Notre Dame came into its nationally ranked showdown with Navy looking to create turnovers and the Midshipmen uncharacteristically complied.
Jeremiyah Love ran for 102 yards, two touchdowns and extended his streak of rushing for a TD to eight games as No. 12 Notre Dame took advantage of six turnovers and beat previously unbeaten and No. 24 Navy 51-14 on Saturday in East Rutherford, N.J..
“That was a point of emphasis. This team is No. 2 in the country in turnover margin,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said after the Irish (7-1) beat Navy (6-1) for the seventh straight time. “To be plus-6 in turnovers is a straight reflection of complimentary football.”
Navy coach Brian Newberry said the Irish were a better team in every way, and he was blunt saying playing at MetLife Stadium roughly five miles from New York City might have been too big a stage for the Midshipmen.
“Sometimes you want something so bad you play outside yourself and I think we did that today,” said Newbery, whose team had not lost a fumble all season.
Love scored on runs of 64 and 2 yards and quarterback Riley Leonard ran for a touchdown and threw two more in this 97th meeting between the rivals.
“I’m still trying to figure out whether we got it or not,” Leonard said. “Having that little bit of fear of there’s always more in the tank. It’s been a work in progress obviously, but I think we’re getting better every week.”
The Midshipmen lost five fumbles and had six turnovers overall that led to 28 points for the Irish, with Jaylen Sneed recovering a Blake Horvath fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.
Love’s shorter TD run, a 6-yard TD pass from Leonard to Kris Mitchell and a late 4-yard TD run by Kedren Young also followed turnovers, including two on muffed punts.
Leonard finished 13 of 21 for 178 yards, adding a 37-yard TD toss to Beaux Collins in helping the Irish win their sixth straight following a stunning loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2.
The Irish led 31-7 at the half and never were threatened.
Texas 27, Vanderbilt 24 >> Quinn Ewers threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns as No. 5 Texas beat No. 25 Vanderbilt in its Southeastern Conference road debut in Nashville, Tenn.
The Longhorns (7-1, 3-1) bounced back from the loss to Georgia last week that ended their stay at No. 1. They also beat Vanderbilt in Nashville for the first time since 1925 as these new league teammates renewed a rivalry last played in 1928 in Dallas.
Vanderbilt (5-3, 2-2) snapped a three-game winning streak in its first game ranked in the Top 25 since the 2012 Music City Bowl. This was the Commodores’ first regular-season game as a ranked team since Oct. 18, 2008, when they played three games as a Top 25 team.
They had a chance late as Diego Pavia threw for two touchdowns after Texas went up 24-10 in the third. Pavia’s second TD pass, an 8-yarder to Eli Stowers with 46 seconds left, pulled Vanderbilt within 27-24.
Texas easily recovered Vanderbilt’s onside kick attempt to seal the victory.
Maimi (Fla.) 36, Florida State 14 >> Cam Ward passed for 208 yards and caught a touchdown pass, Damien Martinez ran for 148 yards and two touchdowns and No. 6 Miami remained unbeaten by beating rival Florida State in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Mark Fletcher Jr. rushed for a score and Andres Borregales kicked three field goals to help Miami (8-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) snap a three-game losing streak against the Seminoles (1-7, 1-6).
The Seminoles — who started 13-0 last season and won the ACC — are assured of their fifth losing season in the last seven years, the third in five seasons under coach Mike Norvell. Luke Kromenhoek took over at quarterback off the bench and rushed for 7.
Brigham Young 37, Central Florida 24 >> No. 11 BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns and added another on the ground to lead the Cougars to a win over UCF in Orlando, Fla.
BYU (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) controlled the clock, holding the ball for nearly 40 minutes. The Cougars capitalized on their opportunities to score, especially in a few pressure moments during the game.
The Cougars got a 62-yard touchdown pass from Retzlaff to Chase Roberts with 27 seconds left to head into the locker room up 14 points. They then came out of the locker room with a 10-play, 72-yard touchdown drive capped with a one-yard throw from Retzlaff to tight end Mata’ava Ta’ase.
BYU outgained the UCF (3-5, 1-4) 480-379.
LJ Martin rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, and Hinckley Ropati rushed for 83 yards on 13 carries to lead BYU’s ground attack. BYU scored the first 17 points of the game, coasting to the victory.
Alabama 34, Missouri 0 >> Jamarion Miller rushed for two touchdowns and No. 15 Alabama’s defense had three interceptions in a home victory over No. 21 Missouri, which played much of the game without starting quarterback Brady Cook.
The Crimson Tide (6-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) bounced back strongly from their second loss in three weeks. They had already lost multiple games before November for the first time since 2007 but took this one over after the Tigers (6-2, 2-2) lost Cook to an upper body injury late in the first half.
It was 6-0 at the time.
Jalen Milroe was 16-of-26 passing for 215 yards for Alabama. He also ran for 50 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown when he bounced off a blocker and reversed field and a 32-yarder to set it up.
Miller scored on runs of 3 and 11 yards and Justice Haynes had a 35-yard touchdown run.
Mississippi 33, Oklahoma 28 >> Jaxson Dart threw for 306 yards and No 18 Mississippi used a big third quarter to beat visiting Oklahoma.
The Sooners were up 14-10 at the half before scoring two touchdowns in the third quarter behind Dart and tight end Caden Prieskorn, who had five catches for 71 yards.
Oklahoma (4-4, 1-4 SEC), in its first game since last Sunday’s firing of offensive coordinator Seth Littrell, was productive in the run game in the first half but struggled out of the gate on the back end. The Sooners did not cross the 50 in the second half until the middle of the fourth quarter.