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No. 4 Notre Dame takes big lead, then holds off No. 1 Miami in a classic
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- No. 4 Notre Dame takes big lead, then holds off No. 1 Miami in a classic
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — CJ Carr threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 4 Notre Dame avenged its most damaging loss from last season by running out to a 21-point lead and holding on to beat No. 1 Miami 31-24 on Saturday night.
Micah Gilbert caught two of those scoring passes, Jordan Faison had the other and Nolan James Jr. had a rushing score for Notre Dame (8-1, No. 11 College Football Playoff), which came into the game knowing another loss to Miami could doom its national championship hopes.
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Not to worry. The Hurricanes (8-1, No. 1 CFP) started slowly on offense in their first game without injured wide receiver and Heisman Trophy hopeful Malachi Toney — and Notre Dame, which lost to Miami 27-24 last season in a game that ultimately kept the Irish out of the playoff, never trailed.
Darian Mensah threw three touchdown passes for Miami, twice getting the Hurricanes within a touchdown after they trailed 24-3 early in the third. Cooper Barkate had a pair of those scoring grabs, and Elija Lofton had the other.
NO. 2 GEORGIA 42, NO. 12 MISSISSIPPI 7
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Gunner Stockton passed for four touchdowns and ran for another Saturday night as Georgia coasted to a win over Mississippi.
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Georgia (8-1, 6-1 Southeastern Conference, No. 2 CFP) dominated the opening 22 minutes with touchdown drives of 72, 96, 61 and 50 yards while Ole Miss crossed midfield once.
Stockton finished 9 of 15 passing for 186 yards, directing the Bulldogs to a 28-0 halftime lead. Georgia finished with 482 yards of offense, 298 in the first half.
The Bulldogs' impressive all-around performance could elevate them into the top spot in the AP Top 25 after No. 1 Miami lost at No. 4 Notre Dame .
Talyn Taylor had touchdown receptions of 3, 6 and 65 yards, while Ethan Barbour had a 58-yard TD catch. Taylor finished with 140 yards on four receptions.
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Craig Dandridge Jr. had a 4-yard touchdown run and Stockton rushed for a 15-yard score. The Bulldogs rushed for 295 yards, led by Nate Frazier with 107 yards on 16 carries.
NO. 3 UTAH 28, NO. 7 BYU 20
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Devon Dampier accounted for four touchdowns, Utah intercepted four Bear Bachmeier passes and the Utes remained undefeated with a victory over BYU.
Dampier hurt the Cougars with with his arm and legs, finishing with 264 yards of offense to help the Utes (9-0, 6-0 Big 12, No. 3 CFP) snap a three-game losing streak in the Holy War rivalry series. He threw two touchdown passes to Braden Pegan and ran for two more scores.
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Trailing by six at halftime, Utah forced three turnovers and shut out the Cougars (7-2, 4-2, No. 9 CFP) in the second half to keep alive its College Football Playoff hopes. BYU has lost two of three to dampen its CFP chances.
Bachmeier threw for 272 yards and a touchdown and ran for 59 yards, but he had two of his four interceptions in the fourth quarter — both in the end zone. He had four interceptions in BYU's first eight games.
Down 20-14 at halftime, Utah went ahead in the third quarter on Pegan's 14-yard TD catch while its defense held BYU to 39 yards and had an interception during that stretch. Dampier's second TD run — this one from 5 yards out — gave Utah a 28-20 lead with 12:03 left.
Bachmeier marched BYU down to the Utah 2 but threw an interception to Trey Reynolds with 4:39 remaining. Nate Ritchie picked off another Bachmeier pass in the end zone in the final seconds after the Cougars had reached the Utah 41.
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NO. 5 UCLA 34, MINNESOTA 20
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ty Dieffenbach threw two 75-yard touchdown passes to Aidan Mizell in the fourth quarter for UCLA, as the Bruins sped away from Minnesota to stay undefeated with a victory.
Wayne Knight rushed for 109 yards and his 15th score of the season to help keep the Bruins (9-0, 6-0) atop the Big Ten and boost their College Football Playoff bid after landing eighth in the first ranking this week.
Dieffenbach, who took over a month ago for the injured Nico Iamaleava, had a career-high 303 yards on just eight completions to overcome an interception and a lost fumble. He found Mizell, a transfer from Florida, streaking through the secondary on consecutive one-play possessions to fend off the Gophers (5-4, 3-3).
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The Bruins have been the breakout story in major college football behind first-year coach Bob Chesney, who took James Madison to a playoff spot last season and has tied the largest year-over-year turnaround in program history. UCLA went 3-9 in 2025.
Drake Lindsey passed for 205 yards and a touchdown to freshman tight end George Rohl that tied the game at 17 in the third quarter, but the defense wore down in the second half after keeping the Gophers right there with the Bruins before the coverage breakdowns on the track-speedy Mizell.
NO. 16 TENNESSEE 34, NO. 8 KENTUCKY 6
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Daune Morris had an 66-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and Tennessee's stifling defense shut down Kentucky.
