LOS ANGELES — Baker Mayfield threw for 386 yards and three touchdowns and No. 5 Oklahoma knocked off No. 2 Ohio State 31-16 on Saturday night to give first-year head coach Lincoln Riley an early signature victory.
Mayfield lived up to his billing as a Heisman Trophy contender in shifting the Sooners (2-0) into overdrive and piling up the yards in the second half as the Buckeyes’ offense sputtered. Oklahoma took its first lead near the end of the third quarter and cruised in the fourth.
Ohio State’s title hopes didn’t evaporate, but the Buckeyes (1-1) will have to solve myriad offensive problems and play much better to get back in it.
True freshman J.K. Dobbins again was a bright spot for the Buckeyes, rushing for 72 yards and a touchdown, but quarterback J.T. Barrett couldn’t hit the big passes when he needed them to extend drives. He often resorted to pulling the ball down and taking off himself.
Mayfield was 27 of 35 with TD passes to Dimitri Flowers, Lee Morris and Trey Sermon.
Oklahoma avenged a 45-24 loss to the Buckeyes’ last year in Norman.
NO. 6 USC 42,
NO. 14 STANFORD 24
Steven Mitchell and Deontay Burnett caught two touchdown passes apiece from Sam Darnold, and Southern California extended its winning streak to 11 games.
Darnold went 21 of 26 with 316 yards passing for the Trojans (2-0, 1-0 Pac-12), who snapped their three-game losing streak in this California private-school rivalry. USC racked up 623 total yards and won the first Pac-12 game of the new season by beating the hard-nosed Cardinal (1-1, 0-1) at their own physical game.
NO. 15 GEORGIA 20, NO. 24 NOTRE DAME 19
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy led a swarming Georgia defense and the No. 15 Bulldogs got just enough plays from an offense starting a freshman quarterback.
Rodrigo Blankenship kicked a 30-yard field goal with 3:39 remaining to give the Bulldogs (2-0) a one-point lead, and that was enough for Carter and company.
Georgia stopped Brandon Wimbush and the Fighting Irish (1-1) on downs once. Then, on Notre Dame’s final drive, Bellamy blind-sided the quarterback and Carter recovered the fumble with 1:27 left.
NO. 1 ALABAMA 41, FRESNO STATE 10
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Jalen Hurts ran for 154 yards and two touchdowns and passed for a third score for Alabama.
The Crimson Tide (2-0) polished off the 44-point underdog Bulldogs (1-1) with a workmanlike performance on the heels of an opening victory over No. 10 Florida State in Atlanta.
Hurts completed 14 of 18 passes for 128 yards, but his biggest play came in the opening minute. He faked a handoff and sprinted 55 yards for a touchdown on the second offensive play, stepping out of a last-gasp tackle attempt at the 15.
Hurts also hit a wide-open Hale Hentges for a 23-yarder in the first quarter. It was the tight end’s first career touchdown.
NO. 3 CLEMSON 14, NO. 13 AUBURN 6
CLEMSON, S.C. – Kelly Bryant had two touchdown runs after getting knocked hard to the ground and defensive end Austin Bryant had four of Clemson’s 11 sacks.
This was billed as an early showcase between elite teams with dreams of the College Football Playoffs. Instead, Clemson’s Bryants never gave Auburn (1-1) much of a chance.
Bryant, making his second career start at quarterback for defending national champion Clemson, appeared to be seriously hurt after he remained on the ground on a hit by Dontavius Russell. But after a few moments in the medical tent, Bryant returned to direct a pair of touchdown drives that gave Clemson (2-0) the lead for good. Bryant’s 3-yard run right before halftime put Clemson ahead 7-6. He finished the next possession with a spinning, 27-yard burst.
NO. 4 PENN STATE 33. PITTSBURGH 14
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Trace McSorley threw for three touchdowns, including Saquon Barkley’s 46-yard catch-and-run, and Penn State pulled away.
