College Roundup: No. 6 Tennessee beats No. 3 Alabama 52-49 on late FG

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — After 15 years of being a rival to Alabama in name only, Tennessee snapped a humbling losing streak, stamped itself a championship contender and celebrated in spectacular fashion.

Chase McGrath made a 40-yard field goal as time expired to give No. 6 Tennessee a 52-49 victory over No. 3 Alabama on Saturday.

As soon as the kick knuckle-balled through the uprights, some of the more than 100,000 fans stormed the field to join the party as the Volunteers (6-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) ended a 15-game drought to the Crimson Tide (6-1, 3-1).

Fireworks went off over Neyland Stadium and it glowed orange as the song “Dixieland Delight” by the band Alabama — a Crimson Tide favorite — blared over the stadium speakers.

And it didn’t take long for the goal posts to go down.

“This is college football at its absolute best,” Vols coach Josh Heupel said. “We were the best team on the field tonight. That’s all we can control.”

“We didn’t answer the bell today,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “We did too many things to help (Tennessee).”

Hendon Hooker drove the Vols 45 yards in 13 seconds to set up the winner. An 18-yard pass to Ramel Keyton and 27-yard hookup with Bru McCoy set the stage for the winner.

“It wasn’t my cleanest hit,” said McGrath, who missed a PAT earlier. “I didn’t have the best contact on the ball.”

Jalin Hyatt caught six passes for 207 yards, setting a Tennessee record with five touchdowns and earning a postgame cigar — a long-held tradition in the third Saturday of October rivalry — with former Vols great Peyton Manning.

Bryce Young, a game-time decision because of a sprained right shoulder two weeks ago, completed 35 passes for 455 yards and two TDs for the Tide.

“It was great to be out there with my teammates,” the Heisman Trophy winner said. “Shoulder is fine.”

Hyatt’s fifth TD catch tied it at 49 with 3:26 left in the fourth.

“(This game) just happened,” Hyatt said. “It’s not just me. It was just the looks we got.”

Young drove the Tide into the Tennessee territory in the final minute, but Alabama stalled at the 33 with three straight incomplete passes. Will Reichard’s 50-yard field goal attempt for the lead was wide way right.

With only 15 seconds left, overtime seemed likely, but Hooker wasn’t done and did the Heisman winner one better.

Hooker finished 21 for 30 for 385 yards and five TDs.

“He played at an unbelievable level,” Heupel said. “He’s the key to our ignition.”

Tennessee had not beaten a Top 10 teams since 2006 against Georgia. That was also the last year the Vols beat Alabama.

A season later, Saban became Alabama’s coach. While the Tide has become college football’s greatest dynasty with six national titles, Tennessee has burned through coaches and been mired in mediocrity.

In his second season in Knoxville, Heupel has pulled the Vols from the muck.

Tennessee looks like a legitimate national title contender behind a transfer quarterback from Virginia Tech who should now be right near the top of those Heisman leaderboards.

“We approach every game the same,” Hooker said. “Play 100% for our brothers.”

A week after Alabama held Texas A&M out of the end zone on the last play of the game to dodge an upset, the Tide went down. The Vols scored the most points against an Alabama team since Sewanee put 54 on the Tide in 1907.

The Tide also had 17 penalties for 130 yards, the most during the Saban era, according to ESPN.

Tennessee’s up-tempo offense jumped out to a 21-7 first-quarter lead and led 28-20 at halftime. All four touchdown drives took over two minutes.

Young threw for 205 yards and a touchdown in the first half, while Hooker had 166 yards and two scores. Young wasn’t sacked, but was knocked down five times in the half.

Alabama fumbled Tennessee’s only punt. The Vols recovered and scored four plays later.

NO. 1 GEORGIA 55, VANDERBILT 0

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Stetson Bennett threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns — his first scoring passes in nearly a month — and Georgia stamped its return to No. 1 with a 55-0 rout of Vanderbilt on Saturday.

Georgia (7-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) led 28-0 at halftime and blew out the Commodores after three straight weeks of rather lackluster performances.

Bennett was nearly perfect in the first half, completing 18 of 20 for 211 yards. Darnell Washington came up big with four catches for 78 yards, including a one-handed dazzler.

Bennett hooked up with Kenny McIntosh on an 11-yard scoring play — the quarterback’s first TD pass in four weeks — and followed with a 10-yard scoring toss to Dominick Blaylock.

