Clemson defense shows out in win over Syracuse

Cade Klubnik threw two touchdown passes and visiting Clemson’s high-powered defense made a statement on Saturday in a dominant 31-14 victory against previously unbeaten Syracuse.

The Tigers (3-2, 1-2 ACC) sacked Syracuse quarterback Garrett Shrader five times, picked him off once, and forced three fumbles. They recovered two of those fumbles, the first of which came on the Orange’s opening drive.

On that play, Shrader took off for a 19-yard dash, but was hit hard and lost the ball. It was recovered by Clemson’s Payton Page at the Tigers’ 45-yard line and set up a 14-yard touchdown on a pass from Klubnik to Troy Stellato for the first score of the game.

Clemson led 21-7 at the half. SU (4-1, 0-1) came to within 10 points early in the fourth quarter but a 32-yard rushing touchdown by Phil Mafah with just over six minutes to go sealed the game for the Tigers.

Kentucky 33, No. 22 Florida 14:

At Lexington, Ky., Ray Davis rushed for a career-high 280 yards and scored four touchdowns. The Wildcats (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) turned a matchup considered critical toward establishing an East Division challenger behind top-ranked Georgia into a rout before halftime thanks to Davis’ dominant day.

The Vanderbilt transfer established a career rushing best with 206 yards before the break alone in addition to scoring runs of 3 and 75 yards, the latter virtually untouched after bursting through a hole on the left side.

Davis also charged hard for a 9-yard TD reception that made it 10-0, getting a little assist at the goal line from guard Eli Cox. He added 2-yard TD run early in the third quarter on the way to a 26-carry day for the third-highest single-game rushing total in program history.

No. 6 Penn State 41, Northwestern 13:

At Evanston, Ill., Drew Allar threw for a touchdown and ran for one, and No. 6 Penn State rolled. The Nittany Lions (5-0, 3-0 Big Ten) buried the Wildcats (2-3, 1-2) in the second half, scoring 17 in the third quarter to break open a game that was tied at 10 at halftime, and won their 10th in a row since losing to Ohio State last October.

Allar completed 18 of 33 passes for 189 yards. He scored from the 1 on Penn State’s first possession of the second half and threw a 2-yard TD to Liam Clifford in the closing minutes of the third to make it a 17-point game.

Texas A&M 34, Arkansas 22:

At Arlington, Texas, Max Johnson threw for 210 yards with two touchdowns, ran for 57 yards and had three second-half turnovers in his first start for Texas A&M this season. Ainias Smith returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown and Chris Russell took an intercepted tipped pass 16 yards into the end zone for another score for the Aggies (4-1, 2-0 SEC). Le’Veon Moss ran for 107 yards.

Arkansas (2-3, 0-2) was held without an offensive touchdown until KJ Jefferson’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Armstrong with 3:53 left.