No. 13 OKLAHOMA STATE 21,
MISSISSIPPI STATE 3
HOUSTON — J.W. Walsh threw for 135 yards and ran for another 125 and a touchdown to lead the Oklahoma State Cowboys to a win over the Mississippi State in the Texas Kickoff.
Walsh finished 18 of 27 after relieving starter Clint Chelf on the Cowboys’ third series. Jeremy Smith rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries for Oklahoma State (1-0), which piled up 432 yards on offense after struggling for most of the first half.
Tyler Russell 10 of 16 for 133 yards before being helped off the field and taken to the locker room in the third quarter after being brought down on a scramble. Dak Prescott replaced Russell, throwing for 89 yards on seven of 17 passing.
LaDarius Perkins rushed for 50 yards on 16 carries and caught three passes for 52 yards for the Bulldogs (0-1).
No. 12 LSU 37, No. 20 TCU 27
ARLINGTON, Texas — Terrence Magee ran for two touchdowns in the second half, Zach Mettenberger threw for 251 yards with a key late score and LSU held on for a victory.
Odell Beckham's 75-yard kickoff return set up a 20-yard TD pass from Mettenberger to Jarvis Landry with 6 minutes left.
All in all, despite a crucial fumble and a three-and-out in the fourth quarter that kept the game uncomfortably close, the Tigers' first game with new offensive coordinator Cam Cameron calling the plays provided a promising start to the season.
And that replenished defense after losing a team-record eight players to the NFL draft came up with some key plays.
B.J. Catalon returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and scored on a 26-yard run for TCU.
No. 15 TEXAS 56, NEW MEXICO STATE 7
AUSTIN, Texas — David Ash threw four touchdown passes and ran for another as Texas shook off a slow start to roll.
Ash threw two interceptions in the second quarter and the Longhorns' new up-tempo offense stalled as the Aggies took a 7-0 lead. Ash then connected on touchdown passes of 54 and 66 yards to John Harris and Daje (duh-jay) Johnson in the final two minutes of the first half.
In the third quarter, Ash turned a scramble into a 55-yard touchdown and passed to Malcolm Brown for a 74-yard score. After falling behind, Texas (1-0) scored 35 points on 15 snaps and finished with a school-record 715 total yards with Ash accounting for 434.
Andrew McDonald was 32-of-46 passing with one touchdown, but also had two turnovers for the Aggies (0-1), who went 1-11 last season.
No. 16 OKLAHOMA 34,
LOUISIANA-MONROE 0
NORMAN, Okla. — Trevor Knight rushed for 103 yards on 13 carries and threw three touchdown passes - two to Jalen Saunders - in his first start and No. 16 Oklahoma beat Louisiana-Monroe 34-0 on Saturday night.
Oklahoma gave coach Bob Stoops his 150th career win, putting him seven behind Barry Switzer on the Sooners’ career coaching wins list. Oklahoma is 5-0 under Stoops in August games and 14-1 in home openers, having lost only to Texas Christian in 2005.
Knight became the first Oklahoma quarterback to rush for 100 or more yards in a game since Jason White had 117 yards rushing against Kansas on Oct. 13, 2001.
Louisiana-Monroe upset then-No. 8 Arkansas on the road to open the 2012 season, but the Warhawks didn’t get untracked offensively against a revamped Oklahoma defense. The Warhawks crossed midfield only twice and recorded only nine first downs and 166 yards of offense.
BAYLOR 69, WOFFORD 3
WACO, Texas — The Baylor offense looks like it's in pretty good hands.
Lache Seastrunk ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns, Bryce Petty threw for 290 yards and two scores in his first start and the Bears scored their most points since 1929 in a victory over lower-division Wofford on Saturday night.
The Bears celebrated the opening of their final season at Floyd Casey Stadium by taking a 28-0 lead in the first quarter after Nick Florence, last year's record-setting replacement for Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III, delivered the pre-game prayer.
Petty, a junior, needed just 10 plays and 2:05 combined on game-opening drives of 70 and 65 yards for a 14-0 lead.
Wofford, one of the best running teams in FCS, struggled in its first game without all-time rushing leader Eric Breitenstein. Playing their first game in Texas, the Terriers needed 60 carries to get 173 rushing yards, 2.9 yards per run.
The game-time temperature was 102 for the start of the 64th season at Floyd Casey, which will be replaced next year by a campus stadium on the Brazos River.
