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College football: Oklahoma routs Texas Tech; No. 10 Notre Dame holds off No. 18 Virginia

Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts unleashes a pass against Texas Tech on Saturday.
(Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)
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Jalen Hurts passed for 413 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 6 Oklahoma rolled past Texas Tech 55-16 on Saturday in Norman, Okla.

Hurts also ran for 70 yards and another score for the Sooners (4-0, 1-0 Big 12). His 483 yards of total offense ranks eighth in Oklahoma history. It was the first 400-yard passing game for the senior transfer from Alabama.

“He’s seeing the field really well,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “He’s understanding how we want to attack people. He was a little more confident today, a little bit more steady.”

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CeeDee Lamb had career highs of 183 yards receiving and three touchdowns, Charleston Rambo had 122 yards receiving on just two catches and Trey Sermon ran for 76 yards and two scores for Oklahoma.

The Sooners, who entered the game leading the nation in total offense, gained 642 yards. They have totaled at least 600 yards in each game this season.

Jett Duffey passed for 120 yards and SaRodorick Thompson ran for 96 yards for Texas Tech (2-2, 0-1). Duffey got most of the action at quarterback in place of Alan Bowman, who sat out with a shoulder injury.

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at No. 10 Notre Dame 35, No.18 Virginia 20: Julian Okwara had three sacks of Notre Dame’s eight sacks and caused a fumble that was returned for a touchdown as the 10th-ranked Fighting Irish overcame a halftime deficit to beat No. 18 Virginia 35-20 on Saturday.

The Fighting Irish (3-1), coming off a 23-14 loss at No. 3 Georgia, trailed 17-14 at the break and then had the Cavaliers (4-1) complete a successful onside kick to open the second half. The Notre Dame defense held, setting the tone for the second half.

Jamir Jones started the Irish defensive onslaught in the third quarter when he sacked and stripped Virginia’s Bryce Perkins of the football and defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa recovered it in midair before rumbling 48 yards to the Virginia 7.

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Tony Jones, who had three touchdowns and a season-high 131 yards on 18 carries, scored two plays later from the 2 to give the Irish a 21-17. They never trailed again.

at No. 2 Alabama 59, Mississippi 31: Tua Tagovailoa and DeVonta Smith hooked up for five touchdown passes and a few school records while No. 2 Alabama ran away from Mississippi 59-31 on Saturday.

The Crimson Tide (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) actually trailed for the first time this season before flexing its muscles against the 37 1/2-point underdogs. The Rebels (2-3, 1-1) couldn’t even slow down Smith, who sometimes gets overshadowed in a loaded receiving group.

Not this game. Smith had 11 catches for school records of 274 yards and five TDs, all by early in the third quarter. He had 221 yards by halftime, and added a 27-yard score to punctuate the biggest game of any Tide receiver.

Tagovailoa passed for a school-record six touchdowns and rushed for a seventh. He had matched the record of five TD passes in two straight games but finally eclipsed it in the fourth quarter.

He completed 26 of 36 passes for 418 yards.

No. 5 Ohio State 48, Nebraska 7: Ohio State was supposed to get its first big test of the season at Nebraska. It hardly turned out that way.

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Justin Fields threw for three touchdowns and ran for another, Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez was intercepted on three of the Cornhuskers’ first four series, and the No. 5 Buckeyes turned in their most impressive performance of the season in a 48-7 victory Saturday night.

Ohio State (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) scored on six straight possessions and led 38-0 after a dizzying first half. By the time Nebraska finally scored, the Buckeyes had rolled off 124 straight points since trailing Miami (Ohio) 5-0 last week.

Nebraska (3-2, 1-1) didn’t go over 100 yards of total offense until late in the third quarter, just before its only TD, and it was obvious early that second-year coach Scott Frost’s program is still a ways from returning to national prominence.

at No. 7 Auburn 56, Mississippi State 23: Seth Williams had eight receptions for 161 yards and two touchdowns, JaTarvious Whitlow ran for three scores and Bo Nix had his best game in an Auburn uniform.

Auburn (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) started fast, scoring three touchdowns on its first eight plays from scrimmage. It was aided by five Miss State penalties and a fumbled kickoff in the first five minutes that resulted in short fields.

Whitlow galloped for a 30-yard score on Auburn’s first play. After the Tigers stifled Tommy Stevens and the Miss State offense for minus-22 yards on their first two possessions, Nix and receiver Anthony Schwartz added red-zone rushing touchdowns for a 21-0 lead. Save for a lost fumble by Williams with 4:30 left in the second quarter, Auburn scored a touchdown on every possession in the first half.

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Penn State transfer Stevens earned the nod at quarterback for the Bulldogs (3-2, 1-1), but Garrett Shrader took over in the first quarter after Stevens sustained an injury on a big hit.

at No. 8 Wisconsin 24, Northwestern 15: Jonathan Taylor ran for 119 yards and his 11th touchdown of the season while the Badgers got two scores from its defense to avenge a loss to the Wildcats last season.

