Pac-12 football: Arizona State upsets No. 18 Michigan State; Stanford is routed at No. 17 Central Florida
Eno Benjamin reached the ball to the goal line for a one-yard touchdown run with 50 seconds remaining, and Arizona State beat No. 18 Michigan State 10-7 on Saturday in East Lansing, Mich., after the Spartans had a tying field goal negated for having too many men on the field.
Matt Coghlin’s 42-yard kick appeared to have tied it with six seconds remaining, but a replay showed too many men on the field for Michigan State, which had rushed the field-goal team on in a disorganized fashion.
Coghlin had to try again from farther back after the penalty, and he hooked the kick left for his third miss of the day.
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio missed a chance to take over sole possession of first place on the school’s career victories list. He remains tied with Duffy Daugherty at 109.
Arizona State (3-0) drove 75 yards in 11 plays at the end against a Michigan State defense that had been stifling all day. Freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels ran 15 yards for a first down on fourth and 13 from the Michigan State 28-yard line, and Benjamin’s touchdown put the Sun Devils ahead. That play was also reviewed, and Benjamin had just barely extended the ball far enough to score.
“Offensively, we knew it was going to be very difficult to run the football,” Arizona State coach Herm Edwards said. “We came in with a plan trying to get it out of our quarterback’s hand fast because they can hit the quarterback. They hit him a couple of times, but at the end the kid did good. He really did good. He made a lot of plays with his legs. I think that’s surprising for a lot of people — his ability to run, and he’s a smart runner.”
No. 24 USC comes up short in first road game of the season, as freshman Kedon Slovis’ third interception seals a 30-27 overtime loss to BYU.
The Spartans drove back to the Arizona State 24, and after spiking the ball to stop the clock with 11 seconds left, they appeared to have enough time for one more throw. But with no timeouts remaining, Michigan State (2-1) seemed indecisive, and eventually the field-goal team rushed on. The Spartans barely snapped the ball in time to beat the play clock, and although Coghlin’s kick went through, there were too many players on the field.
Elijah Collins ran for a nine-yard touchdown with 8:37 remaining for Michigan State, but the Spartans blew a fourth-quarter lead against Arizona State for a second straight year. The Sun Devils won 16-13 last season.
Arizona State has scored more than seven points in 137 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Coghlin was 40 of 48 on field goals for his career before Saturday.
at No. 17 Central Florida 45, Stanford 27: Freshman Dillon Gabriel threw for 347 yards and four touchdowns in his second college start, leading the Knights (3-0) to a rout of the Cardinal (1-2) in Orlando, Fla.
Central Florida scored on six of seven possessions, building a 31-point halftime lead in what was expected to be a much tougher test for the two-time defending American Athletic Conference champion, which won its first two games of the season by a combined score of 110-14 against Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic.
Gabriel completed 22 of 30 passes, including touchdown throws of 28 yards to Marlon Williams, 38 yards to Tre Nixon, 38 yards to Gabriel Davis and one yard to Jake Hescook. Greg McCrae rushed for 109 yards and one touchdown for UCF, which has won 25 consecutive regular-season games and 28 of 29 overall since the start of 2017.
Stanford (1-2), which tumbled out of the top 25 after losing 45-20 at USC the previous week, yielded four touchdowns in the opening quarter and 413 yards total offense in the first half alone.
K.J. Costello returned to Stanford’s lineup after sitting out against USC with a head injury and completed 21 of 44 passes for 199 yards, one touchdown and an interception that led to one UCF score. Austin Jones had a 35-yard touchdown run and finished with 65 yards rushing for the Cardinal, while Costello’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Michael Wilson trimmed Stanford’s big halftime deficit to 38-17 early in the fourth quarter.
at No. 11 Utah 31, Idaho State 0: Tyler Huntley threw for 282 yards and three touchdowns and Zach Moss ran for 106 yards and another score as the Utes (3-0) routed the Bengals (1-1) in Salt Lake City.
In the first quarter, Moss passed Tony Lindsay for second place on Utah’s career rushing yards list. His one-yard scoring plunge later in the quarter moved him into the No. 2 spot by himself in career rushing touchdowns at 27. In just 10 carries, Moss also recorded his 13th 100-yard rushing performance with 10:05 still left in the second quarter.
UCLA can’t stop quarterback Jalen Hurts and Oklahoma in a 48-14 loss at the Rose Bowl, dropping the Bruins to 0-3. The No. 5 Sooners improve to 3-0.
