No. 1 Texas and No. 11 Texas Tech stay unbeaten while No. 16 Louisville goes down
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12:58 PM on Friday, September 25
By ERIC OLSON
No. 1 Texas, No. 7 Ohio State and No. 11 Texas Tech got some of the best individual performances of the season while winning their games Saturday.
No. 16 Louisville wasn't up to the task against Wake Forest when it became engaged in a second straight back-and-forth scoring contest.
With President Donald Trump looking on from a suite at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Texas held off No. 14 Tennessee 20-17 after Colin Simmons recorded five of his team's 10 sacks of freshman Faizon Brandon and the Longhorns survived a Hail Mary after the Volunteers recovered an onside kick.
Jeremiah Smith stole the show in Columbus, tying the Ohio State record with four touchdowns and a career-high 12 catches for 217 yards in a 42-19 victory over Illinois.
Texas Tech linebacker Austin Romaine returned interceptions for touchdowns on back-to-back defensive plays early in the second quarter — something that hadn't been done by a major-college player since 2013 — and the Red Raiders pulled away for a 49-14 win over Sam Houston.
Simmons led a huge defensive effort by the Longhorns. His five sacks were most in the Football Bowl Subdivision since Ivan Pace Jr. of Miami (Ohio) had six against Akron in 2019.
Tennessee had just 136 total yards and was averaging 2.2 per play before Brandon led an 80-yard drive that pulled the Vols within three points with 1:22 to play. Brandon was sacked twice before Texas broke up his desperation throw to the end zone on the game's last play.
“Shoutout to our defense,” quarterback Arch Manning said in a postgame television interview. “Colin Simmons, that’s a real player right there.”
Ohio State's Smith made defenders look silly on two of his four touchdown catches. On his second, a 72-yarder, he made two quick moves to shake Mac Resetich on his way to the end zone. On his fourth, he completely turned around Juice Clarke while getting open on his 26-yarder.
Texas Tech broke away from Sam Houston thanks to Romaine. Brock Gowlas, his teammate, leaped to deflect a pass thrown by Brett Holloway. Romaine, who had also jumped, then grabbed the ball out of the air and ran 15 yards for a touchdown with 14:54 left in the first half.
On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, Bearcats starting quarterback Landyn Locke was back in the game, and his pass on first down was picked off by Romaine. That 31-yard return made it 21-0, only 7 seconds after his first pick-6.
The Cardinals have been vulnerable on defense through the first month of the season, and they paid the price against Wake Forest. They likely will have to win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship to make the College Football Playoff. An at-large bid with two losses before October is a big ask.
Louisville came into the game near the bottom of the ACC in total and scoring defense, and the Demon Deacons came away with points on six of their first 10 possessions.
The Cardinals had two chances to get the game to overtime, but Carson Hilbert's 42-yard field-goal attempt was wide left with 2:29 left and Gabe Kirschke blocked Nick Keller's 57-yard try with 15 seconds left.
— No. 4 Mississippi, coming off its emotional win over LSU, was made a surprising underdog by oddsmakers for its game at No. 21 Florida.
— No. 19 Missouri visits No. 24 Mississippi State in a game featuring quarterbacks Austin Simmons of the Tigers and Kamario Taylor of the Bulldogs.
— No. 23 Texas A&M visits No. 10 LSU for a game between teams in bounceback mode. The Aggies are coming off a home loss to Kentucky and will be playing the Tigers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for the second year in a row. The Aggies won easily last year.
No. 20 Oregon, which entered the season ranked No. 2 and a trendy pick to win its first national championship, finds itself in a near must-win situation at No. 12 Southern California.
Oregon went to Oklahoma State two weeks ago and left with a shocking loss, and that was after the Ducks held off Boise State in their opener. The defense gave up a combined 66 points in those games and shaky offensive line play has led to seven sacks of Dante Moore so far.
The Trojans' defense also has had problems. USC shut out Fresno State in its second game but otherwise has been unimpressive. Last week, the Trojans didn’t put away winless Rutgers until the final four minutes.
The co-main event in the Big Ten has No. 17 Iowa at No. 18 Michigan. The Hawkeyes have the top defense in the nation and an offense that has put up uncharacteristic big numbers, albeit against light competition. Michigan is looking for a more complete performance after tussling with UTEP through the first half last week.
Kansas State has been better than expected under first-year coach Collin Klein. Now the Wildcats go on the road for the first time to play their first Power Four opponent and Big 12 opener against Cincinnati.
Avery Johnson is averaging 290 yards per game in total offense and the defense, second nationally, has held opposing passers to 44% accuracy, one touchdown and 86.7 yards per game.
Cincinnati had to make up a 21-point halftime deficit to beat Miami and get to 3-0 and would love to be 4-0 before playing back-to-back road games and then a slew of ranked opponents.
The key game among the Group of Six teams sends Boise State of the Pac-12 to Western Michigan of the Mid-American Conference.
Boise State played Oregon close on the road and picked up a solid victory over Memphis before surviving against South Dakota of the Football Championship Subdivision last week.
Western Michigan has beaten Monmouth and Rice since its heartbreaking and controversial loss at Michigan.
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This story has been corrected. A previous version reported erroneously that Ohio State was unbeaten.
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