McIntosh added a 7-yard scoring run, while Daijun Edwards powered in from the 1 to spark a second-half exodus for red-clad Georgia fans looking to beat the traffic.

The Commodores (3-4, 0-3) dropped their 24th straight game in the SEC. They last won a conference game on Oct 19, 2019, beating Missouri 21-14.

NO. 4 CLEMSON 34, FLORIDA STATE 28

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — DJ Uiagalelei threw for 203 yards and three touchdowns and Clemson forced a momentum-turning takeaway to hold off Florida State.

Clemson (7-0, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) scored on six straight drives and surpassed the 30-point mark for a seventh straight game to open the season.

Will Shipley had 20 carries for 121 yards and six catches for 48 yards to help the Tigers to their seventh straight victory over the Seminoles.

Lawrance Toafili ran for 68 yards and Florida State (4-3, 2-3) accumulated 196 on the ground. Toafili also had six receptions for 45 yards, but the Seminoles dropped their third straight game.

NO. 5 MICHIGAN 41, NO. 10 PENN STATE 17

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) —Donovan Edwards had a go-ahead, 67-yard touchdown run and Blake Corum added a 61-yard run for a score on consecutive snaps in the third quarter as Michigan pulled away to top Penn State.

The Wolverines (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) finished with 418 yards rushing, gaining 7.6 yards per carry, against a team that was giving up fewer than 80 yards rushing per game to rank among college football’s leaders.

Despite having only one first down, the Nittany Lions (5-1, 2-1) took a 14-13 lead late in the first half after scoring two touchdowns in a 1-minute, 44-second span. Penn State went ahead again after the opening drive of the third quarter, but Edwards answered with a 67-yard run on the next play.

NO. 20 UTAH 43, NO. 7 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 42

SALT AKE CITY (AP) — Cameron Rising threw for 415 yards, ran for three touchdowns and scampered up the middle for a go-ahead two-point conversion with 48 seconds left in Utah’s victory over Southern California.

Rising rushed a yard for a touchdown on fourth down to set up the deciding conversion.

Caleb Williams threw for 381 yards and five touchdowns for Southern California (6-1, 4-1 Pac-12). Utah (5-2, 3-1) held the Trojans on their last-ditch drive, handing them their first loss as a record crowd of 53,609 shook Rice-Eccles Stadium and then flooded the field.

The Utes needed every one of Rising’s big plays with his legs and his arm during his career night. Rising, who was once committed to current USC coach Lincoln Riley when he was at Oklahoma, became the first Utah QB to throw for 400 yards since Brian Johnson had 417 against San Diego State in 2005.

Dalton Kincaid had 15 catches for 217 yards, the most for a Ute since Carl Harry had 255 yards in 1988.

NO. 13 TCU 43, NO. 8 OKLAHOMA STATE 40, 2 OT

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Kendre Miller scored on a 2-yard run in the second overtime and TCU beat Oklahoma State in a matchup of the Big 12’s last remaining undefeated teams.

Fans stormed the field after Miller got into the end zone for the Horned Frogs (6-0, 3-0), who had gone into the fourth quarter trailing by two touchdowns.

The teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, with receivers getting wide open for big plays.

Max Duggan threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Quentin Johnston on the second play of overtime for TCU. The Cowboys were then facing fourth-and-9 when Spencer Sanders found Braydon Johnson by himself for a 23-yard gain to the 1, setting up Dominic Richardson’s tying TD run.

Oklahoma State (5-1, 2-1) got the ball to start the second overtime, but after a holding penalty and three incomplete passes in a row, the Cowboys had to settle for Tanner Brown’s fourth field goal, a 52-yarder.

NO. 9 MISSISSIPPI 48, AUBURN 34

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Quinshon Judkins, Zach Evans and Jaxson Dart all ran for more than 100 yards and Mississippi rolled up 448 on the ground against Auburn,

The Rebels had three 100-yard rushers in a single game for the first time since 1976 and are 7-0 for just the second time since 1962 and first time since 2014.

Ole Miss (3-0 Southeastern Conference) raced to a 21-0 lead and never trailed, although Auburn (3-4, 1-3) pulled as close as 28-24 in the third quarter.

Judkins had 139 yards on 25 carries and scored on a 41-yard run with 6:26 remaining to build the final margin.

Tank Bigsby led Auburn with 179 yards on 20 carries with touchdown runs of 2 and 50 yards. The Tigers had 301 yards rushing, but three turnovers.

