Clemson, Notre Dame experience no resistance
Miami tops Louisville in battle of ranked teams
CLEMSON, S.C. — Trevor Lawrence threw for three touchdowns in just nine passing attempts to help No. 1 Clemson (2-0) win 49-0 over The Citadel (0-2) on Saturday. Lawrence also rushed for his third TD of the season, leading the way as the Tigers improved to 35-0 against Football Championship Subdivision teams.
Clemson came out fast, stayed sharp and played just about everybody available. Lawrence was 8 for 9 for 168 yards, including scoring passes of 54 and 17 yards to Frank Ladson Jr. and 44 yards to Amari Rodgers.
The Heisman Trophy favorite was largely done when Clemson went up 28-0 in the first quarter. He returned for one secondquarter series and quickly added points with a perfectly thrown pass down the left side to Ladson.
Two-time reigning ACC player of the year Travis Etienne ran for 68 yards on only eight carries, joining Lawrence as a happy spectator for most of the day.
Clemson’s defense shut down the Bulldogs’ triple-option, holding them to 86 yards on the ground after they rushed for 200 yards last week at South Florida.
NO. 7 NOTRE DAME 52, SOUTH FLORIDA
0: In South Bend, Ind., Ian Book had three first-half touchdown runs and Notre Dame (2-0) won its 20th straight home game.
Jeff Scott’s Bulls (1-1) were a late addition to Notre Dame’s schedule after the Irish joined the Atlantic Coast Conference for this season in a pandemic.
NO. 11 OKLAHOMA STATE 16, TULSA 7: In Stillwater, Okla., Chuba Hubbard was limited to 35 yards in the first half but scored on a 3-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter in Oklahoma State’s victory in the season opener for both teams.
For Tulsa, Zach Smith completed 18 of 28 passes for 164 yards and one touchdown. The Golden Hurricane committed 15 penalties and did not convert a third down, yet hung around as Oklahoma State played most of the game without quarterback Spencer Sanders (ankle).
NO. 13 CINCINNATI 55, AUSTIN PEAY 20:
In Cincinnati, Gerrid Doaks scored four touchdowns, including a career-high three on the ground, and Cincinnati opened with a victory over Austin Peay in a game that originally was scheduled for Sept. 3.
Jeremiah Otsvall passed for 202 yards for Austin Peay (0-3).
NO. 14 CENTRAL FLORIDA 49, GEORGIA
TECH 21: In Atlanta, Dillon Gabriel threw for a career-best 417 yards and four touchdowns to Central Florida past 1-1 Georgia Tech in the Knights’ season opener.
NO. 17 MIAMI 47, No. 18 LOUISVILLE 34:
In Louisville, Ky., D’Eriq King threw three TD passes and Miami used big plays to beat Louisville in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams. King threw a 75-yard TD pass to Jaylon Knighton in the third quarter, a series after Cam’ron Harris ran 75 yards for a score.
NO. 19 LA.-LAFAYETTE 34, GEORGIA
STATE 31, OT: In Atlanta, Elijah Mitchell rushed for 164 yards, including the winning touchdown in overtime, and Louisiana-Lafayette (2-0, 1-0 Sun Belt) beat Georgia State (0-1, 0-1).
MARSHALL 17, NO. 23 APPALACHIAN
STATE 7: In Huntingdon, W.Va., Brenden Knox rushed for 138 yards and a touchdown, quarterback Grant Wells came up with back-to-back big plays when Marshall needed them and the Thundering Herd (2-0) beat Appalachian State (1-1).
NO. 25 PITTSBURGH 21, SYRACUSE 10:
In Pittsburgh, Kenny Pickett threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, and Pittsburgh’s (2-0, 1-0 ACC) defense did the rest against Syracuse (0-2, 0-2).
BIG TEN: The league’s third schedule of the 2020 season is highlighted by Michigan-Ohio State on Dec. 12, the final day of the conference’s regular-season and the latest date the rivals have ever played.
The Big Ten released an eight-games-in-eight-weeks schedule on Saturday that will start the weekend of Oct. 24.
ELSEWHERE: Florida State coach Mike Norvell has tested positive for COVID-19 and will not coach the Seminoles in-person this week as they prepare for Miami. … Memphis announced that it needed another week off to get through its issues and canceled its nonconference game against Texas-San Antonio that was scheduled for Friday. … The Pac-12 is likely to jump back into fall football season later this week. The conference’s university presidents meet Thursday. When to start is the hang up. Some Pac-12 teams are way behind in preparation, but not all. A Halloween start gives room to get seven games in before a Dec. 19 championship that puts the Pac12 in play for College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six bowl selection. … Navy, which started the season being outscored 79-3, scored the last 27 points of the game to beat Tulane on a last-second field goal.