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The Volunteers (7-2, 4-2 in Southeastern Conference) are very much alive in the College Football Playoff race. They came in No. 13, while the Wildcats (7-2, 4-2), who had their six-game winning streak snapped, were No. 6.
Tennessee had eight tackles for loss and forced three turnovers. Kentucky came into the game with one of the best turnover margins in the country.
DeSean Bishop rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns.
Kentucky's Kenny Minchey threw for 224 yards.
NO. 9 ALABAMA 31, NO. 15 LSU 13
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Keelon Russell passed for three touchdowns, Alabama's defense made several pivotal fourth-down stops, and the ninth-ranked Crimson Tide pulled away for a victory over LSU.
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Alabama (7-2, 5-2 SEC) remained firmly in the College Football Playoff picture, while leaving LSU (6-3, 3-3) with long-shot hopes at best under first-year coach Lane Kiffin, who also dropped to 0-6 in his coaching career against Alabama (including prior stints at Mississippi and Tennessee).
Russell's touchdown passes went for 7 yards to Josh Ford, 25 yards to Cederian Morgan and 4 yards to Kaleb Edwards.
LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt completed 35 of 47 passes for 380 yards, but was intercepted for the first time in three games as the Tigers struggled to cash in on scoring chances.
LSU went 0 for 4 on fourth down, those failures combining with a missed field goal and a turnover in Tide territory to limit the Tigers to a single touchdown.
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NO. 10 TEXAS 34, NO. 19 MISSOURI 20
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Arch Manning threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead TD pass to Raleek Brown with just over five minutes to go, and Texas rallied to beat Missouri and keep alive its College Football Playoff hopes.
Brown added 85 yards and a clinching touchdown on the ground, while the Longhorns (7-2, 4-2 SEC, No. 7 CFP) made a series of big defensive plays in the fourth quarter to help preserve their fourth win over a top-20 opponent this season.
The biggest defensive play came as the Tigers (6-3, 3-3, No. 18 CFP) were trying to match Brown's go-ahead score.
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They had taken over near midfield with about two minutes to go, and Jamal Roberts was stopped for a short gain before Austin Simmons threw incomplete. On third down, Simmons tried to find favorite target Cayden Lee, but a defender knocked the ball into the air just as it arrived and Texas cornerback Graceson Littleton hauled it down for an interception.
Brown scored moments later, powering into the end zone to put the game away.
OREGON 41, NO. 11 OHIO ST. 28
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Dierre Hill Jr. rushed for two touchdowns, Dylan Raiola passed for 257 yards and Oregon rallied from an early two-touchdown deficit to hammer Ohio State.
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The Ducks (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten, No. 23 CFP) were down 14-0 late in the first quarter before scoring on four of their next five drives to take control of the game and deliver a stunning loss to the Buckeyes, who have dropped two straight games for the first time since 2011.
Ohio State has also likely seen its chances of making the College Football Playoff dashed after opening the season as the top-ranked team in The Associated Press Top 25.
It is also the first time since October 1992 that Ohio State (6-3, 4-2, No. 12 CFP) has lost back-to-back games to unranked opponents.
NO. 13 TEXAS TECH 53, WEST VIRGINIA 48
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LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Thomas Castellanos threw for a career-high five touchdowns, including the go-ahead score to Kenny Johnson with 2:44 remaining, and Texas Tech held on for a victory over West Virginia in an old-school Big 12 offensive slugfest.
The Red Raiders (8-1, 5-1 Big 12) stayed on track for a shot at a second consecutive conference title, and the College Football Playoff spot that would come with it, by rallying from seven points down in the fourth quarter after leading by 14 at halftime.
The teams combined for 1,220 yards of offense — 894 of those before halftime — but a few defensive plays in the fourth quarter were as big as any of the game's 13 plays of at least 30 yards.
Quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. had three rushing touchdowns to extend his FBS-leading total to 19, tying a West Virginia record set by Ira Errett Rodgers in 1919.
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The Mountaineers (5-4, 2-4) erased a two-touchdown deficit by forcing Texas Tech to punt on its first four drives in the second half after the Red Raiders had 494 yards total offense before the break.
With the Red Raiders faltering on offense, West Virginia scored three touchdowns to take a 48-41 lead, but didn't have an answer after Texas Texas went back in front.
The last chance for the Mountaineers ended when Hawkins stumbled and fell in the end zone for a safety in the final two minutes.
NO. 14 WAKE FOREST 77, MERRIMACK 0
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Steele Pizzella stepped into the starter's role and kept Wake Forest rolling, throwing for 432 yards and three touchdowns in the first half to lead the Demon Deacons to their sixth straight victory, a record-setting rout of Merrimack of the Football Championship Subdivision.
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With Pizzella filling in for injured starter Gio Lopez, Wake Forest (8-1) scored 11 touchdowns to break the school scoring record set in a 70-58 win over Army on Oct. 23, 2021.
