CNN
—

No. No. 1 Oregon earned a dominant 38-17 victory over defending champion Michigan in Ann Arbor on Saturday, behind an impressive performance by quarterback Dillon Gabriel who threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score.

The win helped the Ducks improve to 9-0 on the season – only the third time in program history they have enjoyed such a long undefeated start. In their first Big Ten season, they have now defeated both the conference’s traditional heavyweights – Ohio State and an admittedly undersized Michigan – to consolidate their spot at the top of the AP poll.

With Gabriel, Oregon is the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy – awarded to the most outstanding player in college football – and he once again orchestrated the Ducks’ offense to great success, finishing 22 of 34 for 294 yards and adding another 23 yards. rush.

“I think everyone in the country needs to recognize what kind of quarterback we have,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning told reporters afterward. “He really is a very special player.”

Other players also stood up for Oregon in front of more than 110,000 fans at Michigan Stadium. Star receiver Tez Johnson went down with an injury in the first quarter, but in his absence Traeshon Holden had six catches for 149 yards, while Jordan James rushed 23 times for 117 yards.

After the loss, Michigan drops to 5-4 on the season, 3-3 in Big Ten play.

Elsewhere, No. 3 Penn State lost its undefeated record after a 20-13 loss to No. 4 Ohio State, whose solid defense led to a first road win against a top-5 team since 2006.

Twice Penn State was stopped at the goal line without scoring, including in the final five minutes of the game, before Ohio State ran out the clock on its running game.

“We did some things that were good enough to win, some things that weren’t,” Penn State coach James Franklin told reporters afterward. “You can’t have the ball inside the 5-yard line twice and come out with no points.”

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns, although he also threw a pick-6 on his first pass and fumbled in two potentially costly mistakes just short of the goal line.

Despite their first loss of the season, the Nittany Lions will still be confident they can make the 12-team playoff with no more AP Top 25 teams to play. Ohio State, meanwhile, improved to 7-1 on the season and 4-1 in the Big Ten, keeping its playoff hopes alive and its chances of reaching the Big Ten Championship Game.

No. 2 Georgia earned a 34-20 victory against Florida at a neutral site in Jacksonville, Florida, as quarterback Carson Beck recovered from three interceptions to throw for 309 yards and two touchdowns.

UGA trailed 13-6 at halftime but rallied to score 28 points in the second half after Florida’s freshman quarterback DJ Lagway left the game injured and backup Aidan Warner completed just 7 of 22 passes for 66 yards .

Even as Georgia rebounded against Florida, Beck’s three interceptions continued a troubling trend for the star quarterback, who now has 11 interceptions in the last five games. The Bulldogs next have two tough games against ranked opponents in back-to-back weeks and will hope Beck can stop this streak of interceptions.

“We have a very good quarterback. Some of the throws he makes are big, elite throws,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart told reporters afterward.

“He only threw the ball late over the middle a few times. You can’t do that. You can’t turn the ball over and be a good football team; he knows that.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of decision-making. I think he puts pressure on that sometimes, and it’s a big game for him; he’s from here. We won’t win that game without Carson Beck.”

Unranked South Carolina stuns Texas A&M

In the Southeastern Conference, the unranked South Carolina Gamecocks stunned No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 after scoring 24 unanswered points in the second half.

Texas A&M falls to 7-2, 5-1 SEC, while South Carolina improves to 5-3, 3-3 SEC and is just one game away from bowl eligibility.

A&M’s loss leaves Georgia at the top of the SEC standings for the time being.