At Greeley, Andre Harris ran for three touchdowns and 154 yards as Northern Colorado beat Division II Adams State 54-0 on Saturday.
Harris ran for scores of 7, 30 and 39 yards. Dylan Orms threw two touchdowns and ran for a third for Northern Colorado (1-0) which had lost its previous four season openers.
The Bears last shut out came on Sept. 7, 2002 against Western State.
Adams State (1-1) crossed midfield once, was held to 44 yards on the ground and turned the ball over three times.
The Grizzlies haven’t beaten an FCS team since defeating Southern Utah in 1985 and were attempting to start the season 2-0 for the first time since 1996.
Harris ran for two touchdowns and Jace Davis had two TD receptions in the first half as the Northern Colorado built a 44-0 lead. The Bears also scored on an interception return while Adams State was outgained 291-72 in the half.
Orms hit Davis in stride for a 70-yard touchdown nearly four minutes into the game.
Harris ran 30 yards up the middle for a score with 5:06 left in the first quarter.
Northern Colorado extended its lead to 21-0 on Korey Askew’s 18-yard return after a one-handed interception of a pass thrown by Trevor Eggleston. Moments later Harris added a 39-yard scoring run, and Mason Puckett kicked a 34-yard field.
Montana State 59, Fort Lewis 10
At Bozeman, Mont., Freshman quarterback Denarius McGhee threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns in his Montana State debut, and backup Cody Kempt threw for two more as the Bobcats overwhelmed Fort Lewis 59-10 on Saturday in the season opener for both teams.
McGhee, the first freshman to start at quarterback for MSU since Rob Stoltz in 1987, threw scoring passes of 32 yards to freshman wide receiver Tanner Bleskin and 51 yards to junior wide receiver Elvis Akpla, who also caught a 4-yarder from Kempt.
Freshman running back Cody Kirk had scoring runs of 1 and 3 yards, and wide receiver Gianni Carter, another freshman, caught a 27-yard TD pass by Kempt.
MSU rolled up 532 total yards, had zero turnovers and two penalties for 10 yards.
Sophomore wide receiver Justin Peters’ 1-yard run with 11:33 to play was the only touchdown for Division II Fort Lewis.
Montanta 73, Western State 2
At Mizzoula, Mont., the Montana Grizzlies returned three first-quarter interceptions for touchdowns and Justin Roper threw three second-half touchdown passes Saturday as the Grizzlies manhandled Western State 73-2.
In a game delayed for an hour and shortened 5:30 by lightning, Montana easily rolled over the Division II Mountaineers in its season opener. Western State fell to 0-2.
The Grizzlies opened the scoring 53 seconds into the game with a 37-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Selle to Sam Gratton.
Jordan Tripp, Erik Stoll and Trumaine Johnson each returned interceptions for touchdowns to put Montana up 28-2 at the end of the first quarter.
The Mountaineers scored their only points on a safety when Selle fumbled and fell on the ball in the end zone.
In the second half, Roper threw touchdown passes of 10 yards to Chase Reynolds and 12 and 28 yards to Bryce Carver.
