No. 14 Texas A&M rallies for 28-21 OT win over Arkansas
ARLINGTON, Texas — Kyle Allen threw for 358 yards, with a 20-yard touchdown to Christian Kirk in overtime as No. 14 Texas A&M completed another late comeback against Arkansas, winning the SEC opener 28-21 on Saturday night.
The Aggies (4-0) had a chance to win the game on the final play of regulation, but Taylor Bertolet’s 38-yard field goal attempt was just wide right.
Allen, who was 21 of 28 passing with both of his touchdowns to Kirk, hit the true freshman receiver in the end zone on the second play of overtime.
Arkansas (1-3, 0-1) then got its chance, but DeVante Harris tipped away Brandon Allen’s pass to Drew Morgan on fourth-and-4 from the 19.
Kirk finished with eight catches for 173 yards. Josh Reynolds had three catches for 106 yards, including a 63-yard play to set up Texas A&M’s touchdown with 2:50 left before catching the tying 2-point conversion.
No. 7 Georgia 48, Southern U
6: Nick Chubb ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a TD pass to lead No. 7 Georgia to a win over Southern.
Chubb had scoring runs of 9 and 49 yards in the third quarter. The 49-yarder gave him 12 straight games with at least 100 yards rushing. He scored on a 24-yard pass from Greyson Lambert in the first quarter.
Georgia (4-0) led 17-0 in the first quarter and then played in the second quarter as if looking ahead to next week’s visit from No. 12 Alabama.
Lenard Tillery’s 16-yard scoring run for Southern (2-2) quieted the Georgia fans on a soggy day. The Bulldogs’ only points in the second quarter came on a field goal.
Georgia quickly stretched the 20-6 halftime lead with four third-quarter touchdowns. South Carolina 31, UCF 14: Freshman quarterback Lorenzo Nunez threw for two touchdowns and Pharoh Cooper turned a broken play into a 40-yard go-ahead scoring run to rally South Carolina to a much-needed victory over UCF on Saturday.
Nunez ran for 123 in his first start while Cooper added a 35-yard TD catch to snap the Gamecocks’ two-game losing streak.
Things looked dire for South Carolina (2-2), which trailed 14-8 and struggled to make critical yards against fired-up UCF (0-4) in the opening half. But behind Nunez, Cooper and linebacker T.J. Holloman’s two interceptions, the Gamecocks turned things around.
After Cooper’s scoring run made it 15-14, Nunez hit tight end Jacob August with a 13-yard touchdown pass. Nunez connected with Cooper on a 35-yard TD later in the period.
Elliott Fry had three field goals, including a career-long 52-yarder to start South Carolina’s scoring.
Alabama 34, Louisiana-Monroe 0: Jake Coker threw three touchdown passes and No. 12 Alabama’s defense limited Louisiana-Monroe to 92 total yards in a 34-0 rout.
The Crimson Tide (3-1) had an uneven offensive performance but it didn’t make much difference in a game between No. 3 Mississippi and No. 7 Georgia.
The Warhawks (1-2) didn’t have a first down in the first 23 minutes and were held to 9 yards rushing. They lost 51-14 to the Bulldogs three weeks earlier.
It was their first return visit since stunning the Tide 21-14 eight years ago in coach Nick Saban’s first season, which still stands as the low point of his tenure.
This one seemed out of reach by the time Alabama went up 14-0 in the second quarter.
The Tide racked up six sacks and two interceptions.
No. 3 Mississippi 27,
Vanderbilt 16: Chad Kelly threw for 321 yards, Jaylen Walton ran for a season-high 133 yards and No. 3 Mississippi pushed past feisty Vanderbilt 27-16.
It was a mostly mediocre performance for the Ole Miss offense, which came into the game averaging 64 points per game — tops in the nation.
The Rebels’ red zone offense was particularly bad. Ole Miss had to settle for three field goal attempts when inside Vanderbilt’s 20. Two were made and one was blocked, which helped keep the Commodores in the game much longer than most expected.
Ole Miss (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) broke the game open midway through the fourth quarter when Walton ran for a 3-yard touchdown after two long runs earlier in the drive.
Vanderbilt (1-3, 0-2) lost its third straight against the Rebels. Johnny McCrary threw for 194 yards and Ralph Webb ran for 90.
Kentucky 21, No. 25 Missouri 13: Patrick Towles threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score to lead Kentucky past No. 25 Missouri 21-13, ending the Wildcats’ 18-game losing streak against ranked teams.
Towles’ arm and feet were critical in the Wildcats’ first upset of a ranked team since beating No. 18 South Carolina 31-28 in Lexington five years ago. The junior threw TD passes of 24 yards to tight end C.J. Conrad in the third quarter and the 5-yard clincher to Dorian Baker with 6:20 remaining, and fuel a small celebration on the field with some of the 58,008.
Towles was 22 of 27 passing for 249 yards and ran for 21 yards, including a 14-yard TD in the second quarter. His performance helped the Wildcats (3-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) gain 369 yards against the nation’s fourth-ranked defense and snap a school-record, 11-game road winning streak for the Tigers (3-1, 0-1).
Mississippi State 17, Auburn
9: Dak Prescott threw two touchdown passes and Mississippi State’s defense made four stops in the red zone to help the Bulldogs beat Auburn 17-9.
The victory gave Mississippi State (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) a chance to stay relevant in the league’s Western Division while Auburn (2-2, 0-2) continued a freefall that began with a preseason No. 6 ranking by The Associated Press.
Mississippi State got another outstanding performance from Prescott, who completed 29 of 41 passes for 270 yards. The Bulldogs only ran for 56 yards, but with Fred Brown, Fred Ross and De’Runnya Wilson catching Prescott’s passes, there was little need for a consistent ground attack.
The Tigers had little trouble moving the ball — they had 313 yards entering the fourth quarter — but missed on four possessions inside the 10, trailing 14-6 on two field goals by Daniel Carlson.