ATLANTA — In a dramatic twist on last season’s national championship game, Jalen Hurts came off the bench to pass for one touchdown and run for another in the fourth quarter, rallying No. 1 Alabama to a 35-28 win over No. 4 Georgia for the Southeastern Conference title Saturday.

Heisman Trophy favorite Tua Tagovailoa had to be helped off the field with just over 11 minutes remaining after one of his linemen stepped on the quarterback’s right ankle as he attempted to throw.

Enter Hurts, who led Alabama to the national title game as a freshman but lost the starting job to Tagovailoa. Hurts calmly guided the Crimson Tide (13-0) to a game-tying touchdown with a 10-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy.

After Georgia (11-2) was stuffed on a fake punt near midfield, Hurts took matters into his own hands for the winning score. Spotting an opening up the middle, he took off on a 15-yard TD run with 1:04 remaining.

BIG 12: Kyler Murray threw for 379 yards and three touchdowns as No. 5 Oklahoma beat No. 9 Texas 39-27 in the championship game at Arlington, Texas, with the Sooners avenging their only loss and making their case for a return to the College Football Playoff.

Murray, the Heisman Trophy-contending dual-threat quarterback, threw two of his TDs to Grant Calcaterra. That included an impressive 18-yard score on a third-and-10 play with two minutes left as the Sooners (12-1) won their seventh consecutive game despite being held to fewer than 40 points for the first time in nine games.

Sam Ehlinger was 23 of 36 for 349 yards with two touchdowns, and also ran for two scores for Texas (9-4), but his final pass was picked off by Tre Norwood at the 1 in the final minute.

Oklahoma is the first Power Five team to win four consecutive outright conference titles since Florida in the SEC in the mid-1990s.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC: Darriel Mack shrugged off two early turnovers to rush for three second-half touchdowns and rally No. 7 Central Florida (12-0) to a 56-41 victory over Memphis (8-5) in the championship game at Orlando, Florida.

With the red-shirt freshman filling in for injured quarterback McKenzie Milton, the Knights won their second straight league title and extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 25 games.

Mack also threw for 348 yards and two TDs without an interception to keep UCF, the only FBS team to finish undefeated a year ago, in the conversation about who’s deserving of consideration for berths in the College Football Playoff.

Greg McCrae rushed for 206 yards and one TD for the Knights, who beat the Tigers 62-55 in the 2017 AAC title game and rallied to win 31-30 at Memphis this year.

(24) IOWA STATE 27, DRAKE 24: David Montgomery ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns, and Iowa State (8-4) barely survived a near-upset by non-scholarship FCS school Drake (7-4) at Ames, Iowa.

SUN BELT: Zac Thomas had two long touchdown runs, Darrynton Evans set up another score with a 97-yard kickoff return and Appalachian State (10-2) collected a 30-19 victory against Louisiana-Lafayette (7-6) in the championship game at Boone, North Carolina.

CONFERENCE USA: Spencer Brown ran for 156 yards and a touchdown, Nick Vogel put UAB (10-3) ahead with a field goal with 3:23 remaining and the Blazers, who reinstated their program last season after a two-year hiatus, beat Middle Tennessee (9-4) 27-25 in the championship game at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

FBS

WEBER STATE 48, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 23: Jake Constantine threw for four touchdowns and ran for another, and the defense picked off four passes to lead second-seeded Weber State (10-2) over Southeast Missouri (9-4) in the second round at Ogden, Utah.
The Wildcats will be home against Maine next.

COLGATE 23, JAMES MADISON 20: Chris Puzzi kicked a 38-yard field goal as time ran out to lift Colgate (10-1) over James Madison (9-4) at Hamilton, New York, and send the No. 8-seeded Raiders to the quarterfinals.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE 52, MONTANA STATE 10: Lance Dunn rushed for 127 yards and four touchdowns, and top-seeded North Dakota State (13-0) overwhelmed Montana State (8-5) in a second-round game at Fargo, North Dakota.

KENNESAW STATE 13, WOFFORD 10: Kennesaw State (11-1) turned a late turnover into a Justin Thompson field goal with less than two minutes to play to beat visiting Wofford (9-4) in Kennesaw, Georgia.

EASTERN WASHINGTON 42, NICHOLLS 21: Sam McPherson ran for 137 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 3 seed Eastern Washington (10-2) scored 39 straight points to beat Nicholls (9-4) in the second round at Cheyney, Washington.

Related Stories