Bama hammers Ole Miss, 62-7
OXFORD, Miss. — Tua Tagovailoa threw for 191 yards and two touchdowns, Jerry Jeudy had two touchdown catches and top-ranked Alabama buried Ole Miss 62-7 Saturday night.
Alabama (3-0) gave up a touchdown on the first play of the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams, but the Crimson Tide responded by scoring the next 62 points. Their offense totaled 516 yards and was so effective that Tagovailoa’s evening was over by midway through the second quarter.
The left-handed sophomore completed 11 of 15 passes during his short time on the field. The Tide then turned to former starter Jalen Hurts, who was 7-of-10 passing for 85 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
It was so lopsided that thirdstring quarterback Mac Jones was in the game before the end of the third quarter.
Ole Miss (2-1, 0-1) suffered through a second straight blowout loss to the Tide. The Rebels lost 66-3 last year in Tuscaloosa.
Rebels quarterback Jordan Ta’amu was just 7-of-22 passing for 133 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
The game was in doubt for about 11 seconds. That’s the time it took for Ta’amu to find D.K. Metcalf for a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of the game. Ole Miss had a 7-0 lead and a packed Vaught-Hemingway Stadium was rocking.
Alabama wouldn’t be fooled again.
No. 16 Mississippi State 56, Louisiana-Lafayette 10
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Nick Fitzgerald accounted for 350 yards of offense and six touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs (3-0).
Fitzgerald ran for 107 yards and four touchdowns, the second time he has had four rushing touchdowns in a college game. He was 14-of-21 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns.
Aeris Williams added 101 yards and a touchdown on the ground for Mississippi State, which totaled 607 yards of offense, including 331 on the ground.
The Ragin’ Cajuns (1-1) got on the board first with a 38-yard field goal from Kyle Pfau early in the first quarter, but it was all Mississippi State the rest of the first half as the Bulldogs scored on all five of their first-half possessions.
Florida 48, Colorado State 10
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Freddie Swain scored twice, including on an 85-yard punt return, as the Gators won what some dubbed the “Buyout Bowl.”
Florida’s Feleipe Franks also threw two touchdown passes, giving him nine in three games and matching his total from last season.
The Gators (2-1) were far from perfect offensively, though, finishing with 341 yards — or more than 200 fewer than the Rams (1-3) had been giving up this season.
Special teams were a different story: Tyrie Cleveland recovered a blocked punt for a score, and Swain delivered the fourth-longest punt return for a touchdown in school history. That was enough to put away the Rams in a game that served as a reminder of ex-coach Jim McElwain’s success at Colorado State and his failure at Florida.
The Gators will pay the Rams a whopping $2 million for the game, part of McElwain’s $7 million buyout to leave Fort Collins for Gainesville late in the 2014 season. McElwain didn’t last long enough at Florida to be around for the game against his former team. He is now the receivers coach at Michigan, and Dan Mullen took over the Gators prior to this season.
Kentucky 48, Murray State 10
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Terry Wilson passed for 163 yards and rushed for 80 more to lead the Wildcats, who didn’t overlook their Football Championship Subdivision visitors in a break from SEC play.
Coming off a 27-16 victory over Florida that ended a 31-game losing streak to the Gators, the Wildcats (3-0) showed no signs of a letdown and overwhelmed the Racers (0-3) from start to finish.
The Wildcats have often struggled against FCS opponents and needed overtime to fend off Ohio Valley Conference member Eastern Kentucky in a 34-27 win in 2015. The task was much easier this time for Kentucky, which outscored the Racers 31-7 in the final two quarters.
Paced by Wilson, the Wildcats used a balanced offense to pile up 528 yards, including 285 on the ground. Wilson targeted nine receivers, and Lynn Bowden had eight catches for 89 yards.
Kentucky’s Benny Snell had 75 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries and completed a shovel pass to Wilson, who then handed the ball off to Zy’Aire Hughes for a 49-yard score to end the third quarter. Snell’s block downfield created a wide-open path to the end zone.
North Texas 44, Arkansas 17
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Mason Fine passed for 281 yards and a touchdown to lead North Texas to its first win against an SEC opponent in more than 40 years.
Fine was 24-of-45 passing and also rushed for a score for the Mean Green, which won for the first time in 10 games against the Razorbacks and is 3-0 to start the season for the first time since 1989.
North Texas improved to 5-37 in its history against the SEC with the win, with two of those victories coming via forfeits after losses to Mississippi State in 1976 and 1977. The Mean Green’s previous on-thefield win over an SEC team had been a 21-14 victory at Tennessee in 1975.
The Razorbacks (1-2) have lost two straight games to teams outside the Power Five conferences.
Cole Kelley started at quarterback but was replaced by freshman Connor Noland in the third quarter after throwing his fourth interception of the game.