No. 2 Ohio State knocks off No. 5 Notre Dame
COLUMBUS, OHIO >> C.J. Stroud threw two touchdown passes and Ohio State’s revamped defense gave its vaunted offense time to find its groove as the second-ranked Buckeyes beat No. 5 Notre Dame 21-10 on Saturday night.
The top-five opening matchup was a homecoming for first-year Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, the former Buckeyes linebacker who has made a meteoric rise to lead the Fighting Irish at 36 years old.
Freeman is now 0-2 as a head coach after losing a bowl game just weeks after being named Brian Kelly’s successor.
In the first regular-season meeting of the storied programs since 1996, the Irish hung with the highscoring Buckeyes for most of three quarters, frustrating Heisman Trophy finalist Stroud and putting together a couple of first-half scoring drives.
NO. 3 GEORGIA 49, NO. 11 OREGON 3 >> Stetson Bennett threw for 368 yards and accounted for three touchdowns, a revamped defense didn’t miss a beat and Georgia looked very much like a team intent on defending its national championship with a rout of Oregon.
Bennett completed 25 of 31 passes with two touchdowns and ran for another score before calling it a day in the third quarter of the season opener, the Bulldogs leading 42-3 and having thoroughly ruined the debut of Oregon coach Dan Lanning.
NO. 1 ALABAMA 55, UTAH STATE 0 >> Reigning Heisman
Trophy winner Bryce Young passed for five firsthalf touchdowns and even ran for 100 yards and a score in Alabama’s opening victory over Utah State.
The Crimson Tide began their quest for national title redemption with a not unexpected start-to-finish domination of the sixtouchdown underdog Aggies (1-1). Less anticipated: Young’s runs.
NO. 6 TEXAS A&M 31, SAM HOUSTON 0 >> Haynes King threw for a career-high 364 yards and three long touchdowns to lead Texas A&M past Sam Houston in a game that included an almost three-hour weather delay.
King threw touchdown passes of 66, 63 and 43 yards. He also threw two interceptions in an inconsistent performance in his return after breaking his
leg in the second game last season.
FLORIDA 29, NO. 7 UTAH 26 >> Anthony Richardson ran for three scores in his second career start, including a 2-yard scamper with 1:25 remaining, and Florida beat Utah to get the Billy Napier era off to a rousing start.
Richardson was the best player on the field most of the night. He really showed up down the stretch, although linebacker Amari Burney was the guy who sealed the victory for the Gators.
NO. 8 MICHIGAN 51, COLORADO STATE 7 >> Cade McNamara had a lackluster performance that was made moot by a dominant defense as Michigan routed Colorado State.
The Big Ten championship-winning quarterback started the opener and is scheduled to sit at the beginning
of the Hawaii game next week when J.J. McCarthy gets a shot to take the first snap.
NO. 9 OKLAHOMA 45, UTEP 13 >> Dillon Gabriel passed for two touchdowns and ran for another and Oklahoma rolled past UTEP for Brent Venables’ first career victory as a head coach.
Venables was a full-time assistant for the previous 26 years in stints at Kansas State, Oklahoma and Clemson. He took over after Lincoln Riley left to take the Southern California job. NO. 10 BAYLOR 69, ALBANY 10 >> Blake Shapen completed 17 of 20 passes for 214 yards with two long touchdowns and had a nifty dive into the end zone for another score on the final play of the first half as Baylor routed FCS team Albany.
Gavin Holmes, the sixthyear Bears wideout who missed all of last season because of a foot injury, returned a punt 72 yards for a score. Monaray Baldwin had two touchdowns, on a 47-yard catch for Baylor’s first score before adding a 50-yard reverse run after halftime.
NO. 13 N.C. STATE 21, EAST CAROLINA 20 >> North Carolina State beat East Carolina after Pirates kicker Owen Daffer missed an extra point with 2:58 left and a 41-yard field goal with five seconds to go.
The Pirates were in position to hand the Wolfpack a surprising loss in the opener when they got the ball back late down 21-20, not to mention offer Daffer a shot at redemption after he pulled the tying extra point wide left after Rahjai Harris’ short touchdown run.
NO. 14 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 66, RICE 14 >> Caleb Williams passed for 249 yards, rushed for 68 more and hit Jordan Addison for two touchdowns, and coach Lincoln Riley’s tenure at Southern California got off to a roaring start against Rice.
Calen Bullock, Shane Lee and Ralen Goforth returned three of USC’s four interceptions for touchdowns. The Trojans scored more points in Riley’s debut than they did in any game under Clay Helton, who was fired last season before a powerhouse program sank to its worst record in 30 years.
NO. 16 MIAMI 70, BETHUNECOOKMAN 13 >> Henry Parrish rushed for 108 yards and three touchdowns, Tyler Van Dyke passed for two more scores and Miami beat Bethune-Cookman 70-13 in Mario Cristobal’s debut as coach of the Hurricanes.
Miami finished with seven rushing touchdowns. Thaddeus Franklin rushed for two scores, while Devon Perry and Terrell Walden II also ran for touchdowns for the Hurricanes.
NO. 18 WISCONSIN 38, ILLINOIS STATE 0 >> Braelon Allen had a 96-yard touchdown scamper for the longest run from scrimmage in Wisconsin history and John Torchio had a schoolrecord 100-yard interception return as the Badgers opened the season with a rout of Illinois State.
NO. 19 ARKANSAS 31, NO. 23 CINCINNATI 24 >> KJ Jefferson threw for 223 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another 62 yards and another score to lead Arkansas past Cincinnati.
NO. 20 KENTUCKY 37, MIAMI (OHIO) 13 >> Barion Brown returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, Keidron Smith’s fumble return less than a minute later set up another score and Kentucky pulled away to beat Miami (Ohio).
NO. 21 MISSISSIPPI 29, TROY 10 >> Southern California transfer Jaxson Dart directed three consecutive touchdown drives in the first half to help Mississippi beat Troy.
NO. 24 HOUSTON 37, UTSA 35, 3OT >> Houston quarterback Clayton Tune leaped over a defender to score on a 13yard run and the Cougars beat UTSA in three overtimes.
NO. 25 BYU 50, SOUTH FLORIDA 21 >> BYU had to wait out a 2 1/2-hour weather delay to get its season started, then took just 11 seconds to score its first touchdown in the blowout victory over South Florida.