BATON ROUGE -- New Mississippi State Coach Mike Leach put his "Air Raid" offense in the hands of a transfer quarterback who showed up over the summer and the results were like nothing defending national champion LSU or the SEC has ever seen.
K.J. Costello passed for an SEC record 623 yards and five touchdowns, and the Bulldogs knocked off sixth-ranked LSU 44-34 on Saturday.
"I don't know if any individual could visualize this taking place," said Costello, who was Stanford's starter in 2017 and 2018 before head and hand injuries sidelined him last season. "I wasn't visualizing sitting here breaking records. ... I'm excited about the potential that this offense has because, believe it or not, we did leave a lot on the field today."
Costello's passing yardage in his first game since moving from Silicon Valley to Starkville, Miss., eclipsed the 544 yards Georgia's Eric Zeier had against Southern Mississippi in 1993 to set the conference record.
And Costello needed most of it to make up for his two interceptions and two lost fumbles, which helped LSU rally to tie the game 34-34 before he engineered two late scoring drives.
"With this group, I don't feel like we ever lose momentum," Costello said. "I feel like we're always in the attack mode. That's just Leach's philosophy."
LSU became the first defending national champion to lose its opening game since Michigan in 1998 lost at Notre Dame and had its 16-game winning streak, the nation's best, snapped.
"Coach Leach had his team ready to play. They beat us. We have no excuses," LSU Coach Ed Orgeron said. "I told the team to put this on me. I've got to coach better."
LSU quarterback Myles Brennan intermittently showed promise in his debut as starter in place of 2019 Heisman Trophy winner and top NFL Draft choice Joe Burrow. But Brennan's 345 yards and three touchdowns passing could not make up for the trouble the Tigers' inexperienced defense had in new coordinator Bo Pelini's scheme.
"We couldn't stay with those guys," Orgeron said. "Too many missed assignments. Too many guys running free, getting beat one on one. We have to look at whether or not we can cover man to man. If we can't, we are going to have to play more zone."
Four of Costello's touchdown passes covered between 24 and 75 yards. The longest came on Kylin Hill's catch and run in which the running back slipped safety Todd Harris' tackle along the sideline. Osirus Mitchell caught touchdown passes of 43 and 24 yards, the second putting the Bulldogs back up by two scores with 3:39 left.
NO. 2 ALABAMA 38, MISSOURI 19
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Mac Jones threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns in less than three quarters of work, many of his throws landing in the capable hands of Jaylen Waddle, and Alabama began its season with a romp over rebuilding Missouri.
Waddle finished with 8 catches for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Najee Harris ran for 98 yards and 3 more scores, helping the Crimson Tide spoil the debut of new Tigers Coach Eli Drinkwitz and win their 27th consecutive over the SEC East before a covid-19-curtailed crowd of 11,738 fans at Faurot Field.
TCU transfer Shawn Robinson, who started for the Tigers over Connor Bazelak, threw for 185 yards and a score. Bazelak also got a few series and was equally ineffective against Dylan Moses, Patrick Surtain II and the rest of the Crimson Tide defense, which kept Drinkwitz's creative offense out of the end zone until midway through the fourth quarter. Bazelak added a touchdown scamper on the final play of the game for the final margin.
NO. 5 FLORIDA 51, MISSISSIPPI 35
OXFORD, Miss. -- Kyle Pitts caught four of Kyle Trask's six touchdown passes and Florida spoiled Coach Lane Kiffin's Mississippi debut.
Trask completed 30 of 42 passes for 416 yards, throwing touchdown passes of 1, 16, 71 and 17 yards to Pitts. The star tight end had 170 yards receiving in the season and Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
Trask directed four consecutive touchdown drives that spanned the second and third quarters to help the Gators build a 41-14 lead for the Gators (1-0 SEC).
Kiffin, the former Tennessee and Southern California head coach who came to Ole Miss from FAU, had the Rebels' offense humming with Matt Corral at quarterback. Corral completed 22 of 31 passes for 395 yards and three touchdowns passes, two to Dontario Drummond. But they couldn't stop the Gators.
NO. 8 AUBURN 29,
NO. 23 KENTUCKY 13
AUBURN, Ala. -- Bo Nix threw for 233 yards and three second-half touchdowns, including a pair to Seth Williams, and Auburn scored twice in the fourth quarter to pull away from Kentucky in the season opener.
The Tigers turned a three-quarter scare into a comfortable win by capitalizing on a late turnover and Kentucky's failed fake punt in the lone Top 25 matchup of the Southeastern Conference's opening weekend.
Nix delivered some big plays to start an encore to a promising freshman season, especially to Williams. He completed 16 of 27 passes and also ran for 34 yards.
Kentucky quarterback Terry Wilson returned from a knee injury that cost him most of last season. He completed 24 of 37 passes for 239 yards and ran for 42 yards.
NO. 10 TEXAS A&M 17, VANDERBILT 12
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Isaiah Spiller had 117 yards rushing and Ainias Smith ran for a touchdown to help No. 10 Texas A&M overcome three turnovers in a mistake-filled game to beat Vanderbilt in the season-opener for both teams.
Spiller had 5 five yards rushing in the first half before getting going after halftime. Smith added 51 yards rushing after switching from receiver to running back this season to steady the offense on a night when Kellen Mond fumbled twice, losing one.
The Aggies didn't trail after the first quarter but were never able to pull away despite entering the game as 30-point favorites because of three fumbles and a penalty that resulted in a safety.
Vanderbilt started Ken Seals at quarterback, making him just the third true freshman QB to start a SEC season opener since freshman eligibility was restored in 1972. He threw for 150 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
NO. 16 TENNESSEE 31, SOUTH CAROLINA 27
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Jarrett Guarantano threw a tiebreaking touchdown pass to Josh Palmer with 9:35 left and Tennessee won its seventh consecutive game.
The Vols appeared to have things in hand when they went ahead 21-7 on Eric Gray's 12-yard scoring run on their opening drive of the third quarter. But South Carolina rallied behind first-time starter quarterback Collin Hill with two touchdowns and a field goal the next four series to tie the opener at 24-24 in the fourth quarter.
Guarantano finished 19 of 31 for 259 yards. He also rushed for Tennessee's first touchdown.