STARS
-Jalen Hurts, Alabama, came off the bench to pass for one touchdown and run for another in the fourth quarter, rallying the top-ranked Crimson Tide to a 35-28 win over No. 4 Georgia for the Southeastern Conference title.
-Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State, threw for 499 yards and added five more TD passes to his single-season record, helping the No. 6 Buckeyse hold off a second-half charge from No. 21 Northwestern for a 45-24 victory.
-Darriel Mack, UCF, rushed for three second-half TDs and passed for two more, helping the No. 7 Knights rally for a 56-41 victory over Memphis in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
-Paulson Adebo, Stanford, had two interceptions in the fourth quarter, including a spectacular one-handed grab in the end zone to help prevent the game-tying score, as the Cardinal won its ninth straight Big Game, 23-13 over California.
-Chris Ferguson, Maine, threw for five TDs as the seventh-seeded Black Bears defeated Jacksonville State 55-27 in the second round of the FCS playoffs.
-Jake Constantine, Weber State, threw for four TDs and ran for another to lead the second-seeded Wildcats to a 48-23 win over Southeast Missouri in the second-round of the FCS playoffs.
-Lance Dunn, Montana State, rushed for four TDs and the top-seeded Bison overwhelmed Montana State 52-10 in a second-round FCS playoff game.
-De’Shawn Waller, Alcorn State, ran for 177 yards and three TDs to help the Braves beat Southern 37-28 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.
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SEC CHAMPIONSHIP
In a dramatic twist on last season’s national championship game, Jalen Hurts came off the bench to pass for one touchdown and run for another in the fourth quarter, rallying No. 1 Alabama to a 35-28 win over No. 4 Georgia for the Southeastern Conference title.
Heisman Trophy favorite Tua Tagovailoa had to be helped off the field with just over 11 minutes remaining after one of his own linemen stepped on the quarterback’s right ankle as he attempted to throw.
Enter Hurts, who led Alabama to the national title game as a freshman but lost the starting job to Tagovailoa. Hurts calmly guided the Crimson Tide to a game-tying touchdown with a 10-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy, capping a 16-play, 80-yard drive that consumed more than 7 minutes.
After Georgia was stuffed on a fake punt near midfield, Hurts took matters into his own hands for the winning score. Spotting an opening up the middle, he took off on a 15-yard TD run with 1:04 remaining .
This was a reversal of the story line from last season’s national title game, when Tagovailoa replaced an ineffective Hurts at the start of the second half with Alabama trailing Georgia 13-0. The replacement threw three touchdown passes, including a 41-yarder in overtime that gave the Tide a stunning 26-23 victory.
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BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
Kyler Murray had another Heisman Trophy-worthy performance, Oklahoma’s much-maligned defense made some big key plays, and the fifth-ranked Sooners won yet another conference title.
Now the 12-time Big 12 champions wait to find out if all of that is good enough to get back into the College Football Playoff.
Murray was 25-of-34 passing for 379 yards and three touchdowns as the Sooners beat No. 9 Texas 39-27 in the Big 12 championship game, avenging their only loss and making their case for their third playoff appearance in four years.
The Sooners won their seventh consecutive game - and became the first Power Five team to win four outright conference titles in a row since Florida in the SEC in the mid-1990s.
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BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP
Ohio State won its second straight Big Ten championship.
It may not be enough to get the Buckeyes into the College Football Playoff.
Dwayne Haskins added five more touchdown passes to his single-season record and No. 6 Ohio State relied on its staunch defense to hold off a second-half charge from No. 21 Northwestern for a 45-24 victory.
The Buckeyes won their third title in five years and their fifth consecutive game - but it’s unlikely to get the Buckeyes into the four-team CFP.
Haskins finished 34 of 41 with 499 yards and one interception. It’s the fifth time he topped 400 yards this season.
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AAC CHAMPIONSHIP
Unbeaten UCF updated its sparkling resume with an impressive come-from-behind 56-41 victory over Memphis in the American Athletic Conference title game.
Now the seventh-ranked Knights, who proclaimed themselves national champions last January after finishing as the only undefeated team in the FBS, will see if repeating as AAC champs and having the nation’s-longest winning streak are good enough to get them into the College Football Playoff.
With the red-shirt freshman filling in for injured quarterback McKenzie Milton, UCF amassed 698 yards of total offense and tightened defensively after a shaky start to limit Memphis to three points after halftime.
Mack completed 19 of 27 passes for 348 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. He began the Knights’ comeback from a 17-point halftime deficit with a 54-yard TD pass to Otis Anderson and finished off the Tigers with scoring runs of 2, 2, and 5 yards in the fourth quarter.
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