Top 25 roundup: No. 4 Ohio State rallies late to edge No. 9 Penn State

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Dwayne Haskins threw two touchdown passes in the final seven minutes and No. 4 Ohio State wiped out a 12-point deficit to beat No. 9 Penn State 27-26 on Saturday night in another wild game between the Big Ten powerhouses.

Trace McSorley had 461 total yards, including a career-high 175 rushing, and threw two touchdown passes, and the Nittany Lions (4-1, 1-1) went up 26-14 with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter on Miles Sanders’s 1-yard plunge.

For the second straight season, Ohio State (5-0, 2-0) made a fourth-quarter rally from a double-digit deficit. Haskins connected with Binjimen Victor, who weaved and slipped through tacklers for a 47-yard touchdown catch and run that cut it to 26-21 with 6:42 left.

Penn State could not put the Buckeyes away with a closing drive, but the Nittany Lions buried Haskins and Ohio State at their own 4 with 4:35 left on the clock.

A screen to J.K. Dobbins got 35 and took Ohio State out of the hole. Mixing runs and passes, the Buckeyes worked their way into Penn State territory. Haskins hit K.J. Hill with a quick pass to the outside and the receiver picked up a couple of blocks, broke a tackle and went in for a 24-yard score that made it 27-26 with 2:03 left.

McSorley and Penn State could not come up with a response. On fourth-and-5 from the Ohio State 43, McSorley handed off to Sanders on a read option and his was smothered by Chase Young, who had a huge game at defensive end for Ohio State.

(1) Alabama 56, Louisiana-Lafayette 14: Quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts staked the Crimson Tide (5-0) to a 49-0 halftime lead over the Ragin’ Cajuns (1-3) en route to the defending national champions’ latest blowout in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Then third-teamer Mac Jones got into the act with his 94-yarder to the freshman Waddle late in the third quarter. It tied for the second-longest TD catch in Alabama history. Alabama has scored at least 45 points five games in a row for the first time in program history.

Tagovailoa completed all eight of his attempts for 128 yards and two touchdowns, mostly in the first quarter. Hurts was 4 of 6 for 118 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown to Henry Ruggs III.

Ruggs caught five passes for 116 yards and two TDs. Waddle gained 138 yards on three catches and returned a punt 63 yards for a score.

(2) Georgia 38, Tennessee 12: D’Andre Swift ran for two touchdowns, including a late 14-yarder, and Georgia used dominant defense to overcome a sluggish offensive start in Athens, Georgia.

Freshman quarterback Justin Fields scored on runs of 12 and 15 yards, and Isaac Nauta had a 31-yard fumble return for a score. The Bulldogs led by 12 points early in the final quarter before pulling away.

Georgia (5-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) scored touchdowns on its last drive of the first half and opening possession after halftime but otherwise couldn’t maintain momentum. Jake Fromm completed 16 of 22 passes for 185 yards while sharing time with Fields.

Tennessee (2-3, 0-2) was held to 209 yards.

(3) Clemson 27, Syracuse 23: With new starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence knocked out of the game, Travis Etienne scored on a 2-yard run with 41 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Tigers a win in Clemson, South Carolina.

Etienne had three TDs and a career-high 203 yards rushing to bail out the quarterback-depleted Tigers (5-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). They went from having one too many starting-caliber QBs earlier in the week to not enough by the second half against the Orange (4-1, 1-1).

Lawrence left his first career start late in the second quarter with a possible concussion. Lawrence was promoted to starter earlier in the week by coach Dabo Swinney and that prompted senior Kelly Bryant, who had started the first four games and led the Tigers to the College Football Playoff last year, to leave the team. That left one-time third-stringer Chase Brice to lead the comeback – and it looked bleak when Syracuse’s Eric Dungey bulled his way in for a 1-yard score with 12:58 remaining to make it 23-13.

Etienne’s 26-yard touchdown run with 11:08 to go drew Clemson within a field goal and Brice, a redshirt freshman with just eight career passes, directed a 94-yard scoring drive that included a 20-yard completion on fourth-and-6 to keep things going.

Dungey was sacked twice by freshman Xavier Thomas on Syracuse’s final drive. The Orange were trying for their first 5-0 start since 1987. Dungey finished with two rushing touchdowns. He was 26 of 41 passing for 250 yards and an interception.

