NO. 1 GEORGIA 27, AUBURN 20
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — With Georgia’s No. 1 ranking and lengthy winning streak on the line, Brock Bowers caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from Carson Beck in the final minutes of a 27-20 victory over Auburn on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) made it the Beck-and-Bowers show in the fourth quarter to bail out of another slow start and SEC scare. Georgia’s school-record winning streak ultimately stretched to 22 games, even if the Bulldogs only dominated when they absolutely had to.
Auburn (3-2, 0-2), which led 10-0 after the first quarter, tied it on Alex McPherson’s 42-yard field goal with 10:57 left. Auburn’s final drive was halted with a fourth-down interception by Malaki Starks just across midfield.
Payton Thorne passed for 82 yards with the interception and ran for 92 yards for the Tigers, including an early 61-yarder.
NO. 2 MICHIGAN 45, NEBRASKA 7
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — J.J. McCarthy threw two touchdown passes to Roman Wilson and ran for another score to help Michigan rout Nebraska.
Michigan (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) made fast work of the Cornhuskers (2-3, 0-2), scoring on its first three possessions and leading 28-0 at the half.
The Wolverines came in having allowed a nation-low 5.8 points per game, and they held the Huskers scoreless until the final five minutes.
The Huskers, who came in as the top rushing team in the Big Ten, were held to a season-low 106 yards on the ground.
NO. 3 TEXAS 40, NO. 24 KANSAS 14
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Jonathon Brooks ran for 217 yards and two touchdowns to lead Texas past Kansas, which lost standout quarterback Jalon Daniels in the pregame warmups because of back stiffness.
Quinn Ewers passed for 325 yards and ran 30 yards for the game’s first score. Texas (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) also got another standout game from its defense, which has surrendered just three touchdowns in the past three games.
Texas finished with 336 yards rushing and 661 yards overall, and wore down Kansas (4-1, 1-1) in the second half.
NO. 6 PENN STATE 41, NORTHWESTERN 13
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Drew Allar threw for a touchdown and ran for another score in Penn State’s victory over Northwestern.
The Nittany Lions (5-0, 3-0 Big Ten) buried the Wildcats (2-3, 1-2) in the second half, scoring 17 points in the third quarter to break open a game that was tied at 10 at halftime. They won their 10th in a row since losing to Ohio State last October.
Allar completed 18 of 33 passes for 189 yards. Nick Singleton ran for 80 yards and a score and had a touchdown catch. Trey Potts also ran for a TD and caught one.
NO. 7 WASHINGTON 31, ARIZONA 24
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Michael Penix Jr. threw for 363 yards, Dillon Johnson ran for two touchdowns and Washington picked apart Arizona.
Penix completed 30 of 40 passes for the Huskies (5-0, 2-0 Pac-12) in their 12th straight victory over two seasons.
Coming off a one-point win at Stanford, Arizona (3-2, 1-1) had few answers for Washington’s offense and didn’t do enough when it had the ball to pull.
Noah Fifita threw for 232 yards and three touchdowns with an interception in his first career start. He hit Tetairoa McMillan on a 10-yard touchdown pass to pull Arizona to 31-24 with 1:11 left, but Washington recovered the onside kick.
NO. 8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 48, COLORADO 41
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Caleb Williams threw for 403 yards and tied a career high with six touchdown passes as Southern California held off Colorado.
Leading 34-7 in the second quarter, the Trojans saw Colorado storm back to make it a one-score game with 1:43 remaining on Shedeur Sanders’ 16-yard TD strike to Jimmy Horn Jr. The Trojans recovered the onside-kick attempt and Williams kneeled three times to close out the win.
The Trojans (5-0, 3-0 Pac-12) improved to 17-0 against the Buffaloes (3-2, 0-2), who were knocked off for a second straight week after a 3-0 start that made Deion Sanders’ team the biggest story in college football.
Sanders finished with 371 yards passing and four touchdowns, along with a 25-yard scamper for a score just before halftime. He had one interception.
NO. 9 OREGON 42, STANFORD 6
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Bo Nix threw touchdown passes on the first four drives of the second half and Oregon shook off a shaky start against Stanford by scoring TDs on six of seven possessions.
Oregon (5-0, 2-0 Pac-12) took nearly 20 minutes to gain its initial first down of the game as the Ducks started off slowly after last week’s emotional win over Colorado and with a showdown against No. 7 Washington coming in the next game.
But Oregon then took over the game from there against overmatched Stanford (1-4, 0-3) and avoided a repeat of a slipup here similar to the one two years ago.
Nix completed 27 of 32 passes for 290 yards.
NO. 11 NOTRE DAME 21, NO. 17 DUKE 14
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Audric Estime sneaked through a crowd and broke free for a 30-yard touchdown run with 31 seconds left, capping a clutch long drive by Notre Dame, leading the Fighting Irish past Duke.
Estime’s run capped a 95-yard drive, one pushed by transfer quarterback Sam Hartman making multiple big plays with the Fighting Irish (5-1) trailing 14-13. That included on a fourth-and-16 play in the final minute, with Hartman unable to find anyone downfield as he scrambled to his right before taking off and getting just enough — 17 yards, with a hard collision at the end of it — to keep Notre Dame alive.
