BATON ROUGE, La.-Joe Burrow passed for 200 yards and had two short touchdown runs, LSU's defense staggered Georgia's normally prolific offense, and the 13th-ranked Tigers beat the No. 2 Bulldogs 36-16 on Saturday to give coach Ed Orgeron a signature victory.
Five fourth-down decisions by Orgeron influenced the result. LSU converted all four times it ran an offensive play on fourth down, sustaining three drives that produced a total of 13 points.
In another instance, Orgeron called timeout and elected to punt on fourth-and-2 after the offense initially remained on the field. That decision pinned Georgia at its 4, and Kristian Fulton's interception of Jake Fromm's pass shortly afterward set up another of Cole Tracy's five field goals.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire rushed for 133 yards for LSU (6-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference), and Justin Jefferson caught six passes for 108 yards, including a 41-yard snag of a pass rifled over the middle and between converging defenders. That catch set up Burrow's second TD in the fourth quarter.
Nick Brossette added a short touchdown in the final minutes after Burrow's 59-yard scamper. Fans rushed the field, ignoring pleas not to do so from the public address announcer, as the game ended.
Fromm had by far his worst game this season, completing 16 of 34 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Behind from the beginning, Georgia (6-1, 4-1) was unable to turn to its running game as much as it might have preferred. Averaging about 245 yards, the Bulldogs finished with 113 at LSU, led by D'Andre Swift's 72 yards. Elijah Holyfield scored Georgia's first touchdown late in the third quarter.
UP NEXT
Georgia takes the next week off before meeting Florida in Jacksonville on Oct. 27.
LSU hosts Mississippi State on Saturday.
Florida 37, Vanderbilt 27
NASHVILLE, Tenn.-Jordan Scarlett ran 48 yards for the go-ahead touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, and No. 14 Florida rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat Vanderbilt 37-27 Saturday in a game marred by a near brawl , with both head coaches yelling as each team spilled onto the field.
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey was on hand for a firsthand view of the incident.
An official held back Florida coach Dan Mullen as he yelled at Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason , who was near the Gators' sideline after checking on the Commodore defender whose helmet was knocked off by a hit by linebacker James Houston IV. Both teams spilled onto the field, drawing unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
"We're not going to get into that publicly at all," Mullen said. "Derek's a really close friend of mine, and I think we both, our sideline, we got to make sure our sideline we're cleaner in that situation, and I'm sure he probably thinks the same thing. But there's nothing carrying over from my end."
The penalty cost the Gators their leading tackler; Vosean Joseph was ejected for his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of the first half. Two people escorted an emotional Joseph off the field.
Mullen and Mason hugged each other at midfield after the game. Mason said they talked. The Vanderbilt coach heard a Florida player say something to him and said he responded, then Mullen got mad.
"That's how it started," Mason said. "Obviously at the end of the day, we're just trying to play the game the right way, keep the game safe, and make sure when everybody walks out of there, it's the referee's job to referee the game and not ours. . I've got a lot of respect for Dan. He respects the process otherwise, so we keep it moving."
That overshadowed the Gators (6-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) matching the largest comeback in a road game in school history, snapping a 26-game skid when trailing by 18 or more points. The Gators scored 24 straight points after Vanderbilt jumped out to a 21-3 lead midway through the second quarter, their first comeback win since Sept. 27, 2003, at Kentucky.
"It's just us locking in and focusing," Scarlett said. "We had a lot of mistakes early on in the game. Mistakes happen in football. It's how you fight through adversity and how you respond, and I think we responded really well."
With the comeback, Florida won its fifth straight this season. The Gators also beat Vanderbilt (3-4, 0-3) for the fifth straight year and 27th time in 28 games in this series.
Vanderbilt turned three turnovers into 17 points, and the Commodores also sacked Feleipe Franks twice and stripped him of the ball once. They also intercepted Franks once. Kyle Shurmur threw two touchdowns with his father, New York Giants coach Pat Shurmur, in the stands. Jamauri Wakefield also ran for a TD.
When Florida could hold onto the ball, the Gators simply dominated and outgained Vanderbilt 576-336 in total offense.
Scarlett finished with 113 yards rushing, and Lamical Perine added a TD run and 121 yards rushing. Franks threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns. His second, an 11-yarder to Freddie Swain, padded the lead midway through the fourth quarter to seal the comeback.
UP NEXT
Florida: The Gators have an open date before their annual game with No. 2 Georgia on Oct. 27.
Vanderbilt: The Commodores visit No. 18 Kentucky.
Tennessee 30,
No. 21 Auburn 24
AUBURN, Ala.-In the sixth game of Jeremy Pruitt's tenure as Tennessee coach, the Volunteers have a victory that shows a clear sign of progress.
Jarrett Guarantano passed for 328 yards and two touchdowns and Tennessee snapped an 11-game SEC losing streak with a 30-24 victory against No. 21 Auburn on Saturday.
The Volunteers (3-3, 1-2) forced three turnovers from Auburn's lackluster offense, intercepting Jarrett Stidham twice and getting a strip sack that resulted in touchdown by Alontae Taylor.
Tennessee rallied in the second half to beat Auburn for the first time since 1999, breaking a six-game skid and defeated an Southeastern Conference West Division team for the first time since 2010 against Mississippi, a streak of 15 losses.
The Tigers (4-3, 1-3) are off to their worst SEC start since also going 1-3 in 2015.
Stidham's first pick led to a 42-yard touchdown pass from Guarantano to Ty Chandler to tie the game at 10 in the second quarter.
Guarantano got rolling from there. The sophomore spread the ball around, completing passes to eight different Volunteers, six of which finished with a double-digit average.
Jauan Jennings capped a 12-play, 86-yard drive in the third quarter with a 25-yard touchdown catch to give Tennessee its first lead at 20-17 late in the third quarter.
Two plays later, Stidham was sacked and fumbled at his own 15. After several failed attempts to secure the loose ball Taylor recovered in the end zone.
Stidham, who finished 28 of 45 for 322 yards and two touchdowns to go with his three turnovers, returned on the next drive to echoing boos inside Jordan-Hare.
"I'm very disappointed in our performance," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "I'm disappointed for our players. I'm disappointed for our fans. I'm not happy."
Auburn scored with under a minute remaining on a touchdown pass to Seth Williams, but was unable to recover the onside kick.
The Vols' offense entered the game ranked No. 94 nationally in third-down conversions, but Guarantano dissected the Tigers' secondary on those downs with 11-of-14 passing for 188 yards and a score. The Vols converted 10 of 19 tries on third down.
Guarantano's 328 yards are the most for Tennessee since the last time they won a conference game in 2016 against Missouri.
Stidham was 28 of 45 for 322 yards, but his three turnovers proved costly as he continued his recent struggles.
UP NEXT
Tennessee: Pruitt's team hosts No. 1 Alabama next Saturday inside Neyland Stadium.
Auburn: The Tigers travel to Oxford, Mississippi, to face Ole Miss before their open week.