Kentucky upset and final-play chaos headline Saturday afternoon college football

Saturday afternoon’s college football window produced two defining finishes and several games that changed conference conversations. Kentucky stunned No. 9 Texas A&M 31-21 on the road, Vanderbilt recovered a fumble in the end zone on the final play to beat NC State 35-31, and ranked ACC contenders Louisville and SMU traded points before the Cardinals won 41-31.

Kentucky’s win was the window’s clearest ranked upset. Kenny Minchey threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns, CJ Baxter ran for two scores, and the Wildcats’ three-touchdown third quarter separated a 7-7 game. The result gave first-year coach Will Stein a marquee SEC road win and put Texas A&M’s two interceptions into the center of the postgame discussion. Read the individual Kentucky-Texas A&M recap.

Vanderbilt’s 35-31 win over NC State had the strangest ending. NC State led 31-28 with six seconds left and faced fourth down near its own end zone. Miles Capers forced CJ Bailey’s fumble, and Cayden Daniels recovered for the winning touchdown. Jared Curtis threw three touchdown passes in his first start, while NC State’s Keenan Jackson caught three scores. Read the final-play Vanderbilt-NC State recap.

USC survived Rutgers 42-35 in a seven-touchdown Big Ten shootout. Jayden Maiava threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns, including a 52-yard strike to Corey Simms, while Rutgers answered with Dylan Lonergan’s three touchdown passes and Antwan Raymond’s 122 rushing yards. USC won the road game, but Rutgers exposed the defensive work still ahead. Read the USC-Rutgers recap.

Cincinnati held off Miami (Ohio) 35-31 to keep the Victory Bell. The Bearcats got an early 98-yard kickoff return touchdown from Scoop Smith and 309 passing yards from JC French IV; Miami’s David McComb threw for 334 yards and kept the RedHawks within one possession. Read the Cincinnati-Miami recap.

Louisville beat No. 16 SMU 41-31 in the ranked ACC matchup. Keyjuan Brown ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns, while Lincoln Kienholz threw two touchdown passes. SMU’s Kendrick Raphael rushed for 197 yards and three scores, but Kevin Jennings’ two interceptions helped Louisville protect its lead. Read the Louisville-SMU recap.

The rest of the afternoon stayed in the digest because the results lacked a separate consequential angle. Utah beat Utah State 33-0, Michigan beat UTEP 52-17, Indiana beat Western Kentucky 38-0, Iowa beat Northern Iowa 55-0, Duke beat Stanford 35-7, Baylor beat Louisiana Tech 36-19, California beat Wagner 49-7, Washington State beat Duquesne 48-7 and Liberty beat Ball State 51-15. Those finals belong in the window record, but the five recaps above carry the ranked, rivalry, comeback or close-game developments that warranted individual treatment.

Several later games remained unfinished at the run boundary, including LSU-Ole Miss, Florida State-Alabama and Michigan State-Notre Dame. They remain pending for the later football windows rather than being treated as completed Saturday-afternoon results.