the host Wildcats (4-1) survived against the Eagles (2-2).
A game that was tied at 14 at halftime began turning the Wildcats’ way when Tristan Yeomans recovered a muffed punt at EMU’s 42 and led to Austin MacGinnis’ 39-yard field goal.
Josh Paschal’s blocked punt early in the fourth was downed at EMU’s 12, and Snell scored on the next play for a 10-point lead.