Sooners survive Cowboys in shootout
STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have faced off 112 times on the football field. Never had they played a game quite like this.
The teams combined for 114 points and more than 1,400 yards as Heisman Trophy hopefuls Baker Mayfield and Mason Rudolph seemingly traded touchdowns at will. Bedlam sure lived up to its name.
Mayfield passed for a school-record 598 yards and No. 8 Oklahoma outlasted No. 11 Oklahoma State 62-52 on Saturday in the highest-scoring game in the history of the rivalry. Mayfield threw five touchdown passes and ran for another score.
“He was awesome, played at an elite level,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “He’s been through enough of these. He doesn’t blink, he doesn’t flinch. He’s made for atmospheres like this. It’s his favorite thing in the world.”
Rudolph passed for 448 yards and five touchdowns, but he had two critical turnovers in the second half. It was tied 38-all at halftime.
“It was a heck of a college football game,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. “I just wish we had made a couple more plays later than they did.”
Marquise Brown caught nine passes for a school-record 265 yards, and he had touchdown receptions of 84 and 77 yards for the Sooners (8-1, 5-1 Big 12). Oklahoma gained 785 total yards, tied for the fourthmost in school history and the Sooners’ second-best outing since 1988.
Justice Hill ran for a career-high 228 yards for Oklahoma State (7-2, 4-2), and James Washington caught seven passes for 128 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game in the second half with an ankle injury.
› No. 1 Alabama 24, No. 19 LSU 10
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Jalen Hurts passed for a touchdown and ran for a score as the Crimson Tide (9-0, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) sweated out a bruising victory, withstanding a rare challenge this season from a league opponent and managing it with big plays from the defense and a handful of timely ones from Hurts.
The Tigers (6-3, 3-2) kept getting defensive stops in the fourth quarter but couldn’t muster a threat. They had to punt twice and then managed to squeeze out only a couple of first downs after taking over at their own 8 with 4:39 left.
Quarterback Danny Etling completed a couple of short passes and gave way to backup Myles Brennan, who couldn’t push them much further. He was sacked on fourthand-long by freshman linebacker Dylan Moses.
Alabama then ran out the clock on its seventh straight win in the SEC West rivalry.
› Iowa 55,
No. 3 Ohio State
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Nate Stanley passed for 226 yards and five touchdowns as the Hawkeyes (6-3, 3-3 Big Ten) throttled the Buckeyes (7-2, 5-1) and dealt what was likely a fatal blow to their playoff hopes.
Ohio State was sixth in the first College Football Playoff rankings, released last week.
Josh Jackson picked off three passes for Iowa, which beat its fourth topfive opponent in its past five tries at home.
The Hawkeyes had a 31-17 halftime lead after a pair of Stanley touchdown passes to Noah Fant. Stanley, after a successful and highly unusual fake field goal, later fired a 2-yard touchdown pass with a defender hanging onto his foot that put the Hawkeyes
ahead 38-17 late in the third quarter.
J.T. Barrett threw a career-high four interceptions for Ohio State, which allowed its most points in a game under coach Urban Meyer. The Buckeyes committed nine penalties and gained just 371 yards in their most lopsided defeat since last year’s 31-0 loss to eventual national champion Clemson in the national semifinals.
› No. 4 Wisconsin 45, Indiana 17
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Jonathan Taylor rushed for 183 yards and one touchdown, and Alec Ingold had three scores as the Badgers (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) extended the nation’s second-longest winning streak to 10 games and their school record for consecutive Big Ten victories to 12. Ninth in the CFP rankings, they also remained one of a handful of unbeaten teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Indiana (3-6, 0-6) lost its 10th in a row in the series in the first meeting between the schools since 2013, but thing weren’t as easy for the Badgers as the final score indicated.
The Hoosiers scored the first 10 points before Wisconsin charged back by scoring 24 straight to take control midway through the third quarter. The Hoosiers got within 24-17 when Richard Lagow threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Simmie Cobbs Jr. with 4:12 left in the third, but Joe Ferguson picked off Lagow passes in Indiana territory on each of the Hoosiers’ next two drives.
