Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
New QB helps Ohio State roll over FAU
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Justin Fields threw four touchdown passes and ran for a score in his first game for Ohio State and the fifthranked Buckeyes rolled over FAU in the season opener.
Fields, the five-star transfer from Georgia, made it look easy early, engineering touchdowns on Ohio State’s first four drives. Despite some occasional rookie mistakes that caused the Buckeyes’ offense to sputter in the second and third quarters, Fields finished 18 for 25 for 234 yards and a 51-yard touchdown run.
Tight end Jeremy Ruckert caught two touchdown passes, and Binjimen Victor and Chris Olave also had scoring grabs.
Meanwhile, Florida Atlantic had trouble generating anything good until putting together a 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter for its first touchdown of the game.
Chris Robison finished 22 for 34 for 178 yards for the Owls. FAU was held to just 22 yards on the ground by a revamped Ohio State defense that was coming off a down season.
NO. 21 IOWA STATE 29, NORTHERN IOWA 26, 3 OT
AMES, Iowa — Sheldon Croney Jr. scored from a yard out in triple overtime and 21st-ranked Iowa State rallied to beat Northern Iowa.
La’Michael Pettway had a pair of touchdown catches for the Cyclones (1-0), who barely survived the season’s first major upset after entering the year ranked for the first time since 1978.
Croney fumbled near the goal line on the second-to-last play of the game. But quarterback Brock Purdy sprinted from the backfield to recover it at the 1 and set up the game-winning plunge.
After the teams traded field goals in the first overtime, Purdy found Pettway — a graduate transfer from Arkansas in his Iowa State debut — in the back of the end zone. But Northern Iowa pulled even at 23-all after freshman Will McElvain scrambled long enough to free up Trevor Allen for a 7-yard TD catch.
NO. 24 NEBRASKA 35, SOUTH ALABAMA 21
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska scored two defensive touchdowns and one on special teams, bailing out a sluggish offense and leading the No. 24 Cornhuskers to a 35-21 victory over South Alabama on Saturday.
The five-touchdown favorite Huskers led only 14-7 at halftime and totaled just 66 yards in the second half. But their defense had five takeaways, the biggest one Eric Lee Jr.’s 38-yard interception return for a touchdown, and JD Spielman ran back a punt 76 yards to make it a three-touchdown game early in the third quarter.
Any easing of the anxiety at Memorial Stadium was temporary. South Alabama converted two straight turnovers into touchdowns to cut it to 28-21 and had the ball heading into the fourth quarter.
Things started turning for Nebraska when Cam Taylor hammered Jaguars quarterback Cephus Johnson, popping the ball loose, and Alex Davis picked it up at the goal line and stepped into the end zone for a touchdown.
NO. 13 WASHINGTON 47, EASTERN WASHINGTON 14
SEATTLE — Jacob Eason threw for 349 yards and four touchdowns in his first game in nearly two years, and No. 13 Washington opened the season with a win over Eastern Washington.
Taking his first snaps since the 2017 season when he lost the starting job at Georgia to Jake Fromm, Eason showed no rust, carving up one of the top FCS programs in the country with a debut that will only increase the hype around the former No. 1 recruit in the country.
Eason completed 27 of 36 passes and led Washington (1-0) on touchdown drives on four of its first five possessions.
Eason’s fourth pass in purple was a 50-yard touchdown strike to Andre Baccellia. Eason added a 7-yard TD pass to Aaron Fuller, who made a stunning one-handed catch while getting a foot inbound, and capped his first-half with a 10-yard TD strike to Chico McClatcher late in the first half.
NO. 15 PENN STATE 79, IDAHO 7
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Sean Clifford completed 14 of 23 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 15 Penn State over Idaho.
Making his first career start, Clifford chipped in 57 rushing yards on seven carries and hooked up with receiver KJ Hamler for scoring strikes of 36 and 21 yards.
Journey Brown and Noah Cain both added a pair of touchdown runs while Ricky Slade, Devyn Ford and Nick Eury each ran for scores. Jake Pinegar kicked two field goals and Jordan Stout made another for Penn State (1-0). Will Levis threw a touchdown pass to tight end Brenton Strange in the fourth quarter.
The Nittany Lions overcame early sloppiness before coasting the rest of the way to their biggest point total since an 81-0 win against Cincinnati in 1991.
NO. 25 STANFORD 17, NORTHWESTERN 7
STANFORD, Calif. — K.J. Costello threw a 2-yard touchdown pass before getting knocked out of the season opener on a late hit and No. 25 Stanford went on to beat Northwestern 17-7 on Saturday.
Costello completed 16 of 20 passes for 152 yards and the TD pass to Michael Wilson that capped a 90-yard drive in the second quarter for the Cardinal (1-0). But his day ended early when he was hit with a forearm to the facemask while sliding on a scramble by Earnest Brown IV with just 2 seconds remaining in the first half.
Brown was called for a late hit that set up Jet Toner’s 51-yard field goal but wasn’t ejected for targeting. Costello stayed down on the turf for a few minutes before being helped to the locker room. He didn’t return to the game and there was no immediate word on his condition.
