Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
No. 6 Ohio St. posts romp over Bowling Green
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — J.T. Barrett threw six touchdown passes and No. 6 Ohio State rolled up a school record 776 yards in a 77-10 romp over Bowling Green on Saturday.
Eight players scored touchdowns on offense as the Buckeyes (1-0) overpowered the Falcons in front of a crowd of 107,193 at sunny Ohio Stadium.
The 776 yards topped the 718 yards Ohio State put up against Mount Union in 1930.
Barrett also set a school record with seven touchdowns overall — six passing, one running. The junior was 21 for 31 for 349 yards and ran for another 30 in the hurry-up offense before giving way to backup Joe Burrow with 6:30 left in the third quarter.
Tailback Mike Weber, a redshirt freshman playing for the first time, bullied his way for 136 yards on 19 carries. H-back Curtis Samuel ran for two touchdowns and caught a TD pass. Thirty Ohio State players played in their first college game.
Ohio State held Bowling Green (0-1) to 244 total yards.
BG’s experienced offensive line did a decent job protecting quarterback James Knapke, who was 12 for 33 for 110 yards, but the Falcons couldn’t overcome off-target passes and multiple dropped balls by receivers.
The Falcons’ only touchdown came in the first quarter when Barrett’s second pass of the day was picked off by linebacker Brandon Harris and returned for a 63-yard touchdown. … Minnesota 30, Oregon State 23: Rodney Smith rushed for 125 yards and two touchdowns and Minnesota overcame three ejections for targeting to beat Oregon State on Thursday night.
Smith scored on runs of 4 and 2 yards, the last coming in the fourth quarter to put the Gophers in front 24-23. Mitch Leidner was erratic as ever in going 13 for 26 for 130 yards. But he rushed for 76 yard and two scores, the last a 1-yard run with 1:27 left to give the Gophers a seven-point cushion.
Darrell Garretson threw for 228 yards and three touchdowns for
Oregon State. The junior transfer lost two fumbles on crunching sacks by Devers in the first half, but Garretson bounced back to keep the Beavers in it. He threw TDs to Noah Togiai, Victor Bolden and Tim Cook. … No. 12 Michigan State 28,
Furman 13: Tyler O’Connor threw for 190 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 12 Michigan State held off upsetminded Furman on Friday night.
O’Connor went 13 of 18 with an interception, a generally efficient performance in his second career start. The fifth-year senior is taking over as Michigan State’s No. 1 quarterback after spending the past three seasons backing up Connor Cook.
LJ Scott ran for 105 yards and a touchdown, but the Spartans let the Paladins hang around for a while in the opener for both teams.
Down 21-13, Furman took over at the Michigan State 44 with 11:49 remaining after O’Connor’s pass was intercepted. But P.J. Blazejowski’s pass was picked off on the very next play — linebacker Andrew Dowell made a diving, one-handed grab to give the Spartans the ball back.
O’Connor threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Lyles with 4:55 remaining to make it 28-13.
The Spartans have won 18 home openers in a row. … No. 7 Michigan 63, Hawaii
3: Wilton Speight threw three touchdown passes in the first half and No. 7 Michigan went on to rout Hawaii Saturday for its most lopsided victory since 1975.
The Wolverines (1-0) did not reveal who would start at quarterback until the game began.
It looked like the right decision was made, leading to Michigan’s most decisive win since beating Northwestern by 69 points four decades ago.
Speight, though, threw an interception on his first snap.
Speight bounced back with TD passes to Grant Perry, Jake Butt and Amara Darboh to put Michigan up 21-0 early in the second quarter.
Speight finished 10 of 13 for 145 yards.
Freshman Chris Evans ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns. Delano Hill and Channing Stribling each returned an interception for a score.
The Rainbows (0-2) avoided a shutout with Rigoberto Sanchez’s 55-yard field goal early in the fourth. Purdue 45, Eastern Kentucky 24: Leroy Clark and Gelen Robinson’s first-quarter interceptions helped Purdue build an early 21-0 lead, and the Boilermakers outlasted Football Championship Subdivision opponent Eastern Kentucky in the season opener for both teams Saturday.
Clark’s interception of Maty Mauk, set up Purdue’s second touchdown and a 14-0 lead, and Robinson’s 78-yard interception return for a score pushed the Boilermakers’ advantage to 21-0 with 3:31 remaining in the first quarter.
Markell Jones scored on a 3-yard run to cap an efficient opening drive
for Purdue.
While Eastern Kentucky out gained the Boilermakers 284-243 during the first 30 minutes, Purdue built a led 28-18 at halftime, thanks to the 14 points as a result of interceptions.
Boilermaker redshirt sophomore quarterback David Blough ran for two touchdowns and threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DeAngelo Yancey, giving Purdue a 28-8 lead late in the second quarter.
Jones carried 24 times for 143 yards for a Purdue team that now has won 13 consecutive home openers, including 4-0 for fourth-year head coach Darrell Hazell, now 7-30 with the Boilermakers. Hazell is 4-0 against FCS opponents.
Blough finished 25 of 43 for 245 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Domonique Young caught eight passes for 74 yards.
Purdue capped its scoring with a 48-yard touchdown run from freshman Brian Lankford-Johnson with 4:23 left. The Colonels got a TD with 1:34 remaining to complete the scoring. … Western Michigan 22,
Northwestern 21: Zach Terrell threw for 218 yards and a touchdown, Jamauri Bogan had a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down and Western Michigan posted a upset of Northwestern on Saturday.
Terrell was 26 of 36 as Western Michigan’s offense controlled the play throughout and held the ball for 39 minutes. The Broncos converted four fourth-down plays, including the winning score.
