Ben Mauk set the national HS record for passing yards and has finally found an offense that fits his talents. He barely won Cincy's starting job but in the 5 WR set vs SE Missouri he hit 18 of 27 for 244 yards. The Bearcats piled up their 3rd most yards in school history (615) including 373 yds at half when they had a 19-6 FD edge in a 59-3 route of a IAA SEM...

UL's 73 points vs Murray St was the most it scored since it had 79 vs Ogden in 1926 and their home winning streak is now 19, the 2nd longest in the country. UL led 70-10 mid-3Q before going on a pair of 12 play drives settling for a 44 yard FG and ending the game at the MSt 24...

Boise St "only" beat Weber St 56-7 in a game that was not even that close. BSU scored TD's on 8 of its first 9 poss while also being SOD at the 2 yd line. They led 56-0 with 10:12 left 3Q when they pulled their starters...

Last year NMSt's Chase Holbrook had 9 int all season but had 3 vs SEL one play into the 2Q. He settled down and hit 23 of 33 for 280 yards and not only did each team get an IR for a TD but trailing 35-7 SEL got a 1 play, 62 yd garbage TD run with 2:07 left...

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Injuries were the key in the Utah/Oregon St game. At the half the game was tied 7-7 with OSU getting a late TD to tie it. Utah lost starting QB Brian Johnson late 2Q and struggled without him as Tommy Grady hit just 9 of 24 for 59 yards. Utah also lost their star JC transfer RB Matt Asiata in the 1Q for the season. OSU did not take the lead until their 3rd drive of the 3Q but then scored 10 pts on their next 2 poss and coasted to a 24-7 win...

Tiquan Underwood set a school record with 248 yds receiving and 2 TD's. Ray Rice started his Heisman campaign with 184 yards rushing and Mike Teel had a career best 328 yards passing as Rutgers routed Buffalo 38-3. RU amassed 563 yds to UB's 235...

LSU only led Miss St 10-0 when they got a TD on the last play of 1H. A key to their romp was Mike Henig's school record tying 6 int and 7 TO's overall...

Iowa St's JJ Bass should have a big impact on the Cyclones this year. He became the first RB to top 100 yards in his first game at ISU since 1989 when Blaise Bryant accomplished it but Kent St still rolled to a 23-14 outright upset giving the MAC another victory in non-conf games...

RB Chris Wells of Ohio St (PS#1) avg just 2.9 ypc (46 yd) but did have 8 attempts inside the 6 where he gained just 2 yds (rest of game 8-44)...

We used Michigan St as a 4H Key Selection LW and they dominated UAB. UAB is a team that only has 67 scholarship players. MSU scored on their first 6 drives moving 65, 80, 82, 55, 52 and 48 yds for the TD's. They led 45-3 at the half with a 438-87 yd edge in their blowout 55-18 win where UAB got a 48 yd FG on the final play of the game...

Northwestern got their first shutout since 1997 beating IAA Northeastern 27-0 in a battle of directional schools. NE did have their chances as they came up short on 45 & 42 yd FG's and then were SOD from the NW 29 and 24 yd lines...

South Carolina St led the MEAC in rushing LY in IAA ball but was held to 70 yds and 34 carries by Air Force. AF HC Calhoun did what he said he would as at one point he had QB Carney in the backfield alone with 5 WR's and on the next play had 3 RB's behind Carney. AF had 455 yards...

Notre Dame has been playing football since 1887 and suffered their worst ever opening day loss. The Irish started Demetrius Jones but went to Evan Sharpley late 2Q and then Jimmy Clausen late in the game. Tashard Choice, who led the ACC in rushing LY, set a GT school record with his 8th straight 100 yard game breaking Eddie Lee Ivery's 1978 mark...

Baylor had a 204-201 yd edge vs TCU and only trailed 14-0 after 3Q's but missed 20 & 35 yd FG's. In the 4Q TCU got a 27 yd FG and then after an int drove 20 yds for a TD with 12:30 left to get ahead of the spread. The Frogs added a 34 yd FG after another TO with 4:50 left...

