Illinois stuns No. 6 Badgers 24-23 on McCourt game-ending FG
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — James McCourt kicked a 39-yard field as time expired and Illinois pulled off the biggest upset of the college football season, knocking off No. 6 Wisconsin 24-23 on Saturday.
Tony Adams picked off a pass by Jack Coan for the Illini (3-5, 1-3 Big Ten), who were 30 ½-point underdogs, at midfield with 2:33 remaining. Dre Brown’s tackle-breaking 13-yard run got Illinois to the Wisconsin 25, setting up McCourt to attempt a game-winner. The junior kicker was down the middle with the field goal to give coach Lovie Smith the most significant victory of his four-year tenure in Champaign.
Wisconsin had not trailed this season and was looking to roll into a showdown with No. 3 Ohio State next week in Columbus. Instead, the Badgers (6-1, 4-1) blew a nine-point lead in the final 9:46 of the fourth quarter.
Illinois beat a ranked team for the first time since 2011 and knocked off a ranked Big Ten team for the first time since 2007, when the Illini beat No. 1 Ohio State in November on their way to a Rose Bowl appearance. The last time Illinois beat a ranked Big Ten team at home was October 2007, a 31-26 victory against No. 5 Wisconsin.
NO. 3 CLEMSON 45, LOUISVILLE 10
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Trevor Lawrence overcame two early interceptions to throw three touchdown passes, Travis Etienne rushed for 192 yards and a score and No. 3 Clemson routed Louisville for its 22nd consecutive victory.
Darien Rencher and Chez Mellusi added rushing TDs for the Tigers (7-0, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who missed first-quarter chances to build a big lead when Lawrence was picked off twice near the goal line. The sophomore quarterback settled down to hit Joseph Ngata and Justyn Ross with second-quarter TDs for a 17-3 halftime lead.
Lawrence’s 10-yard TD to Cornell Powell made it 31-3, and he finished 20 of 29 for 233 yards.
The Tigers also posted six sacks and kept Louisville (4-3, 2-2) out of the end zone until Javian Hawkins’ 3-yard TD late in the game.
NO. 5 OKLAHOMA 52, WEST VIRGINIA 14
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Jalen Hurts passed for 316 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 75 yards and two more scores for No. 5 Oklahoma.
Oklahoma (7-0, 4-0) is unbeaten in eight games against West Virginia (3-4, 1-3) since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 in 2012. The Sooners now have won 20 of their last 21 games.
Oklahoma, which rolled up 562 yards of offense, has scored at least 34 points in 17 straight games, the second-longest such streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision since 1980. The Sooners didn’t score a touchdown in the fourth quarter, though; they’ve now scored a touchdown in every quarter but two this season.
West Virginia quarterback Austin Kendall, who spent three seasons at Oklahoma as a backup to Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray before transferring, completed 15 of 31 passes for 182 yards, including touchdowns of 38 and 7 yards to T.J. Simmons.
Hurts, whose transfer from Alabama to Oklahoma led to Kendall’s transfer, completed 16 of 17 passes, with the incompletion a drop by freshman Drake Stoops.
NO. 9 FLORIDA 38, SOUTH CAROLINA 27
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Kyle Trask threw for a career-high four touchdowns, three in the fourth quarter, to help No. 9 Florida bounce back from its loss at LSU.
The Gators (7-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) slogged through a soggy field from Tropical Storm Nestor for much of the game. But they eventually came to life and rallied past a South Carolina (3-4, 2-3) team looking to take down a Top 10 opponent for the second straight week after its 20-17 double-overtime win at Georgia.
Instead, it was Florida, off its 42-28 defeat at LSU, that kept making plays on the way to its best start since 2015.
In the final period, down 20-17, Trask faced fourth-and-3 on South Carolina’s 34 before scrambling from pressure to pick up the first down with a 9-yard pass to Kyle Pitts. Trask followed with the go-ahead 25-yard touchdown throw to Lamical Perine.
Florida’s defense came through down the stretch, too, after the Gators took the lead. Defensive end Zachary Carter sacked Ryan Hilinski, who fumbled as nose tackle Kyree Campbell recovered.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Mekhi Sargent ran for a 14-yard score with 2:16 left and 23rd-ranked Iowa held off Purdue to snap a two-game losing streak.
Tyler Goodson scored his first career touchdown from a yard out and Keith Duncan kicked four field goals for the Hawkeyes (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten), who also broke a two-game skid against the Boilermakers (2-5, 1-3).
The Boilermakers cut it to 19-13 on J.D. Dellinger’s 36-yard field goal with 2:59 left. But Purdue was assessed a personal foul after squibbing the ensuing kickoff to midfield, and runs of 21 and 14 yards by Sargent gave the Hawkeyes the cushion.
Jack Plummer’s 1-yard TD pass to Payne Durham with 24 seconds left made it 26-20. But Iowa secured the onside kick.
David Bell caught 13 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown for Purdue, which ran for just 33 yards.