The heat didn't bother the Bears, who surpassed what the school calls the modern era scoring record — a 68-13 victory against Northwestern State in 2009, the second season under coach Art Briles.
It was the most points for Baylor since an 88-0 victory against Stephen F. Austin in 1929.
NORTHERN IOWA 28, IOWA STATE 20
AMES, Iowa — David Johnson ran for a career-high 199 yards and two touchdowns and caught passes for two more scores to lead Northern Iowa past Iowa State on Saturday night.
Northern Iowa, seeking a return to the FCS playoffs after a rare losing record in 2012, jumped to a 21-7 lead on a steamy Midwest evening and handed Iowa State its first season-opening loss in five seasons under coach Paul Rhoads. It was just the fifth victory for the Panthers in 28 games with the Cyclones, who are coming off two straight bowl appearances.
Iowa State drew to 21-20 on Cole Netten's third-quarter field goals of 23 and 38 yards, the first of his career. But Johnson caught a short pass from Kollmorgen, slipped through three defenders and went 29 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter for an eight-point lead that held up.
Johnson, a 6-foot-3, 214-pound junior who showed both power and speed, piled up 125 yards on his first six carries, including scoring runs of 37 and 27 yards. He carried 23 times in all in topping his previous best of 149 yards last year.
Kollmorgen, who was thrust into the starting job as a freshman last year, completed 14 of his first 15 passes and finished 21 of 28 for 218 yards, no interceptions and the two touchdowns to Johnson, whose four TDs tied the school's single-game record.
WEST VIRGINIA 24,
WILLIAM & MARY 17
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s auditions at quarterback and running back became a fight for survival with the Big 12 opener just a week away.
Wendell Smallwood scored on a 2-yard run with 3:22 left to lift West Virginia to a win over William & Mary on Saturday.
West Virginia overcame a 10-point deficit at halftime to avoid becoming another Bowl Subdivision school to lose to an FCS opponent.
Houston transfer Charles Sims rushed for 120 yards and a score and quarterback Paul Millard threw a touchdown pass in their first starts for West Virginia, and the Mountaineers mustered enough offense to earn their 10th straight win to start a season.
Michael Graham threw for one touchdown and ran for another. The Tribe built a 17-7 lead but were limited to 108 total yards in the second half and were held out of the end zone after halftime on a hot afternoon.
FRIDAY
NORTH DAKOTA STATE 24, KANSAS STATE 21
MANHATTAN — The day began with a dedication ceremony for a massive renovation to Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and it ended with North Dakota State playing spoiler for Kansas State's longtime head coach.
Led by a senior quarterback unflappable under pressure, and coached by someone who knows Snyder quite well, the plucky Bison rallied from a two-touchdown hole to beat the defending Big 12 champion Wildcats on Friday night before the second-largest crowd in school history.
Quarterback Brock Jensen backed into the end zone for the go-ahead score with 28 seconds left to cap an 18-play, 80-yard drive that ate up 8½ minutes and left the Wildcats virtually no time to try for a tying field goal.
Much of the credit for that goes to Bison head coach Craig Bohl, the longtime assistant coach at Nebraska who has led the Bison to back-to-back FCS national champions. The defensive guru matched wits with Snyder on an annual basis during the early years of the Big 12, often coming out on top.
Jensen threw for 165 yards and two touchdowns for the Bison, who have made a habit of knocking off bigger and more glamorous schools. Three years ago it was the Wildcats' in-state rival Kansas, two years ago it was Minnesota from the Big Ten, and last year Colorado State was bitten.
TEXAS TECH 41,
SOUTHERN METHODIST 23
DALLAS — Texas Tech’s Baker Mayfield, believed to be the first walk-on true freshman quarterback to start a season opener for a BCS school, accounted for five touchdowns in a victory over SMU on Friday night.
It was the Red Raiders’ first game under Kliff Kingsbury, at 34 the youngest head coach at a BCS school.
Mayfield completed 43 of 60 passes for 413 yards and four touchdowns, and also had an 11-yard run for a score. The 43 completions were the most for a Texas Tech quarterback in his first start.
And most of that — three TD passes and the scoring run — came after SMU opened the second half with a drive that ended with a missed 27-yard field goal only two plays after a touchdown scramble by Garrett Gilbert was wiped out by a holding call.
