Oregon pauses Colorado’s rise
EUGENE, Ore. — Bo Nix threw three touchdown passes and No. 10 Oregon emphatically slammed the brakes on Coach Prime’s “Cinderella story,” routing No. 19 Colorado 42-6 on Saturday.
The Ducks (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) were up 35-0 half after coach Dan Lanning sent them into the matchup of unbeatens with a fiery pregame speech that took direct aim at the star-studded, hype machine that has followed coach Deion Sanders’ team for the first three weeks of the season.
“The Cinderella story’s over, men. They’re fighting for clicks, we’re fighting for wins. There’s a difference,” Lanning told his team in front of ESPN’s cameras.
Troy Franklin caught eight passes for 126 yards and two scores for Oregon.
Sanders turned around a Colorado program that won just one game last year, bringing aboard 67 new scholarship players and opening the season with wins over TCU, Nebraska and last weekend’s double-overtime thriller against Colorado State.
Oregon’s duck mascot came out on the field wearing a cowboy hat and sunglasses, copying Sanders’ style.
It was a big-game atmosphere, but the Buffs (3-1, 0-1) were no match for the Ducks.
Coach Prime’s son Shedeur Sanders went into Saturday averaging 417.0 passing yards per game, with 10 touchdowns against one interception. He completed 23 of 33 passes for 159 yards and a late touchdown against the Ducks. He was sacked seven times.
Colorado had 199 yards of total offense. The fans at Autzen Stadium chanted “Overrated!” in the final moments of the game.
NO. 6 OHIO STATE 17 NO. 9 NOTRE DAME 14
Chip Trayanum plunged across the goal line from a yard out with one second left and the visiting Buckeyes beat the Fighting Irish.
Trayanum’s score capped a gutty gamewinning drive by Kyle McCord and the Buckeyes that included a fourthdown conversion and a third-and-19 completion that got Ohio State to the Notre Dame 1 with time for two plays.
Notre Dame (4-1) took the lead when Sam Hartman threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Rico Flores Jr. with 8:22 to go to make it 14-10.
But the defense couldn’t come up with a second defensive stop. Notre Dame still hasn’t beaten Ohio State since 1936.
NO. 4 FLORIDA ST. 31 CLEMSON 24
Jordan Travis threw a picture-perfect touchdown pass in overtime to lift the Seminoles to a long-sought victory over the rival Tigers at Clemson, S.C.
Keon Coleman caught the 24-yard TD pass from Travis in overtime and the Seminoles followed up with a defensive stand to snap a seven-game losing streak to Clemson with a win that touched off a Death Valley celebration a decade in the making.
NO. 5 SOUTHERN CAL 42 ARIZONA ST. 28
Caleb Williams threw for 322 yards and accounted for five touchdowns, Marshawn Lloyd ran for 154 yards and the visiting Trojans outlasted the Sun Devils’ upset bid.
Nearly five-touchdown favorites, high-scoring Southern Cal (4-0, 2-0 Pac-12) was off-kilter offensively for long stretches, plagued by ill-timed penalties and an early fumble in their own end.
The Trojans’ defense stepped up while the offense stagnated, coming up with three sacks — one that led to a fumble by Arizona State quarterback Drew Pyne near midfield. Williams darted and danced through Arizona State’s defense on the ensuing drive, hitting Brenden Rice for a 29-yard score and a 35-21 lead.
NO. 12 LSU 34 ARKANSAS 31
Jayden Daniels passed for 320 yards and four touchdowns, and Damian Ramos kicked a 20-yard field goal with five seconds left to lift the Tigers over the Razorbacks at Baton Rouge, La.
NO. 21 WASHINGTON ST. 38 NO. 14 OREGON ST. 35
Josh Kelly caught three touchdowns, Cameron Ward passed for 404 yards and accounted for five scores, and the host Cougars withstood a late rally in the Pac-12 opener for both teams.