Huntley completed 15 of 19 passes before leaving in the third quarter as Utah moved to 3-0 for the fifth time in the last six seasons. The Utes will visit No. 24 USC on Friday night.
at No. 23 Washington 52, Hawaii 20: Jacob Eason threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Bryant on the third play of the game and added two more touchdown throws, and the Huskies (2-1) rebounded from a loss with a romp over the Rainbow Warriors (2-1) in Seattle.
Eason and Washington overwhelmed Hawaii, taking a 21-0 lead in less than nine minutes. Eason was 18 for 25 for 262 yards, Richard Newton had three short touchdown runs, and the Huskies quickly bounced back from last week’s 20-19 home loss to California in its Pac-12 opener.
While the final numbers look impressive, Washington did what was expected. Other than showing they could respond to the adversity of last week’s setback, answers about how good the Huskies are will come the next three weeks with games at BYU, versus USC and at Stanford.
Hawaii was looking to beat three Pac-12 opponents in a season for the first time in school history. The Warriors opened with wins over Arizona and Oregon State at home.
Air Force 30, at Colorado 23 (OT): Kadin Remsberg scored on a 25-yard run to start overtime, and the Falcons (2-0) beat the Buffaloes (2-1) after squandering a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Remsberg found an opening along the outside, scampered down the sideline and dove into the end zone for the go-ahead score. Air Force’s defense went to work and on fourth down forced Steven Montez to throw wide to Laviska Shenault Jr. in the corner of the end zone. The Falcons stormed the field in the first meeting between the schools since 1974.
It was another furious finish for the Buffaloes, who trailed 23-10 with 10:23 remaining. Colorado came back from a 17-point deficit to beat Nebraska 34-31 in overtime a week ago in Boulder. This marked the first time in Buffaloes history the team has played in back-to-back overtimes.
No. 13 Penn State escapes with a 17-10 win over rival Pittsburgh; No. 9 Florida overcomes quarterback Feleipe Franks’ leg injury to beat Kentucky.
Running out of the wildcat formation, Shenault took a direct snap and twisted his way into the end zone from two yards out with 28 seconds remaining. James Stefanou’s extra point tied it at 23.
The Falcons rushed for 289 yards and overcame three turnovers to snap a five-game skid against the Buffaloes.
at California 23, North Texas 17: Chase Garbers passed for one touchdown after using his legs to get the Bears’ offense going, Greg Thomas kicked three field goals and Cal beat the Mean Green in Berkeley.
Christopher Brown Jr. ran for 47 yards and a touchdown, while the Bears’ defense had six sacks and forced two turnovers. Cal is 3-0 for the third time in three years under coach Justin Wilcox.
North Texas quarterback Mason Fine completed 21 of 40 attempts for 210 yards and two touchdowns to surpass the 10,000-yard mark for his career, but the Mean Green (1-2) fell behind big for the second straight week and couldn’t recover.
The NCAA believes the Fair Pay for Play Act will hurt competitive balance between schools, but there’s little competitive balance in college football already.
Cal dominated on both sides early in the first-ever matchup between the two schools and then held on after North Texas made a late surge. The Mean Green pulled within 23-17 on Fine’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Jyaire Shorter late in the fourth quarter and got the ball back with less than two minutes remaining but turned it over on downs.
at Oregon State 45, Cal Poly 7: Jake Luton passed for 255 yards and four touchdowns, leading the Beavers (1-2) to a victory over the Mustangs (1-2) in Corvallis, Ore.
Luton, who was coming off a subpar performance in last Saturday’s 31-28 loss at Hawaii, was on target from the outset against Cal Poly. The sixth-year senior completed 17 of 22 passes.
The win snapped a six-game losing streak for Oregon State.
Luton threw all four of his touchdown passes in the first half, including 47- and 75-yard strikes to diminutive wide receiver Champ Flemings. He played one series in the third quarter before giving way to backup quarterback Tristan Gebbia.
The Mustangs, who lost 41-24 last week at Weber State, played a Pac-12 school for the second time in school history.
Oregon State sophomore running back Jermar Jefferson, who came into the game ninth nationally in rushing (127 yards per game), did not play because of a foot injury. B.J. Baylor led the Beavers’ ground game with 101 yards on seven carries, including a 74-yard scamper in the third quarter.
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