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Cincinnati quarterback Ben Bryant, who hasn’t played since suffering a concussion Oct. 8, returned Saturday to start against SMU.

Bryant, who suffered the injury late in the game against South Florida and was replaced by Evan Prater, had returned to practice after a bye week under the school’s concussion protocols.

No. 21 Cincinnati (5-1) carries an 18-game American Athletic Conference winning streak into Saturday’s game against SMU (noon, ESPN). The Bearcats have bounced back after losing the opener at Arkansas.

Bryant will be aided by the return of tailback Corey Kiner, the LSU transfer who missed the USF game with a hand injury. Kiner is the team’s second-leading rusher, averaging 4.9 yards per carry with five touchdowns this season.

The Bearcats receiving corps will also get a boost with the return of redshirt freshman Will Pauling from a knee injury. He started the opener at Arkansas and had six catches in Cincinnati’s first two games before suffering the injury.

Tyler Scott, the Bearcats’ leading receiver, will not play after being a game-time decision with an ankle injury. He has 500 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns this season.

In coordinator Gino Guidugli’s offense, Bryant has led Cincinnati’s offense to a breakout season at 38.2 points per game. That’s a higher output than the Bearcats have averaged at any other point in Luke Fickell’s tenure at Cincinnati, including last year’s College Football Playoff run when they scored 36.4 points per game.

The Bearcats have 19 plays from scrimmage of more than 30 yards in their six games. That trends higher than the 33 plays of 30-plus yards in 14 games last season.

Bryant has thrown 15 touchdown passes, had six passes intercepted and completed 65.9% of his passes for 1,561 yards through six games. He’s on a better statistical track than Desmond Ridder, who led Cincinnati’s run to the College Football Playoff in 2021 with 30 touchdowns and 3,334 yards.

Bryant beat out Prater, one of the most highly regarded recruits in school history, for the starting job this summer after transferring back to Cincinnati from a one-year cameo at Eastern Michigan.

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who lost his starting job earlier this week, will not be returning to the team, he announced Thursday night.

Castellanos, who started 12 games last season and retained the top job under new coach Bill O’Brien, wrote on X that “unfortunately, all good things come to an end, even though it’s sooner than I would like.” He did not mention the transfer portal in his departing message and has not officially entered it. The junior from Waycross, Georgia, started his career at UCF and appeared in five games in 2022.

O’Brien said Tuesday that Grayson James, who replaced Castellanos in last week’s win against Syracuse, will start Saturday when Boston College visits No. 14 SMU. Castellanos “wasn’t real thrilled” with the decision, O’Brien said, adding that the quarterback decided to step away from the team for several days.

Castellanos had 2,248 passing yards and 1,113 rushing yards last season under coach Jeff Hafley, passing for 15 touchdowns and adding 13 on the ground. He had 18 touchdown passes and only five interceptions this season, but his accuracy dipped in recent weeks, and he completed only 2 of 7 passes against Syracuse before being replaced.

In his statement, Castellanos thanked both coaching staffs he played for at Boston College and wrote that he had “some of the best experiences of my life in the Eagles Nest and I will truly cherish these memories forever.”

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Gators’ Lagway ‘ready to play,’ will start vs. LSU

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Gators' Lagway 'ready to play,' will start vs. LSU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida quarterback DJ Lagway is “ready to play,” coach Billy Napier said Thursday on his weekly radio show.

Napier removed Lagway from the team’s injury report and penciled him in to start against No. 21 LSU in the Swamp on Saturday.

Lagway practiced every day this week while progressing from a strained left hamstring. The highly touted freshman was carted off the field against Georgia on Nov. 2. Tests revealed a “less significant” injury than initially feared, and now he’s back in time to face the Tigers.

The Gators (4-5, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) need him. They have to win two of their final three regular-season games to become bowl eligible.

LSU (6-3, 3-2) has struggled mightily against dual-threat QBs, including Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns last week.

Lagway returns after walk-on and Yale transfer Aidan Warner started in his place against Texas. Warner threw two interceptions and was 12-of-25 passing for 132 yards in a 49-17 loss.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Georgia leading rusher Etienne ruled out vs. Vols

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Georgia leading rusher Etienne ruled out vs. Vols

No. 12 Georgia will be without leading rusher Trevor Etienne for Saturday’s showdown against No. 7 Tennessee.

Etienne was downgraded from questionable to out on Thursday night’s SEC availability report.

Etienne left Georgia’s win over Florida with an upper-body injury on Nov. 2 and did not return. He played limited snaps in last week’s 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, carrying the ball six times for 24 yards.

Etienne leads the Bulldogs with 477 rushing yards and seven touchdowns this season.

The loss is another blow to Georgia’s banged-up backfield. Cash Jones is also listed as questionable while Branson Robinson remains out after missing the past three games with a knee injury.

That leaves true freshman Nate Frazier as the only healthy Bulldogs running back who has played meaningful snaps this year. Frazier is second on the team with 333 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

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