Mississippi State quarterback K.J. Costello throws a pass in the first half against LSU on Saturday in Baton Rouge, La. Gerald Herbert/Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — K.J. Costello passed for an SEC record 623 yards and five touchdowns in the Mississippi State debut of Coach Mike Leach’s “Air Raid” offense, and the Bulldogs knocked off sixth-ranked and defending national champion LSU 44-34 on Saturday.
Costello’s passing yardage in his first game since transferring from Stanford to Starkville, Mississippi, eclipsed the 544 yards Georgia’s Eric Zeier had against Southern Mississippi in 1993 to set the Southeastern Conference record.
And Costello needed most of it to make up for his two interceptions and two lost fumbles, which helped LSU rally to tie the game at 34 before he engineered a pair of scoring drives in the final 10 minutes.
LSU became the first defending national champion to lose its opening game since Michigan in 1998 lost at Notre Dame.
(2) ALABAMA 38, MISSOURI 19: Mac Jones threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns in less than three quarters, and Alabama began its Southeastern Conference-only schedule with a romp at Missouri.
Jaylen Waddle finished with eight catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns, and Najee Harris ran for 98 yards and three more scores.
KANSAS STATE 38, (3) OKLAHOMA 35: Skylar Thompson passed for 334 yards and ran for three touchdowns, and the Wildcats (1-1) rallied from 21 points down to beat the Sooners (1-1) in Norman, Oklahoma.
Freshman Deuce Vaughn caught four passes for 129 yards and ran for a touchdown for the Wildcats, who were coming off a season-opening loss to Arkansas State. It was Kansas State’s first-ever road win against a top-three team in the AP poll.
Oklahoma freshman Spencer Rattler passed for 387 yards and four touchdowns, but he threw three interceptions.
Kansas State upset Oklahoma 48-41 in Manhattan, Kansas, last year.
Kansas State said earlier in the week it was struggling to have enough players available at all position groups to play the game because of COVID-19.
(4) GEORGIA 37, ARKANSAS 10: Stetson Bennett threw two touchdown passes in the third quarter, and the Bulldogs rallied to beat the Razorbacks in Fayetteville, Arkansas in the season opener for each school.
Bennett replaced D’Wan Mathis in the second quarter and finished 20 for 29 for 211 yards. Bennett put the Bulldogs ahead to stay when he tossed a 19-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens and ran in the 2-point conversion to make it 13-10 with 6 minutes left in the third.
Feleipe Franks was 19 for 36 for 200 yards and a touchdown in his first start for Arkansas, but the Florida transfer also tossed two interceptions. Zamir White rushed for 71 yards and a TD on 13 carries.
(5) FLORIDA 51, MISSISSIPPI 35: Kyle Pitts caught four of Kyle Trask’s six touchdown passes and the Gators spoiled the head coaching debut of Mississippi’s Lane Kiffin with a win in Oxford, Mississippi.
Trask completed 30 of 42 passes for 416 yards including touchdown passes of 1, 16, 71 and 17 yards to Pitts. The star tight end had 170 yards receiving.
Trask directed four consecutive touchdown drives that spanned the second and third quarters to build a 41-14 lead for the Gators (1-0 Southeastern Conference).
Kiffin, the former Tennessee and USC head coach who came to Ole Miss from FAU, had the Rebels’ offense humming with Matt Corral at quarterback. Corral completed 22 of 31 passes for 395 yards and three touchdowns passes, two to Dontario Drummond.
(8) TEXAS 63, TEXAS TECH 56: Sam Ehlinger threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Moore in overtime after Texas (2-0, 1-0 Big 12) rallied with two touchdowns in the final 3 minutes of regulation against Texas Tech (1-1, 0-1) at Lubbock, Texas.
(8) AUBURN 29, (23) KENTUCKY 13: Bo Nix threw for 233 yards and three second-half touchdowns, including a pair to Seth Williams, and the Tigers scored twice in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Wildcats in the season opener, in Auburn, Alabama.
The Tigers turned a three-quarter scare into a comfortable win by capitalizing on a late turnover and Kentucky’s failed fake punt in the lone Top 25 matchup of the Southeastern Conference’s opening weekend.
