College football: BYU takes down No. 6 Wisconsin; No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 8 Notre Dame avoid upsets

By Associated Press

Sept. 15, 2018 11:30 PM PT

Squally Canada ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns and BYU handed mistake-prone Wisconsin its first nonconference home loss since 2003, giving the No. 6 Badgers fits with its motion offense in a 24-21 victory Saturday.

The Cougars (2-1) tossed in a trick play, too, when receiver Aleva Hifo found open tight end Moroni Laulu-Pututau for a 31-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

Wisconsin (2-1) had one last chance to avoid an upset with a drive that started with 3:55 left at the 8. But normally reliable senior kicker Rafael Gaglianone’s 42-yard field goal attempt to tie with 41 seconds left went wide left.

No. 5 Oklahoma 37, at Iowa State 27: Kyler Murray threw for 348 yards and three touchdowns and No. 5 Oklahoma held off Iowa State 37-27 on Saturday in the Big 12 opener for both teams at Ames, Iowa.

Marquise Brown had 191 yards receiving and a TD for the Sooners (3-0, 1-0 Big 12), who extended the nation’s longest road winning streak to 17 games while avenging a stunning home loss to the Cyclones a year ago.

Iowa State (0-2, 0-1) didn’t make it easy for the Sooners, rallying from a 14-point halftime deficit to make it 34-27 late in the third quarter. But the Sooners killed nearly eight minutes on a drive that ended with a 42-yard field goal from Austin Siebert with 2:51 left, and Parnell Motley’s interception with 1:11 to go sealed.

Backup Zeb Noland threw for a career-high 360 yards and a pair of long touchdown passes to Hakeem Butler for the Cyclones (0-2, 0-1), who were without starting quarterback Kyle Kempt (knee).

at No. 8 Notre Dame 22, Vanderbilt 17: Jalen Elliott knocked the ball loose from Vanderbilt receiver Kalija Lipscomb with 1:07 remaining to give Notre Dame a fourth-down stop and No. 8 Notre Dame held on for a 22-17 victory over the Commodores on Saturday.

Kyle Shurmur threw for 326 yards and one touchdown for Vanderbilt (2-1), rallying his team back from a 16-3 halftime deficit. His fourth-and-4 pass from the Notre Dame 31 to Lipscomb, who caught a game-high 11 passes, was nicely thrown and the receiver almost made a reaching catch at the 11. But the safety Elliott, with some help from the ground, knocked the ball loose and incomplete.

Tony Jones Jr. finished with 118 yards on 17 carries for Notre Dame (3-0). He also caught two passes from quarterback Brandon Wimbush for 56 yards.

No. 1 Alabama 62, at Mississippi 7: Tua Tagovailoa threw for 191 yards and two touchdowns, Jerry Jeudy caught two scoring passes and No. 1 Alabama buried Mississippi 62-7 on Saturday night.

Alabama (3-0) gave up a touchdown on the first play of the Southeastern Conference opener, but responded by scoring the next 62 points. The Tide’s offense had 516 total yards and was so effective that Tagovailoa’s evening was over by midway through the second quarter.

The left-handed sophomore completed 11 of 15 passes during his short time on the field. The Tide then turned to Jalen Hurts, who completed 7 of 10 passes for 85 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

at No. 2 Clemson 38, Georgia Southern 7: Travis Etienne ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers (3-0) and Trevor Lawrence threw for 194 yards, including a 57-yard score to fellow freshman Justyn Ross, in their first meeting with Georgia Southern (2-1) of the Sun Belt Conference.

Clemson was the lone major conference school in the Carolinas and Virginia to play on Saturday, although school officials did move the game up to noon instead of its planned 3:30 p.m. EDT start in deference to Florence, a one-time Category 4 hurricane that was a slow moving tropical storm by Saturday.

at No. 3 Georgia 49, Middle Tennessee 7: Jake Fromm threw three touchdown passes and Elijah Holyfield ran for 100 yards, each playing only the first half, as the Bulldogs overwhelmed the Blue Raiders.

Georgia led 42-7 at halftime. It was an impressive warmup for the Bulldogs’ stretch of seven straight Southeastern Conference games, beginning with next week’s visit to Missouri. There were clouds but no rain in the game that was moved up to a noon kickoff due to Tropical Storm Florence.

at No. 11 Penn State 63, Kent State 10: Trace McSorley accounted for five touchdowns and broke the Nittany Lions’ record for most rushing scores by a quarterback in the rout.