(5) LSU 45, Ole Miss 16: Joe Burrow passed for 292 yards and three touchdowns, rushed for 96 yards and another score, and the Tigers routed the Rebels in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Burrow had his best game by far for LSU (5-0, 2-0 SEC) since arriving this year as a graduate transfer from Ohio State, completing 18 of 25 passes to nine different receivers. His 388 yards of total offense were fourth-most in a single game in LSU history.

Two of his touchdown passes went to Justin Jefferson, the first for 65 yards on a crossing route.

Freshman Ja’Marr Chase scored LSU’s first touchdown with a difficult leaping grab of a 21-yard timing pass along the sideline.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Nick Brossette each had short TDs rushing and LSU finished with 281 yards on the ground for 573 yards of total offense.

LSU dominated much of the game, but two turnovers let the Rebels (3-2, 0-2) hang around until late in the third quarter.

(6) Oklahoma 66, Baylor 33: Kyler Murray sat out Oklahoma’s first offensive series then came on to pass for 432 yards and six touchdowns in Norman, Oklahoma.

Austin Kendall opened the game, but Murray entered on the second possession and played nearly flawless football. His passing touchdown total tied for second-best in school history behind Baker Mayfield’s seven against Texas Tech in 2016. The school would not say why Murray didn’t start.

Murray also ran for 45 yards and a score for the Sooners (5-0, 2-0 Big 12).

Marquise Brown caught five passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns, CeeDee Lamb had 101 yards receiving and Lee Morris caught two touchdown passes for the Sooners.

Murray completed 10 of 11 passes for 192 yards and four touchdowns in the first half to help the Sooners take a 28-9 lead. Murray threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Brown later in the third quarter, then scored on a 1-yard run on an untimed down on the last play of the period to put the Sooners up 49-23.

Charlie Brewer passed for 400 yards and two touchdowns, and Denzel Mims had 11 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown for Baylor (3-2, 1-1).

(10) Auburn 24, Southern Miss 13: Jarrett Stidham threw for 245 yards and two touchdowns and Auburn beat Southern Miss in a game disrupted for nearly three hours by lightning in Auburn, Alabama.

Playing behind a shuffled offensive line, Stidham completed 19 of 33 attempts, including touchdowns of 46 yards to Seth Williams and 2 yards to Chandler Cox.

The Tigers (4-1) had built a 14-3 lead in the first half before the game was delayed for 2 hours, 44 minutes at the 4:27 mark of the second quarter. Williams finished with two receptions for 60 yards, including the freshman’s first career score. Darius Slayton led Auburn with five catches for 91 yards.

Southern Miss is 2-2.

(12) West Virginia 42, (25) Texas Tech 34: Will Grier threw for 370 yards and three touchdowns, Keith Washington thwarted a rally with a 51-yard interception return for a score for West Virginia in Lubbock, Texas.

Marcus Simms had nine catches for a career-high 138 yards – all in the first half – for his third straight 100-yard game. The Mountaineers (4-0, 2-0 Big 12) scored 28 first-quarter points.

Texas Tech true freshman Alan Bowman, the nation’s leading passer coming in, didn’t return after getting injured in the first half when he was sandwiched on hits by Ezekiel Rose and Washington as he threw a pass.

Jett Dudley had his first career touchdown pass and TD run filling in for Bowman as the Red Raiders (3-2, 1-1) stayed close after trailing 35-10 at halftime.

With Texas Tech driving for a potential tying score late in the fourth quarter, Duffey’s second interception was a leaping grab by Washington, who returned it for a 42-27 lead.

(13) UCF 45, Pittsburgh 14: McKenzie Milton threw for 328 yards and four touchdowns and UCF extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 17 games in Orlando, Florida.

A week after accounting for six TDs in a lopsided victory over Florida Atlantic, Milton also ran for two scores to give the junior from Hawaii seven TDs passing and five rushing in his past two games.

UCF (4-0) now moves into the heart of its American Athletic Conference schedule, hoping to go undefeated for the second straight year to play its way into consideration for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Pitt dropped to 2-3.

(14) Michigan 20, Northwestern 17: Karan Higdon ran for 115 yards and two touchdowns, Shea Patterson threw 196 yards and No. 14 Michigan overcame a 17-point deficit in Evanston, Illinois.

