San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
HOUSTON HANDS NAVY AN AAC LOSS
The 2020 version of Navy football is a team without much room for error. This is a group that was outscored by a combined 85 points in its first two losses, but woke up Saturday atop the American Athletic Conference with a 3-0 league record. Those three wins came by a combined nine points.
This simply isn't a team with enough firepower to overcome crucial mistakes, and those mistakes equated to a 37-21 loss to Houston on Saturday as the sun set in Annapolis, Md.
Navy missed two field goals, had an extra point blocked and a dropped-passturned-interception lead to a touchdown. That's a 14-point swing off unforced errors by the Midshipmen.
“Against a team this good, you can't miss those opportunities,” Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “Obviously we'd want to start with a touchdown to open the second half, but at least the field goal to tie the game up hopefully gives you some life. But that missed field goal took some life out of us.
“We had our chances, but we've got to be able to capitalize. You can't come away with no points against a team that good.”
Navy (3-3, 3-1 AAC) trailed
Houston 37, Navy 21 by 10 going into the fourth quarter and a 33-yard touchdown pass from Houston quarterback Clayton Tune to running back Kyle Porter on a sneaky screen put the game away at 30-13 with 14:06 remaining.
Houston (2-1, 1-1) scored 28 consecutive points after falling behind 13-9.
Texas Tech 34, West Virginia 27: Cornerback Zech Mcphearson returned a fumble 56 yards for a touchdown with 8:44 left to lift host Texas Tech (2-3, 1-3 Big 12) to a victory over West Virginia (3-2, 2-2). West Virginia's Sam James caught a short pass from Jarret Doege but fumbled on a hit from Jacob Morganstern. Mcphearson, a graduate transfer from Penn State, picked up the ball and went the length of the field untouched.
Missouri 20, Kentucky 10: Larry Rountree carried 37 times for 126 yards and two touchdowns, leading host Missouri (2-2 SEC) to a grinding win over Kentucky (2-3).
LSU 52, South Carolina 24: LSU freshman TJ Finley passed for 265 yards and two touchdowns in his college debut, Trey Palmer scored on a 95-yard, sideline-to-sideline kickoff return and the Tigers defeated visiting South Carolina.
Purdue 24, Iowa 20: Sophomore receiver David Bell caught three touchdown passes, including the game winner, to guide the Boilermakers to a victory over visiting Iowa. With the Boilermakers' top receiver Rondale Moore sideline for undisclosed reasons, Bell caught 13 passes for 121 yards.
Louisville 48, Florida State 16: Javian Hawkins ran for a season-best 174 yards and a career-high three touchdowns for Louisville (2-4, 1-4 ACC), which snapped a fourgame losing streak by beating visiting Florida State (2-4, 1-4).
Oklahoma 33, TCU 14: Spencer Rattler threw for 332 yards and two touchdowns, and visiting Oklahoma (3-2, 2-2 Big 12) won consecutive games for the first time this season, beating TCU (1-3, 1-3).
Liberty 56, Southern Mississippi 35: Malik Willis threw for 345 yards and six touchdowns — five in the first half — and Liberty remained unbeaten (6-0) after dominating visiting Southern Mississippi (1-4).
Northwestern 43, Maryland 3: Peyton Ramsey threw for 212 yards in his Northwestern debut, Drake Anderson ran for 103 and the host Wildcats gave coach Pat Fitzgerald his 100th victory, pounding Maryland. Northwestern raced to a 30-3 halftime lead and racked up 537 total yards.
Notable
There was still no school band but the song still played. And this time, the Texas players stayed on the field for “The Eyes of Texas.” While some sang with the crowd, others stayed quiet. Some put up the traditional “Hook'em Horns” hand sign, while others in the back kept their arms down. Regardless of who sang or just stood around after Texas beat Baylor 27-16 on Saturday, Texas school officials got exactly what they wanted: The Longhorns stood on the field together and it appeared nobody left in protest.