Johnson, No. 10 Auburn knock off top-ranked Georgia
AUBURN, Ala. — Kerryon Johnson ran for 167 yards and caught a 55-yard touchdown pass from Jarrett Stidham while No. 10 Auburn smothered No.
1 Georgia’s running game in a
40-17 victory Saturday.
The Tigers (8-2, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) remained in Western Division and potentially playoff contention after snapping a three-year losing streak to one of their top rivals. The Bulldogs (9-1, 6-1) came in with the top spot in the playoff rankings and could get a rematch if Auburn can beat Alabama in two weeks.
The first go around wasn’t pretty for Georgia. Auburn held Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and the SEC’s top ground game to
46 yards, 233 below their season average.
Johnson ran 32 times and caught two passes for 66 yards. Stidham threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns, all of 30-plus yards.
Georgia special teams blunders helped set up three Auburn touchdowns, including a roughing the penalty flag in the first half. The Bulldogs fumbled away a punt return and had a
15-yard personal foul penalty in the third quarter when Auburn pulled away with two touchdowns.
Ryan Davis returned a punt
26 yards into Georgia territory, with the flag pushing Auburn even closer to the goal line. Then Davis took a screen pass 32 yards for a touchdown to make it 30-7. Darius Slayton made a 42-yard scoring grab earlier.
The Bulldogs added a touchown in the final minutes. Chubb gained just 27 yards on 11 carries with a 1-yard touchown on the opening drive. Michel ran nine times for 21 yards.
Jake Fromm was 13-of-28 passing for 184 yards and a late touchdown pass.
No. 8 Wisconsin 38 No. 20 Iowa 14
MADISON, Wis. — Receiver Kendric Pryor scored twice, and No. 8 Wisconsin relied on stifling defense to overcome four turnovers and Iowa cornerback Josh Jackson’s two touchdowns in a win over the Hawkeyes.
The win allowed the Badgers (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten, CFP No. 8) to clinch a trip to the league conference title game as West champions.
Credit their defense for another overpowering outing at chilly Camp Randall Stadium.
Leon Jacobs recovered two fumbles — one returned for a score — and fellow linebacker T.J. Edwards had an interception for the Badgers, who shut down an Iowa offense that had overwhelmed Ohio State last week.
The Hawkeyes (6-4, 3-4, CFP No. 20) were held to 66 total yards and five first downs, including just 15 yards and one first down in the first half.
Wisconsin turnovers kept the Hawkeyes in the game. Remarkably, Jackson accounted for all their points . The junior scored on interception returns of 43 and 52 yards, the latter coming with 11:18 left in the third quarter to get the Hawkeyes within 17-14.
The Badgers’ defense wanted to get in on the fun, too.
Jacobs scooped up a loose ball about 4 minutes later after a bad snap on third-and-10, running 21 yards to the end zone to give Wisconsin another 10-point lead.
League-leading rusher Jonathan Taylor had 157 yards on 29 carries, but fumbled twice, losing one. Alex Hornibrook was 11 of 18 for 135 yards with two touchdowns and the three interceptions.
No. 13 Ohio State 48 No. 12 Michigan State 3
COLUMBUS, Ohio — J.T. Barrett threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more, and Mike Weber rushed for
162 yards and pair of scores as No. 13 Ohio State bounced back from a deflating loss last week to rout No. 12 Michigan State.
The Buckeyes (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten) scored on five of their first six possessions, led 35-3 at the half and cruised the rest of the way to claim sole possession of first place in the Big Ten East with two games remaining.
In a season already marked by radical highs and lows, the Buckeyes took out their frustrations on the Spartans, using a run-heavy attack to dominate them on both sides of the ball.
Ohio State outgained Michigan State 524-195, and a Buckeyes defense that was smoked by unranked Iowa in the 5524 loss limited Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke — who threw for 445 yards last week against Penn State — to
131 yards and forced two interceptions.
Barrett was 14 for 21 for 183 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. J.K. Dobbins, who split time with Weber, rushed 18 times for 124 yards.
