NCAA Week 1: Alabama beats Wisconsin
ARLINGTON, Texas - Alabama running back Derrick Henry ran for 147 yards and three touchdowns as the No. 3-ranked Crimson Tide beat No. 20-ranked Wisconsin 35-17 on Saturday in the college season opener for both teams.
In other key results, Oregon beat Eastern Washington in a high-scoring encounter, Auburn had a tighter-than-expected win against Louisville and University of Southern California cruised past Arkansas State.
Alabama played Wisconsin at the Dallas Cowboys stadium, and used Jake Coker at quarterback. He was 15-of-21 passing for 213 yards and a touchdown while playing until late in the third quarter.
In former offensive coordinator Paul Chryst's first game as Wisconsin's coach, the Badgers were held to 40 yards rushing. They had averaged 264 yards per game on the ground over the previous five seasons.
No. 7 Oregon 61, Eastern Washington 42
Oregon's Vernon Adams threw for two touchdowns but left his much-anticipated debut after a scary fourth-quarter hit and the Ducks beat his former team Eastern Washington to open the season.
Royce Freeman ran for a career-high 180 yards and three scores for the Ducks.
Adams, who transferred to the Ducks for his final year of college eligibility, was ushered to the locker room after he staggered getting up from a late hit by Eastern Washington's John Kreifels, who was ejected.
No. 6 Auburn 31, Louisville 24
Auburn's defense made a couple of huge plays early to offset three interceptions thrown by Jeremy Johnson, and the Tigers held off Louisville.
The Tigers' first touchdown in the opener was set up by an interception, and Justin Garrett returned a fumble 82 yards to make it 14-0. That's just what Auburn wanted out of Will Muschamp, who took over as defensive coordinator after being fired as coach at Southeastern Conference rival Florida.
Auburn led 31-10 after a touchdown with just over 10 minutes remaining but Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson, who got the bulk of the playing time over three more experienced quarterbacks, led the Cardinals to a couple of late touchdowns that made it interesting.
No. 8 USC 55, Arkansas St. 6
USC's Cody Kessler passed for 236 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Trojans to a big win over Arkansas State.
Tre Madden rushed for 106 yards and a score. Madden, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Steven Mitchell Jr. and Oklahoma transfer Taylor McNamara caught TD passes from Kessler in the Trojans' first game since the official end of scholarship restrictions on the perennial power.
Kessler went 19 for 26 with no turnovers. Although he was sacked five times, he steadily led the Trojans to a 36-point lead before taking the fourth quarter off.
No. 11 Notre Dame 38, Texas 3
Notre Dame's Malik Zaire passed for 313 yards in his first home start, and Notre Dame held Texas to 163 yards of total offense.
Zaire was 19-of-22 passing with three touchdowns, including a 66-yard scoring strike to Will Fuller.
Texas A&M 38, No. 15 Arizona St. 17
Texas A&M's Kyle Allen threw for a score early and sealed the game by running for a touchdown and throwing for another in the fourth quarter after having being temporarily benched.
Allen won the starting job in preseason camp, but spent most of the third quarter on the bench before returning early in the fourth and capping a long drive with a 12-yard touchdown run that made it 24-14.
No. 9 Georgia 51, Louisiana Monroe 14
Georgia beat Louisiana-Monroe in game that was called off with just under 10 minutes left because of lightning in the area.
A few minutes after the Bulldogs scored their final touchdown, coach Mark Richt walked over to the officials to discuss game conditions, and the decision was made to end it.
No. 10 Florida State 59, Texas State 16
Everett Golson threw four touchdown passes in his Florida State debut.
The graduate transfer from Notre Dame was 19 for 25 for 302 yards. He matched his career high for touchdown passes set last year in Notre Dame's victory over Syracuse.
No. 12 Clemson 49, Wofford 10
Clemson's Deshaun Watson threw for 194 yards and two touchdowns, and Clemson overcame star receiver Mike Williams scary injury when hitting the goalpost support and spraining his neck.
No. 13 UCLA 34, Virginia 16
UCLA's Josh Rosen passed for 351 yards and three touchdowns in a stellar debut, leading the Bruins past Virginia.
McNeese State at No. 14 LSU, Canceled
Persistent lightning strikes forced officials to cancel Louisiana State's season opener with McNeese State following a delay of nearly four hours.
No. 17 Mississippi 76, UT Martin 3
Mississippi's Chad Kelly threw for 211 yards and two touchdowns and scored on a 20-yard run in a giant win against University of Texas Martin.
No. 18 Arkansas 48, UTEP 13
Arkansas' Brandon Allen threw for a career-high 308 yards and matched his best with four touchdown passes in victory over University of Texas El Paso.
No. 19 Oklahoma 41, Akron 3
Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield passed for 388 yards and three touchdowns as the Sooners beat Akron.
Northwestern 16, No. 21 Stanford 6
Northwestern's Clayton Thorson ran 42 yards for a touchdown while playing turnover-free ball at quarterback in a surprise victory against Stanford.
No. 24 Missouri 34, SE Missouri 3
Missouri's Kentrell Brothers had a career-best 16 tackles and blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown as Missouri beat state rival Southeast Missouri.
No. 25 Tennessee 59, Bowling Green 30
Tennessee's Jalen Hurd had three first-half touchdown runs to lead the Volunteers past Bowling Green in a game delayed 80 minutes by lightning in the third quarter.