J.T. Barrett ties school record with six TD passes in Ohio State win

J.T. Barrett matched a school record with six touchdown passes — five in the first half — to lead No. 22 Ohio State, rebounding from a loss to Virginia Tech, to a 66-0 victory over Kent State on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.

The win was the 39th in a row over an in-state opponent for the Buckeyes (2-1), who haven’t lost since a 7-6 setback to Oberlin in 1921.

Nick Holley had six receptions for Kent State (0-3), which got $850,000 to get pounded before a crowd of 104,404 at Ohio Stadium.

Now the Buckeyes, who plummeted 14 spots in the polls and weathered a lot of criticism after last week’s 35-21 loss at home to the Hokies, have a bye week before hosting Cincinnati on Sept. 27.

No. 24 South Carolina 38, No. 6 Georgia 35

Dylan Thompson threw for three touchdowns and the Gamecocks’ maligned defense stood strong on a fourth-quarter goal-line stand to topple the higher-ranked Bulldogs in Columbia, S.C.

The Bulldogs (1-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) had a first-and-goal on the Gamecocks’ 4 down three points with 5:24 remaining. But Hutson Mason was called for intentional grounding to set Georgia back and the usually reliable Marshall Morgan missed a 28-yard field goal.

Todd Gurley ran for 131 yards and a touchdown, yet the Gamecocks (2-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) kept the Bulldogs’ star from making a bigger impact.

The victory was South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier’s 201st as a SEC coach, tying him for second alltime with Georgia great Vince Dooley. It put the Gamecocks back in the SEC East race.

No. 10 Louisiana State 31, Louisiana Monroe 0

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Darrel Williams ran for two touchdowns, fellow freshman Leonard Fournette added another, and the Tigers posted their second straight shutout with the win at Baton Rouge, La.

Williams scored on a tackle-breaking, 22-yard run, then added a 1-yard score.

Fournette scored from 24 yards out and Kenny Hilliard added a short scoring run for LSU (3-0) early in the fourth quarter, giving him three TDs in as many games.

ULM (2-1) kept the game close for one half, but the Warhawks’ defense eventually wore down while their offense managed just 93 total yards and six first downs against a Tigers defense that has been in suffocating form since second half of their season opening comeback victory over Wisconsin. Receiver Travin Dural had 79 yards on six catches for the Tigers.

No. 14 Mississippi 56, Louisiana Lafayette 15

Bo Wallace threw for 316 yards and four touchdowns, including two to Vince Sanders, to lead the Rebels to the win at Oxford, Miss.

Ole Miss (3-0) has never lost to Louisiana-Lafayette (1-2) and this one wasn’t in doubt for very long. I’Tavius Mathers rushed for a 56-yard touchdown on the first drive and the Rebels pushed out to a 28-0 lead by midway through the second quarter.

Wallace completed 23 of 28 passes for an offense that gained 554 total yards. Sanders finished with a career-high eight receptions for 125 yards and touchdown catches of 14 and 24 yards.

Senquez Golson intercepted two passes, including one that was returned 59 yards for a touchdown. Louisiana-Lafayette fell behind 49-6 by midway through the third quarter before scoring its only touchdown. Terrance Broadway completed 15 of 30 passes for 129 yards and three interceptions.

No. 15 Stanford 35, Army 0

Kevin Hogan threw for 216 yards and four touchdowns, and the Cardinal rebounded from a loss to USC with the rout at Palo Alto.

Devon Cajuste caught a career-high three touchdowns and finished with 52 yards receiving, and Ty Montgomery had two TDs to help the Cardinal (2-1) overcome a sluggish start on offense.

Stanford led 14-0 at the half before overwhelming the Black Knights (1-1) in the final two quarters.

The Cardinal outgained Army 415 to 207 yards. It was the second shutout for Stanford’s defense in three games. The Cardinal beat UC Davis 45-0 to open the season before losing 13-10 to USC last week.

Virginia 23, No. 17 Louisville 21

Greyson Lambert threw for one touchdown and ran for another and Ian Frye kicked a 42-yard field goal with 3:41 remaining, giving the Cavaliers the win at Charlottesville, Va.

The winning points came after Louisville’s James Quick fumbled a punt and Kelvin Rainey recovered for Virginia (2-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) at the Cardinals’ 25. Four plays later, Frye’s third field goal of the game allowed the Cavaliers to end an 11-game slide against FBS-level competition.

Louisville (2-1, 1-1) had tied the game midway through the quarter, but the Cardinals’ fourth turnover was too much for them to overcome. On the fumbled punt, Quick was bumped into by a teammate.

The victory was the first for Virginia against a ranked team since a 14-13 triumph at Florida State on Nov. 19, 2011, and was their first in their last 11 games against ACC teams.

No. 20 Missouri 38, Central Florida 10

Maty Mauk threw four touchdown passes, two each to Jimmie Hunt and Bud Sasser, and passed for 144 yards to lead the Tigers to the win in Columbia, Mo.

The Tigers (3-0) led 14-10 at halftime before pulling away from the Knights (0-2), who had won their past two games against ranked teams.

