UNDATED (AP) — Long kickoff returns came in bunches over the weekend. Four players ran back kicks 100 yards Saturday. That’s most in a single day since there were five maximum-distance returns Oct. 31, 2015. Two occurred in the same game. SMU’s Bryan Massey ran back the second-half kickoff against Houston and the Cougars’ Marcus Jones went all the way with 17 seconds left to produce his team’s 44-37 win. BYU’s Tyler Allgeier had 266 yards against Virginia for the top rushing performance. Caleb Williams’ six touchdown passes for Oklahoma against Texas Tech were most by a freshman since 2016.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — No. 5 Michigan State has a lot of momentum following its thrilling comeback win over its in-state rival. That’s giving one of college football’s surprising teams a shot to win a Big Ten Conference title and perhaps contend for a national championship. The Spartans rallied Saturday from a 16-point third-quarter deficit to upset Michigan behind five rushing touchdowns by Kenneth Walker. With the victory, Michigan State stayed atop the Big Ten East standings along with No. 6 Ohio State. The Spartan’s Big Ten and playoff hopes will be determined by road games at Purdue and Ohio State and home matchups with Maryland and Penn State.
UNDATED (AP) — Michigan State has moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press college football poll and Wake Forest is a top-10 team for the first time in school history. Georgia is a unanimous No. 1 for the fourth straight week in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank. The rest of the top four was unchanged from last week, with Cincinnati at No. 2, Alabama at No. 3 and Oklahoma at No. 4. The Spartans jumped three spots by beating Michigan. The last time Michigan State broke into the top five was 2015. In the final AP poll before the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season, Ohio State slipped to No. 6 and Oregon was seventh. No. 8 Notre Dame, Michigan and Wake Forest rounded out the top 10.
