Georgia Southern 28, Arkansas State 21
STATESBORO, Ga. – Wesley Kennedy III broke for a 47-yard scoring sprint in the waning seconds to give Georgia Southern a 28-21 victory over Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams on Saturday night.
Justice Hansen had just marched Arkansas State 77 yards to tie the game when Hansen crashed across from the 4 with 5:07 remaining. Georgia Southern's ensuing drive had apparently stalled around midfield when Shai Werts flipped Kennedy the ball on a reverse that caught most of the Arkansas State team off guard. Kennedy crossed the goal line just before being knocked out of bounds with 19 seconds left.
Werts threw three passes all night, but on one he connected with Wesley Fields for a 61-yard scoring strike to take a 7-3 lead into the half. Werts rushed for 113 yards and Kennedy finished with 105 yards rushing for Georgia Southern (3-1, 1-0).
Hansen threw for 376 yards and a score. Kirk Merritt caught 11 passes for 92 yards for Arkansas State (3-2, 0-1).
Appalachian State 52, South Alabama 7
BOONE, N.C. – Zac Thomas passed for two touchdowns and rushed for two more, leading Appalachian State past South Alabama 52-7 on Saturday.
Appalachian State (3-1, 1-0) had five consecutive touchdown drives in the first half, scoring 21 points in each of the first two quarters for a 42-7 lead. Thomas had scoring runs of 7 and 54 yards and throwing plays of 2 and 27 yards.
App State entered as the Sun Belt leader in scoring (51.7 points), total offense (525.7 yards) and total defense (265.7). Its high-powered offense racked up 517 yards to the Jaguars' 308.
Thomas passed for 146 yards with two interceptions and he had 77 yards on six carries. Jalin Moore added 123 yards on the ground with two scores. Three of App State's 10 completions were for touchdowns.
Evan Orth had 225 yards passing with an interception for South Alabama (1-4, 1-1). Gus Nave and Travis Reed each made an interception.
Troy 45, Coastal Carolina 21
TROY, Ala. – Jabir Daughtry-Frye and B.J. Smith combined for over 240 yards rushing and three touchdowns as Troy won its fourth straight, beating Coastal Carolina 45-21 on Saturday.
Marcus Jones returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and the Trojans never looked back, going ahead 21-0 in the first quarter. They held Coastal Carolina to just seven points in the final half as the defenders finished with nine sacks on the day.
The Trojans have not lost since they opened the season by falling to Boise State 56-20. They trounced Florida A&M the next week 59-7, before surprising Nebraska with a 24-19 win and dropping Louisiana-Monroe last week.
Daughtry-Frye, who broke for a 74-yard touchdown sprint, had five carries for 140 yards and a score and Smith rushed for 103 yards and a TD on 10 touches. Kaleb Barker threw for 143 yards and one score for Troy (4-1, 2-0 Sun Belt).
Bryce Carpenter threw for 172 yards and a touchdown for Coastal Carolina (3-2, 1-1) which suffered its first defeat since opening with a 49-15 loss to South Carolina.
Georgia State 46, ULM 14
ATLANTA – Dan Ellington threw for one touchdown and ran for another as Georgia State opened Southern Conference play with a 46-14 romp over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday afternoon to halt a three-game skid.
Ellington was 15-of-18 passing for 179 yards and ran for 64. The first-year starting quarterback threw for 170 yards in the first half, completing 12 of 13 attempts. Freshman Seth Paige racked up 145 total yards on the ground with two touchdowns. Tra Barnett rushed for 64 yards and a TD.
Georgia State (2-3, 1-0) set a program record, racking up 308 yards on the ground.
Ellington ran in from the 1 to open the scoring and hit Roger Carter on a 4-yard scoring toss early in the second quarter as the Panthers took a 30-14 lead into the break.
Caleb Evans rushed for two touchdowns while throwing for 113 yards for the Warhawks (2-3, 0-2) who have dropped three straight.
#1 Alabama 56, Louisiana 14
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Jaylen Waddle returned a punt for a touchdown and caught two scoring passes, including a 94-yarder in the Crimson Tide's 56-14 victory Saturday over Louisiana.
Quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts staked the Crimson Tide (5-0) to a 49-0 halftime lead over the Ragin' Cajuns (1-3) en route to the defending national champions' latest win.
Hurts, who twice led Alabama to national championship games but lost his starting job, erased any question about possibly taking a redshirt year by playing in his fifth game.
Third-teamer Mac Jones got into the act with his 94-yarder to the freshman Waddle late in the third quarter. It tied for the second-longest TD catch in Alabama history.
Alabama has scored at least 45 points five games in a row for the first time in program history.
Tagovailoa completed all eight of his attempts for 128 yards and two touchdowns, mostly in the first quarter. Hurts was 4 of 6 for 118 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown to Henry Ruggs III.
Ruggs caught five passes for 116 yards and two TDs. Waddle gained 138 yards on three catches and returned a punt by zig-zagging 63 yards for a score.
Alabama took a 21-0 lead in the first seven minutes, with help from two big special teams plays, Waddle's return and Derek Kief's blocked punt.
Jacobs ran for two touchdowns in the first quarter.
The Ragin' Cajuns scored twice in the fourth but were outgained 608-288. Trey Ragas gained 111 yards on 16 rushes with a 1-yard touchdown.
Louisiana coach Billy Napier said he was concerned about Waddle and Jacobs, who returns kicks.
"I probably lost more sleep this week thinking about that than I did anything else," Napier said.