Pizzella accounted for 495 yards while playing just the first 30 minutes. He had 63 yards rushing, including a 13-yard touchdown late in the second quarter that sent Wake into halftime leading 49-0.
His performance was the first 400-yard passing day for Wake Forest since Hank Bachmaier threw for 403 yards against Virginia in 2024. The Demon Deacons finished with 546 yards passing, breaking the record set in that Virginia game. Jack Foley was their leading receiver with six catches for 162 yards.
The Demon Deacons finished with 730 yards of total offense, 4 yards shy of the school record set against Syracuse on Nov. 11, 2017.
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NO. 17 HOUSTON 31, CINCINNATI 24
HOUSTON (AP) — Re'Shaun Sanford II ran for 126 yards and the tiebreaking score in the fourth quarter, and Conner Weigman threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns as Houston beat Cincinnati.
Sanford's 51-yard TD run with 5:10 remaining gave the Cougars (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) the lead.
Cincinnati (5-4, 2-4) drove to the Houston 42, but a throw by JC French IV was ruled a backward pass after a replay review, and Houston recovered with 2:11 remaining. The Cougars ran out the clock from there.
Makhi Hughes rushed for 90 yards, and Weigman, who finished 17 of 24 passing, also rushed for a touchdown. Amare Thomas had six catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns, and Patrick Overmyer had four receptions for 66 yards for Houston, which finished with 468 yards of offense.
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NO. 20 BOISE ST. 64, COLORADO ST. 38
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Backup quarterback Max Cutforth threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score as Boise State extended its winning streak to eight games by beating Colorado State.
Cutforth finished 16 of 19 for 317 yards while filling in with starter Maddux Madsen sidelined by an injury. Tailback Dylan Riley had 300 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns, including a catch out of the backfield that he took 73 yards for a score on the second play from scrimmage.
Boise State took advantage of a floundering Colorado State defense to amass 669 total yards, the eighth-most in program history.
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The Broncos (8-1, 5-0 Pac-12, No. 25 CFP) have been rolling since their season-opening 34-27 loss at Oregon. Boise State's in the driver's seat to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff as the highest ranked Group of Six squad.
NO. 21 IOWA 24, NORTHWESTERN 10
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Hank Brown threw for a touchdown and ran for another, and Braeden Jackson returned a kickoff for a TD for the second time this season as Iowa beat Northwestern for the fifth straight time and dealt the Wildcats their first loss at the new Ryan Field.
The Hawkeyes (7-2, 4-2 Big Ten) have allowed only two touchdowns in the past three games. They recorded six sacks and didn't allow the Wildcats inside their 26-yard line until the fourth quarter.
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Brown was 16 of 21 passing for 126 yards with an interception after going 20 for 24 in last week's win over Wisconsin.
Northwestern has dropped two straight after a 6-1 start. The Wildcats (6-3, 3-3), who won twice at their temporary lakefront stadium before winning the first three games at their new $875 million home, were trying to move to 6-0 at home for the first time in 122 years.
Iowa, which scored on 98-yard drives in each of its previous two games, had a 97-yard drive Saturday.
NO. 23 SOUTH CAROLINA 23, TEXAS A&M 9
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — LaNorris Sellers threw for 251 yards and a touchdown and ran for a clinching score as South Carolina won its fourth straight game by outlasting Texas A&M.
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Malik Orsan's 43-yard field goal midway through the final quarter put South Carolina ahead for good, 10-9, while Sellers' 41-yard TD run on an injured ankle in the last two minutes sealed things.
It was far from a vintage performance from Sellers or the Gamecocks (6-3, 4-3 Southeastern Conference; No. 21 CFP). Still, it was good enough for South Carolina to continue its second-half surge this season.
Texas A&M (4-5, 1-5), which started the season at No. 8, fell for the third time in its past four games and guaranteed itself a losing league season a year after reaching the College Football Playoff.
OKLAHOMA 23, NO. 25 FLORIDA 7
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — John Mateer did just enough with his legs and arm under new play-caller Jason Witten and Oklahoma's tough defense took care of the rest as the Sooners throttled Florida in a victory.
Mateer threw a pair of short touchdown passes, the last one to Isaiah Sategna III that capped a 20-play, clock-eating, 89-yard drive and put the Gators in a position of having to rally in the final five minutes when they had trouble scoring all night.
The Sooners (5-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) fired offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and Witten, the Dallas Cowboys' former tight end who was coaching high school in suburban Texas last year, took over on an interim basis.
The Sooners didn't dazzle — they had only one play longer than 20 yards — but they were efficient, particularly on the clinching drive that took 12:45 off the clock. They converted five third-down plays on the drive.
The Gators (5-4, 3-4) appeared in the College Football Playoff ranking for the first time since 2020 and won't stick around. The offense looked anemic under Tramell Jones Jr. The Gators' longest play from scrimmage was a 33-yard pass to Duke Clark in the flats.
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