Alabama, Miami, Ole Miss, Oregon win CFP openers

NORMAN, Okla. — Ty Simpson passed for 232 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 9 seed Alabama rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat No. 8 Oklahoma 34-24 on Friday night in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Alabama freshman Lotzeir Brooks, who did not score a touchdown in the regular season, scored two and had season highs of five catches and 79 yards. It was the third meeting between the schools in 13 months. Oklahoma defeated Alabama 24-3 last November at home, then beat the Crimson Tide 23-21 last month on the road. DeBoer claimed his first playoff victory for the Crimson Tide since arriving from Washington two years ago. Alabama (11-3) advanced to play No. 1 seed Indiana and Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza in a quarterfinal game at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. Oklahoma's John Mateer passed for 307 yards and two touchdowns, but he threw a costly interception that Alabama's Zabien Brown returned 50 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. Deion Burks had seven catches for 107 yards and a score for the Sooners (10-3). Miami 10, Texas A&M 3 COLLEGE STATION, Texas— Miami brought a nasty defense into Texas A&M on Saturday to down the seventh-seeded Aggies in the College Football Playoff. The No. 10 seed Hurricanes forced Marcel Reed into three turnovers and sacked him seven times. "The defense was off the charts the entire day," coach Mario Cristobal said. They move on to face No. 2 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Eve. Texas A&M had a chance to tie it after freshman Malachi Toney's 11-yard touchdown reception with less than two minutes left. The Aggies drove down the field and had a first down at the 5. But Miami (11-2) forced consecutive incompletions before fellow freshman Bryce Fitzgerald leapt in the end zone to grab his second interception of the day to secure the win. Oregon 51, James Madison 34 EUGENE, Ore.— Even with a lackluster second half, No. 5 Oregon breezed by No. 19 James Madison for a win on the heels of four touchdown passes by Dante Moore, who also ran for a score. The Ducks (12-1) advanced to face Texas Tech in a quarterfinal game at the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1. Oregon won a playoff game for the first time since 2014, when the Ducks beat Florida State in the Rose Bowl semifinal before losing to Ohio State. James Madison (12-2) dropped Group of Five teams to 0-4 in CFP games. Ole Miss 41, Tulane 10 OXFORD, Miss. — New Mississippi coach Pete Golding spent the last minutes of his high-stakes debut taking in the smiling faces of his players on the sideline. "To know what they've been through, and know the direction that they could have gone," Golding said, alluding to coach Lane Kiffin's departure for LSU. "They came here for some guys that looked like they left them, and they were able to battle through that." Trinidad Chambliss ran for two touchdowns and passed for another, and No. 6 Mississippi looked unfazed by Kiffin's absence, beating No. 17 Tulane on Saturday in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Scoring runs of 20 yards by Kewan Lacy and 4 yards by Chambliss gave sixth-seeded Ole Miss (12-1) a 14-0 lead before eight minutes had elapsed, and 11th-seeded Tulane never got closer than 11 points after that.