Alabama surges on with 10-0 beating of LSU

ALL THE WAY: Jalen Hurts (2) of the Alabama Crimson Tide rushes for a touchdown against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on Saturday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (AFP)

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana: Jalen Hurts broke loose for a 21-yard touchdown run to break a scoreless tie early in the fourth quarter, and No. 1 Alabama’s defense thoroughly stifled Leonard Fournette and LSU in a 10-0 victory over the 15th-ranked Tigers in US college football on Saturday night.
The Crimson Tide (9-0, 6-0 Southeastern Conference, No. 1 CFP) won for the sixth straight time against LSU (5-3, 3-2, No. 13 CFP), and remained alone in first place in the SEC West — a game ahead of Auburn.
Hurts, a freshman who has exceeded expectations by establishing himself as one of the most dynamic, explosive players in college football, was the game’s leading rusher with 114 yards on 20 carries. He also completed 10 of 19 passes for 107 yards.
LSU had had its share of big plays — but all on defense, forcing Hurts into an early interception and late fumble. But LSU’s offense could not capitalize against menacing defensive end Jonathan Allen and the rest of Alabama’s suffocating defense.
“You can talk about winning ugly and maybe it wasn’t always pretty, because we certainly didn’t execute and do things the way we’d like, but you’ve got to give LSU a lot of credit,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “It was a tough atmosphere for us out there. But our defense was outstanding.”
In Columbus, Curtis Samuel had 178 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns, including a 75-yard touchdown reception on Ohio State’s first play of the second half as the No.6 Buckeyes scored a crushing 62-3 win over No.9 Nebraska.
After three straight weeks of close games and inconsistent offense, Ohio (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten, No. 6 CFP) put forth their best performance of the season, led 31-3 at the half and handed the Cornhuskers (7-2, 4-2, No. 10 CFP) their most lopsided loss since 2004.
Damon Webb got it started with a 36-yard interception return for a touchdown on Nebraska’s first drive of the game. J.T. Barrett led three long touchdown drives, including a 15-play, 85-yarder that ended with 1-yard jump TD pass to Samuel with 3 seconds left in the half.
Nebraska lost quarterback Tommy Armstrong to a head injury in the second quarter.
In other games, Michigan thrashed visiting Maryland 59-3, No.3 Clemson won at home over Syracuse 54-0, No.4 Washington won at California 66-27, No.5 Louisville won 52-7 at Boston College, No.8 Wisconsin was 21-7 at Northwestern, Arkansas beat No.10 Florida 31-10, No.11 Auburn won 23-16 against visiting Vanderbilt, TCU beat No.13 Baylor 62-22 at home and No.14 West Virginia beat visiting Kansas 48-21.
Mississippi State upset visiting No.7 Texas A&M 35-28, No.18 North Carolina won at home 48-20 against Georgia Tech, No.19 Florida State won 24-20 at North Carolina State, No.20 Penn State won 41-14 at home against Iowa, No.22 Oklahoma State won 43-37 at Kansas State, No.23 Virginia Tech won 24-21 at Duke and No.25 Washington State defeated visiting Arizona 69-7.