Arkansas State 48, Southeast Missouri State 21
JONESBORO, Ark. - Arkansas State quarterback Justice Hansen passed for a single-game school record six touchdowns and the Red Wolves had seven passing touchdowns as a team for a school record as the Red Wolves opened the 2018 season with a 48-21 victory over Southeast Missouri at Allison Field inside Centennial Bank Stadium.
"I am obviously excited to get the win," said head coach Blake Anderson. "It wasn't pretty at times, but it is hard to be upset with a 48-21 win when a lot of folks did not get it done this weekend. I was excited for some of the new guys that stepped up and made some plays that hadn't had some snaps. It was even good to get (Logan) Bonner out there and have some snaps when the game was still kind of in question and the same thing for Marcel Murray."
Hansen finished the night 26-of-36 passing for 423 yards and six touchdowns to six different receivers. Hansen became the first Sun Belt Conference quarterback to throw for six or more touchdowns in a game since Giovanni Vizza of North Texas had eight against Navy on Nov. 10, 2007. Sophomore quarterback Logan Bonner was 2-of-3 for 74 yards and a touchdown to give A-State seven scores through the air to seven different receivers.
A-State finished the night outgaining the Redhawks 685-285 with a 497-163 edge through the air. The 685 total yards rank third in single-game history, while the 8.7 yards per play ranks the effort seventh. Murray led A-State on the ground with 10 rushes for 54 yards, while adding two catches for 75 yards and a score.
Defensively, A-State was led by Justin Clifton and Tajhea Chambers who logged six tackles each. The unit posted 11 tackles for loss, including three sacks.
A-State travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on Alabama on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in a game nationally televised on ESPN2. The Red Wolves return to Centennial Bank Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 22, to host UNLV.
Louisiana 49, Grambling 17
LAFAYETTE, La. - Andre Nunez threw two touchdowns and Trey Ragas ran for 142 yards and a score and Louisiana beat Grambling 49-17 in the season opener for both teams Saturday.
The win was the first career victory for Billy Napier, the Rajun Cajuns first year head coach, who last year worked as the associate head coach at Arizona State.
Grambling took a 3-0 lead on Garrett Urban's 22-yard field goal with 11:57 to play in the first quarter. Louisiana then proceeded to take control, scoring touchdowns on its next four drives en route to a 35-10 halftime lead.
In a span of 10 minutes, Ragas ran for a 4-yard score, Nunez completed a 3-yard TD pass to Ja'Marcus Bradley, Levi Lewis threw an 18-yard scoring pass to Jamal Bell and Nunez connected with Bradley again, this time for an 8-yard score.
Geremy Hickbottom threw for 112 yards and ran for 52 yards and a touchdown for the Tigers.
Georgia Southern 37, South Carolina State 6
STATESBORO, Ga. - Shai Werts rushed for 163 yards and three touchdowns to lead Georgia Southern's potent running game in a 37-6 defeat of South Carolina State Saturday night in the season opener for both teams.
The Eagles racked up 319 yards and five touchdowns on the ground out of 348 yards total offense.
Wesley Fields and Monteo Garrett also scored rushing TDs.
Tomarcio Reese made 10 tackles for a Georgia Southern defense that held SC State to 2.9 yards per play and forced two turnovers.
Garrett and Werts staked Georgia Southern to a 13-0 lead, scoring successive touchdowns in the final three minutes of the first quarter. Werts added two more TDs in the fourth quarter on runs of 13 and 14 yards.
Tyrece Nick scored the lone points for the Bulldogs with a 2-yard run. SC State has not beaten Georgia Southern in eight meetings.
#10 Penn State 45, Appalachian State 38 (OT)
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Amani Oruwariye intercepted Zac Thomas' pass in the end zone and No. 10 Penn State held on to beat Appalachian State 45-38 in overtime Saturday, exactly 11 years after the Mountaineers stunned Michigan in one of the biggest upsets in college football history.
Miles Sanders ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score in overtime for the Nittany Lions in the opener for both teams. But Penn State let a 31-17 lead evaporate when Appalachian State scored on three straight possessions over 5:53 in the fourth quarter.
Penn State's Trace McSorley, who completed 21 of 36 passes for 230 yards and ran for two scores, led a tying drive that ended with a 15-yard touchdown pass to KJ Hamler with 42 seconds left.