Estime followed with the winning score two plays later, then Hartman hit Rico Flores on the 2-point conversion to make it a seven-point game.
Duke (4-1) had a final chance to tie it, but quarterback Riley Leonard was stripped of the ball by Howard Cross III while trying to throw, leading to a loose ball recovered by the Irish.
NO. 12 ALABAMA 40, MISSISSIPPI STATE 17
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Jalen Milroe was efficient at quarterback for labama and the Crimson Tide scored touchdowns off two first-half interceptions in a victory over Mississippi State.
Milroe completed his first eight passes and ended up 10 of 12 for 164 yards. He ran 11 times for 69 yards and two touchdowns — opening the scoring on a 53-yard scamper — to help Alabama (4-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) to its 16th straight victory over the Bulldogs (2-3, 0-3).
Mississippi State’s Will Rogers was 15 of 26 for 107 yards and a touchdown with three interceptions.
Chris Braswell returned one of Rogers’ interceptions 28 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.
NO. 20 MISSISSIPPI 55, NO. 13 LSU 49
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Jaxson Dart threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Tre Harris with 39 seconds remaining as Mississippi rallied past LSU before a school-record crowd of 66,703.
Ole Miss (4-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) survived a final play incomplete pass to the end zone from the 25 by LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels that sailed slightly above Chris Hilton Jr., sandwiched between two Rebels defenders.
The teams combined for 1,343 yards of total offense, 14 touchdowns, two late lead changes and strong individual performances from both quarterbacks, with Dart throwing four TD passes. Dart, who also rushed for a touchdown, finished 26 of 39 passing for 389 yards. He ran for 50 yards and successfully rallied the Rebels from 49-40 down in the final 8:34.
Jayden Daniels was 27 of 36 for 414 yards and four touchdowns — three to Brian Thomas Jr. — for LSU (3-2, 2-1).
NO. 14 OKLAHOMA 50, IOWA STATE 20
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Dillon Gabriel passed for 366 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two scores and Oklahoma rolled past Iowa State on Saturday night to set up a battle of unbeatens against Texas at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
Third-ranked Texas did its part by beating Kansas. Now, the longtime rivals will face off in their game in Dallas as members of the Big 12 before moving to the Southeastern Conference next year.
Iowa State (2-3, 1-1 Big 12) pulled to 21-17 on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Rocco Becht to Jayden Higgins, and Chase Contreraz’s field goal made it 21-20 with 9:06 left in the second quarter. Oklahoma (5-0, 2-0) did not allow another point.
NO. 21 TENNESSEE 41, SOUTH CAROLINA 20
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Joe Milton threw for 231 yards and Tennessee sacked Spencer Rattler six times in a victory over South Carolina.
Jaylen Wright ran for 123 yards and a touchdown for the Volunteers (4-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) in their first game against the Gamecocks (2-3, 1-2) since a meltdown last season that cost them a spot in the College Football Playoffs.
Kamal Hadden returned an interception 28 yards for a touchdown to give Tennessee a 24-10 lead at halftime.
Rattler threw for 164 yards and Mario Anderson ran for 101 yards, with a 75-yarder for a score.
KENTUCKY 33, NO. 22 FLORIDA 14
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Ray Davis ran for a career-high 280 yards and scored four touchdowns, including three in the first half, to help Kentucky beat Florida.
The Vanderbilt transfer established a career rushing best with 206 yards before the break alone.
Kentucky (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) totaled 398 yards against the SEC’s top overall and scoring defense, which entered the game yielding just 224 yards and 13.5 points per outing. The Wildcats also beat the Gators (3-2, 1-1) for the third consecutive time — their first such streak since winning four in a row from 1948-51 — and fourth in six meetings.
NO. 23 MISSOURI 38, VANDERBILT 21
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brady Cook threw for a career-high 395 yards and four touchdowns and Missouri beat Vanderbilt to continue its best start since 2013.
The Tigers (5-0) opened the Southeastern Conference portion of their schedule with their fifth straight victory. That puts them two victories from matching 2013 when the Tigers won their first seven games en route to the SEC Eastern Division title and a berth in the conference championship.
Vanderbilt (2-4, 0-2) has lost four straight.
NO. 25 FRESNO STATE 27, NEVADA 9
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Mikey Keene connected with Jaelen Gill on two touchdown passes, Malik Sherod had 12 carries for 123 yards and a score and Fresno State beat winless Nevada for its 14th straight victory.
Fresno State (5-0, 1-0 Mountain West) is off to its best start since opening 10-0 in 2013. The 14-game winning streak is the second-longest active run in the nation (Georgia, 22 in a row) and the second-longest in program history. The Bulldogs won 17 in a row in 1988-89.
Keene was 26 of 34 for 269 yards with two interceptions. He connected with Gill on a 65-yard touchdown to open the scoring midway through the first quarter and Sherod had a 72-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
