Nix picks cost Auburn in loss to South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn was tired of hearing he didn’t have the ball skills to be a truly exceptional cornerback.
His play against No. 15 Auburn proved he did — and led the Gamecocks to a breakthrough win over the Tigers on Saturday.
Horn had the first two interceptions of his career, and his pass break up led to a third — all which South Carolina turned into touchdowns — for a 30-22 victory that was its first win over Auburn in 87 years.
Horn is a junior who’s been a lockdown corner most of his career.
“If a team throws at him like that every game, he’ll have a game like that every game,” Gamecocks receiver Shi Smith said of Horn, the son of former NFL receiver Joe Horn.
Horn was assigned to Auburn receiver Seth Williams, one of the best receivers in the Southeastern Conference, averaging 18 yards a catch. Williams finished with four catches for 74 yards, but no scores.
“I heard a lot of people saying I (don’t) have any ball skills, which is crazy to me,” Horn said. “I just knew the day would come when I’d have a lot of opportunities to make plays.”
South Carolina made plenty of them throughout to beat Auburn for the first time in 87 years.
Kevin Harris ran for two touchdowns, Smith added a 10-yard scoring catch, and Horn and the defense did enough to stop Bo Nix and the Tigers’ attack.
Auburn (2-2 Southeastern Conference) had won eight straight in the series and jumped to a 9-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes. But Nix, a sophomore, threw three picks and the Gamecocks (2-2) cashed in each time to win consecutive games for the first time in more than a year.
Smith had eight catches, including his score midway through the third quarter that put South Carolina ahead for good, 20-19.
Auburn was driving on its following series when Nix threw his third interception — and second to Horn, who brought the ball down the left sideline to the Tigers’ 8. Harris was in the end zone a play later for a 27-19 lead, and Auburn could not recover.
The Tigers closed to 30-22 on Anders Carlson’s 22-yard field goal with 6:39 left. Auburn got the ball back once more with 2:15 left and drove to the South Carolina 13. Nix, though, was called for intentional grounding trying to avoid a sack, and the Gamecocks held on to beat the Tigers for the first time since 1933.
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said his team will have to get past this quickly: “We’re just going to have to be big boys, and we’re going to have to man up and put it behind us and go into next week and find a way to win.”
› No. 1 Clemson 73, Georgia Tech 7
ATLANTA — Trevor Lawrence brushed off the first interception he has thrown this season and passed for a career-high 404 yards and five touchdowns as Clemson overwhelmed Georgia Tech.
Lawrence completed 24 of 33 passes. All of his scoring passes came in the Tigers’ dominant first half. Clemson led 52-7 at halftime and kept adding to the lead in the second half, even with second- and third-stringers on the field.
Lawrence left the game after Clemson’s first possession of the second half.
Clemson (5-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) outgained Georgia Tech 671-204 in total yards. The Tigers compiled an equally lopsided 29-7 advantage in first downs.
The second-longest streak of passes without an interception in ACC history ended late in the first quarter when Zamari Walton picked off a pass by Lawrence.
Georgia Tech (2-3, 2-2) provided its fans an early thrill when freshman quarterback Jeff Sims threw a 59-yard scoring pass to Jalen Camp in the first quarter for a 7-7 tie. The Yellow Jackets’ upset hopes faded quickly.
Georgia Tech running back Jahmyr Gibbs, a former Dalton High School star, had 15 rushes for 67 yards and three receptions for 23 yards.
› No. 4 Notre Dame 12, Louisville 7
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Kyren Williams ran for 127 yards and Ian Book had a 13-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter that gave Notre Dame the lead for good as the Fighting Irish held off Louisville.
Williams ran 25 times and had his third 100-yard game of the season as the Irish (4-0, 3-0 ACC) won their 22nd straight at Notre Dame Stadium.
It came against an inspired 3-4 Louisville defense that spent most of the afternoon on the field. Notre Dame controlled the game clock for more than 36 minutes, including a game-ending 14-play drive that burned the final 7:55.
Book completed 11 of 19 for 107 yards, and he ran 12 times for 47 yards.
› No. 11 Texas A&M 28, Mississippi State 14
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Isaiah Spiller ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns and Kellen Mond threw for two scores to help Texas A&M beat Mississippi State.
Texas A&M (3-1 SEC) led 14-0 at halftime and had 325 yards of total offense. Ainias Smith caught five passes for 20 yards and a touchdown. Chase Lane caught two passes, including a 51-yard touchdown reception in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
Mississippi State (1-3) had little offensive rhythm for the third straight game after upsetting reigning champion in the opener Mike Leach’s debut as coach. The Bulldogs’ first touchdown came on Emmanuel Forbes’ interception return in the third.
Leach benched starting quarterback KJ Costello midway through the second half for freshman Will Rogers, the same as he did last weekend in a 24-2 loss at Kentucky. Rogers connected with Malik Heath for a 15-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
› No. 13 Miami 31, Pittsburgh 19
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — D’Eriq King threw four touchdown passes as Miami beat Pittsburgh.
Will Mallory caught two of King’s scoring passes as the Hurricanes (4-1, 3-1 ACC) bounced back from a 42-17 loss at Clemson.
The Panthers (3-3, 2-3) lost their third straight and were without senior quarterback Kenny Pickett, who injured an ankle against Boston College last weekend. Pickett leads the nation with 1,389 passing yards but didn’t travel with the team.
Redshirt freshman Joey Yellen replaced Pickett, completing 22 of 46 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown.
› Arkansas 33, Ole Miss 21
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas forced quarterback Matt Corral to throw six interceptions as the Razorbacks scored 24 points off seven turnovers in a win over Ole Miss.
Three first-half Rebels’ giveaways helped provide Arkansas (2-2 SEC) a 20-0 halftime lead. It was the Razorbacks’ largest halftime advantage in an SEC game since 2016, their most recent winning season.
Corral entered the game second in the league in passing yards and had thrown just one interception through three games for Ole Miss (1-3). He threw two touchdown passes against the Razorbacks but had a season-low 200 yards in addition to his six picks.
Late Friday
› No. 17 SMU 37, Tulane 34, OT
NEW ORLEANS — Brandon Crossley ended the first overtime possession with an interception and Chris Naggar made a 34-yard field goal to give SMU the victory.
Crossley intercepted Tulane freshman Michael Pratt’s pass to put the Mustangs (5-0, 3-0 American Athletic Conference) into position to win with the field goal.
The Green Wave rallied to force overtime on Merek Glover’s 27-yard field goal with 1:30 left.
After Tulane (2-3, 0-3) took a 31-27 lead early in the fourth quarter on Pratt’s 7-yard touchdown, the Mustangs pulled ahead 34-31 lead on Shane Buechele’s 10-yard pass to Danny Gray.
› No. 14 BYU 43, Houston 26
HOUSTON — Zach Wilson threw four touchdowns and finished 25-of-35 for 400 yards as BYU rallied for a win over Houston.
Dax Milne caught nine passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns to help BYU improve to 5-0 for the first time since 2008.
Down 12, Wilson found Milne for a 2-yard touchdown pass with 53 seconds remaining in the third. Wilson gave BYU the lead back with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Masen Wake with 10:35 left to make it 29-26 following a 2-point conversion pass from Wilson to Tyler Allgeier.
Wilson threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Milne with three minutes remaining before Allgeier iced it with a 14-yard touchdown run with 1:40 left.
Clayton Tune finished 21-of-31 for 310 yards and two touchdowns to lead Houston (1-1).