Confetti from a football weekend

COLLEGE

Penn State 41, Auburn 12: Over the past two weeks, freshman Nick Singleton (pictured) has 20 carries for 303 yards, as the Nittany Lions (3-0) try to squeeze into the Big 10 elevator with Ohio State and Michigan. Sandpaper quarterback Sean Clifford gives them a chance, too. He hit 14 of 19 passes at Auburn.

Meanwhile, the Tigers followed up a sketchy 24-16 win over San Jose State with this disaster, at home. They are minus-8 in turnovers in three games. Ex-Boise State coach Bryan Harsin is 8-8 in his two years and the athletic director who hired him, Allen Greene, is no longer there. It’s difficult to ride a close loss (24-22) to Alabama forever, especially when your old quarterback, Bo Nix, is at Oregon throwing bombs at Brigham Young.

USC 45, Fresno State 17: College football’s Traveling Wilburys rolled to their third win, this time over a good Fresno State team. They have had 27 drives this year (not counting ones at the end of the second or fourth quarters) and have scored on 21. USC does not play Washington or Oregon, but does go to Utah on Oct. 15.

Washington 39, Michigan State 28: Did the Pac-12 get two big wins over Big Ten teams in back-to-back weeks? Yep, the Huskies followed up Washington State’s upset at Wisconsin with a 39-28 wipeout of the Spartans. MIchael Penix has 10 TD passes in three games, and Ja’Lynn Polk caught three of them Saturday with 182 yards in catches. Polk is a Texas Tech transfer, and Penix is from Indiana, where first-year Washington coach Kalen DeBoer once worked.

Eastern Michigan 30, Arizona State 21: EMU ran for 305 yards and essentially ran Herm Edwards out of town. Arizona State fired Edwards Sunday. He wasn’t exactly a stickler for NCAA rules and his team was too inconsistent, and he leaves with a 26-20 record and one bowl win in five seassons. He also leaves a job that has lured many coaches onto the rocks over the years. There’s a reason some giants are asleep.

Kansas 48, Houston 30: The Jayhawks continue to amaze, with 159 points in three wins. The Cougars, favored to win the American, were no match for quarterback Jalon Daniels, from Lawndale, Ca. via Tennessee Tech. He ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns. The Jayhawks are 3-0 and haven’t won four games in a season since 2009 (5-7). They’ve had three players drafted since 2015. They drew 34,902 for their home opener, best since 2014. Last year they took a 10-0 halftime lead over Oklahoma and opened the stadium doors to everyone. This week KU meets Duke, also 3-0, in hopes of approaching capacity of 52,000.

Tulane 18, Kansas State 10: For the first time in 11 seasons, Tulane beat a Power Five team on the road, and nailed it down when coach Willie Fritz went for a fourth-and-one on his own 29 at the end.

Minnesota 49, Colorado 7: It was just a scrimmage in which admission was charged, but Mohamed Ibrahim took it seriously enough to rush for 202 yards in 23 tries. The second-best rusher in the country may become a sneaky Heisman Trophy candidate if the Gophers (3-0) keep winning. Their Big Ten season begins at Michigan State.

Tulsa 54, Jacksonville State 17: Davis Brin solidified his place as the nation’s leading passer with four touchdown passes and 424 yards. He’s a redshirt senior who hasn’t transferred to, or from, anywhere after he came to Tulsa from Boerne, Tex. Imagine that.

Appalachian State 32, Troy 28: The most interesting team in college football did it again. On fourth down, Chase Brice launched a 50-yard Hail Mary that bounced off a couple of bystanders and into the hands of Christian Horn, who took it for a touchdown. This happened after Troy had stopped Appalachian and taken the ball, leading, with 1:13 left. “I think God’s a Mountaineer today,” said coach Shawn Clark, and maybe it’s a weekly habit. Afrer the Mountaineers scored 40 points in the fourth quarter and still lost to North Carolina, they won 17-14 at Texas A&M.

THE NFL

Miami 42, Baltimore 38: The Dolphins were down by 21 after three quarters against one of the NFL’s least-hospitable defenses, but when you have Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle out wide, anything’s possible. Tua Tagovailoa threw four TD passes in the quarter, including 48 and 60 yarders to Hill and a clinching 7 yarder to Waddle. This overshadowed a monstrous day by Lamar Jackson, who became the first quarterback to pass and score on 70-yard plays in the same game.

Detroit 36, Washington 27: Any break in the clouds brings out the towels and the suncreen for Lions’ fans, who have never seen their team in a Super Bowl. In going 1-1 they have scored 71 points, and Amon-Ra St. Brown became the first NFL receiver ever to catch at least eight passes, including a touchdown, in six consecutive games. With Jared Goff in form, the Lions are also eight for 11 in red zone conversions. Aidan Hutchinson, the No. 2 pick in the draft, had three sacks.

New York Jets 31, Cleveland 30: The Browns led 30-17 but missed an extra point with 1:55 left, and the Ghost of Joe Flacco strafed Cleveland with touchdowns to Corey Davis (66 yards) and Garrett Wilson (15). Wilson, the Ohio State rookie, had two touchdowns and 102 receiving yards. Ex-Raven Flacco , playing because Zach Wilson is hurt, had four touchdowns, no picks.

Jacksonville 24, Indianapolis 0: Talk about cousins. Four of the Jaguars’ last six wins, in a 36-game span, have been over the Colts, whom they eliminated from the playoffs last year. This one was a defensive jailbreak, as the Jags dealt a 43.2 QB rating to Matt Ryan, but Trevor Lawrence was efficient with 25 completions in 30 passes with no interceptions.

Arizona 29, Las Vegas 23, overtime: A defensive holding penalty on Roderick Teamer kept the final drive alive, and Kyler Murray not only scored but got the two-point conversion. Earlier he’d made an epic run for another two-pointer, covering 85 yards in a scramble to gain three. That enabled Byron Murphy to scoop Hunter Renfrow’s fumble in overtime and run 59 yards for a win that seemed far-fetched when Vegas led 20-0 in the second half.

Tampa Bay 20, New Orleans 10: Tom Brady could have stayed home and the Bucs would still be the most impressive team so far. In two games they’ve allowed one touchdown, collected 10 sacks and chalked up a plus-4 turnover ratio. Quarterbacks Dak Prescott and Jameis Winston have been limited to QB ratings of 53.5 and 55.8.