No. 2 Florida Rolls After a Slow Start

For one mind-boggling quarter, Louisiana Monroe looked as if it was the team that would prove anything is possible in college football.

Rex Grossman and Jabar Gaffney put a stop to the madness for No. 2 Florida.

Grossman threw for 331 yards Saturday night and Gaffney caught two of Grossman’s three touchdown passes, as the Gators-favored by 56 points-overcame an embarrassing start for a 55-6 victory at Gainesville, Fla.

But for 15 surreal minutes, Florida (2-0) hardly looked like a national title contender.

Grossman lost a fumble on the first snap and two plays later Louisiana Monroe (0-2) scored on Ivory Brown’s plunge from two yards.

Florida gained three yards on its next possession and lost another fumble on its third. It wasn’t until 2:53 remained in the quarter that the Gators scored a touchdown on Earnest Graham’s 12-yard run that capped a plodding, 12-play drive.

From there, the floodgates opened. Grossman went on to complete 23 of 34 passes, the offense churned out 600 yards and the defense allowed only five first downs.

No. 8 Tennessee 13, Arkansas 3-Casey Clausen’s 30-yard completion on third down set up Alex Walls’ go-ahead field goal with 3:52 left as the Volunteers won at Fayetteville, Ark. The game was delayed twice by bad weather.

Travis Stephens, who had 206 yards in 41 carries, closed out the scoring for Tennessee (2-0, 1-0 in the SEC) with a three-yard run with 59 seconds left.

Arkansas (1-1, 0-1) did not make a first down on six second-half possessions and was outgained, 99-2, in the third quarter.

No. 13 Louisiana State 31, Utah State 14-LaBrandon Toefield rushed for four touchdowns to lead the Tigers (2-0) past the Aggies (0-2) at Baton Rouge, La.

Toefield rushed for 183 yards in 27 carries and increased his season touchdown total to seven.

No. 21 South Carolina 14, No. 25 Georgia 9-Phil Petty threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Brian Scott with 1:22 remaining, giving the Gamecocks a key SEC road victory at Athens, Ga.

Billy Bennett’s third field goal, a 27-yarder with 3:17 remaining, pushed Georgia (1-1, 0-1) to its first lead of the game at 9-7. But South Carolina (2-0, 1-0) drove 66 yards in nine plays to earn the first prominent road victory in Coach Lou Holtz’s three-year tenure.

Alabama 12, Vanderbilt 9-Neal Thomas kicked four field goals and the Crimson Tide held on to give Coach Dennis Franchione his first victory at Nashville.

Alabama (1-1, 1-0) ended a six-game losing streak, its longest since 1956. It came after the NCAA announced last week 11 major violations were found in the Crimson Tide football program.

Alabama will have 90 days to respond to the NCAA’s letter of inquiry.

Vanderbilt (0-2, 0-1) got all its points on field goals by Chuck Folino, who missed a 37-yard field goal with 1:13 left that would have tied the score.

Auburn 27, Mississippi 21-Sophomore Casinious Moore rushed for the first three touchdowns of his career and the Tigers (2-0, 1-0) survived the second-half passing of Eli Manning in his SEC debut at Auburn, Ala.

Manning led two long touchdown drives in a four-minute span in the third quarter and one that covered 80 yards and 14 plays with 4:41 left in the fourth quarter that pulled the Rebels (1-1, 0-1) within 27-21.

Mississippi, however, had only one timeout left, and Auburn managed to run out the clock.

Manning was 24 for 39 for 265 yards for one touchdown.

Kentucky 28, Ball State 20-Freshman Shane Boyd threw for two touchdowns at Lexington, Ky., as the Wildcats (1-1) ended a nine-game losing streak.