Ohio State trips up Notre Dame in opener
With its vaunted offense bogged down, No. 2 Ohio State leaned on its revamped defense in a topfive opener against a former Buckeye that tested its toughness.
C.J. Stroud threw two touchdown passes and Ohio State shut out No. 5 Notre Dame over the final 42 minutes in a gritty 21-10 victory on Saturday night.
“The story of the night was the defense, to turn around and play the way they did after what’s been said about them in the offseason, questioning their toughness, and play the way they did against the No. 5 team in the country. … I thought the energy was off the charts for the defense tonight,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said.
The first regular-season meeting of the storied programs since 1996 was a homecoming for first-year Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman. The former Buckeyes linebacker has made a meteoric rise to lead the Fighting Irish at the age of 36.
Freeman is 0-2 as a head coach after losing a bowl game just weeks after being named Brian Kelly’s successor.
The Irish hung with the high-scoring Buckeyes for most of three quarters, frustrating Heisman Trophy finalist Stroud and putting together a couple of first-half scoring drives.
No. 1 Alabama 55,
Utah St.0: Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young passed for five firsthalf touchdowns and even ran for 100 yards and a score in the host Crimson Tide’s opening victory over the Aggies.
No. 10 Baylor 69, Albany (N.Y.) 10:
Blake Shapen completed 17 of 20 passes for 214 yards with two long touchdowns and had a nifty dive into the end zone for another score on the final play of the first half as the host Bears routed FCS team Albany.
No. 14 Southern Cal 66, Rice 14: Caleb Williams passed for 249 yards, rushed for 68 more and hit Jordan Addison for two touchdowns, and coach Lincoln Riley’s tenure with the host Trojans got off to a roaring start against the Owls.
No. 18 Wisconsin 38, Illinois St. 0: Braelon Allen had a 96-yard touchdown scamper for the longest run from scrimmage in Badgers’ history and John Torchio had a school-record 100-yard interception return as the host Badgers opened the season with a rout of Illinois State.
No. 19 Arkansas 31,
No. 23 Cincinnati 24: KJ Jefferson threw for 223 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another 62 yards and another score to lead the host Razorbacks past the Bearcats.
No. 20 Kentucky 37, Miami (Ohio) 13: Barion Brown returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, Keidron Smith’s fumble return less than a minute later set up another score and the host Wildcats pulled away to beat Miami (Ohio).
No. 24 Houston 37, UTSA 35 (3OT):
Houston quarterback Clayton Tune leaped over a defender to score on a 13-yard run and the Cougars beat UTSA in three overtimes, snapping UTSA’s 10-game home winning streak.
No. 25 BYU 50, South Florida 21: ,The Cougars had to wait out a 2 1⁄2-hour weather delay to get its season started, then took just 11 seconds to score its first touchdown in the blowout victory over the host Bulls.