DALLAS (AP) — Kevin Jennings threw for 350 yards with three of his four touchdowns to Yamir Knight as SMU beat Virginia Tech 51-28. The 7-2 Mustangs scored on each of their first eight drives on Friday night. It was big win in their push to make the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game for the second time in three seasons since joining the league. They are 12-0 in ACC home games. Jennings finished 24-of-32 passing while Knight had six catches for 103 yards. Jeffrey Overton had 123 yards rushing with two touchdowns for 6-3 Virginia Tech.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — If the No. 1 team in the country wins on Saturday night, some might call it an upset. A rarity awaits when No. 1 and unbeaten Miami visits No. 4 and once-beaten Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish opened as a 4.5-point favorite on many boards, and after the injury to star Miami receiver Malachi Toney the spread has grown to somewhere around seven points according to most sportsbooks. The most recent instance of a No. 1-ranked team being an underdog by at least seven points is believed to have come in 2014, when Mississippi State was a touchdown underdog to then-No. 4 Alabama
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Shelton Henderson scored 19 points and No. 14 Miami rebounded from a season-opening loss against top-ranked Florida to beat Wagner 83-57. Malik Reneau finished with 12 points and Caleb Gaskins added 11 for the Hurricanes, who outscored Wagner 24-3 in fast-break points and had 18 assists. Miami made 16 of 18 free throws and had a 52-22 advantage in the paint. Reneau averaged a team-leading 18 points last season while Henderson scored 13 per game but both struggled in the opener against Florida on Monday.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Sam Lewis and Chance Mallory each scored 20 points as No. 9 Virginia shrugged off a sluggish start and pulled away for a 97-72 win over Northeastern. Thijs De Ridder had 16 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Johann Grunloh, playing on an injured right ankle, added 13 points for the Cavaliers. Rashad King scored 26 points and guard Louis Bond added 23 for the Huskies, who committed 19 turnovers. With a matchup against No. 12 Arkansas on tap Sunday, Virginia got off to a dreadful start. The Cavaliers missed their first seven 3-point attempts and didn't lead until there was 8:23 left in the first half.
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Nick Townsend scored 25 points and Stanford pulled away in the second half to beat Oakland 81-63. Townsend made 8 of 11 shots with a 3-pointer and 8 of 9 free throws for the Cardinal (2-0). Christian Bliss came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers and score 17 for Stanford. Aidan Cammann added 13 points. Chris Fields Jr.. led the Golden Grizzlies (0-2) with 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting. Reserve William Kassi scored 11.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Terrence Brown scored 21 points and reserve Jaydon Young scored 15 points and North Carolina beat Wofford 109-70. Other Tar Heels backups got in on the scoring action with Alex Samodurov contributing 13 points and Maximo Adams scoring 11 and grabbing 11 rebounds. Jarin Stevenson scored 10 points for North Carolina. Wofford backup Cutter Sisk scored a game-high 27 points and fellow reserve Jyi Dawkins scored 13. The Tar Heels built a 7-0 lead in the first 52 seconds and never trailed.
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Ace Buckner scored 26 points, Liutaras Lelevicius had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Clemson escaped American 82-73 on Friday night. Buckner, one of just seven returners from last season, was 9-of-14 from the field and 5-for-8 from deep for the Tigers, and added six assists. Dylan Faulkner had 12 points and Cole Certa had 10 for the Tigers, who only led by as many as 14 points down the stretch. The Eagles hung around for most of the game, powered by Madden Collins’s 23 on 10-for-20 shooting. Wyatt Nausadis scored 11 and Julen Iturbe and Greg Jones each had 10. They led by seven points early in the first half, but Clemson took the lead on Lelevicius’s 3-pointer with 6:14 left and never relinquished it.
DENVER (AP) — Federal judges handed the NCAA a significant victory in its struggle to implement a new five-year eligibility ruling, though the win does nothing to tamp down dozens of similar lawsuits playing out in state courts across the country. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver reversed a lower-court decision that had granted players across the country who graduated high school in 2022 a fifth year of eligibility. That lower-court ruling had against the NCAA’s new rule that granted five years of eligibility to athletes starting in the next year’s class, though many of those players still found their way onto rosters thanks to favorable rulings in state courts.
