OTHER TOP 25
No. 3 Cincinnati 48, SMU 14: Desmond Ridder threw three touchdown passes, ran for another score and even caught a TD pass to help host Cincinnati roll past SMU. Alec Pierce had a pair of TD catches for the Bearcats (11-0, 7-0 American Athletic). They extended the nation’s second-longest home winning streak to 26 games and keep alive hopes of becoming the first non-Power 5 team to reach the College Football Playoff. SMU (8-3, 4-3) managed 199 yards of offense after averaging 498 through the first 10 games. Tanner Mordecai, the AAC offensive player of the week last week for the fourth time this season, had only 63 yards passing and was sacked three times.
No. 6 Notre Dame 55, Georgia Tech 0: Jack Coan threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns in a little more than a half and host Notre Dame had two defensive touchdowns in winning its sixth straight game. Coan, a grad transfer from Wisconsin, completed 15 of 20 passes. He had first-half touchdown strikes of 52 yards to Michael Mayer and 20 yards to Logan Diggs as the Irish took a 45-0 halftime. Coan exited after one series in the third quarter and was replaced by true freshman Tyler Buchner, who ripped off a 68-yard run on his first play. With Coan directing the offense, and the Irish defense hounding Georgia Tech quarterback Jordan Yates all afternoon, coach Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish (CFP No. 8) improved to 10-1, reaching the 10-win level for the fifth straight season by outgaining coach Geoff Collins’ Yellow Jackets (3-8) by a 514-224 yardage margin.
No. 14 BYU 34, Georgia Southern 17: Jaren Hall had 211 of his 312 yards passing in the first half, Jakob Robinson picked off two passes in the second half and BYU beat host Georgia Southern. Tyler Allgeier, the nation’s seventh-leading rusher, finished with 126 yards on 26 carries to help the Cougars (9-2) win their fourth straight game. Before a near capacity crowd at 25,000-seat Paulson Stadium, Georgia Southern (3-8) fell short in its attempt to beat the highest-ranked team to visit Statesboro. The Eagles had played eight previous games against ranked opponents, beating Appalachian State in 2018 and 2019. It was the first meeting between BYU and Georgia Southern.
No. 15 UTSA 34, UAB 31: Frank Harris threw a 1yard touchdown pass to Oscar Cardenas with three seconds left, rallying host UTSA to a win. The Roadrunners (11-0, 7-0) defeated the reigning three-time Conference USA West champion Blazers (7-4, 5-2) to clinch their first division title.
No. 22 Louisiana-Lafayette 42, Liberty 14: Levi Lewis threw for 166 yards and three touchdowns, Louisiana-Lafayette had five takeaways and seven sacks and the Ragin’ Cajuns capped the nonconference portion of their schedule with a victory over host Liberty. Louisiana-Lafayette (10-1) won its 10 straight game since a season-opening loss at Texas. Liberty dropped to 7-3.