Crimson Tide overcome Rebels; Oregon, LSU roll on

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama: Amari Cooper caught two touchdown passes from AJ McCarron and Christion Jones returned a kickoff 99 yards for another score, leading Alabama to a 33-14 victory over Mississippi.
The Crimson Tide trailed briefly, 7-6, for the first time in regulation since last year’s Tennessee game, a span of nine-plus games. The Rebels put up a fight against a team that had been walloping opponents by nearly 37 points on average, but still lost their ninth straight SEC opener.
McCarron completed 22 of 30 passes for 180 yards and Eddie Lacy gained much of his 82 yards in the fourth quarter when Alabama put it away with Jeremy Shelley’s third and fourth field goals of the game.
The Tide’s defense bailed out an offense that sputtered at times with three interceptions.
No. 2 Oregon 51 Washington State 26: At Seattle, De’Anthony Thomas and Kenjon Barner sandwiched touchdown runs around Avery Patterson’s 34-yard interception return for a score, and Oregon used a third-quarter scoring blitz to shake Washington State.
The Ducks looked shaky at times in the first half and led just 23-19 at the break, but put together a nearly flawless third quarter to run away from the Cougars.
No. 3 LSU 38 Towson 22: At Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Zach Mettenberger connected with Odell Beckham Jr. five times for 128 yards and two touchdowns, and LSU overcame nagging offensive sloppiness to beat Towson.
Mettenberger’s scoring strikes to Beckham went for 53 and 27 yards, and LSU’s quarterback finished with 238 yards passing. Still, Mettenberger missed some open receivers and his fumble — one of three LSU turnovers — led to the first of two touchdown runs by Towson’s Terrance West.
No. 4 Florida State 30 South Florida 17: At Tampa, Florida, EJ Manuel threw for 242 yards and a touchdown, helping Florida State remain unbeaten.
Receiver Rashad Greene got the Seminoles going with a 10-yard touchdown run, Christian Jones scored on a 12-yard fumble return and Penn State transfer Kevin Haplea had a 1-yard TD reception as the Seminolessurvived their first road test of the season by pulling away from a three-point lead with two TDs and a field goal in the final 5:09 of the third quarter.
No. 5 Georgia 51, Tennessee 44: At Athens, Georgia, Todd Gurley ran for three touchdowns and Keith Marshall added two as Georgia recovered after blowing a 17-point lead.
Georgia locked it up with three takeaways in the final 6 minutes. Twice Sanders Commings intercepted Tyler Bray’s passes and in between the Tennessee quarterback was stripped from behind and the fumble was recovered by Georgia’s John Jenkins.
No. 6 South Carolina 38, Kentucky 17: At Lexington, Kentucky, Marcus Lattimore ran for two touchdowns and Connor Shaw passed for another in the second half as South Carolina scored 31 straight points.
Shaw was 15 of 18 for 148 yards as the Gamecocks moved into a tie with Florida and Georgia atop the East division, with the Bulldogs coming to Columbia, South Carolina, next week.
No. 9 West Virginia 70 BAYLOR 63 At Morgantown, West Virginia, Geno Smith threw for 656 yards and tied a Big 12 record with eight touchdown passes to lead West Virginia in a record scoring game.
It marked the most points scored in a game involving a team ranked in The Associated Press poll. The previous record of 124 was set in No. 12 Oklahoma’s 82-42 win over Colorado in 1980.
No. 12 Texas 41Oklahoma State 36: At Stillwater, Oklahoma, David Ash threw three touchdown passes to Jaxon Shipley and Joe Bergeron scored on a 2-yard run with 29 seconds left to lift Texas in a thriller over Oklahoma State.
No. 14 Ohio State 17 No. 20 Michigan State 16: At East Lansing, Michigan, Braxton Miller threw for 179 yards and ran for 136, and Urban Meyer won his first Big Ten game as Buckeyes coach. Miller put Ohio State ahead 17-13 with a 63-yard touchdown pass to Devin Smith in the third quarter, and the Buckeyes’ maligned defense held Le’Veon Bell and the Michigan State running game in check.
No. 15 TCY 24 SMU 16: At Dallas, Casey Pachall threw two touchdown passes, Jason Verrett had two interceptions and TCU extended its FBS-best winning streak to 12 games.
No. 17 Clemson 45 Boston College 31: At Boston, Tajh Boyd threw for 367 yards and three touchdowns and ran in another for Clemson, while DeAndre Hopkins caught 11 passes for 197 yards for the Tigers, who bounced back after blowing a two-touchdown lead against No. 4 Florida State last week.
No. 18 Oregon State 38 Arizona 35: At Tucson, Arizona, Sean Mannion threw for a career-high 433 yards and hit Connor Hamlett on a 10-yard pass with 1:09 left for his third touchdown, lifting Oregon State to wild win over Arizona.
No. 19 Louisville 21 Southern Miss 17: At Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Senorize Perry rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns, Jeremy Wright added 84 rushing yards and Louisville rallied in a soaked Roberts Stadium.
No. 22 Nebraska 30 Wisconsin 27: At Lincoln, Nebraska, Taylor Martinez guided four straight scoring drives against a tiring Wisconsin defense in the second half to lead Nebraska’s comeback from a 17-point deficit.

No. 24 Boise State 32 New Mexico 29: At Albuquerque, New Mexico, Joe Southwick passed for 311 yards and three touchdowns and Timmy Smith knocked down a fourth-down pass with two minutes to go as Boise State edged New Mexico.