Justin Jackson had 124 yards rushing and three rushing touchdowns for Northwestern.
Clayton Thorson completed 15 of 22 passes for 196 yards. His fumble at the goal line in the final minutes thwarted Northwestern’s comeback attempt.
The outcome essentially came down to two close plays at each goal line in the final minutes. Bogan’s touchdown with 5:38 remaining gave the Broncos the lead. The play was reviewed because there was a question whether his knee was down before he crossed over. The call stood.
On the ensuing possession, Northwestern drove down the field before Thorson was hit and fumbled. Davontae Ginwright recovered for the Broncos for the touchback before stepping out of bounds. The play was reviewed because Ginwright threw the ball back on the field — it was recovered by Northwestern — but it was ruled he stepped out before getting rid of the ball. … Maryland 52, Howard 13: DJ Durkin enjoyed a lopsided victory in his debut as Maryland’s coach, overseeing a dominant performance that carried the Terrapins past Howard on Saturday.
Perry Hills went 14 for 19 for 126
yards, Trey Edmunds scored two firstquarter touchdowns and Maryland (1-0) allowed only 53 first-half yards in taking a 35-0 lead.
Hills produced touchdowns on his first four drives. After finishing with a minus-18 turnover differential last year, the Terrapins did not give the ball away.
Freshman backup quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome entered in the third quarter. He threw for 60 yards, and ran for 53 yards and a TD.
Maryland also got a touchdown from its special teams: Edmunds took a blocked punt 13 yards into the end zone for a 21-0 lead. … Penn State 33, Kent State 13:
Trace McSorley threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns, and Saquon Barkley ran for another score to lift Penn State over Kent State in the season openers for both teams on Saturday.
Barkley finished with 105 yards rushing, and Tyler Davis chipped in two field goals for the Nittany Lions. A 29-yard field goal in the second quarter gave Penn State the lead for good.
Amani Oruwariye returned an interception for a score in the third quarter, and Mike Gesicki hauled in a touchdown pass with less than two minutes left to pad the lead in a game that was close for much of the afternoon. Penn State led 16-13 at halftime.
DaeSean Hamilton caught a first-quarter touchdown pass from McSorley who also ran for 47 yards in his first start.
Shane Hynes kicked two field goals for Kent State, and Elcee Refuge returned a McSorley fumble for a touchdown in the second quarter. …
Illinois 52, Murray State 3: Wes Lunt threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns and Kendrick Foster ran for a pair of 56-yard touchdowns to give new Illinois coach Lovie Smith his first win over Murray State.
The Illini (1-0) opened up a 35-3 halftime lead over the Racers and were never threatened by the Football Championship Subdivision school.
A pair of first quarter interceptions off quarterback KD Humphries led to two touchdown passes from Lunt and a quick 14-0 lead.
Illinois sacked Murray State (0-1) quarterbacks Humphries and Cameron Birse six times and held the Racers to 165 total yards. With -10 rushing yards on 26 carries, Murray State’s run game was all but invisible.
Murray State coach Mitch Stewart said he did not believe his team was overwhelmed by the idea of playing a Big Ten school, or facing a coaching staff led by a coach who led the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. … No. 17 Iowa 45, Miami (Ohio) 21: Akrum Wadley ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns, LeShun Daniels added 83 yards rushing and two
scores, and No. 17 Iowa beats Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.
C.J. Beathard was 13 of 20 passing for 192 yards and a touchdown for the Hawkeyes (1-0), whose sloppy defensive play in the second half let Miami hang around.
Daniels and Wadley each scored twice in the first half, and Jerminic Smith’s 12-yard TD reception put the Hawkeyes ahead 35-7 early in the third quarter.
The RedHawks (0-1) had touchdown drives of 75 and 74 yards with the game seemingly in hand. But Derrick Mitchell Jr.’s touchdown run with 3:08 left put Iowa ahead by 24.
Billy Bahl threw for 266 yards and two TDs for Miami, which outgained Iowa 424-404. … Nebraska 43, Fresno State
10: Tommy Armstrong Jr. ran for two touchdowns and threw a perfect deep ball to Alonzo Moore for another, and Nebraska pulled away in the second half to defeat Fresno State on Saturday night for Mike Riley’s 100th win as a college coach.
The Cornhuskers pounded away at the Bulldogs with runs on 51 of their 64 plays, and Devine Ozigbo ran for a career-high 103 yards and two touchdowns. The biggest of Armstrong’s few passes came two plays after Kieron Williams’ first career interception, when Moore beat his man to catch in stride a 57-yard TD early in the fourth quarter.
Armstrong’s second-half TD runs of 9 and 4 yards helped the Huskers turn a 14-10 halftime lead into a blowout.
Fresno State’s Chason Virgil, who missed the last nine games in 2015 with a broken clavicle, completed his first five passes and 11 of his first 14. The Bulldogs got a scare when he banged up his left shoulder late in the first half after being driven out of bounds by linebacker Luke Gifford, who was ejected for targeting.
Virgil returned to start the third quarter but didn’t get much done the rest of the night against a Nebraska defense that got better as the game went on.
Fresno State was without receiver Da’Mari Scott, who was suspended for the game because of an NCAA eligibility issue, an FSU spokesman said.
The Huskers remembered punter Sam Foltz, who died in a car crash in July. When they lined up in punt formation after going three-and-out on their first series, they lined up with 10 players and no punter, and the crowd responded with loud cheers and applause. When they were flagged for delay of game after the play clock expired, Fresno State declined the delay-of-game penalty.
The Huskers also had Foltz’s No. 27 jersey draped over the end of their bench.