Hurts leads No. 1 Alabama past Fresno State
TUSCALOOSA, ALA. » Jalen Hurts ran for 154 yards and two touchdowns and passed for a third score in No. 1 Alabama’s 41-10 victory over Fresno State on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide (2-0) polished off the 44-point underdog Bulldogs (1-1) with a workmanlike performance on the heels of an opening victory over No. 10 Florida State in Atlanta.
Hurts completed 14 of 18 passes for 128 yards, but his biggest play came in the opening minute. He faked a handoff and sprinted 55 yards for a touchdown on the second offensive play, stepping out of a last-gasp tackle attempt at the 15.
Hurts also hit a wideopen Hale Hentges for a 23-yarder in the first quarter. It was the tight end’s first career touchdown.
The Tide led 28-3 at halftime against Fresno State, which had opened coach Jeff Tedford’s first season with a 66-0 win over FCS Incarnate Word.
Fresno State scored on Chason Virgil’s 26-yard pass to Derrion Grim with just over six minutes left. That was set up by Da’Mari Scott’s 63-yard kick return
Alabama outgained the Bulldogs 305-58 on the ground. NO. 8 MICHIGAN 36, CINCINNATI 14 » Ty Isaac ran for a career-high 133 yards and Wilton Speight threw two touchdown passes to help Michigan pull away.
The Wolverines (2-0) led by just three points early in the second half before scoring 19 straight points to turn a closely contested game into a lopsided one.
The Bearcats (1-1) failed to take advantage of Michigan’s many mistakes and made some miscues of their own to spoil an upset bid.
Cincinnati’s Hayden Moore was 15 of 40 for 132 yards with a TD pass to Kahlil Lewis that cut Michigan’s lead to 17-14 in the third quarter. Moore had some passes dropped and had some errant throws, two of which were intercepted and returned for scores by Tyree Kinnel in the first quarter and Lavert Hill late in the fourth.
Speight completed 17 of 29 passes for 221 yards. He had TD passes to Kekoa Crawford early in the game and to Grant Perry in the third that gave Michigan a 10-point cushion.
NO. 9 WISCONSIN 31, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 14 MADISON, WIS. » Freshman Jonathan Taylor ran for 223 yards and three touchdowns and Alex Hornibrook threw for 201 yards and a score for Wisconsin.
The bigger Badgers (2-0) wore down the Owls (0-2) despite some middling play in the middle of the game. Wisconsin opened up 14-0 lead in the first quarter o Taylor’s 64- and 29-yard touchdown runs, but didn’t have the game in hand until his third score with 1:12 left in the third quarter,
The threat of Hurricane Irma bearing down on South Florida put the stakes in perspective for the Owls and first-year coach Lane Kiffin. The Owls will stay in Madison at least through Sunday. NO. 18 VIRGINIA TECH 27, DELAWARE 0 » Greg Stroman returned a punt 61 yards for a touchdown and Josh Jackson threw two scoring passes for Virginia Tech.
Stroman is the first player in Virginia Tech history to return a punt for a touchdown in three consecutive seasons.
The Hokies (2-0), coming off a last-second win over West Virginia, struggled offensively for much of the game, but got scoring strikes of 4 and 28 yards from Jackson. The latter one went to Cam Phillips, who broke free on a post pattern to give the Hokies breathing room in the fourth quarter.
Jackson completed 16 of 27 passes for 222 yards.
Delaware is 1-1. NO. 19 KANSAS STATE 55, CHARLOTTE 7 » Kendall Adams scored on interception and fumble returns in the first half for Kansas State.
Adams returned an interception 30 yards to give the Wildcats (2-0) a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, and had a 46-yard fumble return late in the second to make it 317.
Alex Barnes, Jesse Ertz and Winston Dimel had touchdown runs.
Charlotte dropped to 0-2. NO. 23 TCU 28, ARKANSAS 7 » Darius Anderson ran for a career-high 106 yards and a touchdown and No. 23 TCU’s defense dominated once again.
Anderson had 15 carries to help the Horned Frogs (20) win in Fayetteville for the first time since 1984 when both schools were in the Southwest Conference. The sophomore’s previous rushing best was 103 yards in a victory over Texas last season.
Kenny Hill was 21-of-31 passing for 166 yards for TCU, and the Horned Frogs held the Razorbacks (1-1) to 267 yards of total offense — a week after allowing only 65 yards in a 63-0 victory over Jackson State.
Arkansas’ Austin Allen was 9 of 23 for 138 yards, a year after accounting for four touchdowns in the Razorbacks’ double-overtime win at TCU. Arkansas has lost three of its last four games to fall to 26-27 under fifth-season year coach Bret Bielema. NO. 25 TENNESSEE 42, INDIANA STATE 7 » Ty Chandler returned the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown, Carlin Fils-aime had two scoring runs and Tennessee breezed past Indiana State,
Five days after John Kelly ran for four touchdowns in Tennessee’s 42-41 double-overtime triumph over Georgia Tech, he shared the spotlight with his backups in a game that had much less suspense. Kelly ran for 80 yards and caught five passes for 60 yards to lead the Volunteers (2-0) in rushing and receiving, but two guys below him on the depth chart scored Tennessee’s first three touchdowns.
Chandler took the opening kickoff just to the right of the right hash, easily shed an attempted arm tackle as he approached his own 35 and ran untouched the rest of the way. Chandler is the first Tennessee true freshman to score on a kickoff return since Leonard Scott did it against Georgia in 1999.
Indiana State is 0-2 to start the 2017 regular season.