Associated Press
Associated Press
No. 3 Florida lived up to its surprising BCS ranking by thrashing a South Carolina team that appeared to be a contender in the SEC.
The Gamecocks gave LSU almost all it could handle in Death Valley last week, and figured to follow up with a good showing in The Swamp.
Instead, Loucheiz Purifoy knocked the ball out of South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw’s hands on the first play, and Florida punched it in to start a 44-11 rout.
Jeff Driskel threw four touchdown passes — three of them after turnovers — and the Gators matched their win total from last season.
Florida avenged consecutive losses to the Gamecocks, including one a couple of years ago that ended with Steve Spurrier and his players celebrating a division title on the Gators’ home field.
Florida managed just 29 yards and two first downs in the first half against South Carolina (6-2, 4-2). But the Gators led 21-6 thanks to three turnovers and never looked back.
Florida’s latest whatever-it-takes win kept coach Will Muschamp’s team undefeated and put it on the cusp of the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern Division title. The Gators can clinch a spot in the SEC championship game by beating No. 13 Georgia next week.
The Gators finished 7-6 last season, barely avoiding the program’s first losing season since 1979. The struggles had outsiders questioning whether Muschamp could get them back to national prominence.
Florida’s record says he has, even if the stat sheet leaves doubts.
The Gamecocks actually outgained the Gators, 193-182, in a low-wattage affair everywhere but on the scoreboard. The Gators can use eye-popping result. Oregon is close behind the Gators in the BCS rankings and actually No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25, which doesn’t count in the BCS, and in the coaches’ poll, which does.
The Ducks already posted a comprehensive victory at Arizona State on Thursday night, in which they reached 43 points in 20 minutes, then coasted to a 43-21 win over the Sun Devils.
No. 1 ALABAMA 44
TENNESSEE 13
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Amari Cooper caught two of A.J. McCarron’s four touchdown passes as No. 1 Alabama defeated Tennessee 44-13 for its sixth consecutive victory over the Volunteers.
Cooper finished with seven receptions for 162 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown in the first quarter and a 42-yard score in the third. Cooper also had a 30-yard touchdown nullified by a penalty.
McCarron went 17-of-22 for a career-high 306 yards for Alabama (7-0, 4-0). T.J. Yeldon rushed for 129 yards and two touchdowns.
Tennessee (3-4, 0-4) has lost 11 of its last 12 SEC games and is 0-14 against the Top 25 since Derek Dooley took over the program in 2010.
Dooley returned to the sideline Saturday on crutches, less than two weeks after undergoing surgery on a fractured right hip. He had coached from the press box last week in a 41-31 loss at Mississippi State.
No. 4 KANSAS STATE 55
No. 17 WEST VIRGINIA 14
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Collin Klein ran for four touchdowns and threw three TD passes as No. 4 Kansas State got little resistance from No. 17 West Virginia in a 55-14 victory Saturday night that turned a matchup of Heisman Trophy contenders into campaign ad for the Wildcats’ quarterback.
Klein was 19 for 21 for a career-high 323 yards and ran for 41 yards for the Wildcats (7-0, 4-0 Big 12).
It was no surprise the Mountaineers (5-2, 2-2) were awful on defense, it’s been that way all season. For the second straight game, though, Geno Smith and the offense did nothing to keep it close.
Smith followed up a clunker at Texas Tech last week with an even worse game, throwing his first two interceptions of the season and finishing 21 for 32 for 143 yards. The senior has gone from Heisman front-runner to long shot in two weeks.
Kansas State (7-0, 4-0) scored on its first eight possessions, making it 52-7 with 2:25 minutes left in the third quarter when Klein hit Tyler Lockett over the middle for a 20-yard score.
No. 6 LSU 24
No. 20 TEXAS A&M 19
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Jeremy Hill rushed for a career-high 127 yards and a touchdown, and the sixth-ranked Tigers rallied from an early deficit.
Michael Ford also had a touchdown run and Zach Mettenberger threw a TD pass to Kadron Boone for the Tigers (7-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference), who scored 21 points off four Texas A&M turnovers.
A&M (5-2, 2-2) outplayed the Tigers for much of the first half and led 12-0, LSU’s largest deficit since the national championship game against Alabama in January. But the Aggies gave away two costly turnovers just before halftime, and Boone’s diving catch in the end zone with 11 seconds left put LSU up 14-12 at the break. Hill finished off A&M with a 47-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Johnny Manziel, A&M’s dual-threat redshirt freshman quarterback, completed 29 of 56 passes for 276 yards, but threw three interceptions and was sacked three times. He was the SEC’s leading rusher coming into the game and was held to 27 yards on 17 carries.
