Virginia Tech defeats Western Carolina 45-3

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Trey Edmunds ran for two touchdowns and Detrick Bonner returned one of his two interceptions for a score as Virginia Tech rebounded from a season-opening loss to top- ranked Alabama by beating Western Carolina 45-3 Saturday.

The Hokies (1-1) got off to a sluggish start against the FCS Catamounts (0-2), now losers of 12 straight overall and 28 in a row against FBS competition. Bonner’s 37-yard return off a deflection by teammate Kendall Fuller gave the Hokies a 7-0 lead in an otherwise lackluster first period.

Wofford 21, The Citadel 10 At Charleston, S.C., Wofford quarterback Michael Weimer connected on the second of two touchdown passes late in the game to secure a Southern Conference victory over The Citadel.

Weimer, who rotated with James Lawson, completed 3 of 8 passes — two for touchdowns. His final TD strike, a 19-yarder to Will Gay, capped a 15-play, 86-yard drive that ate up 7 minutes, 39 seconds of the final quarter. Wofford rose to 1-1 overall, 1-0 in the conference.

The Citadel scored all 10 points in the third quarter, pulling as close as 14-10. But the Bulldogs saw two chances to close the gap end on a fumble and a loss on downs in the final minutes of the game. Thomas Warren put Citadel on the board with a 25-yard field goal, and Brandon McCladdie picked off Weimer on Wofford's ensuing possession, returning it 92 yards for the score.

Georgia Southern 59, St. Francis 17 At Statesboro, Ga., William Banks rushed for three touchdowns and Jerrick McKinnon threw for two more as Georgia Southern routed Division II St. Francis.

Banks had touchdown runs of 15, 45 and 2 yards while leading the Eagles deep rushing attack. Georgia Southern (2-0) gave the ball to 10 different backs and piled up 306 rushing yards. Banks had 11 carries for 72 yards, 63 on his scoring runs.

Torrance Hunt, who dashed 46 yards for the first score of the game, led the Georgia Southern ground attack with 83 yards on six carries.

McKinnon threw just three times for the Eagles, hitting Kentrellis Showers with a 35-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter and Montay Crockett with a 50-yard strike in the third. Kevin Ellison was 5-of-6 for 151 yards.

Kyle Harbridge carried 25 times for 132 yards to lead the Red Flash in their season opener.

Coastal Carolina 35, Furman 28 At Conway, S.C., Tyrell Blanks recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown with 8: 25 left in the game, and Coastal Carolina held on to beat Furman.

The score by Blanks opened up a 14-point lead for CCU (2-0), but the Chanticleers would need more heroics to hold off Furman.

Ryan Culbreath's 14-yard touchdown reception with 3:54 brought the score to 35-28 and, following the ensuing kickoff, Furman (0-2) forced a three-and-out from CCU to regain possession at its own 30 with 2:47 remaining.

CCU linebacker Quinn Backus knocked down a fourth- and- 20 pass from Reese Hannon, intended for Andrej Suttles, to seal the victory.

Matt Hazel caught six passes for 77 yards and added a 24-yard rushing touchdown to lead the CCU offense.

N. Carolina A&T 24, Appalachian State 21 At Boone, N. C., Tony McRae's 91- yard kickoff return boosted North Carolina A&T out of an early deficit in its season opener.

McRae's first- quarter return erased a 6- 0 Mountaineer lead, and North Carolina A&T didn’t trail again.

Aggies linebacker D’Vonte Grant caught an interception in the last minute of the first half and returned it 57-yards to make the lead 21-6. A field goal by Cody Jones capped the Aggies streak halfway through the fourth quarter.

Kameron Bryant took over as quarterback in the second half and breathed life into Appalachian State (0-2). A TD pass to Barrett Burns and a successful twopoint conversion tightened the score to 24-14. Bryant completed a final TD pass to Marcus Cox with less than a minute remaining, and finished the night 21- of-31 for 191 yards.

Elon 49, WV Wesleyan 7 At Elon, N.C., Mike Quinn threw for three touchdowns and B.J. Bennett scored three times as Elon rebounded from a season-opening drubbing.

Quinn completed 29 of 39 passes for 278 yards as the Phoenix (1-1) responded after losing 70-0 at Georgia Tech last week. It was the opener for the Bobcats under new coach George Shehl.

Arkansas 31, Samford 21 At Little Rock, Ark., freshman tailbacks Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams each rushed for more than 100 yards as Arkansas pulled away from Samford, bringing the Razorbacks a much-needed victory in Little Rock.

But the win didn’t come easily as Samford ( 1-1) led 21-17 in the third quarter.