Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tagovailoa has career day in victory.
NO. 2 ALABAMA 47, SOUTH CAROLINA 23
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa focused on what his team needs to work on instead of his career performance. Sounds familiar, huh? Tagovailoa threw for a career-best 444 yards — the third most in history for No. 2 Alabama — and tied his high with five touchdown passes in a 47-23 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.
But there was no gushing or celebrations for Tagovailoa, who seemed to channel his coach Nick Saban in a single-minded focus on what the Crimson Tide (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) must do to improve.
“When we start drives, we’ve got to finish them,” he said. “We were able to move the ball really well, but we got stuck.”
It seemed like Tagovailoa, the All-American and Heisman Trophy contender, unstuck the Tide much of the game against South Carolina (1-2, 0-1).
He had TD throws of 24 yards to Najee Harris and 81 yards to Henry Ruggs III in the opening quarter. When the Gamecocks closed to 1710, Tagovailoa hit Harris who finished a nifty run where he broke through one tackler, leaped over another and dragged a third over the goal line with him.
NO. 4 LSU 64, NORTHWESTERN STATE 14
BATON ROUGE, La. — Joe Burrow completed 21 of 24 passes for 373 yards and two touchdowns, and fourthranked LSU pulled away from Northwestern State in the second half for a victory.
Burrow has played through the third quarter only once in three games because of lopsided scores. He is now 75 of 90 (83.3 percent) passing for 1,122 yards and 11 touchdowns this season, making a case early on for the Heisman Trophy.
NO. 8 AUBURN 55, KENT STATE 16
AUBURN, Ala. — JaTarvious Whitlow rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns and Bo Nix ran and passed for scores to lead No. 8 Auburn to a victory over Kent State.
The Tigers (3-0) piled up 467 rushing yards — and three 100-yard rushers — in their final tune up before Southeastern Conference play. They also got some big plays running and passing from Nix, including a 49-yard flea flicker to Eli Stove for a touchdown in the third quarter.
NO. 9 FLORIDA 29, KENTUCKY 21
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kyle Trask relieved an injured Feleipe Franks and rallied No. 9 Florida with three fourth-quarter touchdown drives, including his go-ahead, 4-yard scoring run with 4:11 remaining that lifted the Gators to a victory over Kentucky.
Franks, the Gators’ thirdyear starter, was carted off with a right leg injury late in the third quarter with his team trailing 21-10. Stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the Kentucky 38, Franks appeared to bend backward on the play. Medical personnel placed an inflatable cast under his right leg and he was taken off to applause from the sellout crowd.
NO. 16 TEXAS A&M 62, LAMAR 3
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Freshman Isaiah Spiller ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns and Kellen Mond threw for 317 yards with a touchdown pass and a run in three quarters to lead No. 16 Texas A&M to a rout of Lamar.
Spiller shined in the first game since Jashaun Corbin sustained a season-ending hamstring injury last week at Clemson, running for touchdowns of 1 and 34 yards. Mond was 20 of 28 with an interception.
TENNESSEE 45, CHATTANOOGA 0
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Jarrett Guarantano threw three touchdown passes and Tennessee rolled to a blowout of Football Championship Subdivision program Chattanooga as the Volunteers began digging their way out of their slowest start in over three decades.
KANSAS STATE 31, MISSISSIPPI STATE 24
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Skylar Thompson threw for 123 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown to lead Kansas State over Mississippi State.
KSU (3-0) led 17-14 at halftime but trailed 24-17 in the fourth quarter. Then a 100-yard Malik Knowles kickoff return tied the game, and a 15-yard touchdown pass from Thompson to Dalton Schoen gave the Wildcats a 7-point lead with 5:37 remaining.
OLE MISS 40, SE LOUISIANA 29
OXFORD, Miss. — Matt Corral threw for two touchdowns and the Mississippi defense made a pair of game-saving stops on downs in the final six minutes as the Rebels defeated Southeastern Louisiana.
MISSOURI 50, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE 0
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Larry Rountree III had two touchdown runs for Missouri, and the Tigers scored on offense, defense and special teams in the first quarter and cruised to a victory over Southeast Missouri State.
Missouri (2-1) opened a 27-0 first quarter by scoring every which way. Rountree rushed for a 3-yard touchdown, Kelly Bryant floated a 3-yard TD pass to tight end Albert Okwuegbunam, Cale Garrett returned an interception 27 yards for a score and Richaud Floyd took a punt 71 yards to the end zone.