Wisconsin can clinch the West Division title and a trip to the Big Ten championship game with a win over Iowa next weekend.
› No. 24 Michigan State 27,
No. 7 Penn State 24
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Matt Coghlin kicked a 34-yard field goal as time expired in a game delayed nearly 3 1/2 hours by severe weather in the second quarter.
Brian Lewerke threw for 400 yards and two touchdowns for the Spartans (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten), who were aided at the end by a roughing-the-passer penalty on Penn State’s Marcus Allen. Lewerke was hit by Allen on a third-down pass that fell
incomplete in the final minute, moving the ball to the Penn State 22, and the Spartans were able to run the clock down before Coghlin’s winning kick.
It was the second straight tough loss for Penn State (7-2, 4-2), which fell 39-38 at Ohio State last weekend and may have had its national title hopes — the Nittany Lions were seventh in the CFP rankings — crumble for good. Now it’s Michigan State that will take its improbable division title hopes into a showdown at Ohio State next weekend.
Trace McSorley threw for 381 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions for Penn State. Nittany Lions star Saquon Barkley had 0 yards rushing in the first half and finished with only 63.
› No. 9 Miami 28, No. 13 Virginia Tech 10
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Malik Rosier threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, Travis Homer had a 64-yard touchdown run and the Hurricanes (8-0, 6-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) moved to the brink of clinching what would be their first spot in an ACC championship game.
Braxton Berrios and Christopher Herndon IV had touchdown catches for Miami, which extended the nation’s longest current winning streak to 13 games. Rosier survived a three-interception night, helped out by four takeaways by the Hurricanes’ defense.
Virginia Tech (7-2, 3-2) got a touchdown run from quarterback Josh Jackson, who was 20-of-32 passing for 197 yards and two interceptions.
› No. 10 TCU 24, Texas 7
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Hicks ran for two touchdowns as the Horned Frogs (8-1, 5-1 Big 12) rebounded from their only, staying tied for the Big 12 lead and in contention for a playoff spot.
In a game dominated by two of the Big 12’s best defenses, Hicks had 41 yards on 11 carries, including his 1-yard touchdown to end TCU’s opening drive of the game and his 14-yard score that made it 17-0 early in the second quarter.
Darius Anderson ran for 99 yards for TCU, including a 31-yard touchdown run on a fourthand-1 play with just more than four minutes left in the game.
Texas (4-5, 3-3) managed only 263 total yards in its biggest losing margin in coach Tom Herman’s first season.
› West Virginia 20, No. 14 Iowa State 16 MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Will Grier threw two touchdown passes, Justin Crawford broke out of a three-game slump with 102 yards on the ground and West Virginia (6-3, 4-2 Big 12) became bowl eligible by knocking the Cyclones (6-3, 4-2) out of a four-way tie for first place in the conference.
Iowa State trailed 20-0 late in the second quarter and never recovered.
Grier rebounded from his worst performance of the season after throwing four interceptions in a loss to Oklahoma State. Grier finished 20-of-25 for 316 yards — his eighth 300yard performance of the season — and had scoring passes of 10 yards to David Sills and 55 yards to Ka’Raun White.
› No. 15 Central Florida 31, SMU 24
DALLAS — McKenzie Milton threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score, while Adrian Killins Jr. rushed for two more touchdowns as the Knights (8-0, 5-0 American Athletic Conference) stayed on track to play in a major New Year’s Day bowl game if they can win out.
SMU’s best opportunity at an upset fizzled with 5:10 remaining when wideout Trey Quinn dropped a pass on fourth-and-3 that would have given the Mustangs (6-3, 3-2) a first down deep in Central Florida territory.
› No. 25 Washington State 24,
No. 18 Stanford 21
PULLMAN, Wash. — Luke Falk passed for 337 yards and three touchdowns as Washington State (8-2, 5-2 Pac-12) beat the Cardinal (6-3, 5-2) and kept its hopes for a North Division title alive.
Jamal Morrow rushed for 66 yards for the Cougars, chewing up time at the end of the game.
Stanford’s Bryce Love, slowed by an ankle injury, was held to 69 yards, his worst outing of the season. He came in as the nation’s leading rusher, having averaged 198 yards a game.