Te’o makes a return to Notre Dame

Former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o, runnerup to Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel for the Heisman Trophy in 2012, made his first public appearance on campus in nearly a decade since it was disclosed he was the victim of a bizarre high-profile catfishing scheme involving a fake girlfriend.

“It’s always good to be home. There’s no place like home. But I want to make this real clear. It’s not about me. It’s not about one person. It’s about this whole family,” Te’o said speaking to fans before Notre Dame outscored California 10-0 in the fourth quarter to win 24-17 and avoid becoming just the third Notre Dame squad to start a season 0-3.

Te’o received an enthusiastic response from fans. He attended Mass with the team at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus and then walked with the team before the game to the stadium. He stopped briefly with coach Marcus Freeman to address the crowd, with Touchdown Jesus as a backdrop.

“This team needs all of us,” Te’o said. “It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon when everything is going great. It’s easy to get on when everything is right. But what I want to know is, who is with me? Who is going to get off that wagon and start pushing with me? That’s why I am here.”

Te’o high-fived fans as he walked through the crowd, stopping briefly for photos. Te’o then took questions from the media in the press box before the game. He said it was his fourth time back at Notre Dame since news broke about the hoax. Te’o said he’s been pleasantly surprised by the response he received from the Netflix documentary “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist.” He said he was anxious about it because he didn’t want to talk about it again.

“All the facts are out there and I’m happy with it because it’s factual . ... Since Day 1, it’s been nothing but positive,” he said.

Levis helps Kentucky shut out Youngstown State: Will Levis accounted for three touchdowns, Kavosiey Smoke ran for a score and the No. 9 Wildcats shook off a slow start to shut out Youngstown State 31-0 on Saturday.

Boosted by its first top-10 ranking since October 2007, the Wildcats (3-0) followed up last week’s 26-16 Southeastern Conference win at Florida by physically dominating the FCS Penguins (2-1).

Shapen, Reese lead Baylor to win over Texas St: Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen was racing untouched to the end zone while running back Richard Reese was being tackled in the backfield on

fourth-and-1 just before halftime. That bootleg was the punctuating play for the 17th-ranked Bears, who beat Texas State 42-7 on Saturday and avoided becoming another Top 25 team to lose at home to a Sun Belt Conference team.

Shapen took off to the right after the fake handoff, and past a over-pursuing safety, for that 35-yard touchdown that came right after Texas State (1-2) had closed to 14-7 on Layne Hatcher’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Ashtyn Hawkins with

1:59 left in the first half.

Reese, a true freshman, ran 19 times for

156 yards and three touchdowns. Shapen completed 15 of 26 passes for 184 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Bennett, defense lead Georgia: Stetson Bennett went 16 for 23 for 284 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score to lead No. 1 Georgia to a 48-7 victory over South Carolina. The Bulldogs’ defense nearly had its second shutout of the season before South Carolina scored a touchdown against the backups with 53 seconds to go.

Alabama makes it look easy: Bryce Young passed for three touchdowns and rushed for a fourth, Will Anderson Jr. scored on an interception return and No. 2 Alabama rolled to a 63-7 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.

The Crimson Tide (3-0) scored on offense, defense and special teams in the first six minutes and raced to a 28-0 first-quarter lead. It was a whirlwind start against the 49 ½-point underdog Warhawks (1-2) a week after a much closer-than-expected victory over Texas cost Alabama the No. 1 ranking.

Young completed 13 of 18 passes for 236 yards but also threw his first two interceptions of the season. He did run for a 7-yard score.

Ole Miss runs through Georgia Tech: No.

20 Ole Miss shrugged off its uncertainty at quarterback by running right through Georgia Tech, with Zach Evans and Quinshon Judkins leading a 316-yard pummeling on the ground that carried the Rebels to a 42-0 victory Saturday.

Jaxson Dart returned as the starting quarterback after Luke Altmyer got the nod the previous week.

It really didn’t matter who was taking the snaps. Not the way Ole Miss (3-0) was running the ball. Ole Miss ran for all six of its touchdowns, averaging 5.1 yards on a staggering 62 carries. Evans had scoring runs of 3 and 26 yards while rushing for

134 yards. Judkins gained 98 yards and also scored twice.