NO. 22 SYRACUSE 24, LIBERTY 0
LYNCHBURG, Va. — Abdul Adams, Jarveon Howard and Moe Neal ran for touchdowns and No. 22 Syracuse spoiled a most unusual debut for Hugh Freeze as Liberty’s coach with a victory.
Still recovering from back surgery for a herniated disk on Aug. 16 and a staph infection, Freeze coached from a hospital bed in the coaching box. The school said he was in communication with his coaches and players during the game and that the bed was used to support his healing back. Freeze addressed the team before the game via video hook-up, again at halftime and was to after the game as well.
He couldn’t have liked much of what he saw.
Stephen Calvert threw two interceptions, as many as Freeze had said the fourthyear starter had thrown in all of fall camp, and was sacked eight times by a defense that returned players responsible for 34 sacks last season, the most in the football subdivision.
NO. 7 MICHIGAN 40, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 21
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Shea Patterson threw three touchdown passes in the first half and No. 7 Michigan went on to beat Middle Tennessee.
The Wolverines unveiled their new-look offense and showed they have a lot of work to do with the ball. Patterson lost a fumble on the first play of the game and the senior quarterback had one of the team’s two fumbles in the second half.
Asher O’Hara ran for an 18-yard TD after Patterson’s early fumble to give the Blue Raiders a 7-0 lead. O’Hara threw a 2-yard pass for a score to Jarrin Pierce after Lavert Hill fumbled on a punt return to pull them within 10 points late in the first half.
Michigan made it 4014 with Dylan McCaffrey’s 6-yard run late in the third quarter and Ben Van Sumeren’s 1-yard run with 6:37 left.
NO. 10 TEXAS 45, LOUISIANA TECH 14
AUSTIN, Texas — Sam Ehlinger threw four touchdown passes and No. 10 Texas rolled past Louisiana Tech, giving coach Tom Herman his first season-opening victory in three years with the Longhorns.
Texas had started each of the past two seasons with losses to Maryland, but had no trouble overwhelming the Bulldogs from Conference-USA in this one. Ehlinger was coolly efficient from the start with scoring passes on three of Texas’ first four possessions.
BIG 12 ROUNDUP TCU 39, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 7
FORT WORTH, Texas — Jalen Reagor, TCU’s leading receiver last season, dropped three passes and muffed a punt return before making amends late in the third quarter to help the Horned Frogs pull away from Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the season opener for both teams.
Reagor ran past Pine Bluff freshman cornerback Jordan Brown at the line of scrimmage to catch a 37-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Max Duggan to give the Horned Frogs a 29-7 lead.
KANSAS STATE 49, NICHOLLS 14
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Skylar Thompson threw for 212 yards and accounted for two touchdowns, six different Kansas State players reached the end zone, and the Wildcats rolled to a victory over Nicholls to give coach Chris Klieman a win in his debut.
James Gilbert paced a Kansas State running attack that rolled up 361 yards by going for 115 and a score. Jordan Brown, Harry Trotter and Tyler Burns also ran for touchdowns.
BAYLOR 56, STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 17
WACO, Texas — Charlie Brewer threw for 215 yards and three touchdowns in barely more than a half, Trestan Ebner scored three times and Baylor handed Stephen F. Austin its seventh straight season-opening loss with a victory.
Ebner had the highlight of the game, and the play that put the Bears in control for good, when he reversed field on a pitch with most of the SFA defense closing in and weaved the final few yards on a 21-yard score for a 21-7 lead early in the second quarter.
TEXAS TECH 45, MONTANA ST. 10
LUBBOCK, Texas — Alan Bowman threw for 436 yards with two touchdowns and ran for another score as Texas Tech won their first game under coach Matt Wells, beating FCS team Montana State.
The Red Raiders quickly jumped ahead with 11-play touchdown drives on each of their first two possessions. Bowman, who finished 40of-55 passing, completed his first 12 passes for 123 yards before throwing a ball out of bounds for his first incompletion midway through the second drive.
Texas Tech piled up 691 total yards in its first game with offensive coordinator David Yost. He also came from Utah State where he was Wells, the head coach at his alma mater six seasons before becoming a Power Five coach for the first time.
WEST VIRGINIA 20, JAMES MADISON 13
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Austin Kendall threw two second-half touchdown passes in his debut at West Virginia and the Mountaineers overcame some struggles to hold off James Madison.
Kendall couldn’t generate a ton of offense under constant pressure, but the Oklahoma graduate transfer did just enough to give new coach Neal Brown a victory in his debut while preventing the Mountaineers from losing to a Championship Subdivision opponent for the first time.
KANSAS 24, INDIANA STATE 17
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Carter Stanley threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Daylon Charlot with 2:20 left in the game, and Kansas rallied for a victory over Indiana State to avoid saddling new coach Les Miles with a devastating defeat in his debut.
The Sycamores had clawed back from a 16-3 deficit, taking the lead when Stanley fumbled in the end zone and Inoke Moala recovered it for a touchdown with 4:24 left in the game.