Utah and UCLA stay unbeaten, Texas pulls out win at Missouri as the playoff race begins in earnest

Utah and UCLA turned back challenges Saturday to stay unbeaten and Texas won its third straight game to keep its College Football Playoff hopes on track for another week.

Utah, No. 3 in both The Associated Press Top 25 and the College Football Playoff rankings, held off BYU, which is No. 7 in the AP Top 25 and ninth in the CFP rankings, 28-20 for its second Top 25 win in three weeks. The Utes can get another next week at No. 24 Arizona.

No. 5 UCLA (No. 8 CFP) was in a tie game at Minnesota until pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 34-20 win.

No. 10 Texas (No. 7 CFP) was tied with No. 19 Missouri (No. 18 CFP) deep into the fourth quarter before pulling away for a 34-20 road victory.

The Utes, who had lost three straight to BYU, earned their highest-ranked win since they knocked off a No. 4 Southern California in the 2022 Pac-12 Conference championship game.

“This was a big win. Not the big win,” Utah coach Morgan Scalley said. “We've got to keep going.”

As has happened often in the Holy War rivalry, turnovers decided the game. BYU's Bear Bachmeier was picked off four times, all in Utah territory. After BYU drove to the Utah 2 in the last five minutes. linebacker Trey Reynolds dropped out of a blitz look on third down and snagged Bachmeier's pass intended for Kyler Kasper. With 2 seconds left, Nate Ritchie intercepted Bachmeier's heave meant for Kasper in the end zone.

BYU owns a head-to-head win over what was a second-ranked Notre Dame three weeks ago but is paying a heavy price for a bad loss at UCF. The Cougars have no more ranked opponents on their schedule.

UCLA improved to 9-0 for the first time since 1998 with its hard-earned win at Minnesota. Ty Dieffenbach, making his first road start in place of the injured Nico Iamaleava, threw 75-yard touchdown passes to Aidan Mizell on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter to break open a close game.

The Bruins will have a challenging finish to the regular season against Illinois, Michigan and Southern California (No. 18 by both the AP and CFP).

Arch Manning threw two touchdown of his three touchdowns in the second half, one to tie the game 20-all and the other to give Texas the lead for good.

Texas' defense clinched the win, with Graceson Littleton recovering a fumble and returning it 44 yards to set up Raleek Brown's 8-yard touchdown to make it a 14-point game. The Tigers netted 32 yards on their last five series.

The Longhorns are 4-0 against ranked opponents and will play another next week at LSU (No. 15 AP, No. 14 CFP). Missouri has three losses but has a tough enough remaining schedule to claw back into playoff contention. The Tigers next go to No. 2 Georgia (No. 2 CFP) and host No. 8 Kentucky (No. 6 CFP) before finishing at home against Oklahoma.

Midafternoon games

No. 9 Alabama (6-2) was visiting No. 15 LSU (6-2) in what amounts to a prove-it game for a Crimson Tide team ranked No. 5 by the CFP. Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell is going to need the running game to get going to counter an LSU pass rush that's second in the nation with 34 sacks.

No. 8 Kentucky (7-1) was playing at No. 16 Tennessee (6-2). The Volunteers could use this one to burnish their CFP hopes and have never lost to Kentucky in five meetings under Josh Heupel, who has played coy on whether George MacIntyre or Faizon Brandon will start at quarterback.

No. 11 Ohio State (6-2) was hosting Oregon (5-3) in a game that loomed large when the teams entered the season ranked Nos. 1 and 2. It’s still a huge game because of the playoff (elimination) implications for both of these Big Ten powers.

Night games

Darian Mensah and the Hurricanes put their high-scoring offense up against the nation's top-ranked defense in Notre Dame. Fighting Irish QB CJ Carr will be going against a Miami secondary that’s given up more than 300 yards passing in three straight games.

No. 2 Georgia (7-1) visits No. 12 Mississippi (6-2) in a big one for the Rebels, ranked No. 10 by the CFP. Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss has been sharp in two previous meetings with the Bulldogs, passing for 635 yards and having a hand in five touchdowns.

No. 21 Iowa, coming off a 30-0 win over Wisconsin, goes on the road to face a Northwestern team coming off a loss at Oregon. Both teams are 6-2 and still have Big Ten title game hopes.

Players to watch

Miami’s Mensah and Notre Dame's Carr will go head to head in a meeting of the current Heisman Trophy favorite and the preseason favorite.

Mensah threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-35 win at North Carolina and has completed 80.1% of his passes with 25 touchdowns. Carr is passing for better than 230 yards per game and has thrown 18 touchdowns. Each has one interception.

Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith will play his second game with freshman Luke Fahey at quarterback in place of the injured Julian Sayin. Smith had 10 catches for 83 yards in a loss at Southern California but remains the nation's second-leading receiver behind Oregon State's Jesse Legree.

Chambliss is the only other player in the favorites mix behind Smith, Mensah and Carr.

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