MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No. 9 West Virginia and the Big 12, perfect together.

Geno Smith and the fast-moving, high-scoring Mountaineers proved they fit right in with their new conference, outracing No. 25 Baylor 70-63 on Saturday in the Big 12’s highest-scoring game ever.

Smith tied a conference mark with eight touchdown passes and narrowly missed another one with 656 yards passing.

“It did feel like one of those classic Texas shootouts,” said Smith, whose school moved over from the Big East this season. “That’s kind of what the Big 12 is about.”

Smith outdueled Baylor’s Nick Florence, who broke Heisman Trophy-winning predecessor Robert Griffin III’s school record with 581 yards. Florence threw for five TDs.

School, conference and FBS marks all got rewritten.

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The game also set a new record for the most points scored in a game involving a team ranked in The Associated Press poll. The previous mark of 124 was set in No. 12 Oklahoma’s 82-42 win over Colorado in 1980.

How wild was it? Smith, the early Heisman front-runner, had more TD passes than incompletions (six). He finished 45 of 51 and still doesn’t have an interception this season.

“Can you please tell me how you can improve on that?” West Virginia Coach Dana Holgorsen said.

West Virginia amassed a school-record 807 yards and the teams combined for 1,507 yards of offense and 67 first downs. Six receivers had at least 100 yards receiving.

(3) LSU 38, TOWSON 22: Zach Mettenberger connected with Odell Beckham Jr. five times for 128 yards and two touchdowns, and LSU overcame nagging offensive sloppiness in a victory over overmatched but feisty Towson at Baton Rouge, La.

(5) GEORGIA 51, TENNESEE 44: Todd Gurley ran for three touchdowns and Keith Marshall added two as Georgia recovered after blowing a 17-point lead win at Athens, Ga., in the highest-scoring game ever between the SEC rivals.

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Georgia (5-0, 3-0 SEC), which had never scored more points against the Volunteers, locked it up with three takeaways in the final six minutes.

Georgia led 27-10 early in the second quarter before Tennessee took the lead with 20 unanswered points.

Tennessee (3-2, 0-2 SEC) took its third straight loss in the series under Coach Derek Dooley, the son of Georgia’s former longtime coach Vince Dooley.

(6) SOUTH CAROLINA 38, KENTUCKY 17: Marcus Lattimore ran for two touchdowns and Connor Shaw passed for another in the second half as the Gamecocks scored 31 straight points at Lexington, Ky.

(14) OHIO STATE 17, (20) MICHIGAN STATE 16: Braxton Miller threw for 179 yards and ran for 130, and the Buckeyes held off the Spartans at East Lansing, Mich., giving Urban Meyer a win in his first Big Ten game as Ohio State coach.

Miller put Ohio State (5-0, 1-0) 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. 

(17) CLEMSON 45, BOSTON COLLEGE 31: Tajh Boyd threw for 367 yards and three touchdowns, and ran in another in a game at Boston.

Boyd completed 28 of 38 passes and ran 11 times for 42 yards and a TD for the Tigers (4-1, 1-1 ACC). Also, DeAndre Hopkins caught 11 passes for 197 yards for Clemson, which bounced back after blowing a two-touchdown lead and losing 49-37 to No. 4 Florida State last week.

(24) BOISE STATE 32, NEW MEXICO 29: Joe Southwick passed for 311 yards and three touchdowns, and Timmy Smith knocked down a fourth-down pass with two minutes to go to help the Broncos win at Albuquerque, N.M.


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