NO. 18 SYRACUSE 24, NO. 15 N.C. STATE 9

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Garrett Shrader threw two touchdown passes to Oronde Gadsden II, Sean Tucker scored on a 25-yard run late and Syracuse beat North Carolina State to remain unbeaten and become eligible for the postseason.

Syracuse (6-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) started a season with six wins for just the third time since 1935, taking advantage of the absence of the Wolfpack star quarterback, Devin Leary. The preseason conference player of the year has a torn pectoral muscle.

North Carolina State (5-2, 1-2), with Charleston Southern graduate transfer Jack Chambers making his first start at quarterback, struggled on offense.

NO. 22 KENTUCKY 27, NO. 16 MISSISSIPPI STATE 17

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Chris Rodriguez Jr. rushed for 196 yards and two second-half scores, Will Levis returned from a one-game absence to throw a go-ahead touchdown pass and Kentucky beat Mississippi State.

Rodriguez had season highs in yardage and carries (30) in his third game back from a suspension. He rushed for touchdowns of 16 and 7 yards. The Wildcats (5-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) sorely needed his second score for insurance, coming right after Emmanuel Forbes returned an interception 59 yards for a touchdown to get the Bulldogs (5-2, 2-2) to 20-17.

Levis started after missing last week’s 24-14 loss to South Carolina with a left foot injury.

OKLAHOMA 52, NO. 19 KANSAS 42

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Dillon Gabriel passed for 403 yards in his first game back after a concussion, and Oklahoma beat Kansas to end a three-game losing streak.

Gabriel was injured in the second quarter of Oklahoma’s loss to TCU on Oct. 1, and the offense had sputtered in nearly seven quarters without him heading into the Kansas game. But a week after the Sooners were held to 195 yards against Texas, Oklahoma (4-3, 1-3 Big 12) exploded for 701 yards.

Eric Gray ran for 176 yards, Marvin Mims had a career-high nine catches for 106 yards and Brayden Willis had five catches for a career-best 102 yards for the Sooners.

Backup quarterback Jason Bean passed for 265 yards and four touchdowns for Kansas (5-2, 2-2).

NO. 22 TEXAS 24, IOWA STATE 21

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Quinn Ewers threw for three touchdowns, linebacker Jaylan Ford produced two turnovers and Texas rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Iowa State.

Ewers’ third touchdown, a 3-yard pass to Xavier Worthy, put Texas (5-2, 3-1 Big 12) up for good with 4:43 remaining.

Ford ended Iowa State’s chance to re-take the lead, recovering a fumble by quarterback Hunter Dekkers deep in Texas territory with 2:28 to play. Moments earlier, it looked as if Iowa State (3-4, 0-4) might move back in front, but spectacular receiver Xavier Hutchinson dropped a pass at the 9.

NO. 24 ILLINOIS 26, MINNESOTA 14

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Chase Brown rushed for 180 yards on a career-high 41 carries and caught a 40-yard touchdown pass, Minnesota was limited to its fewest yards in five years, and Illinois won its fifth straight game.

The Illini (6-1, 3-1) became bowl eligible for the first time since 2019 and will end the day tied for first in the Big Ten West.

Mohamed Ibrahim rushed for 127 yards, his nation-leading 14th straight 100-yard game and the bulk of the Gophers’ 180 total yards. It was the fewest yards against Illinois by a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent since at least 2000.

Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan, held to just 21 yards on 4-for-12 passing, left early in the fourth quarter after taking a hit to the head. Athan Kaliakmanis entered for the Gophers (4-2, 1-2) and three two interceptions.

GEORGIA SOUTHERN 45, NO. 25 JAMES MADISON 38

STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Kyle Vantrease threw four touchdown passes, including a 22-yarder to Derwin Burgess Jr. with 1:10 remaining, and Georgia Southern spoiled James Madison’s first appearance in the AP Top 25.

Vantrease passed for a school-record 578 yards and had three receivers with more than 100 yards as the Eagles (4-3, 1-2 Sun Belt Conference) shredded James Madison’s proud defense.

James Madison (5-1, 3-1) led 14-0 early and 24-14 early in the second half. The Dukes, who moved into the Top 25 in their first FBS season by ranking second in the nation in total defense, couldn’t stop Georgia Southern’s comeback despite holding the Eagles to 12 rushing yards.