TOP 25 Saturday’s games

No. 4 Washington 31, No. 17 Utah 24

SALT LAKE CITY

Mitch Wishnowsky had pushed No. 4 Washington in a back-and-forth showdown with No. 17 Utah. The Utah punter had the Huskies on their heels and on the wrong side of the field so much that Washington coach Chris Petersen laughed when he pinned his team on the 7 in the third quarter. But then Wishnowsky outkicked his coverage, somewhat, late in the fourth quarter and gave Washington an opening. Dante Pettis returned the punt 58 yards for a touchdown with 3:25 left and Washington held off Utah to remain undefeated. “Honestly, I thought I was going to get tackled to begin with,” Pettis said. “I somehow slipped out of that. I was a little afraid because I lost about five yards to begin with. Once I got around that, my blockers did a good job setting up open space and that was it. That guy was a good punter. The best I’ve seen. The ball would just hang in the air forever and it was hard to judge where the ball was really going, but his leg paid off for us in the end.” After Utah tied it at 24 with 9:07 left, Washington (8-0, 5-0 Pac-12) pinned the Utes on their own 1 on quarterback Jake Browning’s pooch punt. The Utes (7-2, 4-2) went three-and-out and punted to Pettis, who ran parallel toward the far sideline, broke a tackle and outran everyone else. It was Pettis’ second punt return touchdown of the year and the first Utah has allowed since 2009. Browning threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns, and Myles Gaskin ran for 151 and a touchdown.

No. 5 Louisville 32, Virginia 25

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.

When he trotted back onto the field with just over 2 minutes to play and Louisville suddenly trailing Virginia 25-24 on Saturday, Lamar Jackson was well aware of what was at stake. “Everything,” he said. “Our whole season. We just knew what we had to do.” Jackson, as has been the case all season, did the most, engineering a 75-yard drive and capping it by floating a perfectly placed 29-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Smith with 13 seconds remaining as the Cardinals survived, 32-25. It was Jackson’s fourth touchdown pass and kept the Cardinals (7-1, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) in the College Football Playoff picture, and couldn’t have hurt the Heisman Trophy frontrunner’s candidacy. Virginia (2-6, 1-3) had scored with 1:57 remaining and used a 2-point conversion to take a 25-24 lead, whipping the sparse crowd at Scott Stadium into a frenzy that could only have made the task more daunting. Not for Jackson. He ran for 18 yards on the first play, hit Cole Hikutini in traffic for 5 yards on fourth-and-3, ran twice more for 16 yards before hitting Smith in the end zone with the pass over tight coverage by Juan Thornhill. “I just stayed calm,” Jackson said. “Me being the leader of the offense, just kept a level head.” So did Smith, who had just one prior reception. Once we got the ball back, I felt like we had too much time not to score a touchdown,” he said.

Texas 35, No. 8 Baylor 34

AUSTIN, TEXAS

Trent Domingue kicked a 39-yard field goal with 46 seconds left and Texas upset Baylor to hand the Bears their first loss. For the second straight season, coach Charlie Strong and the Longhorns (4-4, 2-4 Big 12) beat Baylor (6-1, 3-1). This time Texas also dealt a blow to the Big 12’s hopes of putting a team in the College Football Playoff. Both of the conference’s remaining unbeaten teams lost Saturday, with No. 10 West Virginia going down at Oklahoma State. D’Onta Foreman rushed for a career-best 250 yards and two touchdowns for the Longhorns,

No. 9. Texas A&M 52, New Mexico State 10

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS

Christian Kirk returned two punts for touchdowns and added a third score on a reception to help Texas A&M rout New Mexico State. Texas A&M (7-1) took a break from Southeastern Conference play to face the Sun Belt team for the first time a week after suffering its first loss at top-ranked Alabama. Kirk returned punts for 70 and 73 yards to become the first player in school history with two punt return scores in a game. He has four in his career, which is a Texas A&M record. A 12-yard run by Trayveon Williams on A&M’s first drive made it 7-0 before Kirk’s first return TD pushed the lead to 14-0 later in the first. On that return, Kirk grabbed the ball and evaded the first wave of defenders before sidestepping another one, getting a couple of blocks, sprinting away from the rest of the defense and waltzing into the end zone.