Nevada got an 80 yd IR for a TD and actually led Nebraska 10-7 with 10:53 left 2Q but the rest of the game was all Huskers as they scored 5 TD's and a FG on their next 6 poss and even ended the game at the Nevada 1 yd line where they took a knee. Nebraska's K also had 5 straight TB's on KO's...

Houston Nutt said about Arkansas K Alex Tejada who had 4 FG's, "From 55 yards on in, I've got a lot of confidence in him. I've never had that since I've been here."...

Purdue's offense showed great balance with 244 yd rushing and 244 passing. They led Toledo 52-17 before giving up a garbage TD with 1:51 left...

Georgia, while only returning 3 starters on D and having 8 first-time starters on that side of the ball, took on OKSt and their #7 scoring offense of LY (35 ppg) and held the Cowboys, who had almost everyone back, to 266 yards. UGA started 2 true frosh in an opening game for the first time since 1964...

ULL was stopped twice on downs inside the South Carolina 5 and the game was tied at 14 with SC getting a TD in the 2&3Q's to pull away for the 14 point win without QB Mitchell...

UTEP had its lowest point production in a victory since a win over E Tenn St in 1975 (6-3) in their 10-6 win over the Lobos. NM had 23-12 FD and 379-195 yd edges. Trevor Vittatoe hit just 6 of 21 passes for 59 yards...

The Early Bird POW is a fan favorite on the Private Play Hotline and went 9-4 LY and is 90-46 66% over 10 years heading into this season. Arizona St was the play LW as they were just -14' and the Sun Devils dominated SJSt 45-3 with a 520-115 yd and 33-7 FD edges and it could have been worse as they led 31-3 at half putting the offense away scoring with just two 2H TD's...

Bowling Green moved to 5-12 SU vs the Big Ten since 1972 which is actually a respectable record. They delivered an outright upset winner as the Big Dog POW and amassed 512 yds of offense vs Minnesota incl 412 yds passing. Minnesota has moved to the "spread coast" system and the 1H was a disaster as they had 0 points and went back to the power run game that thrived under ex-coach Mason in the 2H...

Indiana got its most lopsided season opening win since a 72-0 win over Fort Knox in 1944 when they blasted Indiana St 55-7...

Colt Brennan hit 34 of 40 passes with at least 3 incompletions being drops. He set or tied Hawaii records for comp in a quarter (19) as well as TD passes in a quarter (4). He had 416 yds passing in the 1H sitting out the entire 2H vs overmatched IAA N Colorado...

Butch Davis became the first N Carolina coach to win his first regular season game since Dick Crum in 1978 and it was only the Heels 3rd opening victory in the last 10 years although it did come vs a IAA foe in James Madison. JMU actually had a 15-14 FD edge but scored a garbage TD with :31 left and NC had a 327-171 yd edge until the final 79 yard drive. A blocked punt and 3 TO's helped NC total the 37 points...

Michigan was not the only team to lose to a IAA school. Nicholls St blk'd a punt for a safety in the 4Q to pull out a 16-14 win over a Rice team that made it to a bowl LY. NSU had a 281-218 yd edge in a game that was twice delayed by weather for 2 hours...

Alabama benefitted from playing a IAA foe and got their biggest opening season win since 1973 as they outrushed W Carolina 313-76 and won 52-6...

Two rFr had tremendous debuts for Oklahoma. Sam Bradford set a school record with 18 straight completions and also set a record for passing yards in a half hitting 20 of 22 for 350 yards. Bradford had just 1 pass in the 2H. RB DeMarco Murray had 4 TD's by the end of the 1H and finished with 5. At the end of the game, up 79-10, Bob Stoops told his players that even if they broke off a long run, they should take a knee or get down at some point...

Kansas was a 6-6 team that did not make it to a bowl and C Mich was the defending MAC Champ that made it to a bowl. We used KU as a 3H LPS and the Jayhawks rolled up 538 yds in a dominating 52-7 win with CM's only TD coming in the 4Q when they trailed 45-0...

Every year Colorado/Colorado St seems to come down to the last play of the game, and this year was no exception. In fact, the last 5 games between the rivals have been decided by a total of 25 points with none by more than a TD. CU got a 22 yd FG with :13 to force OT and won it there...

Florida Atlantic led Middle Tenn 24-0 in the 4Q with MT scoring 1 of their 2 4Q TD's on a blocked punt...

