Boston Herald

Oregon nips OSU

Ducks chuck Bucks

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C.J. Verdell ran for 161 yards and had three touchdowns as shorthande­d No. 12 Oregon handed the No. 3 Buckeyes their first regularsea­son loss in nearly three years.

Ohio State (1-1) never led a game it was favored the win by 14 1/2 points despite gaudy numbers from freshman quarterbac­k C.J. Stroud, who passed for 472 yards and three touchdowns,

The Buckeyes had a chance to tie it late after pulling within a touchdown with 7:55 left. But when they got the ball again, Stroud took his first sack of the day and then threw an intercepti­on in front of a stunned crowd of more than 100,000.

No. 1 Alabama 48, Mercer 14 — Bryce Young threw three touchdown passes and Jase McClellan scored three times. The Crimson Tide (2-0) started sluggishly on offense in what amounted to a warmup game before the Southeaste­rn Conference opener at No. 13 Florida, but potentiall­y more notably had star linebacker Will Anderson Jr. leave with an apparent right leg injury.

No. 2 Georgia 56, UAB 7 — Stetson Bennett tied a school record with five touchdown passes filling in for injured starter JT Daniels for the Bulldogs (2-0), who didn’t show any signs of a letdown after a 10-3 victory over Clemson despite the absence of their No. 1 quarterbac­k.

No. 5 Texas A&M 10, Colorado 7 — Backup quarterbac­k Zach Calzada threw an 18yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Spiller with 2:41 remaining and fifth-ranked Texas A&M escaped with a win.

Spiller’s TD gave the Aggies (2-0) their first lead on a day in which they lost freshman QB Haynes King to a lower right leg injury and eight of their first nine drives were three-and-outs.

No. 7 Cincinnati 42, Murray State 7 — Jerome Ford rushed for 113 yards and three touchdowns, and Desmond Ridder passed for 243 yards and two TDs.

The score was tied at halftime before the Bearcats (2-0) scored touchdowns on four of their first five possession­s in the second half.

No. 8 Notre Dame 32, Toledo 29— Jack Coan hit Michael Mayer for an 18-yard touchdown pass with 1:09 remaining for the third lead change in a wild fourth quarter. The victory preserved a 25-game home winning streak for Notre Dame (2-0, 1-0 independen­t) and came after Toledo (1-1, 0-1 MAC) had taken a 29-24 lead on freshman quarterbac­k Dequan Finn’s 26-yard bootleg TD run with 1:35 remaining.

No. 11 Penn State 44, Ball State 13 — Sean Clifford completed 21 of 29 passes for 230 yards, ran for a touchdown and threw for another.

No. 13 Florida 42, South Florida 20 — Florida tuned up for the start of Southeaste­rn Conference play with a rout of the overmatche­d Bulls that did little to answer the question of whether starter Emory Jones or backup Anthony Richardson is best suited to run the Gators offense. The quarterbac­ks shared playing time for the second straight week for Florida (2-0).

No. 19 Virginia Tech 35, Middle Tennessee 14 — Raheem Blackshear rushed for two touchdowns to lead the 19thranked Hokies, who scored on their first three possession­s of the second half.

Blackshear had two straight short TD runs in the spurt for the Hokies (2-0), who broke open the game when Jalen Holston scored on a 29-yard run for a 21-7 lead.

No. 25 Auburn 62, Alabama State 0 — Demetris Robertson scored three touchdowns and Jarquez Hunter rushed for 147 yards for Auburn. After a fast start in Bryan Harsin’s first game as head coach last week, Auburn (2-0) was held to just one offensive touchdown and fewer than 200 yards in the first half.

Merrimack 35, Holy Cross 21 — Westin Elliott sandwiched a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes around teammate Anthony Witherston­e’s 35-yard intercepti­on-return score and Merrimack got their first 2-0 start.

Merrimack, which joined the Northeast Conference of the FCS in 2019, fell behind 7-0 before taking the lead for good in the second quarter against the reigning Patriot League champions.

Purdue 49, UConn 0 — Purdue quarterbac­k Jack Plummer threw four touchdown passes in the first half, three to wide receiver David Bell, as the Boilermake­rs rolled.

After punting on its first possession, Purdue (2-0) scored touchdowns on each of its next five to take a 35-0 lead at halftime.

UConn (0-3) has lost 28 of its last 29 games against FBS competitio­n. It was UConn’s most lopsided shutout loss since a 49-0 loss to New Hampshire Nov. 7, 1931.

Rutgers 17, Syracuse 7 — Rutgers took advantage of two Syracuse second-half miscues Saturday. An unsportsma­nlike conduct penalty against Syracuse (1-1) coach Dino Babers gave Rutgers (2-0) a first down on the Syracuse 11 and Kyle Monangai ran it in on the next play to give the Scarlet Knights a 7-0 lead with 6:46 to go in the third quarter.

A fumble by Syracuse quarterbac­k Tommy DeVito was recovered on the Orange 10 and a 27-yard field goal by Rutgers’ Valentino Ambrosio made it 17-7 with 8:23 remaining in the game.

Rutgers’ 2-0 start is the team’s first since 2014.

Virginia 42, Illinois 14 —

Brennan Armstrong threw for five touchdowns and became the third quarterbac­k in Virginia history to pass for over 400 yards. It snapped Virginia’s 13-game losing streak in non-conference games against Power Five opponents.

Armstrong threw for 171 yards and two touchdowns in the opening quarter, connecting with tight end Jelani Woods for a 32-yard score and wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks from 28-yards out, for a 14-0 lead while many fans were still filing into the stadium for the unusual 11 a.m. kickoff.

Armstrong went 27 for 36 for 405 yards, joining Kurt Benkert (who did it twice) and Marc Verica as Virginia quarterbac­ks who surpassed 400 yards in a game. Wicks finished with a pair of touchdown catches for Virginia (2-0).

Wake Forest 41, Norfolk State 16 — Sam Hartman passed for 244 yards and a touchdown, and Christian Turner rushed for two scores.

Wake Forest scored 20 straight points, spanning halftime, to take control for Wake Forest (2-0).

Juwan Carter was 19-of-31 passing for 195 yards and two touchdowns for Norfolk State (0-2). The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference program is 0-15 against Bowl Subdivisio­n teams.

Georgia Tech 45, Kennesaw St. 17 — Fill-in starter Jordan Yates passed for four touchdowns and Georgia Tech contained Kennesaw State’s triple-option offense.

Yates became the first quarterbac­k in Georgia Tech history to throw for four touchdowns in his first start. The redshirt freshman completed 17 of 22 passes for 254 yards as the replacemen­t starter for Jeff Sims, who was in uniform but held out with a left arm injury. Big plays helped Georgia Tech (1-1) recover from last week’s 22-21 shocking loss to FCS school No. Illinois.

Army 38, Western Kentucky 35 — Christian Anderson rushed for a career-high 119 yards and passed for a touchdown and Army survived a Western Kentucky rally.

Trailing 35-14 midway through the second quarter, WKU (1-1) closed the gap to seven points. But Army (2-0) recovered a WKU onside kick and Cole Talley kicked a 31-yard field goal, giving the Black Knights the cushion they needed.

 ?? AP ?? HAT TO SEE IT: UAB linebacker Will Conner reacts after losing his helmet making a tackle during the second half against Georgia on Saturday in Athens, Ga.
AP HAT TO SEE IT: UAB linebacker Will Conner reacts after losing his helmet making a tackle during the second half against Georgia on Saturday in Athens, Ga.

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