The game was played before a COVID-19-limited crowd of 17,000-plus – mostly Auburn students – and the most electric moment for the sparse in-person audience was a 100-yard interception return called back by targeting just before halftime.
Nix delivered some big plays to start an encore to a promising freshman season, especially to Williams. He completed 16 of 27 passes and also ran for 34 yards.
(13) CENTRAL FLORIDA 51, EAST CAROLINA 28: Dillon Gabriel threw for 408 yards and four touchdowns to help the Knights (2-0, 1-0 American Athletic Conference) beat the Pirates (0-1, 0-1) in Greenville, North Carolina.
Jaylon Robinson and Marlon Williams each had huge games as Gabriel’s top targets for the Knights (2-0, 1-0). Robinson had nine catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns, while Williams had a career-best 13 catches for 136 yards.
Throw in Greg McCrae’s short first-quarter scoring run to lead a productive ground game, and UCF finished with 632 yards with its fast-paced offense pushing the tempo to keep the pressure on. The Knights had a penalty-filled start in the first quarter — including four false-start penalties while trying to get off their first offensive snap — before settling in and blowing the game open with a pair of touchdowns in the final 5 minutes before halftime.
(14) CINCINNATI 24, (22) ARMY 10: Desmond Ridder passed for 258 yards and two touchdowns as the Bearcats (2-0) defeated the Black Knights (2-1) in the first matchup of ranked teams at Nippert Stadium since 2008.
Army’s vaunted triple-option offense came in averaging 389.5 rushing yards, but the Bearcats held them to 182, including 81 by junior QB Christian Anderson who also passed for 94 yards on nine completions.
Army hasn’t defeated a ranked opponent on the road since 1958, but the Black Knights shocked the Bearcats with a defensive touchdown just 51 seconds into the game.
(15) OKLAHOMA STATE 27, WEST VIRGINIA 13: Chuba Hubbard scored on a 23-yard run with 1:17 remaining to salvage a difficult afternoon and help the Cowboys (2-0, 1-0 Big 12 beat the Mountaineers (1-1, 0-1) in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Sidelined for a number of key plays after fumbling on consecutive second-half possessions, Hubbard ended up with 101 yards on 22 rushes for his 12th 100-yard performance in his last 13 games. With the additional action, Hubbard’s backup, L.D. Brown, gained 103 yards on 11 carries, including a 66-yard touchdown run, for Oklahoma State (2-0, 1-0 Big 12).
True freshman backup quarterback Shane Illingworth, in his first collegiate start, completed 15 of 21 passes for 139 yards, but also had an interception, for the Cowboys.
(19) LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 20, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 18: Nate Snyder hit a 53-yard field goal on the final play Saturday, and the Ragin’ Cajuns (3-0, 2-0 Sun Belt) escaped with a win over the Eagles (1-1, 0-1) in Lafayette, Louisiana.
The hosts looked on the way to their first loss when Georgia Southern quarterback Shai Werts hit Khaleb Hood with a 28-yard touchdown pass and Dalton Anderson for a 2-point conversion with 54 seconds left to give the Eagles an 18-17 lead.
(21) PITTSBURGH 23, (24) LOUISVILLE 20: Kenny Pickett threw for 220 yards and two touchdowns, and the Panthers (3-0, 2-0 ACC) sacked Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham seven times in a win over the Cardinals (1-2, 0-2) in Pittsburgh.
The Panthers moved to 3-0 for the first time since 2014 behind a relentless defense that kept the 24th-ranked Cardinals in check for most of the afternoon. Pitt limited Louisville to 223 total yards — less than half of its season average coming in – and picked off Cunningham three times, including twice in the fourth quarter.
BOSTON COLLEGE 24, TEXAS STATE 21: Phil Jurkovec hit Hunter Long for a tying touchdown with 1:11 left, and Aaron Boumerhi kicked a 36-yard field goal with 3 seconds to play as Boston College (2-0) rallied to beat visiting Texas State (1-3) as it avoided losing to a three-touchdown underdog for the second season in a row.
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