Brand-new starting QB's usually start off well at BYU. John Beck (LY's starter) threw for over 300 yards in his debut game and Max Hall hit 26 of 39 for 288 yards...

Daniel Evans won a 3-man battle for the starting NCSt QB job but it was Nebraska transfer Harrison Beck that came off the bench to hit 17 of 28 for 207 yards and led two 4Q drives to pull the Wolfpack within 2 of UCF. Unfortunately Beck's pass on 4th & 6 with 4:15 left gained just 2 yds and then after driving to the UCF 47 Beck's final pass was int'd at the 20. Surprisingly O'Brien's offense rushed for -14 yards in the 1H while they were outgained by 200 yards in that stanza.

STRUGGLING BIG BOYS

Everyone knows about Michigan's upset loss to IAA App St but keep in mind ASU is the two-time defending IAA champion and has 2 outstanding weapons in RB Kevin Richardson who rushed for 1,676 yards and 30 TD's LY and QB Armanti Edwards who rushed for 1,153 (6.1) and threw for 2,251 yd LY. ASU led 31-20 after 3Q's but appeared to make a critical mistake. Even with no timeouts left, they opted for a FG on FD with:26 left. While the FG was good it gave UM a shot and a 46 yd pass to Manningham put the Wolves down at the 20 and UM's 37 yd FG was blk'd...

Texas was stunningly outgained by Arkansas St 397-340 and even outFD'd 26-23. The Longhorns didn't even have the game wrapped up until they recovered an onside kick with under 1:00 to play. ASU missed 2 FG's and had an int in the EZ or they would have had a shot at the outright upset. ASU drove inside the 20 four times without scoring...

The #1 ranked team in the country (USC) actually was drawing boos from the crowd after a 2nd straight punt in the 2Q and amazingly Idaho had 182 yd total offense in the 1H vs their vaunted D. Pete Carroll, who usually blows out opponents in the openers, only led 38-3 but they did allow a garbage TD with 2:42 left in the game.

COACHES ON THE HOTSEAT

Many coaches end the year on the hotseat but 2 had the heat turned up in Week One...

For the 2nd straight year Wyoming dominated Virginia. In 2006, on the road, WY outFD'd UVA 17-11 and had a 313-206 yd edge but lost in OT. This year they had a 27-5 FD edge and 473-110 yd edge but blew numerous scoring opportunities and "only" won 23-3. Al Groh is officially the coach on the biggest hotseat...

Syracuse was playing its first Fri night game in the Carrier Dome since it opened in 1980 and came into the game excited and took a 3-0 lead early. SU was in control with Washington not even getting a FD until under 1:00 remained in the 1Q but the Huskies would dominate from there and rolled to a 42-12 win. All that season opening promise is now gone for the Orange with the heat turned up high on Robinson. LY's top rusher, Delone Carter, was lost over the summer (dislocated hip) and Curtis Brinkley was rumored to be 80-85% recovered from LY's inj but he had just 4 yds rushing on 6 carries.

LATE POINTS

Duke led Connecticut 14-8 mid-2Q and 14-11 at the half. The game was still just 25-14 then UC and Duke had the ball with 9:00 left but was Lewis int'd setting up a 1 play, 25 yd TD drive, the Devils SOD at its own 38 setting up an 8 play TD drive and then was again int'd and ret'd 36 yds for a TD as UC got 21 points in the final 6:00 with no drive longer than 38 yards...

Stanford got a TD with 11:25 left and only trailed UCLA 31-17 but the Bruins would get 2 TD's in the final 9:10. On the final TD they drove 65 yards in 8 plays getting a 24 yd TD run with just :20 left in the game on 3rd & 1.

INJURIES OF NOTE

Ohio St lost a key player in starting DE Lawrence Wilson who broke his right leg midway through the 2Q vs Youngstown St...

W Kentucky is led by Notre Dame transfer QB David Wolke. Wolke, against Florida's inexperienced D, drove WKU 62 yds in 9 plays but they were SOD on 4th & 2 at the UF 10. Unfortunately, Wolke was inj'd and would not return then backup QB KJ Black also left the game. While he later returned, he was clearly not 100%. UF rolled to 49-3 win and the game was actually called with 8:23 left due to weather...

