Darnold returns for No. 4 USC’s opener vs Western Michigan Anu era starts at Baylor Kirkland out for season

Tim Lester is among the thousands of football men who became big fans of Sam

Darnold last season.

Just 11 days after Darnold’s 453-yard, five-touchdown performance for Southern California in the last Rose Bowl, Lester got the head coaching job at Western Michigan — and Darnold became his first problem.

The No. 4 Trojans return from their Pasadena victory over Penn State to open a season of enormous expectations Saturday at the Coliseum against Lester’s Broncos.

Darnold is back for his first full season as USC’s starting quarterback, with the Heisman Trophy and the Pac-12 title squarely in the sights of the gifted passer. Lester won’t be surprised if Darnold fulfills his enormous potential, but the former Western Michigan quarterback will do his best to delay that process by a week.

“I’ve always liked Sam, watching him as a guy who loves to watch quarterbacks play,” Lester said. “When they won the Rose Bowl and he walked off to the sideline like, ‘Ho hum,’ like it was just another day at the office, I already liked him. I loved him from that moment. I just liked the way he handled that situation. Little did I know we’d be playing him in eight months.”

A year after the Trojans began their season with a thrashing from Alabama and ended it with nine consecutive wins, they’ve taken on another significant challenge in their opener.

Western Michigan has 15 starters returning from the best season in school history, which included 13 victories and a Cotton Bowl appearance. But the Broncos also are rebuilding after the departures of head coach

P.J. Fleck, longtime starting quarterback Zach Terrell and star receiver Corey Davis.

“They’re going to be a big challenge, even with the guys who left,” USC cornerback

Iman Marshall said. “We’re going to be ready for a team that won 13 games last year.”

Matt Rhule finally gets to coach a game for Baylor, nearly nine months after getting hired in the wake of the school’s sexual assault scandal and more than a month after the start of fall camp.

“It’ll be interesting to see how guys handle the situation of playing in the games, and that’s really the next step for our team,” Rhule said. “They’ve shown what they can do, so now how are they going to handle it in front of a crowd and in front of a good team.”

Rhule waited until this week, only days before Saturday night’s season opener against Liberty, to select a starting quarterback.

When Rhule makes his Bears debut, so will graduate transfer Anu Solomon. The former Arizona quarterback is set to take the first snap after a competition that started in spring drills with Zach Smith, who finished last season as the starter. Charlie Brewer, a freshman who enrolled last spring, also made a strong push.

“Anu just has a little bit of poise and a lot of experience, and I think he brings a little bit of leadership,” Rhule said. “And he brings the ability to kind of move in the pocket. With a young offensive line that’s something we might need.”

Tennessee linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr.’s knee injury will prevent him from playing at all this season, leaving the 25th-ranked Volunteers without one of their projected top defenders.

Vols coach Butch Jones announced the severity of Kirkland’s injury Friday. Jones said Wednesday that Kirkland had undergone meniscus surgery earlier that day but said at the time there wasn’t yet a timetable for the junior’s potential return.

“We had a positive outlook that it could be three to four to five weeks, but unfortunately that’s not the news that came about,” Jones said. “He’ll miss the entire season. I know Darrin’s extremely disappointed. His family’s extremely disappointed. But just like anything in life, he’ll be better for it, he’ll work exceptionally hard and we look forward to getting him back.”

Kansas to honor Orange Bowl team

One of the best teams in Kansas history will be inducted into its Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Then, this year’s version of the Jayhawks will try to take another step toward following in their path.

The team 10 years ago coached by Mark Mangino and led by stars such as Todd Reesing and Aqib Talib won 12 games, came within a hair of playing for a national championship, and beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl to cap what at the time was one of the most remarkable seasons in the history of the Big 12.

But things unraveled quickly over the ensuing years: Mangino was forced out amid allegations that he mistreated players, talent began going elsewhere, and a parade of coaches was unsuccessful.

It wasn’t until David Beaty, a former Mangino assistant, returned to Lawrence that things stabilized. And now in his third year of a massive rebuilding effort, Beaty has the Jayhawks headed into their opener Saturday night against Southeast Missouri State with the belief that they’re on the right track.

“I know our kids are excited about it. I’m excited about getting to it,” Beaty said. “We got a lot of great stuff happening this weekend, but none more important than this game. Our job is to go win the game.”

Dobbins pushing for reps

Urban Meyer kept trying to lower the expectations surrounding freshman running back J.K. Dobbins before No. 2 Ohio State’s season opener.

He has no chance of keeping his newest offensive weapon a secret any more.

After rushing for 181 yards and breaking Maurice Clarett’s 15-year-old school record for a freshman debut, the Buckeyes will try to figure out how best to deploy their newest star and last season’s top runner, Mike Weber, together.

While Ohio State players and coaches were thrilled Dobbins got the Buckeyes’ offense in sync and on track, Weber, the Big Ten’s 2016 freshman of the year, sat out with a hamstring injury. The result: He’s fighting to keep starting job and at the very least appears headed to a timeshare.