Saturday, September 27 – All recaps courtesy of the Associated Press
Texas State 37, Tulsa 34 (OT)
Terrence Franks scored on a 2-yard run in the third overtime and the visiting Bobcats escaped with the non-conference victory.
Franks rushed for 71 yards and scored two touchdowns for Texas State (2-2). Bobcats quarterback Tyler Jones completed 21-of-31 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns, connecting eight times with tight end Bradley Miller for 112 yards.
Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans finished 23-of-40 for 234 yards and two touchdowns. James Flanders rushed for 112 yards and Zack Langer added 82 rushing yards and a touchdown for the Golden Hurricane (1-3).
Tulsa didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter and then scored two, the last on a 1-yard run by Evans with 10 seconds left in regulation. Evans then found Lucas for a 10-yard touchdown pass on the first possession of overtime for a 24-17 lead.
Texas State converted two fourth downs on its first drive of overtime, the second a 5-yard TD pass from Jones to Jafus Gaines. Both teams scored touchdowns on their second overtime possession before Carl Salazar kicked a 31-yard field goal at the start of the third overtime to give Tulsa a 34-31 lead.
South Alabama 34, Idaho 10
MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) Montell Garner intercepted Idaho's Matt Linehan and rambled 59 yards for a score in the first quarter as South Alabama cruised to a 34-10 victory over Idaho in Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday.
Brandon Bridge, who had 267 yards of total offense, hit Claude Garrett on a 51-yard touchdown strike with 3:49 remaining in the first to start the scoring. Two plays later Garner intercepted Linehan and the Jaguars were ahead 14-0.
The Jaguar defense stymied the Vandals, limiting them to just 30 yards on the ground. They harassed Linehan, sacking him seven times and intercepting him twice. Garner and Terrell Brigham combined for 11 tackles and each had a sack. Qudarius Ford led the Jaguar defense with nine tackles.
Jay Jones rushed for 108 yards on 18 carries for South Alabama (2-2, 1-1).
Linehan was 25-of-40 passing for 239 yards and one touchdown for Idaho (0-4, 0-2).
UL Monroe 22, Troy 20
MONROE, La. -- Justin Manton knocked home a 29-yard field goal with 2:08 remaining as UL Monroe edged Troy 22-20 in a Sun Belt Conference game Saturday night.
The field goal was Manton's third in a tight game that saw four lead changes -- two in the final quarter.
The Warhawks (3-1, 2-0) had jumped out 13-0 but were behind 20-19 midway in the fourth quarter after Brandon Silvers put Troy (0-5, 0-1) up 20-19 with his third TD pass, a 6-yarder to Chandler Worthy.
Silvers passed for 270 yards but scrambled four times to nurse along a 98-yard drive before halftime, tying the longest scoring drive in Troy's D-I history.
UL Monroe's Pete Thomas passed for 328 yards with two TDs, both to Ajalen Holley -- a season-long 64-yarder early and then a 15-yarder to take a 19-14 lead in the third.
UL Monroe extended its best-in-the-nation active streak of forced turnovers to 30 games.
#17 LSU 63, New Mexico State 7
BATON ROUGE, La. – Brandon Harris led LSU to touchdowns on each of his seven series after relieving struggling sophomore Anthony Jennings, and the 17th-ranked Tigers overwhelmed New Mexico State 63-7 on Saturday night.
Harris was 11 of 14 for 178 yards and three touchdowns -- a statistical line that stood in stark contrast to that of Jennings, whose seven series under center comprised arguably his worst night as a Tiger. Jennings completed two of five passes for 11 yards and no TDs while turning the ball over three times on two interceptions and a fumble.
Andrew Allen had a 79-yard touchdown run for New Mexico State (2-3).
Despite four first-quarter turnovers, LSU (4-1) had an early 14-0 lead, thanks in part to a defensive score by sophomore linebacker Kendell Beckwith on a 27-yard interception return of Tyler Rodgers' deflected pass.
Entering the game in the second quarter, Harris let LSU's power running game do much of the work. Still, eight of his first nine passes were completions, and three of them went for touchdowns.
The righty's most impressive throw came as he scrambled to his left, hitting fellow freshman Malachi Dupre with a 27-yard scoring strike. His other TD tosses went for 10 yards to Travin Dural and 3 yards to fullback Melvin Jones.
Freshman running back Leonard Fournette had his first 100-yard game, finishing with 122 yards and two TDs rushing, including a 17-yard run in which he shed tacklers near the line of scrimmage before racing free to his right.
The calls for Harris built to a crescendo following LSU's first loss of the season to Mississippi State the previous week, a game in which Jennings also struggled, although Miles seemed to think execution across the offense had a lot to do with the quarterback's performance.
Harris, however, came into the game in the fourth quarter and led a pair of quick touchdown drives inside the final two minutes, and then got LSU in range for a Hail Mary heave which, if successful, would have made for a miraculous comeback in a game that the Tigers trailed 34-10 early in the third quarter.
Since Harris entered the game against the Bulldogs, he is 17 of 23 for 318 yards and five touchdowns against only one interception, which came on his Hail Mary attempt at the end of the Tigers' 34-29 loss to Mississippi State.
His touchdown runs came from 1 and 2 yards out, but the second run seemed to be the result of improvisation after he bobbled a high shotgun snap. To get to the end zone, he bowled his way through a heavy hit.
LSU finished with 363 yards rushing, including Terrence Magee's first TD of the season on an 11-yard run. The Tigers' 63 points tied the highest output by LSU since Miles took over as coach in 2005.