Gators bite back, upset No. 7 Texas

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Florida quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. threw two touchdowns to Lacota Dippre in his first career start, Jadan Baugh scored a fourth-quarter touchdown and the Gators rallied to beat No. 7 Texas 27-24 and hand the Longhorns their second consecutive loss.

Florida had risen as high as No. 8 after a 4-0 start under first-year coach Jon Sumrall before consecutive blowout losses, but delivered what could be a season-saving victory.

The Gators defense, ranked last the Southeastern Conference, shut down Texas quarterback Arch Manning and the Longhorns offense, holding Texas under 300 yards of total offense.

Jones started in place of injured Aaron Philo and after a slow start led a methodical Gators offense that rallied from a 17-3 deficit in the second quarter.

His first touchdown pass cut the Texas lead to 17-10 with 18 seconds left in second quarter. The second capped a 15-play drive that chewed up eight minutes of the third.

A 28-yard field goal by Patrick Durkin gave Florida its first lead before Baugh broke outside for an 11-yard touchdown.

Texas quickly answered on Manning’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Cam Coleman. That score came after Manning avoided a sack on a fourth down and found Emmett Mosley V for 62 yards to set up the TD pass.

Texas led 17-3 in the second quarter after Ryan Niblett returned a punt 63 yards for a touchdown, the third of his career.

Florida rallied to tie it on a pair of touchdown passes from Jones to Dippre. The first came with 18 seconds left in the first half and the second capped a 15-play drive that took eight minutes of the third quarter.

NO. 4 OHIO STATE 19, NO. 5 INDIANA 15

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Julian Sayin threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Smith on fourth down early in the fourth quarter Saturday, and No. 4 Ohio State survived what appeared to be the go-ahead score when Nick Marsh’s left foot was ruled to be out of bounds as the Buckeyes beat No. 5 Indiana 19-15.

The victory ended Indiana’s winning streak at 22 and home winning streak at 19. They were the two longest active streaks in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

But the victory could prove costly for Ohio State (6-1, 4-0 Big Ten). Sayin appeared to injure his right arm in the fourth quarter, left the game and watched the final minutes from the sideline wearing a sling.

Indiana sure didn’t go down easily in the rematch of last year’s Big Ten championship game. Trailing 19-7 after Smith’s TD catch, the injured Josh Hoover responded by finding Nick Marsh on a 19-yard TD pass and Turbo Richard on the 2-point conversion to make it 19-15 with 10:30 to go.

It looked like he did it again on fourth-and-4 from the Buckeyes 27-yard line when he hooked up with a wide open Marsh in the front corner of the end zone. The fireworks even went off, but Marsh’s left foot came down out of bounds and he put his hands on his helmet, knowing what happened. It was first home loss in coach Curt Cignetti’s three seasons and the first top-five matchup in Memorial Stadium history.

NO. 22 LSU 31, NO. 16 MISSISSIPPI ST 0

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Sam Leavitt threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns without an interception, and LSU raced to a three-touchdown, first-half lead on its way to a victory over an injury-depleted Mississippi State.

Jackson Harris had six catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns for LSU (5-2, 2-2 SEC) before leaving the game with an apparent lower left leg injury in the third quarter.

Playing without dynamic starting quarterback Kamario Taylor and top running back Fluff Bothwell, the Bulldogs (4-2, 2-2 SEC) lost their second straight — each by more than 30 points.

Mississippi State’s offense took the field with quarterback Parker Puckett making his first start. He was intercepted once and sacked three times before finishing 16 of 26 for 121 yards.

Puckett drove the Bulldogs inside the LSU 40 five times, but all five of those drives ended on failed fourth down plays, including once from the Tigers 6-yard line.

The victory was methodical and convincing for LSU, which was looking to bounce back from a 35-34 overtime loss at Kentucky the previous week that had caused the Tigers to drop 12 spots in the AP Top 25. It was also LSU’s first shutout of an SEC opponent since winning 45-0 at Mississippi State in 2007 — en route to a national championship.

NO. 24 SMU 23, VIRGINIA 13

DALLAS (AP) — Kevin Jennings threw two touchdown passes, former SMU soccer player Brendan Baird boosted the struggling special teams with three field goals and the Mustangs beat Virginia.

Kendrick Raphael ran for 124 yards as SMU (5-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) improved to 10-0 at home in ACC games since rejoining a power conference league in 2024. The Mustangs are 17-3 overall in the ACC.

The Cavaliers (4-3, 2-2) were held to fewer than 300 total yards for a third consecutive game by an SMU defense that led a win over Boston College two weeks ago despite Jennings’ offense gaining just 218 yards. Virginia finished with 258 yards.

Jennings was 23 of 36 for 246 yards with a 6-yard TD pass to Randy Pittman Jr. on fourth-and-1 in the second quarter and a 37-yard catch-and-run score by Jalen Halen early in the fourth.

Baird had missed his only previous kick for a unit that was just 3 of 7 on field goals this season before making kicks of 23, 45 and 26 yards.

The 45-yarder gave SMU a 13-10 halftime lead on an untimed down after Billy Koudelka was called for roughing the passer when Jennings was throwing the ball away after time had expired.

NO. 25 NORTHWESTERN 24, MICHIGAN ST. 21

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Jackson Kleather kicked three field goals, including the game-winning 34-yarder with 2 seconds left Saturday to rally Northwestern to a win over Michigan State.

Aidan Chiles tied the game at 21 with 7:24 remaining when he scored on a 1-yard run and threw to Alex Honig on a 2-point conversion for Northwestern (5-1 overall, 2-1 Big Ten). After Matthew Smith blocked Michigan State’s Liam Boyd 33-yard field-goal attempt, Chiles then drove the Wildcats 64 yards in eight plays to set up the winning kick.

Chiles, who started 20 games at Michigan State the past two seasons before transferring to Northwestern, completed 18 of 27 passes for 226 yards and also had 16 carries for 25 yards.

The Spartans (2-5, 0-4) had led 21-13 early in the fourth quarter when Alessio Milivojevic tossed a 53-yard touchdown pass to Chrishon McCray. He completed 19 of 30 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns.

Michigan State took a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter on Milivojevic’s 3-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1.

The Wildcats went in front 10-7 early in the second quarter as Caleb Komolafe had a 10-yard scoring run. Northwestern had a chance to increase the margin, but Kleather’s 41-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by Eli Coenen.

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