Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
A&M tops Colorado, but loses QB King
DENVER — Freshman quarterback Haynes King’s backup started out slowly, finished precious few drives and even fumbled the football a whisker from the goal line.
Sophomore Zach Calzada came up clutch in the end, though, throwing an 18-yard touchdown pass to running back Isaiah Spiller with 2:41 remaining to help fifth-ranked Texas A&M edge Colorado 10-7 Saturday.
“The one thing you can say he made the plays on those drives that mattered, right there at the end,” Aggies Coach Jimbo Fisher said.
And Fisher didn’t want to hear about how his Aggies should have walloped the Buffaloes, either.
“First and foremost, Colorado played a heck of a football game. We got a very good football team,” Fisher said. “They were a lot of the reason why we had issues today. We can sit here and say we blame it on ourselves, but they did a really, really good job, physically and schematically.
“We were fortunate to come out of that one.” Unbeaten if not unscathed. Spiller’s TD gave the Aggies (2-0) their first lead on a day in which they lost their star freshman starting quarterback to a lower right leg injury and eight of their first nine drives were three-and-outs.
Colorado’s hopes of an upset over the 17-point favorite Aggies ended when Brendon Lewis’ pass to Dimitri Stanley on fourth-and-13 from his 22 covered just 12 yards before he was smothered by a bevy of defenders.
“It gives us an identity,” Spiller said of the hard-fought victory. “It was our first adversity game, it was a great challenge for us.”
NO. 1 ALABAMA 48, MERCER 14
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Bryce Young threw three touchdown passes and Jase McClellan scored three times in Alabama’s rout of FCS Mercer.
The Crimson Tide (2-0) started sluggishly on offense in what amounted to a warmup game before the SEC opener at No. 13 Florida, but potentially more notably had star linebacker Will Anderson Jr. leave with an apparent right leg injury.
Young completed 19 of 27 passes for 227 yards after coming out slow in just his second game as ‘Bama’s starter.
NO. 2 GEORGIA 56, UAB 7
ATHENS, Ga. — Stetson Bennett tied a school record with five touchdown passes filling in for injured starter JT Daniels, leading the Bulldogs in the rout.
Bennett completed his first six passes — four of them going all the way to the end zone for the Bulldogs (2-0), who didn’t show any signs of a letdown despite the absence of their No. 1 quarterback.
Jermaine Burton slipped behind the secondary to haul in a 73-yard TD from Bennett on Georgia’s second offensive play. By the opening minute of the second quarter, Bennett tacked on scoring passes of 12 yards to Kenny McIntosh, 89 yards to Brock Bowers and 61 yards to Arian Smith.
Bennett went 9 of 11 for 279 yards and became the sixth Georgia quarterback to pass for five touchdowns in a game.
NO. 13 FLORIDA 42, SOUTH FLORIDA 20
TAMPA, Fla. — Florida tuned up for SEC play with a rout of the overmatched Bulls. The win did little to answer the question of whether starter Emory Jones or backup Anthony Richardson is best suited to run the Gators offense.
The quarterbacks shared playing time for the second straight week for Florida (2-0).
Jones threw a 35-yard TD pass to Xzavier Henderson and scored on a 33-yard run on the way to a 35-3 halftime lead.
NO. 20 MISSISSIPPI 54, AUSTIN PEAY 17
OXFORD, Miss. — Matt Corral threw for five touchdowns — four in the first half — as Mississippi routed FCS member Austin Peay.
Ole Miss ( 2- 0) added a defensive touchdown on a strip sack and 33-yard fumble return from defensive end Sam Williams and a safety from the special teams to build a 37-0 lead over the Governors (1-1).
Corral finished 21 of 33 for 281 yards. Dontario Drummond and Jonathan Mingo had two touchdown receptions apiece, covering 1, 49, 15 and 40 yards, respectively. Braylon Sanders added an 11-yard touchdown reception before Caden Costa closed the scoring with a 26-yard field goal. The Rebels finished with 631 yards of total offense.
NO. 25 AUBURN 62, ALABAMA STATE 0
AUBURN, Ala. — Demetris Robertson scored three touchdowns and Jarquez Hunter rushed for 147 yards as the Tigers raced past their overmatched FCS foe.
Auburn (2-0) was held to just one offensive touchdown and fewer than 200 yards in the first half before erupting for 35 points in the third quarter against the Hornets (1-1).
KENTUCKY 35, MISSOURI 28
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Chris Rodriguez Jr. rushed for career highs of 207 yards and three of his four touchdowns, including the go- ahead score from 8 yards with 11:28 remaining, and Kentucky stopped Missouri late to for a hard-fought victory in the SEC opener.
The Wildcats (2-0, 1-0) never trailed this thrilling showdown for the early East Division lead, but they had to overcome squandering a 28-14 lead as Missouri (1-1, 0-1) eventually tied the game early in the fourth quarter. Kentucky answered by taking the kickoff and marching 75 yards, helped by Rodriguez’s 28-yard run and Will Levis’ 28-yard pass to tight end Justin Rigg to the Tigers’ 8.
Rodriguez barged in from the 8 for the TD, a play in which he appeared to fumble but was upheld on review. Missouri had a final chance after blocking Kentucky’s field goal attempt, but turned it over on downs as Connor Bazelak’s pass intended for Dominic Lovett was broken up by Carrington Valentine with 1:30 left.
LSU 34, MCNEESE STATE 7
BATON ROUGE — Max Johnson threw for 161 yards and three touchdowns and LSU beat McNeese for its first win of the season.
LSU’s defense held the Cowboys to 142 yards total offense.
After sputtering last week in an season-opening loss to UCLA, the LSU (11) offense still struggled against McNeese, gaining just 262 yards of total offense through the first three quarters and scoring just 24 points on on an FCS opponent.
PITTSBURGH 41, TENNESSEE 34
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Kenny Pickett threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score to lead Pittsburgh to a victory over Tennessee.
The Panther defense collected five sacks, recovered two fumbles, had an interception and a crucial fourth-quarter goal-line stand to seal their second victory of the season.
The Volunteers (1-1) lost the game and a starting quarterback. Joe Milton went down with a lower leg injury after being sacked and losing a fumble early in the second quarter.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 24, N.C. STATE 10
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Lideatrick Griffin returned the opening kickoff for a 100-yard touchdown, and Mississippi State’s defense took it from there in a victory over North Carolina State at Davis Wade Stadium.
The Bulldogs (2-0) held the Wolfpack (1-1) to 4.5 yards per play — with most of the damage coming in garbage time — and never trailed after Griffin’s kick return gave them a 7-0 lead 13 seconds into the contest. Quarterback Will Rogers was 33 of 49 passing for 294 yards and 2 touchdowns for Mississippi State, and Malik Heath and Jaden Walley each caught scoring passes.
SOUTH CAROLINA 20, EAST CAROLINA 17
GREENVILLE, N.C. — Parker White kicked a 36-yard field goal as time expired as South Carolina rallied from 14 down to beat East Carolina, earning its first road win under first-year Coach Shane Beamer.
Damani Staley had a 63-yard interception return for a touchdown just before halftime to give the Gamecocks a needed spark after trailing 14-0 in a mistake-filled opening half.