San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Charbonnet runs for 3 TDs as UCLA beats Hawaii
Zach Charbonnet, a transfer from Michigan, rushed for 106 yards and three touchdowns in his UCLA debut as the Bruins rolled to a 44-10 season-opening victory over Hawaii on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
UCLA scored on its first five possessions as it snapped an eight-game losing streak to teams outside the Pac-12. Six of those defeats were under Chip Kelly, who is in his fourth season.
Charbonnet scored all of his touchdowns in the first half as the Bruins roared out to a 31-3 lead at halftime. His first TD came midway through the first quarter on a 21-yard run after great blocks from the right side of the offensive line to extend the lead to 10-0.
The junior’s best run of the day came with 47 seconds remaining in the first quarter when he broke four Hawaii tackles before turning on the speed for a 46-yard touchdown to make it 24-3. He then went over 100 yards on his sixth carry with a 21-yard score on the next possession.
Brittain Brown added 78 yards on 13 carries, including a 1-yard TD run to make it 17-0 four plays after defensive lineman Datona Jackson picked off Chevan Cordeiro’s pass deep in Hawaii territory. UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson was 10-for-20 passing for 130 yards. He completed all four of his passes on the opening drive of the second half, culminating in a 44-yard strike to Kazmeir Allen to make it 37-3.
Cordeiro was 24-for-46 for 216 yards.
Hawaii is 4-13 in its past 17 games against Pac-12 opponents, including 10 straight road losses.
Fresno State 45, UConn 0: Monte Vista-Danville alum Jake Haener threw for three touchdowns and 331 yards as the host Bulldogs routed the Huskies in the opener for both teams.
Haener left the game on his team’s first drive of the second half due to apparent leg cramps as temperatures on the field reached 120 degrees. He threw all his TD passes in the second quarter and by intermission had 299 passing yards.
Menlo-Atherton alum Jordan Mims added a touchdown run for the Bulldogs, and running back Ronnie Rivers, a Freedom-Oakley alum, had a 61-yard TD catch. Rivers’ score was his school-record 45th; he had been tied with Anthony Daigle for the mark.
UConn, which opted out of the 2020 season, was playing its first game in 637 days.
“We made strides over the past 21 months, but it didn’t show in some areas,” UConn head coach Randy Edsall said. “But that’s why you play the game. Some of the concerns I had going into this game, they showed up; there’s no excuses, we weren’t good enough.”
Illinois 30, Nebraska 22: Artur Sitkowski, a transfer from Rutgers who entered when starting quarterback Brandon Peters was hurt, passed for two TDs as the host Illini beat the Cornhuskers in a Big Ten opener to give head coach Bret Bielema a win in his debut with the school.
Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez passed for 232 yards and ran for 111 more.
Briefly: Oregon named sixthyear senior Anthony Brown as its starting quarterback, cbssports.com reported. Among the players he beat out for the job is former Liberty-Brentwood standout Jay Butterfield . ... Lincoln University of Oakland, playing its first game, lost 33-9 to Arizona Christian — ranked 15th in the NAIA preseason poll — in Chandler, Ariz.