No. 7 OHIO STATE 29
PURDUE 22, OT
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Backup Kenny Guiton came off the bench in relief of injured Braxton Miller to lead touchdown drives in the final minute of regulation and Carlos Hyde scored on a 1-yard run in in overtime.
Purdue (3-4, 0-3 Big Ten) led 22-14 when Ohio State got the ball with just 47 seconds left in regulation. Guiton, inserted when Miller went out with an undisclosed injury, hit Chris Fields on a 2-yard touchdown pass with 3 seconds remaining. Guiton then found freshman Jeff Heuerman on the conversion pass to tie it at 22.
Hyde scored on a short plunge for Ohio State (8-0, 4-0) before Purdue’s Caleb TerBush, who had two TD passes, misfired on four passes in the overtime.
Purdue had earlier scored on TerBush TD passes of 83 yards to Akeem Shavers — on the first offensive play of the game — and 31 yards to Gary Bush in the third quarter, along with Akeem Hunt’s 100-yard kickoff return. The Boilermakers also picked up a safety when Ohio State was called for an illegal block in the end zone in the fourth quarter.
Miller completed 9 of 20 passes for 113 yards with an interception and ran for 47 yards on 12 carries before leaving the game on the next-to-last play of the third quarter.
No. 11 USC 56, COLORADO 6
LOS ANGELES — Matt Barkley threw for 298 yards and six touchdowns while setting Southern California’s career record for TD passes, and Robert Woods set a pair of school marks himself in the 11th-ranked Trojans’ 50-6 victory over Colorado.
Barkley and Woods climbed atop the Trojans’ record books during the most prolific day of their three-year partnership at USC (6-1, 4-1 Pac-12), connecting on scoring throws of 39, 29, 17 and 3 yards in the first 35 minutes against hapless Colorado (1-6, 1-3).
That gave Woods a school record for TD receptions in a single game.
Barkley hit Woods with his 100th career touchdown pass in the second quarter to surpass Matt Leinart’s USC and conference records. Woods passed Dwayne Jarrett on USC’s career receptions list a few minutes later with his 217th career catch, going 17 yards for another TD.
USC has won four straight since its only loss, at Stanford, and the Trojans’ second home game in seven weeks turned into the preseason No. 1 team’s most lopsided of the season. And though Barkley’s Heisman Trophy candidacy has all but vanished during the Trojans’ recent streak of grind-it-out games, he put up some awfully gaudy numbers against Colorado.
Barkley tied his own single-game USC mark for TD passes while going 19 for 20 to break Rick Neuheisel’s conference record for completion percentage in a game with at least 20 passes. Barkley also hit Marqise Lee and Xavier Grimble for scores, and his only incompletion was a drop by Curtis McNeal.
Woods finished with eight catches for 132 yards, and the All-American blew past Jarrett’s record midway through his junior year. Lee, who might threaten Woods’ marks next year, had six catches for 103 yards.
No. 10 OKLAHOMA 52, KANSAS 7
NORMAN, Okla. — Landry Jones threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Oklahoma scored on a kickoff return and a punt return in the same game for the first time in school history.
Justin Brown made up for a lost fumble on his previous punt return by running his next chance back 90 yards and diving at the pylon for the score. Roy Finch then opened the second half with a 100-yard runback to stretch the lead to 45-0.
The Brown-Finch combo marked the first time the Sooners (5-1, 3-1 Big 12) have had two plays at least 90 yards long in the same game.
James Sims scored on a shutout-preventing touchdown run in the fourth quarter for Kansas (1-6, 0-4), which never presented much of a challenge while losing its 16th straight conference game and 27th out of the last 28.
The Sooners’ first-team defense hasn’t given up a point in two straight weeks heading into next Saturday night’s showdown against No. 5 Notre Dame on Owen Field.
Jones and the first-team offense scored on their first six possessions.
No. 14 CLEMSON 38
VIRGINIA TECH 17
CLEMSON, S.C. — Tajh Boyd ran for two touchdowns and passed for another and Jonathan Meeks had a 74-yard interception return score and the Tigers beat the Hokies for the third straight time.
Andre Ellington had a 12-yard touchdown run and 96 yards for the Tigers (6-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who relied on their much-maligned defense to bail them out of this one.
Clemson finished with three interceptions and twice stopped fourth downs to end drives by the Hokies (4-4, 2-2). Logan Thomas passed for 207 yards and ran for 99, accounting for two Virginia Tech touchdowns. He was continually harassed by the Tigers and threw two picks.
Boyd was 12 of 21 for 160 yards, 131 fewer than he averaged coming in.
