Saturday, September 3
South Alabama 21, Mississippi State 20
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) South Alabama quarterback Dallas Davis thought he'd be nervous before his first career start - against a Southeastern Conference opponent, no less - until he walked onto the field at Mississippi State.
He heard the deafening cowbells. He saw the big crowd. He knew his side was a huge underdog.
And somehow, he relaxed.
The Jaguars pulled the first major upset of the college football season, holding off Mississippi State 21-20 Saturday when Westin Graves' 28-yard field goal try smacked off the upright and fell away in the final seconds.
Facing a team favored by four touchdowns, Davis capped a late comeback by throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to Gerald Everett with 57 seconds left.
Davis, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound sophomore, completed 24 of 34 passes for 285 yards and two scores. He also had a highlight-reel run in the second half, hurdling Brandon Bryant on the way to another big gain.
The Jaguars took down an SEC team for the first time in school history. The players on this little-known Sun Belt Conference school down in Mobile will have quite a story to tell for the rest of their lives.
''I'm part of the South Alabama Jaguars,'' beaming linebacker Roman Buchanan said, ''that beat Mississippi State.''
Down 17-0 at halftime and still trailing 20-7 in the fourth quarter, South Alabama rallied with 99-yard and 71-yard touchdown drives.
''It was just coming out and playing better,'' Davis said. ''Ever since the beginning of camp, coach has preached playing fast and finishing strong. We didn't start as fast as we wanted, but we dang sure finished strong.''
The Jaguars were in jeopardy of letting their lead get away until the very end.
Mississippi State drove down the field in the last minute and got in position for a field goal. But Graves' kick hit the left post and dropped harmlessly to the turf at a stunned Davis Wade Stadium.
Most of the Mississippi State fans had long gone home on a hot afternoon and all that was left was a screaming contingent of a few hundred South Alabama fans. And, of course, dozens of jubilant South Alabama players.
It certainly was one of the worst losses in the eight-year tenure of Bulldogs coach Dan Mullen.
''We just didn't execute real well at times,'' he said. ''And we had some absolutely critical errors. You can't make critical errors and expect to win the game.''
Two days after Appalachian State - another Sun Belt program - almost toppled No. 9 Tennessee before losing in overtime, South Alabama kicked off a season that follows a year full of wild endings.
Multiple Jaguars said they weren't surprised at the outcome - even if most everyone else was.
''They didn't show us anything spectacular on film for us to change our gameplan,'' Everett said. ''So we just came out here and went at them 100 miles per hour.''
South Alabama coach Joey Jones said he was proud to give the Sun Belt a high-profile non-conference victory.
''To win a ballgame like this is a blessing,'' Jones said.
Damian Williams finished with 143 yards passing and 93 yards rushing, including several impressive plays on the final drive for the Bulldogs. But it wasn't enough.
Texas State 56, Ohio 54 (3OT)
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) Ishmael Davis sacked Ohio quarterback Greg Windham on a two-point conversion attempt in the third overtime to give Texas State a 56-54 victory over Ohio on Saturday.
The teams had amassed 110 points before a defensive stop made the difference for Texas State which gave new coach Everett Withers his first win.
Windham had just hit Elijah Ball on an 18-yard scoring strike and Ohio was within two points of tying the game. Windham retrieved a low snap and looked up to see Davis in his face.
Tyler Jones, who threw for 418 yards and four touchdowns for Texas State, caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from halfback L.G. Williams to start the third overtime and then slipped a shovel pass to Gabe Schrade for two points and the win.
Texas State's Marcus Ripley kicked his first collegiate field goal from the 27 as the clock clicked to zero to send the game into overtime.
Georgia Southern 54, Savannah State 0
STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) Favian Upshaw threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more as Georgia Southern collected 605 total yards in dominating Savannah State 54-0 on Saturday in the opener for both teams.
Georgia Southern (1-0) last topped 600 yards of total offense in 2014 amassing 660 at Georgia State.
The Eagles announced before the game the suspension of seven players for violations of team policies. All will return for next week's game at South Alabama.