Taylor carried 26 times as the junior reached 100 yards rushing for the 26th time in 31 career games and moved into fourth place on the Badgers’ career rushing list (4,730). After allowing 81 yards rushing through the first three games, the Wisconsin (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten) defense surrendered 97 yards on the ground to Northwestern (1-3, 0-2).

at No. 9 Florida 38, Towson 0: Kyle Trask threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, helping Florida beat lower-division Towson for its ninth straight victory.

Trask completed 15 consecutive passes to open the game, giving him 18 straight completions and breaking Chris Leak’s mark (17) set against Wyoming in 2005.

Trask’s hot streak ended with an incompletion to Jacob Copeland early in the third quarter. He responded with a perfect throw to Kyle Pitts in the corner of the end zone for his second TD pass of the afternoon.

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Trask finished 18 of 20 for 188 yards for the Gators (5-0). Towson dropped to 2-3.

at No. 14 Iowa 48, Middle Tennessee 3; Nate Stanley threw for 276 yards and two touchdowns, Toren Young added a career-high 131 yards rushing and the Hawkeyes improved to 4-0 for just the second time in 10 years.

Asher O’Hara was 15 of 22 passing for 110 yards for Middle Tennessee (1-3). The Blue Raiders’ defense was gashed for over eight yards a play.

at No. 20 Michigan 52, Rutgers 0: Shea Patterson accounted for three touchdowns in the first half and ran for a fourth score in the third quarter for the Wolverines (3-1, 1-1 Big Ten), who enjoyed a confidence-boosting win following a humiliating loss at Wisconsin.

The Scarlet Knights (1-3, 0-2) have not won a conference game since the 2017 season and have to improve a lot to end the drought this year.

at No. 22 Central Florida 56, Connecticut 21: Dillon Gabriel threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns to help No. 22 UCF rebound from its first regular-season loss in nearly three years with a 56-21 rout of Connecticut to begin American Athletic Conference play Saturday night.

The two-time defending AAC champions improved to 29-2 since the start of 2017, bouncing back from a 35-34 loss at Pittsburgh that stopped a league- and school-record 25-game regular-season win streak.

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Gabriel completed 11 of 16 passes without an interception for UCF, and he threw TD passes of 73, 16 and 13 yards to Gabriel Davis while UCF (4-1, 1-0) built a 42-0 halftime lead.

Darriel Mack Jr. replaced the true freshman at the start of the third quarter. It was his first action of the season after sitting out the first four games with a broken ankle, which had opened the door for Gabriel and Notre Dame transfer Brandon Wimbush to play early.

UConn (1-3, 0-1) fell to 0-7 in ACC openers and has lost 12 consecutive conference games.

No. 23 Texas A&M 31, Arkansas 27: Quartney Davis caught two of Kellen Mond’s three touchdown passes, including the go-ahead score Texas A&M.

After Mond’s pass was picked off in the end zone, the Razorbacks failed to get a first down and punted after Ben Hicks was sacked at the 2. That set up the short drive for Mond’s 3-yard TD pass to Davis with 12:21 left that put Texas A&M (3-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) ahead 28-24.

The Razorbacks (2-3, 0-2) lost their 13th consecutive SEC game, including all 10 under second-year coach Chad Morris. They have lost eight in a row against Texas A&M since the Aggies left the Big 12.

at Oklahoma State 26, No. 24 Kansas State 13: Chuba Hubbard ran for 296 yards and a touchdown on just 25 carries, and Oklahoma State shut down No. 24 Kansas State’s own vaunted rushing attack in a weather-delayed 26-13 victory Saturday night.

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Hubbard hardly carried at all in the first quarter for the Cowboys (4-1, 1-1 Big 12), who built a 13-0 lead when the game was halted more than an hour in the second quarter due to lightning. But the breakout star finished with runs of 53, 84 and 44 yards in his dominant performance.

Spencer Sanders added 153 yards passing and a touchdown for Oklahoma State. Most of that went to Tylan Wallace, who hauled in eight passes for 145 yards.

Skylar Thompson was 11 of 23 for 118 yards for the Wildcats (3-1, 0-1), who were coming off a bye following their big win at Mississippi State. But any momentum they gained from their foray into SEC country was wiped out by their return to the Big 12.

at No. 25 Michigan State 40, Indiana 31: Matt Coghlin made a tiebreaking 21-yard field goal with 5 seconds remaining to help Michigan State beat Indiana.

After Coghlin’s kick gave the Spartans (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) a 34-31 lead, Indiana tried to lateral its way down the field on its final offensive play, but that resulted in a fumble that Michigan State recovered for a touchdown.

Brian Lewerke threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns for the Spartans, who held off the upset-minded Hoosiers (3-2, 0-2) on a rare day when Michigan State’s defense struggled. Michael Penix Jr. returned for Indiana after missing the previous two games with an undisclosed injury — and he gave the Spartans fits, completing 20 passes in a row during one stretch.

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