Clemson tied a school record with its 11th straight home victory, something it had done twice before from 1937-42 and 1989-91. To match the mark this time, the Tigers had to count on their usually unreliable defense as their high-flying offense was largely grounded.
The Hokies put up 406 yards, but that’s still under the 445 a game Clemson had been allowing. Tigers defenders turned the tide early, halting Michael Holmes on third and fourth downs in the opening quarter to end the Hokies’ 15-play drive on Clemson’s 18.
No. 16 LOUISVILLE 27
SOUTH FLORIDA 25
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville’s perfect start appeared to be over before Teddy Bridgewater came up with one more big play.
Bridgewater threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Eli Rogers with 1:35 left, and the 16th-ranked Cardinals were off to their best opening to a season since 2006.
Louisville (7-0, 2-0 Big East) rallied after yielding 15 straight points to South Florida and a season-high 197 yards rushing.
B.J. Daniels threw three TD passes in the second half, the last one putting South Florida ahead 25-21 with 3:09 left. The Bulls had one last chance for the win, but Adrian Bushell intercepted Daniels’ last-gasp throw as time ran out, well short of the end zone.
South Florida (2-5, 0-3) has dropped five straight games. It has just one win in its last 12 conference games dating to last season.
No. 19 RUTGERS 35
TEMPLE 10
PHILADELPHIA — Gary Nova threw four touchdown passes in the second half to keep Rutgers undefeated.
Jawan Jamison had 114 yards rushing and 81 receiving, Nova threw for 232 yards, and the Scarlet Knights (7-0, 4-0 Big East) rallied from a 10-0 halftime deficit in their first game against Temple (3-3, 2-1) since the Owls were kicked out of the conference in 2004.
Held to just 110 total yards in the first 30 minutes, Rutgers was unstoppable in the second half. The Scarlet Knights scored on their first four possessions and racked up 271 yards.
No. 22 STANFORD 21
CALIFORNIA 3
BERKELEY, Calif. — Stepfan Taylor ran for a career-high 189 yards and one touchdown, and No. 22 Stanford got its third straight Big Game victory.
In the 115th meeting between the Bay Area schools and the first at remodeled Memorial Stadium, the sunny and serene Strawberry Canyon setting might have been Cal’s best highlight. The Cardinal outgained the Golden Bears 475 to 217 yards, outrushed Cal 252 to 3 yards and never lost its grip on the coveted Stanford Axe.
Stanford’s Josh Nunes completed 16 of 31 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown. He also fumbled and threw an interception late in the fourth quarter with the game well out of reach.
Cal (3-5, 2-3) had not scored so few points in the Big Game since losing 10-3 in 1998. The Bears fumbled three times — losing two of them — and had another interception of Nunes wiped out by a penalty.
NO. 23 MICHIGAN 12
MICHIGAN STATE 10
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Brendan Gibbons made a 38-yard field goal with 5 seconds left, helping the Wolverines (5-2, 3-0 Big Ten) beat the Spartans (4-4, 1-3) for the first time since 2007 to avoid a school-record, five-game losing streak in the series.
Denard Robinson threw a 20-yard pass to Drew Dileo to set up the game-winning kick.
Michigan State’s Dan Conroy made a go-ahead field goal with 5:48 left after a fake punt kept the drive alive. The Spartans forced the Wolverines to punt from midfield after going ahead, but couldn’t stop them when it mattered most in the final minute.
It was the 900th win for Michigan, college football’s winningest program.
Michigan’s players sprinted toward the student section to celebrate after the win, and the fans in turn, spilled out onto the field, covering so much of it that Michigan State’s marching band walked off the field without playing a note of its planned postgame performance.
Robinson was 14 of 29 for 163 yards with an interception, a harmless turnover on an up-for-grabs pass at the end of the first half, and ran for 96 yards on 20 carries.
No. 24 BOISE STATE 32, UNLV 7
BOISE, Idaho — D.J Harper rushed for two touchdowns and a dominating defense added one of their own to help the Broncos to their sixth straight win since an opening loss at Michigan State.
Harper scored on a 10-yard run in the first quarter then again late in the third quarter from 1-yard out to put Boise State (6-1, 3-0 Mountain West) up 32-0 at the time.
Harper rushed for 59 yards on 12 carries and quarterback Joe Southwick was 22 of 30 for 243 yards before heading to the sideline in the third quarter. Matt Miller led Boise State with five catches for 53 yards.
Boise State, in a tie for first place with Nevada, rolled up 394 total yards on offense, but it was another outstanding performance by the defense, one of the best in the nation at forcing turnovers, that helped put the game out of reach for UNLV (1-7, 1-2) early.