Upshaw scored twice in less than a two-minute span on runs of 2 and 33 yards respectively. Wesley Fields' 1-yard run before the end of the first quarter made it 21-0. The Eagles' Demarcus Godfrey had 14 carries for 124 yards and Fields had 13 carries for 87 yards.
The Tigers (0-1) managed just 114 yards total offense and were 1-for-9 on third down conversions. Georgia Southern held a time of possession advantage by 38:06 to 21:54.
Troy 57, Austin Peay 17
TROY, Ala. (AP) Brandon Silvers threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns and Jordan Chunn rushed for 161 yards and one score to lead Troy to a dominating 57-17 win over Austin Peay on Saturday.
Silvers completed 20 of 27 attempts, averaging 8.5 yards per completion. Sawyer Smith threw for 86 yards, completing all seven attempts, and one score.
Ismail Saleem grabbed four passes for 106 yards.
The Trojans racked up 706 total yards, 323 passing and 383 rushing, while limiting Austin Peay to 254 total yards.
The Governors made a game of it early, taking a 14-13 lead with 11:07 remaining in the second quarter when Tommy Hays passed to James Coleman from the 14 for a score. Coleman finished with 65 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
The Trojans retook the lead for good when Smith hit Hiram Velez in stride at the 5 for a 47-yard score with 9:35 left in the first half.
UL Monroe 38, Southern 21
MONROE, La. (AP) Garrett Smith fired a touchdown pass to Marcus Green, then ran for another score as Louisiana Monroe broke open a close game after halftime while defeating Southern 38-21 Saturday night.
Smith hit Green with a 28-yard pass, bumping the Warhawks' lead to 21-12, Craig Ford added a 24-yard field goal and Smith scored from the 13, pushing the lead to 31-15. Smith hit 20 of 33 passes for 208 yards.
The Warhawks (1-0) led 14-12 at the half after Southern's Raul Albuquerque capped a long drive with a 38-yard field goal in the final minute before the break. Albuquerque nailed field goals of 42, 38 and 28 yards but missed a point-after kick in the first half. Southern is 0-1.
Austin Vaughn capped the scoring with a 6-yard run in the final minute of play.
UTEP 38, New Mexico State 22
EL PASO, Texas (AP) Zack Greenlee threw for three touchdowns as UTEP beat New Mexico State 38-22 in a season opener for both teams on Saturday night.
Greenlee was 15 of 27 for 229 yards for the Miners. Aaron Jones rushed for 249 yards and two scores on 31 carries and Jay Mattox kicked a 23-yard field goal.
Jones ran for a 37-yard score early in the first quarter and Greenlee threw two touchdowns in the second quarter - including a 46-yarder to Cole Freytag - and UTEP took a 24-3 lead into the break. A 75-yard touchdown run by Jones stretched the UTEP lead to 38-16 with 14:47 to go in the fourth quarter.
Tyler Rogers threw for 206 yards on 17-of-41 passing for the Aggies. He also ran for 63 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. Jason Huntley scored from the 1 as time expired in the third quarter.
Boise State 45, UL Lafayette 10
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) Brett Rypien was 22 of 33 passing for 347 yards and two touchdowns, and Boise State cruised to a 45-10 season opening win over Louisiana Lafayette on Saturday.
It was Rypien's sixth career 300-plus yard outing - with Boise State winning all six contests.
Thomas Sperbeck, Cedric Wilson, and Jeremy McNichols each caught touchdown passes, adding 130, 113, and 98 yards receiving, respectively. McNichols also had two rushing touchdows and Sperbeck threw for a TD.
The Broncos scored the first 35 points, including a 48-yard trick play pass from Sperbeck to McNichols. A Stevie Artigue field goal for Louisiana-Lafayette made it 35-3 at halftime. The Ragin Cajuns scored their lone touchdown early in the fourth, when Anthony Jennings found Keenan Barnes from 11-yards out.
Jennings finished with 186 yards passing for Louisiana-Lafayette. Elijah McGuire had 46 yards rushing and Ja'Marcus Bradley caught three balls for 50 yards.