The Heisman Trophy hopeful completed 11 of 22 passes for 229 yards with an interception and ran for three touchdowns for Penn State (3-0), which led 28-10 at halftime over the Golden Flashes (1-2). McSorley surpassed Daryll Clark’s 22 rushing scores and leads the program with 24.

at No. 16 Mississippi State 56, Louisiana Lafayette 10: Nick Fitzgerald accounted for 350 yards of offense and six touchdowns to lead No. 16 Mississippi State to a 56-10 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday night.

Fitzgerald ran for 107 yards and four touchdowns, the second time he’s had four rushing touchdowns in a game. Fitzgerald also completed 14 of 21 passes 243 yards and two touchdowns.

Aeris Williams added 101 yards and a touchdown on the ground for Mississippi State (3-0). The Bulldogs totaled 607 yards of offense with 331 yards on the ground.

at No. 24 Oklahoma State 44, No. 17 Boise State 21: Taylor Cornelius ran for two touchdowns and passed for another to help No. 24 Oklahoma State beat No. 17 Boise State 44-21 on Saturday.

Justice Hill ran for 123 yards and a touchdown, and Tylan Wallace had five catches for 105 yards for the Cowboys (3-0). It was one of the most important nonconference wins in Mike Gundy’s 14-year tenure as coach.

Boise State’s Brett Rypien passed for 380 yards and three touchdowns, but was sacked seven times and pressured throughout the day. Jordan Brailford had three sacks, Jarrell Owens had two and Devin Harper had 1.5. Oklahoma State held the Broncos (2-1) to 34 yards rushing on 31 attempts.

at No. 19 Michigan 45, Southern Methodist 20: Shea Patterson threw three touchdown passes to Donovan Peoples-Jones, helping No. 19 Michigan pull away to beat SMU 45-20 on Saturday.

The Wolverines (2-1) didn’t score until Ben Mason converted a fourth down with a 1-yard TD run midway through the second quarter.

The Mustangs (0-3) responded with Ben Hicks’ 50-yard pass to James Proche to tie it.

No. 21 Miami 49, at Toledo 24: Malik Rosier threw for two touchdowns and ran for three more the Hurricanes (2-1) never trailed the Rockets (1-1), who twice pulled back to within a touchdown.

Rosier threw for 205 yards and ran for 80, and Jeff Thomas had five catches for 105 yards and a TD. The Hurricanes lost standout safety Jaquan Johnson late in the second quarter to an apparent injury. He was back on the sideline using a stationary bike during the second half, but Miami’s defense was not the same without him.

In other games:

— B.J. Smith scored on a 26-yard run midway through the fourth quarter and Will Sunderland made an interception in the final 3 minutes, giving Troy the cushion it needed to beat Nebraska 24-19 and deny new Cornhuskers coach Scott Frost his first win. The Huskers have lost their first two games for the first time since 1957 and have dropped six straight home games. The Trojans (2-1) of the Sun Belt Conference took down a power-five conference opponent for the second straight year. Last year they won at then-No. 25 LSU.

— Tommy DeVito scored on a 3-yard run and hit tight end Ravian Pierce with a 3-yard score, and Syracuse (3-0, 1-0 ACC) overcame an injury to starting quarterback Eric Dungey for a 30-7 victory over Florida State (1-2, 0-2) in the sweltering heat of the Carrier Dome.

— Qadree Ollison ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns and Pittsburgh’s defense kept Georgia Tech’s triple-option in check during a 24-19 victory in the ACC opener for both teams. Ollison scored on runs of 31 and 8 yards for the Panthers (2-1, 1-0), who bounced back from an ugly blowout loss to rival Penn State by jumping on the Yellow Jackets (1-2, 0-1) early and then holding on late.

— Ty Chandler rushed for 158 yards and had an 81-yard touchdown early in the third quarter and the Volunteers (2-1) coasted to a 24-0 victory over UTEP (0-3) in Knoxville.

— Temple stuffed Maryland’s potent offense, Anthony Russo threw for 228 yards and the Owls (1-2) pulled off a 35-14 upset over the Terrapins (2-1) in College Park, Md.

Other scores:

Texas 37, No. 22 USC 14

Fresno State 38, UCLA 14

No. 9 Stanford 30, UC Davis 10

No. 10 Washington 21, Utah 7

No. 20 Oregon 35, San Jose State 22

San Diego State 28, No. 23 Arizona State 21

Arizona 62, Southern Utah 31

California 45, Idaho State 23

Colorado 45, New Hampshire 14

Washington State 59, Eastern Washington 24

No. 4 Ohio State 40, Texas Christian 28