Hurts’ heroics bail out Tide
In a dramatic twist on last season’s national championship game, Jalen Hurts came off the bench to pass for one touchdown and run for another in the fourth quarter, rallying No. 1 Alabama (13-0) to a 35-28 victory over No. 4 Georgia (11-2) for the Southeastern Conference title Saturday in Atlanta.
Heisman Trophy favorite Tua Tagovailoa had to be helped off the field with just over 11 minutes remaining after one of his linemen stepped on the quarterback’s right ankle as he attempted to throw.
Enter Hurts, who led Alabama to the national title game as a freshman but lost the starting job to Tagovailoa. Hurts guided the Crimson Tide to a game-tying touchdown with a 10-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy, capping a 16-play, 80-yard drive that consumed more than seven minutes. After Georgia was stuffed on a fake punt near midfield, Hurts took matters into his own hands for the winning score. Spotting an opening up the middle, he took off on a 15-yard touchdown run with 1:04 remaining.
“All year, I’ve kind of been waiting on my opportunity,” Hurts said. “My opportunity came today. I worked so hard this week with my teammates. We found a way to get it done.”
Georgia put quite a beating on Tagovailoa, who was picked off twice, spent much of his spare time in the medical tent and was largely ineffective as the Bulldogs built a pair of two-touchdown leads.
Clemson 42, Pittsburgh 10
Travis Etienne ran for 156 yards and two touchdowns, Trevor Lawrence threw two short scoring passes to Tee Higgins and the No. 2 Tigers (13-0) pounded the Panthers (7-6) in Charlotte, North Carolina, becoming the first team to win four consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference championships.
Clemson is expected to face No. 3 Notre Dame, which was idle Saturday, in the College Football Playoffs on Dec. 29.
The Tigers ran for 301 yards and four touchdowns and averaged nine yards per carry on a dreary, rain-soaked night in which Lawrence was held to 118 yards passing.
Clemson forced three turnovers, including two in the first half that gave the offense the ball inside the Pitt 10 and led to 14 points.
Oklahoma 39, Texas 27
Kyler Murray threw for 379 yards and three touchdowns and the No. 5 Sooners (12-1) topped the No. 14 Longhorns (9-4) in the Big 12 championship game in Arlington, Texas.
Oklahoma avenged its only loss and made its case for a return to the College Football Playoff.
Murray, the Heisman Trophy contending dual-threat quarterback, threw two touchdown passes to Grant Calcaterra. That included an impressive 18-yard score on a third-and-10 play with two minutes left as the Sooners won their seventh consecutive game despite being held to fewer than 40 points for the first time in nine games.
Sam Ehlinger was 23-for-36 passing for 349 yards with two touchdowns, and ran for two scores for Texas, but his final pass was picked off by Tre Norwood at the 1 in the final minute.
UCF 56, Memphis 41
Darriel Mack shrugged off two early turnovers to rush for three second-half touchdowns and rally the No. 8 Knights over the Tigers (8-5) in the American Athletic Conference championship game in Orlando, Florida.
With the redshirt freshman filling in for injured quarterback McKenzie Milton, UCF won its second consecutive league title and extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 25 games.
Virginia Tech 41, Marshall 20
Ryan Willis threw touchdown passes to four receivers in the first half and the host Hokies (6-6) extended their nation’s-best bowl streak to 26 years. Virginia Tech paid the Thundering Herd (8-4) $300,000 to play the game.