Thomas, who returned from injury to lead his team's comeback, completed 25 of 38 passes for 270 yards, threw for two touchdowns and ran for another for Appalachian State. Jalin Moore ran 18 times for 88 yards and a touchdown and Malik Williams caught two touchdowns for the Mountaineers.
Louisiana Tech 30, South Alabama 26
MOBILE, Ala. - J'Mar Smith threw two touchdown passes, Jaqwis Dancy ran for two scores and Louisiana Tech held off a South Alabama second-half rally to win 30-26 in Saturday night's season opener.
Trailing 20-7 at halftime, the Jaguars closed to 23-20 early in the fourth quarter on Maurice Mayo's 5-yard TD run, but Smith hit Adrian Hardy on an 8-yard pass on the next Bulldog possession for a 30-20 lead.
Cole Garvin's 4-yard TD strike to Kawaan Baker on the Jaguars' next possession made it 30-26 with 1:11 to go, but the Bulldogs recovered the ensuing onside kick to ice the game.
Dancy gained 144 yards on 15 carries while Smith was 19 of 29 for 209 yards passing with three interceptions.
Under first-year coach Steve Campbell, the Jaguars were outgained 264 total yards to 98 in the first half, but finished with 308 to Louisiana Tech's 440.
Garvin was 7 of 16 for 47 yards passing. Baker also scored on 4-yard run.
#22 Boise State 56, Troy 20
TROY, Ala. - Brett Rypien passed for 305 yards and four touchdowns, and Sean Modsterhad 167 yards receiving, to lead No. 22 Boise State to a 56-20 opening victory over Troy on Saturday night.
The Broncos raced to a 35-7 halftime lead over a Trojans team coming off an 11-win season, largely with the Rypien-to-Modster connection. Then, Tyler Horton and Boise State's defense mostly took over the scoring for the second half against Troy.
Troy struggled in the first start of quarterback Kaleb Barker but did score a pair of second-half touchdowns after falling behind 42-7. Barker completed 20 of 29 passes for 211, including a 33-yard touchdown to Deondre Douglas in the fourth quarter.
South Carolina 49, Coastal Carolina 15
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Jake Bentley threw for four touchdowns, Rico Dowdle scored twice and South Carolina won 49-15 against Coastal Carolina Saturday
Coach Will Muschamp didn't think the Gamecocks went as fast as they could all the time.
"What you're going to see is times where we're going really fast and there's going to be some times where we're taking a look and see what we're getting," Muschamp said. "I think it's going to be a game-by-game operation from what (offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon) and I have talked about in administering the offense."
"I think we were very efficient offensively, obviously, when you're able to stay balanced like that," Muschamp said. "Defensively, we didn't give up anything big, except for some silly penalties we need to get cleaned up."
Coastal was held to 238 yards.
"I think we played hard against what I think is one of the better teams in the country. I think it took us a while to get used to their speed on both sides of the ball," Coastal coach Joe Moglia said. "They were able to control the line of scrimmage, especially when their offense was on the field."
Rutgers 35, Texas State 7
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - After season-opening losses the past two seasons against ranked Washington, Rutgers' third-year coach Chris Ash started with a win for the first time in his tenure.
Raheem Blackshear and Jonathan Hillimanhad two touchdowns apiece to lead Rutgers past Texas State 35-7 on Saturday in a season opener.
Hilliman did almost all his damage on the ground with 60 yards on 15 carries and Blackshear, a fellow running back, led Rutgers in catches with seven for 56 yards and a touchdown to go along with 62 rushing yards and a score.
Freshman quarterback Art Sitkowski had an up-and-down day for Rutgers, going 20 for 29 for 205 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. The second was a pick-6 by Kordell Rodgers, returning it 51 yards to make it 21-7 midway through the third quarter.
Right before halftime with a 21-0 lead, Sitkowski threw a red zone interception -- his first of the day -- after leading his team down the field from its 1-yard line.
Texas State was led by sophomore quarterback Will Jones III, who was making his first collegiate start. He went 6 of 19 for 79 yards and an interception while also rushing for 33 yards on 14 carries before being replaced by freshman Tyler Vitt in the fourth quarter.
"We did not play well defensively, offensively or the kicking game," Texas State coach Everett Withers said. "Defensively you cannot give up 218 yards in the run game at about 5 yards per clip. You cannot be 8 for 13 on third downs, you cannot do that and win games."