Coach Urban Meyer faced questions this week about not using the talented tailbacks enough. He put those concerns to rest on Saturday, with Weber and Dobbins combining for 286 yards on the ground.
No. 15 Oklahoma State 49 No. 21 Iowa State 42
AMES, Iowa — Mason Rudolph threw for 376 yards and three touchdowns — including two in the final 5:55 — and 15thranked Oklahoma State rallied to beat No. 21 Iowa State and keep its Big 12 title game hopes alive.
Justice Hill had 134 yards and three TD runs for the Cowboys (8-2, 5-2 Big 12), who remain in a tie for second place in the league with two games to go.
The top two finishers in the Big 12 will meet in the championship game in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 2.
But even if neither the Cyclones nor Cowboys make it to Jerry World, they still gave the Big 12 a game few in the league will ever forget.
Rudolph found Marcell Ateman for a 30-yard TD pass, and Hill’s two-point conversion run tied the game at 42 with
5:55 left. The Cowboys jumped ahead 49-42 just two minutes later as Rudolph found Dillon Stoner for a 19-yard touchdown reception.
The Cyclones got inside Oklahoma State’s 3-yard line with 32 seconds left, but Zeb Noland threw an interception to A.J. Green to end the game.
Quarterback-linebacker Joel Lanning had a rushing and passing TD for Iowa State (6-4,
4-3). He connected with Allen Lazard on a 22-yard TD strike with 14:13 left — a pass Lazard caught with one hand while falling down.
David Montgomery made it 42-34 on a subsequent 4-yard run, but Iowa State’s highly-rated defense faltered down the stretch.
Montgomery had 105 yards and three TDs for the Cyclones.
No. 14 Penn State 35 Rutgers 6
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Trace McSorley accounted for
258 total yards and three touchdowns as No. 14 Penn State beat Rutgers.
McSorley became Penn State’s all-time touchdown leader with 68, overtaking Daryll Clark’s record of 65 with one rushing and two passing scores, and the Nittany Lions scored 35 unanswered points after going down 6-0 in the first quarter.
Saquon Barkley ran for two touchdowns and DaeSean Hamilton and Mike Gesicki each caught one for Penn State
(8-2, 5-2 Big Ten). Barkley, a Heisman Trophy candidate, ran for just 35 yards on 14 carries.
Rutgers (4-6, 3-4) got a pair of field goals from Andrew Harte, including one from 33 yards after the Scarlet Knights recovered the opening kickoff. He added a 25-yarder to give Rutgers a 6-0 lead with
11:16 to play in the first quarter, but Rutgers’ momentum ended there.
The Scarlet Knights didn’t get a first down in the second half until their final drive, which ended in a turnover on downs.
Robert Martin led Rutgers with 71 yards on 11 carries. Giovanni Rescigno completed
7 of 20 passes for 43 yards for the Scarlet Knights.
Georgia Tech 28
No. 17 Virginia Tech 22
ATLANTA — TaQuon Marshall got two long touchdown passes out of his only completions, including an 80-yarder to Ricky Jeune with 6 ½ minutes remaining, and Ajani Kerr swatted away a fourth-pass in the end zone to preserve Georgia Tech’s upset of No. 17 Virginia Tech.
In a game with several huge momentum swings, Virginia Tech rallied from a 21-9 deficit in the second half. The Hokies (7-3, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) went ahead 22-21 when Greg Stroman returned an interception 24 yards for a touchdown off a terrible pass by Marshall with 7:27 left.
The Georgia Tech quarterback made up for his mistake just two snaps later, after the Yellow Jackets recovered a fumbled kickoff. Jeune got loose behind the secondary, hauled in the long throw and just managed to stick the ball inside the pylon before tumbling out of bounds .
It was the longest touchdown pass of the season for the Yellow Jackets (5-4, 4-3), surpassing Marshall’s 60-yard scoring play to Brad Stewart early in the second half.
On its final possession, Virginia Tech converted a pair of fourth-down plays and faced
third-and-1 at the Georgia Tech
32 with plenty of time to pull off the winning touchdown against a team that had lost three games by a total of six points.