College Football Round-up

NO. 8 LSU 34, SYRACUSE 24

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Heisman Trophy hopeful Leonard Fournette ran for a career-high 244 yards and two touchdowns, Tre’Davious White returned a punt 69 yards for another score, and LSU held off Syracuse.

Fournette has his second straight 200-yard game and fifth straight 100-yard game — and it came in a fitting place.

Syracuse’s tradition is based on its stellar running backs from the past, the great Jim Brown, Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis and Floyd Little, a three-time All-American in the mid1960s. The Carrier Dome field is named in honor of Davis, the first black player to win the coveted trophy. Little, now an administrator at Syracuse, watched from the chancellor’s box.

LSU (3-0), which beat Southeastern Conference rivals Mississippi State and Auburn to start the season, used big plays to hand Syracuse (3-1) its first loss despite being called for 14 penalties for 120 yards.

No play was bigger than Travin Dural’s 51-yard catch on a third-and-5 play in the fourth quarter after the Orange moved within a touchdown. Brandon Harris hit Malachi Dupre with an 11yard scoring pass with 9:14 left to seal it.

Fournette gained 48 yards to set up his firstquarter score, White found a seam up the middle and raced untouched into the end zone to give LSU a 17-3 lead in the third, and Fournette tacked on a 62-yard scoring run later in the period for a 24-10 lead.

NO. 3 MISSISSIPPI 27, VANDERBILT 16

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Chad Kelly threw for 321 yards, Jaylen Walton ran for a season-high 133 yards and Mississippi pushed past feisty Vanderbilt.

It was a mostly mediocre performance for the Ole Miss offense, which came into the game averaging 64 points — tops in the nation.

The Rebels’ red zone offense was particularly bad. Ole Miss had to settle for three field goal attempts when inside Vanderbilt’s 20. Two were made and one was blocked, which helped keep the Commodores in the game much longer than most expected.

Ole Miss (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) broke the game open midway through the fourth quarter when Walton ran for a 3-yard touchdown after two long runs earlier in the drive.

Vanderbilt (1-3, 0-2) lost its third straight against the Rebels.

NO. 12 ALABAMA 34, LOUISIANA-MONROE 0

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Jake Coker threw three touchdown passes and Alabama limited Louisiana-Monroe to 92 total yards.

The Crimson Tide (3-1) had an uneven offensive performance, but it didn’t make much difference. Alabama was coming off a 43-37 home loss to Mississippi.

The Warhawks (1-2) didn’t have a first down in the first 23 minutes and were held to 9 yards rushing. It was their first visit since stunning the Tide 21-14 eight years ago in coach Nick Saban’s first season, which still stands as the low point of his tenure.

The Tide racked up six sacks and two interceptions.

NO. 14 TEXAS A&M 28, ARKANSAS 21, OT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kyle Allen threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Christian Kirk in overtime to cap Texas A&M’s comeback against Arkansas in their Southeastern Conference opener.

The Aggies (4-0) had a chance to win the game on the final play of regulation, but Taylor Bertolet’s 38-yard field goal attempt was just wide right.

Allen, who was 21 of 28 passing for 358 yards with with both of his touchdowns to Kirk, hit the true freshman receiver in the end zone on the second play of overtime.

Arkansas (1-3) then got its chance, but DeVante Harris tipped away Brandon Allen’s pass to Drew Morgan on fourth-and-4 from the 19.