Barkley stands alone for Penn State
Sets career TD record with three scores in win over Nebraska
Saquon Barkley broke Penn State’s career touchdown record with three scores and had 208 of 224 total yards in the first half to lead the No. 13 Nittany Lions to a 56-44 victory over Nebraska on Saturday night.
Barkley passed Lydell Mitchell for the record with his 39th touchdown.
Trace McSorley ran for a touchdown and threw for 325 yards on 24-of-36 passing with three touchdown passes for Penn State (9-2, 6-2 Big Ten). Mike Gesicki caught two scoring passes and became Penn State’s career touchdowns leader by a tight end with 13, and DeAndre Thompkins also had a touchdown catch.
Backup quarterback Tommy Stevens added a touchdown pass to tight end Nick Bowers to help the Nittany Lions go unbeaten at Beaver Stadium for the second straight season.
Nebraska’s Tanner Lee returned from concussion protocol to complete 26 of 41 passes for 399 yards and three touchdowns.
Morgan Stanley Jr. caught seven passes for 185 yards and a touchdown for Nebraska (4-7, 3-5) . De’Mornay Pierson-El and Jack Stoll added touchdown catches for the Cornhuskers, who outscored Penn State 34-14 in the second half after trailing 42-10 at halftime.
Devine Ozigbo and MIkale Wilbon ran for touchdowns and Drew Brown added a 23-yard field goal for the Cornhuskers. They will miss out on a bowl game for the first time since the 2007 season.
It didn’t take Barkley long to snap out of a recent rushing funk. The Heisman Trophy candidate broke his streak of three games with 63 rushing yards or less when he galloped 65 yards down the sideline on his first carry.
Barkley gave Penn State the lead for good with a 1-yard plunge late in the first quarter to make it 1410 and passed Mitchell on an 8-yard run up the middle in the second.
Malik Rosier threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score and No. 2 Miami pulled off its biggest comeback in five years, by holding off Virginia 44-28 on Saturday to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 15 games.
Jaquan Johnson had an interception return for a touchdown for Miami (100, 7-0 Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 3 CFP), which went on a 30-0 run in the second half to remain unbeaten.
The Hurricanes erased a pair of 14-point deficits, and had lost 15 consecutive games in which they trailed at any point by such a margin. But they got a pair of fourth-down stops in Virginia territory in the fourth quarter, and the Hurricanes finished their first 7-0 home regular season since 1988.
Jalen Hurts passed for 180 yards and three touchdowns in a little more than a quarter and Alabama beat FCS team Mercer.
The Crimson Tide (11-0, 7-0 SEC, No. 1 CFP) raced to a 35-0 halftime lead in what amounted to a tuneup for the team’s biggest game. Now, Alabama heads to No. 6 Auburn with the winner of the Iron Bowl facing No. 7 Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta.
Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns after getting dissed by the Kansas captains before kickoff.
Mayfield had tried shaking hands with Daniel Wise, Dorance Armstrong Jr. and Joe Dineen Jr. after the coin toss, but they stared stoically back at him. Mayfield quickly pulled his hand away, clapped a couple of times and set about burnishing his Heisman Trophy candidacy.
He threw TD passes to Rodney Anderson and Marquise Brown in the first half, then founded Mark Andrews late in the third quarter, which prompted more insults between Mayfield and the Jayhawks.
Kelly Bryant threw for 230 yards and three touchdowns and was out of the game before halftime for Clemson against the lowerdivision opponent.
After Bryant’s 14-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Chase on the offense’s 26th play, Clemson (10-1, No. 2 College Football Playoff) led 28-0. Bryant completed 17 of 22 passes.
Alex Hornibrook threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Taylor in third quarter to break open a defensive slugfest, and Kendric Pryor scored on an end-around to help Wisconsin remain undefeated.
The Badgers (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten, No. 5 CFP) padded their playoff resume by winning a grinding, physical matchup against the Wolverines (8-3, 5-3, No. 24 CFP).
Darius Slayton caught a 50-yard touchdown pass late in the first half and Auburn pulled away to set up next week’s visit from No. 1 Alabama.
Kam Martin scored two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving, in the third quarter. Nick Ruffin scored on a 45-yard interception return in the fourth. Despite a sluggish first half, Auburn’s final production was still impressive: 317 yards rushing and 552 total yards.
Nick Chubb and Sony Michel led a dominant running game and Georgia bounced back from its first loss of the season.
In the final home game of their careers, Chubb and Michel went out with a bang on Senior Day between the hedges. Chubb rushed for 151 and two touchdowns, including a 55-yard burst down the sideline to seal the victory early in the fourth quarter. Michel rambled for 87 yards and three scores of his own, most notably a 37-yard TD that sent the Bulldogs into the half with a 21-6 lead.
No. 8 Ohio State scored on its first six possessions — including J.T. Barrett’s 100th career touchdown pass — and the Buckeyes wrapped up the Big Ten East title.
Barrett, playing in his last game at Ohio Stadium, threw for two touchdowns and ran for another score to help the Buckeyes (9-2, 7-1, CFP No. 9) dominate from the opening kick.
Barrett became the Ohio State leader in rushing yards among quarterbacks (3,070), eclipsing Braxton Miller. He holds 35 Big Ten and school records.
Brandon Wimbush threw for 164 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score as Notre Dame rallied in the rain and wind to beat Navy.
Wearing throwback uniforms with the name Rockne on the back of every player’s jersey and helmets designed to evoke the leather tops from the era of Knute Rockne, one of the Fighting Irish’s most famous names, Notre Dame (9-2, No. 8 College Football Playoff) kept its slim national championship hopes alive heading into the regular-season finale next Saturday at Stanford.
Byron Pringle caught three touchdown passes and returned a kickoff for another score to help Kansas State stun Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma State nearly erased a 29-point deficit in the second half, but Kansas State (6-5, 4-4 Big 12) held on to become bowl eligible for the eighth consecutive season.
True freshman quarterback Shawn Robinson ran for 84 yards and threw a key second-half touchdown in his first career start to help TCU to stay in contention for a spot in the Big 12 championship game.
Robinson, who won a Texas Class 6A state high school championship last season, filled in for Kenny Hill. The senior didn’t even make the trip to Lubbock because of an unspecified injury.
While Robinson was only 6-of-17 passing for 85 yards, his 12-yard TD to Jalen Reagor came late in the third quarter as the Horned Frogs (9-2, 6-2 Big 12, No. 12 CFP) took a 17-3 lead. The Red Raiders (56, 2-6) got their only score on their opening drive of the game. McKenzie Milton threw four touchdown passes and ran for a score and Central Florida stayed unbeaten heading into a showdown with rival USF.
The Knights (10-0, 7-0 American Athletic conference, CFP No. 15) turned three Temple turnovers inside the Owls 25 into 17 first-half points, taking a 3110 lead when Gabriel Davis stretched across the goal line for a 5-yard touchdown reception with 2:36 left in the second quarter.