SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Kayvon Webster returned a fumble 96 yards for a touchdown as South Florida came to Notre Dame for the first time and stunned the 16th-ranked Irish 23-20 on Saturday in a game disrupted for hours because of storms.
The victory gave Skip Holtz an emotional victory in his return to Notre Dame, where he went to school and his dad Lou led the Irish to their last national title in 1988.
Webster’s long return for a score four minutes into the game took all the momentum from the Irish and they couldn’t recover. It came after Notre Dame had taken the opening kickoff and drove to the USF 1.
What followed was a nightmare first half that included two fumbles, a costly holding penalty that nullified a Cierre Wood TD run and then an interception of Dayne Crist by USF’s Devekeyan Lattimore in the end zone that turned the Irish away.
Maikon Bonani kicked three field goals and the Bulls had a 16-0 halftime lead.
With the fans getting restless as the teams left the field for halftime and lightning flashing near the stadium, officials asked fans to evacuate Notre Dame Stadium and decided to keep the teams in their locker rooms.
And they stayed there for 2 hours, 10 minutes. When the Irish finally emerged, they had switched quarterbacks from Crist to Tommy Rees, who had led them to four straight victories as the starter at the end of last season.
The game was delayed a second time by severe weather with 4:21 to go and after a 43-minute delay, Jerrell Young intercepted Rees — Notre Dame’s fifth turnover of the game.
Rees threw an 8-yard TD pass to Michael Floyd to cap a 99-yard drive with 21 seconds left as the Irish closed to 23-20. But USF recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock.
No. 2 Alabama 48, Kent State 7
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — AJ McCarron stepped up in Alabama’s quarterback race, throwing for a touchdown and 226 yards for the Crimson Tide.
Vying with Phillip Sims to replace Greg McElroy, McCarron had a 24-yard scoring toss to Marquis Maze and finished 14-of-23 passing.
No. 6 Florida State 34, Louisiana-Monroe 0
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — EJ Manuel threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns and backup quarterback Clint Trickett threw a touchdown pass on his first college play for Florida State.
Florida State’s swarming defense limited ULM to 191 yards and 12 first downs.
No. 12 South Carolina 56, East Carolina 37
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Stephen Garcia came off the bench to run for two touchdowns and throw for another as he rallied the Gamecocks.
Garcia sat the first quarter as South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier started sophomore Connor Shaw. But the Gamecocks fumbled three times, including one by Shaw, and trailed 17-0 before Garcia entered the game. That’s when the offense started to click and South Carolina took control of the season opener.
No. 15 Arkansas 51, Missouri State 7
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tyler Wilson threw for 260 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Jarius Wright, Joe Adams tied a Southeastern Conference record with two punt returns for touchdowns in the Razorbacks’ win.
No. 18 Ohio State 42, Akron 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Starting his first game at quarterback for Ohio State, Joe Bauserman ran for a touchdown and threw three TD passes to tight end Jake Stoneburner.
Luke Fickell made his head-coaching debut for the Buckeyes, elevated from defensive assistant to take the place of Jim Tressel, shoved out in the wake of an ugly NCAA scandal.
No. 22 Florida 41, Florida Atlantic 3
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — John Brantley looked comfortable in Florida’s new offense, Chris Rainey scored three different ways and the Gators opened the Will Muschamp era with a win.
No. 23 Auburn 42, Utah St. 38
AUBURN, Ala. — With Cam Newton, Nick Fairly and a slew of other key players from last year’s national championship team having moved on, Auburn needed a successful onside kick and two touchdowns in the last 127 seconds to avoid a major upset to start the season.
Mike Dyer bulled through the line for a game- saving touchdown with 30 seconds left and the 23rd-ranked Tigers scored twice in the final 2:07 to escape.
The Aggies (0-1) seemed poised for a stunning victory before Auburn’s final rally.
First-time starting quarterback Barrett Trotter hit Philip Lutzenkirchen for a 15-yard touchdown to start a comeback. Then wide receiver Emory Blake collected the onside kick to set up the game-winning drive. Trotter completed three passes and Onterio McCalebb had runs of 10 and 14 yards to push the ball near the goal line.
BCS title game MVP Dyer did the rest, ducking his head and powering through Utah State defenders from a yard out.
Poised freshman quarterback Chuckie Keeton couldn’t muster a threat in the final seconds for the Aggies, who also tested Oklahoma in last year’s opener.