Erik Ainge played with a wrap on his inj'd pinkie but still hit 14 of his first 15 passes in Tennessee's loss to Cal...

Troy QB Omar Haugabook hit just 15 of 43 for 203 yds and left with a hand injury in the 4Q. He said he could have returned...

USC's leading receiver Patrick Turner DNP vs Idaho (stinger)...

The game changing play in Wake Forest/BC game came with it tied at 21 and WF, after a 1st & goal at the 4 yd line was int'd in the EZ. QB Skinner, while hitting 28 of 37 passes was picked off 3 times by Tribble twice in the EZ. Skinner separated his shoulder in the 3Q and returned for just 1 play which turned out to be a 3rd int. Hodges hit 17 of 23 in his place...

Illinois was snakebit again. A huge play in the game happened when it was 7-7 and UI, while going in for a TD, fumbled and Missouri picked it up and returned it 100 yd for a TD and a 14 point swing. UI also lost starting QB Juice Williams after a blow to the head in the 2Q. Backup Eddie McGee hit 17 of 31 for 257 yd but lost 2 fumbles and was int'd twice. It was his fumble that was ret'd 100 yds. UI was at the MO 22 with :58 left in the game when McGee threw into double coverage and was int'd at the 1...

Marshall was missing their star DE Albert McClellan who was CUSA Def POY LY and is out with inj but they still held Miami, Fl to just 341 yds. The Hurricanes in Randy Shannon's debut still rolled to a 31-3 win...

E Carolina starting QB Rob Kass was susp'd after a DUI and soph Brett Clay, who had not thrown a pass in a game since HS, started in his place. It was Patrick Pinkney who came off the bench and hit 14 for 25 for 115 and helped EC take a 7-3 lead. The turning point of the game came with EC pinned at its own 2 as Clay was int'd with just 3:07 left in the half and ret'd for a TD. EC gave VT a lead they did not relinquish in a 17-7 win...

Maryland QB Josh Portis who was battling for the starting job all of Aug, was ruled ineligible for the season.

BACKDOOR AND FRONTDOOR COVERS PLUS MISLEADING FINALS

Utah St got a TD to apparently take the lead with 8:23 left but missed the xp and it was 16-16. UNLV (after punt) drove 36 yds in 5 plays for a TD with 1:02 left to win by 7, covering the 6' point spread...

Memphis had a 30-19 FD edge vs Mississippi and 467-275 yd edge. They could not overcome numerous mistakes including a blocked punt for a TD and the famed 14 point swing. Before the half, Memphis had the ball at the Ole Miss 10 threatening to score and were not only int'd but returned 99 yards for a TD with :31 left in the half. At the end of the game Memphis got a TD with :15 left but the 2 point conversion failed and Miss recovered the onside kick to win by 2...

Arkansas had a 157-16 yd edge in the 1Q vs Troy but settled for a couple of short FG's. The Hogs not only lead 23-17 at the half but got ahead of the spread with 6:45 left in the game on a TD to make it 46-20. Troy, led by backup QB Tanner Jones, got a TD on the game's last play for the backdoor cover (Jones 2 yd run)...

Auburn came in ranked #18 but was lucky to escape with the win and it was a misleading final. Kansas St led the majority of the 2H. It was 13-6 with 4:00 to go and KSt had the ball. AU put together its first drive of the game for a TD with just 2:01 left to pull into the lead and then added a 34 yd FR for a TD with 1:11 left...

LA Tech appeared to have a comfortable win vs C Arkansas as they won 28-7. CA actually had 28-13 FD and 386-261 yd edges. The key to the game was 6 TO's incl 5 int by the IAA school.

KEY PLAYS

The key play in the Tulsa/ULM game happened in the start of the 3Q. ULM led 17-14 and stopped TU on a 3rd & 9 but as QB Smith was throwing the ball, the DL was already in contact with him and knocked him down. Amazingly, roughing the passer was called giving TU a FD on a penalty that should not have been called. On the next play, TU got a 15 yd TD pass then drove 59 yd in 5 plays for a TD on its next series and took control in the 35-17 win.