Oklahoma State 37, No. 10 West Virginia 20

STILLWATER, OKLA.

Mason Rudolph threw three touchdown passes and ran for a score for Oklahoma State. Rudolph completed 26 of 36 passes for 273 yards. James Washington had six catches for 117 yards, Chris Lacy caught two touchdown passes, and Jalen McCleskey matched a career high with 11 receptions for the Cowboys (6-2, 4-1 Big 12). It the 100th career victory for Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. West Virginia’s Skyler Howard passed for 212 yards, but he threw two interceptions and lost a fumble for the Mountaineers (6-1, 3-1).

No. 14 Florida 24, Georgia 10

JACKSONVILLE, FLA.

Jordan Scarlett scored for the sixth consecutive game, Antonio Callaway had the first rushing touchdown of his career and Florida used a dominant defensive effort to beat Georgia. Playing just their second game in four weeks, the Gators won their third straight in the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” It was Florida’s 21st victory against the Bulldogs in the last 27 years. The Gators (6-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) pressured freshman quarterback Jacob Eason and stuffed Nick Chubb on just about every carry. Georgia (4-4, 2-4) lost for the fourth time in five games. Florida’s Luke Del Rio, coming off a three-interception performance against Missouri, completed 15 of 25 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown.

No. 15 Auburn 40, Mississippi 29

OXFORD, MISS.

Kamryn Pettway ran for a career-high 236 yards and a touchdown, Sean White added 247 yards passing and Auburn beat Mississippi. Ole Miss’ Chad Kelly threw for a school-record 465 yards, beating Archie Manning’s previous mark of 436 yards set in 1969. Kelly also threw three touchdowns and one interception. But the Rebels couldn’t keep up with Auburn, which finished with 554 total yards. The Tigers once again gave a heavy workload to Pettway, a sophomore who responded by smashing through the Ole Miss defense with his 240-pound body time after time. Auburn (6-2, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) won its fifth straight. Ole Miss (3-5, 1-4) lost its third in a row.

No. 16 Oklahoma 56, Kansas 3

NORMAN, OKLA.

Baker Mayfield passed for 236 yards and four touchdowns and Oklahoma overcame a sluggish start to rout Kansas, moving into sole possession of first place in the Big 12. Receiver Dede Westbrook extended his hot streak for the Sooners, scoring on a 71-yard punt return and a 41-yard catch as Oklahoma won its 13th straight Big 12 game. Losses by West Virginia and Baylor earlier Saturday put Oklahoma (6-2, 5-0) into the lead in the conference. Oklahoma is 5-0 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2004 and for the fourth time ever. On all three previous occasions, Oklahoma went 8-0 in league play, winning titles in 2000 and 2004. Perhaps more important for Oklahoma was that its beleaguered defense, which allowed 854 yards a week earlier in a 66-59 win over Texas Tech, limited Kansas (1-7, 0-5) to 170 yards, the fewest by an opponent this season. Jordan Evans’ 33-yard third-quarter interception return for a touchdown meant the Sooners’ defense outscored Kansas.

South Carolina 24, No. 18 Tennessee

COLUMBIA, S.C.

Jake Bentley threw for two touchdowns, Rico Dowdle ran for 127 yards and another score, and South Carolina handed Tennessee its third straight loss. The Gamecocks (4-4, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) had struggled on offense much of the season and were expected to be a comfortable bounce-back win for the powerhouse Vols (5-3, 2-3) after consecutive defeats to No. 9 Texas A&M and No. 1 Alabama.Instead, South Carolina’s defense bottled up the Vols most of the game, holding them to 251 yards of offense. Joshua Dobbs threw for only 120 yards and was picked off twice by cornerback Jamarcus King, the final time with 3:50 left in the game and Tennessee needing a dramatic rally. Tennessee got a final chance with 35 seconds left and drove to the South Carolina 41. But Aaron Medley’s desperation, 58 yard field goal attempt was well short on the final play.

Associated Press