College spotlight: SEC is given big scare and handed an upset

The Southeastern Conference spent all week criticizing Ohio State’s weak schedule and then made a mess of its own “easy” games.

No. 6 Auburn needed a furious comeback to defeat FCS school Jacksonville State, 27-20, in overtime, in what many are already calling the worst victory in school history.

Another “A” team in the SEC West, No. 18 Arkansas, then earned a D-minus in losing, 16-12, at home to Toledo.

Some folks in the SEC began chirping about top-ranked Ohio State’s schedule after the Buckeyes easily won their opener at Virginia Tech.

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said this week: “Ohio State has one game remaining with a ranked opponent. We have eight remaining against teams that are ranked.”

It’s scary to think Toledo, a member of the Mid-America Conference that Ohio State plays so often, was not one of those ranked schools.

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FOR THE RECORD:
Ole Miss: An article in the Sept. 13 Sports section about the week in college football reported that Mississippi had scored 159 points in its first two games. Mississippi scored 149 points in wins over Tennessee Martin and Fresno State. —
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Auburn technically won its game at Jordan-Hare, but it certainly didn’t feel like a victory.

Jacksonville State, for roughly 57 minutes, did every thing it could to win.

And then, inexplicably, it did everything it could to lose.

The 40-point underdog Gamecocks stood at the brink of an epic upset when they curled up under a conservative blanket.

Jacksonville State, a lower-division school from the Ohio Valley Conference, frittered away a historic opportunity.

Conservative play-calling followed by a shanked 17-yard punt set up Auburn’s tying touchdown with 39 seconds left in regulation.

The ensuing kickoff, though, skidded out of bounds and gave Jacksonville State the ball at its 35 with no time lost on the clock.

Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn mouthed “Are you kidding me?” to his kicker as he approached the sideline.

Instead of trying to win in regulation, though, Jacksonville State elected to play for overtime.

“We left some plays out there,” Gamecocks Coach John Grass said afterward.

No kidding.

Somewhere, Herm Edwards had to be screaming: “You play to win the game!”

Auburn scored first in overtime and then held the Gamecocks on downs.

Jacksonville State quarterback Eli Jenkins, who otherwise played brilliantly, took a 16-yard sack on third and goal and then connected, on fourth down, to receiver Josh Barge.

Only problem: Barge was out of bounds, so it was game over.

Jacksonville State botched a monumental chance to join Appalachian State’s win over Michigan in 2007 as the greatest FCS upset in recent history.

FCS opponents, entering the game, had lost 53 straight games to top-10 FBS teams.

Make it 54.

Safety first

You can’t help your team win a game if you’re not in the game. Six players were ejected for targeting in early Saturday games, many in games involving top-25 teams.

Florida State lost starting safety Lamarcus Brutus in the first quarter of its game against South Florida. Not to be outdone, USF linebacker Auggie Sanchez was ejected in the third quarter.

Auburn, Georgia and Mississippi all had players ejected in their games, as did Colorado.

“I mean, those are big calls,” Florida State Coach Jimbo Fisher said. “We don’t want anybody to get hurt. If anybody is doing that, they should be penalized and punished.”

Ain’t that a kick

September might now be the favorite month for April Goss, who kicked an extra point for Kent State to become the second woman to score in a major college football game.

Goss, who has been on the roster for four seasons, made her kick with 4:30 left in the first half to give Kent State a 29-6 lead over Delaware State.

Katie Hnida kicked two extra points for New Mexico in 2003.

High (Rebel) rollers

It would take a long time to count up to 159 using the one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi method. But that’s how many points Mississippi has scored in opening wins over Tennessee Martin and Fresno State.

Quarterback Chad Kelly led Ole Miss to seven straight touchdown drives in Saturday’s 73-21 victory in Oxford.

Mississippi became the first SEC team to score 70 or more points in consecutive games since Florida did it in 1994 against New Mexico State and Kentucky.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com

Twitter: @DufresneLATimes