AGGIES, 0-7, FALL AT CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Host Chippewas churn for 352 rushing yards in 42-28 victory
Oklahoma 34, Texas 27
Hurts shines in Red River rivalry debut
Clemson 45, Florida St. 14
Tigers are 6-0 for fifth straight season
Arizona St. 38, Wash. St. 34
Sun Devils win ‘Pac-12 After Noon’ thriller
UNLV 34, Vanderbilt 10
Mountain West is now 3-2 vs. SEC
Nevada 41, San Jose State 38
Wolf Pack FG on final play seals it
Baylor 33, Texas Tech 30
Bears yield FG, run for TD in second OT
Alabama 47, Texas A&M 28
Tua throws for 4 TDs, all to different guys
Wisconsin 38, Michigan St. 0
Badgers hold Sparty to 149 total yards
South Florida 27, BYU 23
BYU squanders 16-7 lead at half
Notre Dame 30, USC 27
Irish earn 3rd straight victory in series
LSU 42, Florida 28
LSU offense: 511 yards, no sacks, no TOs
Iowa State 38, W. Virginia 14
Freshman RB Hall scores 3 TDs
Air Force 43, Fresno State 24
Hammond runs for 2 TDs, throws for 1
Oregon 45, Colorado 3 (Fri.)
Ducks soaring after season-opening loss
The Texas game got the Oklahoma defensive coordinator fired last year. This year, under first-year coordinator Alex Grinch, the No. 6 Sooners tied a school record with nine sacks among its 15 tackles for loss in a victory against the 11th-ranked Longhorns.
For the first time in forever, the Sooners might have enough defense to win a playoff game — or two.
Linebacker Kenneth Murray was everywhere and Texas managed just 310 yards and 4.24 yard per play. In two games against Texas last season, Oklahoma allowed 938 yards and 6.51 yards per play. Texas won the first meeting in 2018 at State Fair, and the day after coach Lincoln Riley fired Mike Stoops.
Dumping Stoops did not make much of a difference, but Oklahoma’s offense was good enough to win another Big 12 championship and get the Sooners into the playoff, where they got rolled by Alabama to fall to 0-3 in the CFP.
Riley hired Grinch away from Ohio State in the offseason to try to come up with a solution. Even a passable defense to combine with Riley’s almost unstoppable offenses could make Oklahoma a real threat to Alabama and Clemson.
The 39-year-old Grinch traces his roots to Division III powerhouse Mount Union. He really made a name for himself two seasons ago at Washington State. He got lost in the shuffle at Ohio State last season as cocoordinator of a defense that struggled. It’s all his show now and the Sooners finally look like a team that can win when its offense has an off day — like Saturday, when Jalen Hurts had a couple of turnovers in the red zone that kept Texas close.
“They did a really good job swarming the football,” Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger said.
AROUND THE COUNTRY: Do not pencil in another Big 12 championship game rematch between Oklahoma and Texas. No. 22 Baylor, which improved to 6-0, and Iowa State, which has won two straight since losing on a last-second field goal to Baylor, look like legitimate contenders. At least for the second spot opposite Oklahoma.
■ No team in the country is a better bet to play a close game than No. 17 Arizona State. The Sun Devils’ latest fantastic finish came against Washington State, with freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels leading a late game-winning touchdown drive. In two seasons under coach Herm Edwards, Arizona State is 6-2 in games decided by four points or fewer. The Sun Devils have played 14 games against Power Five teams the last two seasons and all but two of them have been decided by seven points or less.
■ No. 8 Wisconsin now has four shutouts after blanking Michigan State. The Badgers’ defense has scored as many touchdowns (four) as it has allowed. Badgers and Buckeyes in Columbus in two weeks.
■ At the other end of the Big Ten, Rutgers was shut out for the third time this season and has scored just seven points in four Big Ten games. Wisconsin does not play Rutgers so we will not see if it is possible for a team to score less than zero.
■ The biggest upset you probably didn’t notice: Bowling Green, a 26½-point underdog, beat perennial MAC contender Toledo 20-7.
■ Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw his first interception of the season — and four more touchdown passes against Texas A&M to give him a 27-to-1 ratio. Still, pretty good.
■ The type of loss that gets a coach fired: Vanderbilt was wiped out at home by UNLV. Commodores coach Derek Mason is in trouble with his team at 1-5.
NUMBERS
3: Wins by the Mountain West Conference in five games against the Southeastern Conference this season (the aforementioned; San Jose State over Arkansas; Wyoming over Missouri).
9: Sacks by No. 6 Oklahoma in its 34-27 win over No. 11 Texas.
29: Points allowed by No. 8 Wisconsin this season after a 38-0 win over Michigan State. The Badgers have four shutouts for the first time since 1930.
100: Career wins by Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevins after a 42-10 win over Yale.