Higdon gave the Wolverines (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) the lead with a 5-yard run with 4:06 remaining. Higdon averaged 3.8 yards on 30 carries, and Patterson completed 15 of 24 passes to help Michigan win its fourth straight. Michigan held Northwestern to 97 yards of total offense in the final three quarters and had six sacks for the game.

Clayton Thorson completed 16 of 27 passes for 174 yards for Northwestern (1-3, 1-1) in the Wildcats’ third straight loss.

(17) Kentucky 24, South Carolina 10: Benny Snell Jr. ran for 99 yards and one of Kentucky’s three consecutive first-half touchdowns and the Wildcats held off South Carolina in Lexington, Kentucky.

Kentucky (5-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) quashed initial concerns about a letdown following their first Top 25 ranking since November 2007 by scoring on four straight drives to lead 24-3 at halftime. The Wildcats ended up needing that cushion to offset a scoreless second half and Jake Bentley’s 58-yard, third quarter TD pass that kept the Gamecocks (2-2, 1-2) within striking distance.

Mike Edwards’ interception with 3:47 remaining snuffed one chance by the Gamecocks before they turned the ball over on downs in the final minute. That sealed Kentucky’s fifth consecutive series win and continued its best SEC start since 1977.

(18) Texas 19, Kansas State 14: Sam Ehlinger threw for 207 yards and a touchdown, D’Shawn Jamison returned a punt 90 yards for another score and Texas snapped a five-game road losing streak to Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas.

Keaontay Ingram churned for a first down with less than three minutes to go, allowing the red-hot Longhorns (4-1, 2-0 Big 12) to run out the clock after blowing much of a 19-0 halftime lead.

Skylar Thompson threw for 96 yards in relief of ineffective quarterback Alex Delton, and he led the Wildcats (2-3, 0-2) to a pair of touchdowns in the second half. But after they got the ball back with 7:12 to go, Thompson threw a pair of incompletions as Kansas State went three-and-out, and coach Bill Snyder’s offense never got another opportunity with the ball.

The Longhorns leaned on their defense in the opening half, getting a pair of sacks by Charles Omenihu – one for a safety – while shutting down Kansas State’s powerful run game.

(21) Michigan State 31, Central Michigan 20: Brian Lewerke ran for two touchdowns in the first half, and Michigan State overcame a slow start and an underwhelming finish in East Lansing, Michigan.

The Spartans (3-1) entered with the nation’s top-ranked run defense and held CMU (1-4) to 5 yards on the ground in the first half. Michigan State led 31-3 before letting the Chippewas rally.

Connor Heyward and La’Darius Jefferson also ran for touchdowns for the Spartans.

Virginia Tech 31, (22) Duke 14: Ryan Willis threw for 332 yards and a career-best three touchdowns in his first start at Virginia Tech in a win in Durham, North Carolina.

Willis, a transfer from Kansas taking over for injured starter Josh Jackson, was 17 of 27 with a 27-yard TD pass to Damon Hazelton, a 67-yard catch-and-run score to Dalton Keene and a game-sealing 10-yarder to Phil Patterson.

Humiliated in a 14-point loss at Old Dominion last week, the Hokies (2-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) bounced back strong against the Blue Devils (4-1, 0-1).

Ranked for the first time since 2015, Duke was denied its first 5-0 start since 1994 and instead saw the end of a seven-game winning streak that dated to last season.

Florida 13, (23) Mississippi State 6: Feleipe Franks threw for 219 yards and Florida’s defense dominated in Starkville, Mississippi.

Coach Dan Mullen won in his return to Starkville, guiding Florida to success in his first appearance at Davis Wade Stadium since leaving Mississippi State in November after nine mostly successful seasons.

Florida wasn’t great offensively, but it didn’t matter. The Gators (4-1, 2-1) broke through in the third quarter when Franks threw a lateral to Kadarius Toney, who then threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Moral Stephens for a 10-6 lead.

From that point forward, Florida slowly grinded toward the win. A 10-play, 36-yard drive in the fourth quarter led to a 21-yard field goal by Evan McPherson – giving the Gators a 13-6 lead – and the Mississippi State offense was never able to respond. Mississippi State (3-2, 0-2) had its chances to win and led 6-3 at halftime.