Associated Press

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Kyle Trask and No. 6 Florida look nowhere near ready for top-ranked Alabama.

Max Johnson threw three touchdown passes in his first college start, Cade York kicked a 57-yard field goal with 23 seconds remaining and reigning national champion LSU stunned the Gators 37-34 on a cool and foggy Saturday night in the Swamp.

York drilled his kick through the dense fog and the uprights, leaving Florida with a final shot. Trask got the Gators (8-2) in position to tie it, but Evan McPherson was wide left from 51 yards on the final play. LSU (4-5) celebrated wildly all over the field.

Johnson had a lot to do with the outcome.

The son of former Super Bowl champion Brad Johnson repeatedly torched Florida’s beleaguered defense. He threw for 239 yards, nearly half of them (108) to Kayshon Boutte, and ran for 52 more.

 

NO. 1 ALABAMA 52, ARKANSAS 3

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — DeVonta Smith returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown as Alabama scored 28 points in a span of 11 minutes in the first half and rolled past Arkansas.

After the teams traded field goals, Smith started the Crimson Tide (10-0, CFP No. 1) spree. Najee Harris scored touchdowns 14 seconds apart and a final plunge from 1 yard by Brian Robinson Jr. had Alabama cruising toward the Southeastern Conference championship game next week against No. 6 Florida.

It was an otherwise quiet day for Smith, with three catches for 22 yards, but the receiver bolstered his surging case for Heisman Trophy consideration on one play.
Crimson Tide defenders racked up eight sacks, the fifth of which resulted in a fumble by quarterback Feliepe Franks that was was recovered by DJ Dale at the Razorbacks 4. Harris scored on the next play.

Alabama allowed just 188 yards and kept Arkansas (3-7) from registering a first down during a streak of seven straight possessions from the first quarter to the third.

 

NO. 11 COASTAL CAROLINA 52, TROY 38

TROY, Ala. (AP) — Grayson McCall threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Jaivon Heiligh with 45 seconds left and Coastal Carolina beat Troy to complete its first perfect regular season.

McCall needed just 45 seconds to move the Chanticleers (11-0, 8-0 Sun Belt), who didn’t have any timeouts, 75 yards for the score. He completed all four of his passes, three of them to Heiligh.

Coastal Carolina survived a sandwich game between an upset of then-No. 8 BYU and the league title game against No. 17 Louisiana-Lafayette. The Trojans (5-6, 3-4) didn’t make it easy for the highest-ranked team to visit Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Backup quarterback Jacob Free, who replaced an injured Gunnar Watson in the fourth quarter, hit Tray Eafford on a 6-yard touchdown with 1:20 left. The play was set up with an interception by star middle linebacker Carlton Martial, who also had 21 tackles.

NO. 19 IOWA 28, NO. 25 WISCONSIN 7

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Spencer Petras threw for 211 yards and two touchdowns to Ihmir Smith-Marsette to lead Iowa past Wisconsin for the Hawkeyes’ sixth win in a row.

Iowa (6-2) beat the Badgers (2-3) for the first time since 2015 to reclaim the Heartland Trophy. Hawkeyes players celebrated by making snow angels after flurries picked up in the second half and blanketed the field in white.

Iowa’s offense came alive in the second half after both teams struggled in the first. Petras found Smith-Marsette for 19-yard touchdown in the third quarter to give the Hawkeyes a 14-0 lead.

Smith-Marsette finished with seven catches for 140 yards, and Tyler Goodson had 106 yards rushing.

The Badgers gained just 225 total yards, 56 on the ground.

NO. 20 NORTH CAROLINA 62, NO. 9 MIAMI 26

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Michael Carter and Javonte Williams set an NCAA record by combining for 544 yards rushing, and North Carolina embarrassed Miami in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Carter ran for 308 yards and two touchdowns, and Williams had 236 yards and three touchdowns for the Tar Heels (8-3, 7-3 Atlantic Coast Conference). Per the NCAA, it was the seventh time teammates each ran for at least 200 yards, the first since 2016 and the first such instance in ACC history.

And the numbers only got worse for Miami (8-2, 7-2). Carter and Williams’s combined total topped the NCAA’s listed FBS record for teammates, set on Nov. 30 when Jaret Patterson (409) and Kevin Marks (97) rushed for 506 for Buffalo against Kent State.

North Carolina finished with 778 yards — the most ever yielded by Miami and a Tar Heels record — and 554 yards rushing, also the most allowed in Hurricanes history. Sam Howell threw for a score, ran for a score and caught a TD pass for the Tar Heels.

It was the third-most points allowed in Miami history, the most since 66 for Syracuse in 1998. The record is 70 by Texas A&M in 1944.

NO. 12 GEORGIA 49, MISSOURI 14

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — JT Daniels threw three touchdown passes, two to George Pickens, and Georgia routed Missouri.

Zamir White ran for 126 yards and a score for Georgia (7-2). Missouri (5-4) managed just 200 yards of offense after topping the 600-yard mark each of the past two weeks.

The game was tied at 14 when Pickens reached to his shoe tops to gather in a 36-yard touchdown toss from Daniels in the final minute of the first half. The pair connected again on the first drive of the second half, with Pickens catching a short pass on a slant route, stepping out of a tackle attempt and racing 31 yards for a score.

Daniels completed 16 of 27 passes for 299 yards. Pickens caught five passes for 126 yards and James Cook caught a TD pass and ran for a score.

NO. 15 NORTHWESTERN 28, ILLINOIS 10

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Cam Porter ran for a career-high 142 yards and two touchdowns, Evan Hull added a season-best 149 yards on the ground, and Northwestern tuned up for the Big Ten championship game by beating Illinois.

Porter came in with just 32 yards and one TD. But the freshman broke out in a big way, leading the Wildcats (6-1, No. 14 CFP) to an easy victory over the Illini (2-5).
Northwestern’s focus now shifts to the Big Ten championship game against No. 3 Ohio State next week. It’s the second title matchup in three years between the teams.

Northwestern won the Big Ten West after finishing last in the division in 2019.

UTAH 38, NO. 21 COLORADO 21

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Ty Jordan scored twice, including a sealing 66-yard burst, and Utah’s revamped defense forced three turnovers to help the Utes rally past Colorado in the snow to thwart the Buffaloes’ Pac-12 title hopes.

The soon-to-be-unseated Pac-12 South champion Utes (2-2, 2-2 Pac-12) found their footing on the frozen field in the second half, turning around a 21-10 deficit by scoring 28 straight points.

Colorado freshman receiver/returner Brenden Rice, the son of Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice, showed off his speed by scoring twice — on an 81-yard punt return and on a 61-yard catch off a bubble screen. But it wasn’t enough as the Buffaloes (4-1, 3-1, No. 21 CFP) suffered their first loss under new coach Karl Dorrell during the earliest kickoff (10:05 a.m. local time) in Folsom Field history.

NO. 24 BUFFALO 56, AKRON 7

AMHERST, N.Y. (AP) — Jaret Patterson ran for 105 yards and matched a major college football record by reaching 1,000 yards for the season in five games, helping Buffalo rout Akron in a tune-up for the Mid-American Conference championship against Ball State.

Patterson scored two touchdowns before halftime, bringing his season totals to 1,025 yards and 18 rushing TDs for the Bulls (5-0). He is the 12th player in FBS history to surpass 1,000 yards in five games. Kevin Marks Jr. led the Bulls with a career-high 175 yards and two touchdowns.

Akron (1-5) has lost 12 consecutive road games.