Quarterback Justin Holman threw for 209 yards and one touchdown in his first career start for Central Florida, which only had 134 yards in the second half. Missouri had five sacks and forced four turnovers in the final 30 minutes.

Mauk entered the day tied for first nationally with eight passing touchdowns, and said this week that he likes to think aggressively on the field, even though sometimes it can be to the Tigers’ detriment.

No. 2 Oregon 48, Wyoming 14

Quarterback Marcus Mariota passed for 221 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two more scores as the Ducks survived a slow start in Eugene, Ore.

Oregon (3-0) erased a 7-0 deficit with four second-quarter touchdowns to take command.

Mariota became the fourth Oregon quarterback to pass for more than 7,000 yards. The Ducks junior completed 19 of 23 passes, two for touchdowns. Mariota also rushed five times for 71 yards, including touchdown runs of 15 and 19 yards.

Mariota has thrown a school-record 71 touchdowns, with at least one TD thrown in all 29 games he’s appeared in.

No. 3 Alabama 52, Southern Mississippi 12

Blake Sims passed for two touchdowns and rushed for a third in three quarters and might have staked his claim as the Crimson Tide’s undisputed starting quarterback in a victory at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Sims was 12-of-17 passing for 168 yards for the Crimson Tide (3-0) ahead of the team’s Southeastern Conference opener against Florida. Jake Coker didn’t come in until late in the third quarter against the Golden Eagles (1-2), who have lost 25 of their last 27 games.

Most of Sims’ completions went to the nation’s leading receiver, Amari Cooper. Cooper had eight catches for 135 yards and a touchdown to tie DJ Hall’s school record of five consecutive 100-yard games set in 2006. Kenyan Drake scored three touchdowns and produced 59 yards on nine rushes.

Sims also ran five times for 46 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown. Coker did lead a 99-yard scoring drive.

West Virginia 40, Maryland 37

Clint Trickett passed for 511 yards and four touchdowns, and West Virginia gave away a 22-point lead before Josh Lambert kicked a 47-yard field goal as time expired to give the Mountaineers the win at College Park, Md.

West Virginia (2-1) let a 28-6 lead dwindle to 28-27 in the third quarter, then gave away a 10-point advantage in the fourth quarter before Trickett directed a 65-yard drive to set up Lambert’s game-winning kick.

Trickett went 37-for-49, and his passing yardage was the second-most in West Virginia history behind a 656-yard performance by Geno Smith in 2012. The Mountaineers finished with a whopping 694 yards in offense compared to 447 for Maryland (2-1).

West Virginia’s Kevin White had 13 catches for 216 yards and Mario Alford caught 11 passes for 131 yards and two scores.

A year ago, Maryland beat West Virginia 37-0 while Trickett watched from the sideline.

Boise State 38, Connecticut 21

Grant Hedrick threw two touchdowns to Matt Miller and caught one from the senior receiver on a trick play as the Broncos won at East Hartford, Conn.

Boise State (2-1) also got two touchdowns from its defense, which held UConn (1-2) to 48 yards rushing and sacked the Huskies quarterbacks eight times.

Hedrick found Miller for a 35-yard score in the second quarter, and Miller returned the favor on a trick play a few minutes later, hitting Hedrick for a 7-yard score after getting the ball on an end-around.

A 9-yard strike from Hedrick to Miller in the back of the end zone gave the Broncos a 31-21 lead in the fourth quarter after UConn had closed the gap to three points. Boise State running back Jay Ajayi, who came in averaging 158 yards a game and nearly 6 yards a run, was held to just 39 yards on 18 carries.

Syracuse 40, Central Michigan 3

Terrel Hunt had a career-best three touchdown runs and threw for another Saturday afternoon to help the Orange win at Mount Pleasant, Mich.

The quarterback — ejected from the team’s opener after throwing a punch at an opponent — was 20 for 30 for 175 yards, including a 4-yard scoring pass to Brisly Estime in the second quarter that gave the Orange a 17-3 lead at intermission. He added 92 yards on 13 carries, including two short touchdown runs late in the third quarter that put the game out of reach.

Syracuse (2-0) gave up just 169 yards in the first three quarters, sacked Central Michigan (2-1) quarterback Cooper Rush five times and got two scoring plays from its defense. Marqez Hodge returned a fumble 36 yards in the second quarter to give Syracuse the lead for good and Cameron Lynch forced Rush into an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone.

Georgia Tech 42, Georgia Southern 38

Justin Thomas threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Deon Hill with 23 seconds remaining, and Georgia Tech avoided a huge upset after blowing a 25-point lead in Atlanta.

Thomas’ fourth TD pass of the game — by a team known for its triple-option running attack — kept the Yellow Jackets (3-0) from a hugely embarrassing loss to a state school they were playing for the first time.

Georgia Southern (1-2) scored 28 straight points after trailing 35-10 at halftime, putting the Eagles in position to beat a major-conference team for the second year in a row. They upset Florida last season.

But Georgia Tech’s Jamal Golden forced a fumble that gave his team the ball with 4:12 remaining. The Yellow Jackets drove for the winning score.

On third-and-7 at the 13, Thomas avoided a blitz and got off the scoring pass to Hill.