NCAA Football: No. 1 Oregon remains undefeated to start the season with win over Michigan

CNN
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No. 1 Oregon secured a dominant 38-17 victory over defending national champion Michigan on Saturday in Ann Arbor behind an impressive performance from quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score.

The win helped the Ducks improve to 9-0 on the season, only the third time in program history that they had such a long unbeaten start. In their first Big Ten season, they have now defeated both of the conference's traditional heavyweights – Ohio State and the admittedly underpowered Michigan – and cemented their place at the top of the AP Poll.

With Gabriel, Oregon has the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy – awarded to the most outstanding player in college football – and he once again orchestrated the Ducks' offense to great effect, finishing 22 of 34 for 294 yards and 23 more yards rushing .

“I think everyone in the country needs to realize what kind of quarterback we have,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning told reporters afterward. “He’s a really special player.”

Other players also competed for Oregon in front of more than 110,000 fans at Michigan Stadium. Star receiver Tez Johnson went down with an injury in the first quarter, but in his absence, Traeshon Holden had six catches for 149 yards while Jordan James ran 23 times for 117 yards.

With the loss, Michigan moves to 5-4 on the season and 3-3 in Big Ten play.

Elsewhere, No. 3 Penn State lost its unbeaten record after a 20-13 loss to No. 4 Ohio State, whose solid defense led to its first road win against a top-five team since 2006.

Twice Penn State was stopped at the goal line without scoring, including in the final five minutes of the game before Ohio State ran out the clock with its running game.

“We did some things well enough to win, some things we didn’t do,” Penn State coach James Franklin told reporters afterward. “You can’t have the ball inside the 5-yard line twice and come out with no points.”

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns, although he also threw a pick-6 on his first pass and made two potentially costly errors just short of the goal line.

Despite suffering their first loss of the season, the Nittany Lions remain confident of making the 12-team playoffs since no AP Top 25 teams can play. Ohio State, meanwhile, improved to 7-1 on the season and 4-1 in the Big Ten, maintaining its playoff hopes and chances of reaching the Big Ten Championship Game.

No. 2 Georgia secured a 34-20 win over Florida on a neutral field in Jacksonville, Fla., as quarterback Carson Beck recovered from three interceptions to rush for 309 yards and two touchdowns.

UGA trailed 13-6 at halftime but regained 28 points in the second half after Florida freshman quarterback DJ Lagway left the game with an injury and backup Aidan Warner completed just 7 of 22 passes for 66 yards.

Even as Georgia rebounded to beat Florida, Beck's three interceptions continued a worrying trend for the star quarterback, who now has 11 interceptions in the last five games. The Bulldogs have two tough games next in consecutive weeks against ranked opponents and will be hoping Beck can curb this streak of interceptions.

“We have a really good quarterback. “Some of the throws he makes are great, elite throws,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart told reporters afterward.

“He only threw the ball over the middle a couple of times late. You can't do that. You can't turn the ball over and be a good football team; he knows that.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of decision making. I think sometimes he presses there and it's a big game for him; he is from here. We won’t win this game without Carson Beck.”

Unranked South Carolina stuns Texas A&M

In the Southeastern Conference, the unranked South Carolina Gamecocks defeated No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 after scoring 24 unanswered points in the second half.

Texas A&M falls to 7-2, 5-1 SEC, while South Carolina improves to 5-3, 3-3 SEC and is just one game away from bowl eligibility.

A&M's loss puts Georgia atop the SEC standings for now.