STARKVILLE, Miss. -- South Alabama pulled off the first major upset of the college football season, holding off Mississippi State 21-20 Saturday when Westin Graves 28-yard field goal try smacked off the upright in the final seconds.A four-touchdown underdog, the Jaguars took down an SEC team for the first time in school history.Im part of the South Alabama Jaguars, beaming linebacker Roman Buchanan said, that beat Mississippi State.Down 17-0 at halftime and still trailing 20-7 in the fourth quarter, South Alabama rallied to take the lead on Dallas Davis 4-yard TD pass to Gerald Everett with 57 seconds left.Mississippi State immediately drove down the field and got in position for a field goal. But Graves kick hit the left post and fell harmlessly to the turf at a stunned Davis Wade Stadium.Most of the Mississippi State fans had long gone home on a hot afternoon and all that was left was a screaming contingent of a few hundred South Alabama fans.South Alabama coach Joey Jones said he was proud to give the Sun Belt Conference a high-profile non-conference victory.To win a ballgame like this is a blessing, Jones said.Two days after Appalachian State almost toppled No. 9 Tennessee before losing in overtime, South Alabama kicked off a season that follows a year full of wild endings.Davis -- a sophomore who was making his first career start -- threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns. He said the Jaguars rally in the second half wasnt due to any major changes.It was just coming out and playing better, Davis said. Ever since the beginning of camp, coach has preached playing fast and finishing strong. We didnt start as fast as we wanted, but we dang sure finished strong.Damian Williams finished with 143 yards passing and 93 yards rushing, including several impressive plays on the final drive for the Bulldogs.MISSISSIPPI STATES QB SITUATIONMississippi State came into preseason camp with a four-man quarterback race that was whittled to three in mid-August when Elijah Staley transferred. The Bulldogs started Nick Fitzgerald, but after two ineffective drives replaced him with Williams, who gave the offense some spark on the way to a 14-0 lead. Williams, however, wasnt as effective in the second half until the final drive that ended with the missed field goal.THE TAKEAWAYSouth Alabama: Its a massive win for the Jaguars, who lost badly to Mississippi State in both 2012 and 2014. The Jaguars were 0-4 against SEC opponents.UP NEXTSouth Alabama: The Jaguars host Georgia Southern next Saturday in their first Sun Belt game of the season.Mississippi State: The Bulldogs host South Carolina next Saturday in their first SEC game of the season.-----Follow David Brandt on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/davidbrandtAP . AP College Football website:
www.collegefootball.ap.org .
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Air Max 1 Online Store . Supported by three-run homers from Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos, the young right-hander went seven strong innings in the Washington Nationals 8-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- When Alabama couldnt shake Texas A&M in a battle of unbeaten, Top 10 teams, it was Jonathan Allens scoop-and-score defensive touchdown that effectively brushed aside the latest would-be challenger.What else?A star defensive end, Allen returned a fumble 30 yards for a touchdown in the final seconds of the third quarter to help Alabama beat the sixth-ranked Aggies 33-14 Saturday and continue a non-offensive scoring streak thats as impressive as those 20 consecutive wins.The Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) moved on as the powerhouse leagues last unbeaten team, getting yet another in a long string of defensive scores. Allen scooped up the ball after Ryan Anderson knocked it loose from Keith Ford to finally build a cushion over the Aggies (6-1, 4-1), who led 14-13 well into the third.You know you dont think about it, Allen said. Its all reaction. We just train ourselves to pick up all loose balls in practices and its good to see it happening in the game.Its happening again and again.The score was 20-14 when Allen extended Alabamas streak to 10 games with a score on defense or special teams, pushing the seasons total to 12. Allen now has scored twice on fumble returns.I think that was the real turning point in the game, because it changed the momentum of the game, Tide coach Nick Saban said. Those plays are always huge in games, but that one was especially huge.The Tide, however, sustained a big loss when safety Eddie Jackson was injured in the fourth quarter and didnt come back after a punt return. Saban said Jackson, a senior and team leader, is out for the season with a broken leg.Alabamas freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts then galloped 37 yards for another score, stepping out of a defenders grasp and making a nifty move to get past another. The Tide was rolling again, a powerful encore to easy wins over ranked Tennessee and Arkansas teams.The Aggies seemed poised to put up the biggest fight, with a defense that kept the pressure on Hurts and a handful of big runs by quarterback Trevor Knight. Then Allen and Anderson changed that in an instant.ddddddddddddCostly penalties hurt the Aggies, too, including a roughing the passer penalty to keep Alabamas go-ahead touchdown drive going earlier in the third.You really have five minutes in the game that determined what happened, Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said. We extended the drive with the roughing the passer, then we extended the drive again, I think it was an offsides. So you back that up with a fumble returned for a touchdown in a game like this, against a team like that, that cant happen.Alabama racked up five sacks of Knight, who had engineered Oklahomas Sugar Bowl upset of Alabama as a redshirt freshman with a 348-yard, four-touchdown performance. He passed for 164 and ran for 24 in the semi-rematch.Hurts passed for 166 yards and rushed for 93 more, throwing for a pair of touchdowns while getting intercepted twice. Damien Harris rushed 17 times for 126 yards.THE TAKEAWAYTexas A&M: The Aggies led deeper into the game than any other `Bama opponent, the 6:33 mark of the third quarter. Knight made some plays with his running but was also given little time to hit receivers downfield by Allen & Co. Knight threw a pick on the first play after the defense intercepted Hurts in Alabama territory. The SECs top running team was held to 114 yards.Alabama: Dominated the stat sheet (303 yards to 150) in the first half but settled for two short field goals and Adam Griffith missed a third. It was enough to keep it in doubt. The defense gave up back-to-back long TD drives late in the second quarter and to open the third, but delivered big plays when it had to.POLL IMPLICATIONSAlabama was already a near-unanimous No. 1 , but this could cause the lone holdout voter to reconsider. Texas A&M shouldnt veer too far out of the Top 10 despite the lopsided final score.UP NEXTAlabama has an open date before visiting No. 25 LSU.Texas A&M gets a break from SEC games against New Mexico State. ' ' '
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