Volunteers display old success while routing No. 9 California
Knoxville, Tenn. – Months of frustration ended for Tennessee with an easy win against a ranked team.
Erik Ainge threw four touchdown passes and the Volunteers put last year’s losing season behind them with a stunning 35-18 victory Saturday over ninth-ranked California.
Robert Meachem caught two of the touchdowns for No. 23 Tennessee, including an 80-yarder at the start of the third quarter that created a frenzy among the orange-clad fans.
Tennessee had been 0-6 against top 10 teams in Neyland Stadium since 2000, and many of the 106,009 in attendance stayed to the end. After all, their last glimpse of the 2005 Vols was in an embarrassing loss to Vanderbilt.
For the Golden Bears, it was a shocking blow at the beginning of a greatly anticipated season. Cal’s ranking was its highest since 1952.
Many believe this could be the Bears’ year to challenge Southern California for the Pac-10 title, and they still could with this loss outside conference play. But any run at a national championship likely was dashed.
Sophomore Nate Longshore was making his first start at quarterback on the road after missing nearly all of last season with an injury. Joe Ayoob, who replaced Longshore last year, relieved him in the third quarter and made the score more respectable with a 40-yardTDpass to DeSean Jackson and a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Marshawn Lynch, who the Bears are pushing for the Heisman Trophy, had 35 yards on five carries at halftime and finished with 74 yards on 12 carries.
NO. 1 OHIO ST. 35, N. ILLINOIS 12 at Columbus, Ohio – Troy Smith tossed touchdown passes of 5 and 58 yards to Ted Ginn Jr., and tailbacks Antonio Pittman and acclaimed freshman Chris Wells also ran for scores as the Buckeyes set the stage for next week’s showdown with No. 3 Texas in Austin.
The Buckeyes offense rang up 488 yards but also lost fumbles twice inside the Northern Illinois 10 and missed two field goals in winning their 28th consecutive home opener.
NO. 4 AUBURN 40, WASHINGTON ST. 14 at Auburn, Ala. – Kenny Irons rushed for 183 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown run to open the third quarter.
Irons had 20 carries and also caught three passes for 40 yards for a career-high in all-purpose yards. He opened Auburn’s first drive with a 42-yard carry.
The defense hounded Washington State quarterback Alex Brink, sacking him on three of the Cougars’ first four plays. Brink passed for 2,891 yards last season but only 67 against the Tigers, completing 11-of-24 passes with a touchdown and an interception.
NO. 5 WEST VIRGINIA 42, MARSHALL 10 at Morgantown, W.Va. – Steve Slaton ran for 203 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Mountaineers scored on four of their first five possessions, totaled 312 rushing yards and improved to 6-0 all-time against Marshall.
Slaton, the nation’s top freshman in 2005 with 19 rushing TDs, had his second straight 200-yard game. He set a Sugar Bowl record with 204 yards in a win over Georgia in January. His 33 carries Saturday were one shy of a career high.
West Virginia quarterback Pat White completed 10-of-14 passes for 168 yards. He found Brandon Myles with first-half TD tosses of 8 and 18 yards as West Virginia built a 21-0 lead.
Marshall, limited to just seven first downs in the first half, went to its passing game late in the second quarter for its only touchdown.
NO. 6 USC 50, ARKANSAS 14 at Fayetteville, Ark. – John David Booty threw three touchdown passes in the second half for the Trojans, and the Razorbacks had five turnovers – three while the result was still in doubt.
Arkansas running back Felix Jones fumbled three times in the first half, and USC recovered two of them. Kevin Thomas returned Jones’ last fumble 12 yards to the Arkansas 3. After an incompletion, freshman C.J. Gable ran for a touchdown to give USC a 10-0 lead.
The Trojans led 16-7 at halftime, and Terrell Thomas’ interception early in the third quarter gave USC the ball at the Arkansas 28. Booty’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Turner made it 23-7.
NO. 7 FLORIDA 34, SOUTHERN MISS 7 at Gainesville, Fla. – Chris Leak threw three touchdown passes and highly touted freshman Tim Tebow ran for a score.
Leak’s third pass of the game was intercepted, and Southern Miss turned it into a 7-0 lead when Jeremy Young connected with Damion Carter three plays later.
Leak evened the game on the final play of the first quarter, rolling left and finding Dallas Baker wide open in the end zone for a 21-yard score. He added a 29-yard TD pass to Jemalle Cornelius late in the third quarter and a 16-yarder to Kesthan Moore in the fourth.