McSorley completed 15 of 28 passes for 164 yards, helping the Nittany Lions (2-0) avenge a loss to their in-state rivals a year ago. Tight end Mike Gesicki had two touchdown receptions and Barkley ran for 88 yards to help Penn State ended a two-game skid against the Panthers.
Qadree Ollison ran for 96 yards for the Panthers (1-1), but Pitt’s offense struggled to finish drives early on and the Nittany Lions pulled away late. Max Browne completed 19 of 32 passes for only 138 yards and was intercepted twice.
NO. 7 WASHINGTON 63, MONTANA 7
SEATTLE – Dante Pettis weaved his way 67 yards for his Pac-12 record-breaking seventh career punt return touchdown, and Jake Browning threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns for Washington.
Pettis returned a punt for a score for the second straight game. His 61-yard return at Rutgers last week tied him with DeSean Jackson for the conference mark and ignited Washington (2-0) after a sluggish start.
Montana (1-1) made the unwise decision to punt to Pettis on the final play of the first quarter. The senior veered to the sideline nearest where he caught the kick, cut all the way across the field, juked Montana punter Eric Williams and sprinted the final few yards to give the Huskies a 21-7 lead.
Pettis is one shy of the NCAA record for punt return touchdowns in a career, held by Wes Welker (Texas Tech) and Antonio Perkins (Oklahoma).
NO. 8 MICHIGAN 36, CINCINNATI 14
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Ty Isaac ran for a career-high 133 yards and Wilton Speight threw two touchdown passes to help Michigan pull away.
The Wolverines (2-0) led by just three points early in the second half before scoring 19 straight points to turn a closely contested game into a lopsided one.
The Bearcats (1-1) failed to take advantage of Michigan’s many mistakes and made some miscues of their own to spoil an upset bid.
NO. 9 WISCONSIN 31, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 14
MADISON, Wis. – Freshman Jonathan Taylor ran for 223 yards and three touchdowns and Alex Hornibrook threw for 201 yards and a score for Wisconsin.
The bigger Badgers (2-0) wore down the Owls (0-2) despite some middling play in the middle of the game. Wisconsin opened up 14-0 lead in the first quarter o Taylor’s 64- and 29-yard touchdown runs, but didn’t have the game in hand until his third score with 1:12 left in the third quarter,
The threat of Hurricane Irma bearing down on South Florida put the stakes in perspective for the Owls and first-year coach Lane Kiffin. The Owls will stay in Madison at least through Sunday.
NO. 12 LSU 45,
CHATTANOOGA 10
BATON ROUGE, La. – Derrius Guice ran for 102 yards and two touchdowns, D.J. Chark returned a punt 65 yards for a score, and LSU overcame bouts of sloppiness.
Danny Etling passed for 227 yards and a TD, connecting on eight of 14 attempts in less than three quarters of work for the Tigers (2-0). Etling’s scoring pass was a 36-yarder to Drake Davis.
Chark had three receptions for 103 yards, including a 48-yard catch from Etling in the third quarter. Chark also had a 79-yard punt return for a would-be TD negated by a holding penalty.
While LSU coach Ed Orgeron is bound to be pleased overall by a two-game start in which the Tigers have outscored opponents 72-10 combined, he also could be concerned about a rash of penalties and place-kicking problems as his team prepares for its first Southeastern Conference game next week. LSU was penalized 11 times for 74 yards, one week after committing 10 penalties for 86 yards against BYU.
Chattanooga is 0-2.
NO. 17 LOUISVILLE 47,
NORTH CAROLINA 35
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson accounted for 525 total yards and six touchdowns and Louisville pulled away late.
Jackson threw for 393 yards and three scores and ran for 132 yards and three TDs. The last came on a spinning-through-tacklers 11-yard run with 3:06 left to punctuate a dominant fourth-quarter effort by the Cardinals (2-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Junior Jaylen Smith had nine catches for a career-high 183 yards and a score, and Dez Fitzpatrick hauled in two TDs as the Cardinals rolled to 705 yards.
Chazz Surratt and Brandon Harris combined to throw for North Carolina (0-2, 0-1).