NO. 8 LSU 45, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 3 at Baton Rouge, La. – JaMarcus Russell’s second pass of the game was a 58-yard bomb for a touchdown as he was getting hit on a rollout, and he had two more scoring passes as the Tigers led 28-3 at the half.
He finished 13-of-17 for 253 yards, validating second-year coach Les Miles’ decision to make him the starter over Matt Flynn and high-profile recruit Ryan Perrilloux.
Russell returned for only the opening drive of the third quarter, completing passes of 26 yards to Dwayne Bowe and 14 yards to running back Justin Vincent during a 10-play, 73-yard scoring drive that ended with Jacob Hester’s 2-yard touchdown run. Russell is 15-2 as a starter.
NO. 14 MICHIGAN 27, VANDERBILT 7 at Ann Arbor, Mich. – Mike Hart ran for 146 yards for the Wolverines, who are coming off a 7-5 season, their worst since going .500 in 1984.
Michigan scored on an impressive opening drive and had a chance to build an early cushion, but Vandy blocked a kick and scored on a trick play to pull within three points early in the second quarter.
Michigan went ahead 20-7 late in the third on Chad Henne’s 14-yard pass to Tyler Ecker.
The Wolverines sealed a victory in their eighth straight home opener by forcing quarterback Chris Nickson to fumble for a second time with 4:33 left, leading to Henne’s 27-yard pass to Mario Manningham. In his first start in place of departed Jay Cutler, Nickson was 11-of-25 for 99 yards.
NO. 15 GEORGIA 48, WESTERN KENTUCKY 12 at Athens, Ga. – Joe Tereshinski threw for 90 yards and a touchdown.
Tereshinski, who won a four-way battle for the starter’s job, finished 7-of-17, including a 17-yard touchdown pass to Mario Raley for a 14-0 lead.
NO. 16 IOWA 41, MONTANA 7 at Iowa City, Iowa – Drew Tate threw for 223 yards and three touchdowns and Albert Young added 148 yards of total offense and two scores for Iowa.
Iowa held Division I-AA Montana to 10 yards rushing and 144 yards overall en route to its 19th win in 20 home games.
NO. 17 VIRGINIA TECH 38, NORTHEASTERN 0 at Blacksburg, Va. – Sean Glennon threw three touchdown passes in his first career start and Division I-AA Northeastern managed only 207 total yards.
Glennon, a sophomore who won the job vacated when Marcus Vick was dismissed from the team after last season, completed 15-of-18 passes for 222 yards. His touchdowns went for 54, 55 and 6 yards. He was intercepted once.
NO. 18 CLEMSON 54, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 6 at Clemson, S.C. – First-year starter Will Proctor threw for 166 yards and three touchdowns.
Proctor waited four seasons behind Charlie Whitehurst for his chance to be Clemson’s starter. And while Proctor stumbled at first, he and the Tigers settled down to put up their highest point total since a 63-17 win over South Carolina in 2003.
Linebacker Anthony Waters, the Tigers’ leading tackler last year who considered skipping his senior year for the NFL, was carried off the field with a sprained left knee late in the third quarter. He was expected to have an MRI exam today.
NO. 19 PENN STATE 34, AKRON 16 at State College, Pa. – Anthony Morelli threw for 206 yards and three touchdowns in his first start.
Replacing last year’s do-it-all leader Michael Robinson, Morelli impressed early. On his first pass of the season, the strong-armed junior found Deon Butler for a 42-yard touchdown to give Penn State a 7-0 lead.
Morelli also had TD passes to Jordan Norwood and Derrick Williams for Penn State.
Luke Getsy finished 22-of-42 for 160 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for the Zips.
Joe Paterno started his 41st season as Penn State head coach by going with a different look on defense, often employing three linemen and four linebackers instead of the 4-3 scheme that worked for the Nittany Lions last year.
NO. 21 OREGON 48, STANFORD 10 at Eugene, Ore. – Jonathan Stewart rushed for 168 yards and two touchdowns for Oregon before hurting his ankle.
Dennis Dixon threw for a score and ran for another for the Ducks in the rare conference matchup to open the season.
Dixon, who has the starting job all to himself after rotating with Brady Leaf last year, completed 21-of-30 passes for 236 yards.
Stewart, a sophomore, injured his right ankle late in the third quarter. He walked off the field unaided but did not return to the game. The team reported a “slight” ankle sprain.
