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Buffalo kept its winning ways with a road win

BUFFALO 23, TEXAS-EL PASO 17
EL PASO, TX – Visiting Buffalo scored 23 straight points during the middle quarters and the defending Mid-American Conference champions held on for a 23-17 season-opening win over Texas-El Paso Saturday. Zach Maynard’s 42-yard touchdown pass to Naaman Roosevelt turned out to be the winner. The play capped a five-play drive to open the second half and gave the Bulls a 23-7 lead.

Texas-El Paso quickly responded by driving 80 yards in nine plays for a score. James Thomas covered the final 17 yards on a run to the right side. Logan Barrett’s PAT made it 23-14, and the Miners closed to within six when Barrett nailed a field goal from 32-yards out with 6:01 left.

Texas-El Paso was within striking distance of a win as it drove to the Bulls 21-yard line with 19 seconds remaining. Two costly penalties, however, pushed the Miners back to the 46 and the game ended with Trevor Vittatoe throwing two incompletions. Texas-El Paso drew 101 yards in penalties during the contest.

Vittatoe connected on 27-of-45 (60 percent)  passes for 233 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions as UTEP had 372 yards of net offense.

Buffalo picked up 309 yards of offense, including 150 on the ground. Brandon Thermilus had 79 yards and a touchdown to lead the ground attack. Quarterback Zach Maynard completed 12-of-19 passes (63.2 percent)  for 159 yards with one TD and no interceptions.

PURDUE 52, TOLEDO 31
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – It was a day when offenses flourished and the hosts prevailed. Purdue and Toledo combined for over 1,000 yards of total offense Saturday as the hosting Purdue Boilermakers scored early and often en route to a 52-31 win at Ross-Ade stadium.

Boilermaker running back Ralph Bolden ran 78 yards for a touchdown less than two minutes into the contest and wrapped up the scoreboard’s work with just over two minutes left with a 14-yard TD run. Bolden led Purdue’s rushing attack with 234 yards as the Boilermakers netted 315 yards on the ground.

Jaycen Taylor’s 43-yard TD scamper and Keith Smith’s 11-yard TD reception, along Bolden’s opening salvo, put Purdue in a commanding 21-0 lead just a few minutes into the second quarter.

Toledo came storming back – first with a 34-yard Aaron Opelt to Eric Page TD pass, and then with a 9-yard Opelt to Stephen Williams touchdown toss.
The Rockets were mounting another drive in hopes of catching Purdue by halftime when Boilermaker Joe Holland picked off an Opelt pass and returned it to the Toledo 24. Quarterback Joey Elliott hit Keith Carlos with a 24-yard touchdown pass on the next play.

“Any time you turn the ball over in a situation like that, it’s a big momentum change,” Toledo coach Tim Beckman said.
Purdue added a 59-yard field goal by Carson Wiggs as time expired and held a 31-14 lead. Momentum stayed with the home team after intermission as Purdue scored touchdowns on its first two possessions of the second half.

“Purdue played an outstanding game. We can’t take anything away from them. Their blocking was very good, and they have quick running backs,” said Rockets defensive end Douglas Westbrook, who picked up his first career interception in the first half.  “We had a lot of mistakes on defense, and they’re gong to be corrected next week in practice.”

“It was a battle,” Williams said. “We never gave up. We have some things to be proud about, but we’re never happy with a loss.”

“Our kids fought for four quarters, there is no question about it,” Beckman said.  “We’re going to have to figure out the things that caused us to lose and get better next week.”

Senior quarterback Aaron Opelt, who set a school records for pass attempts (67) and personal bests in completions (41) and passing yards (423), was also looking forward to getting better. “We’ve got to limit our mistakes. We need to work on a lot of things,” he said “I’m not happy with the outcome of this game, but we have a lot of great players who can make plays. We’ll get better. I’m not worried at all.”

WISCONSIN 28, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 20
MADISON, WI – Northern Illinois rallied for 14 points in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t catch hosting Wisconsin, which posted a 28-20 win before 80,532 fans at Camp Randall Stadium.

An onside kick recovery with over five minutes remaining gave the visiting Huskies a chance to drive for a TD and two-point conversion to tie the game, but

Chand Harnish’s fourth down pass for Kyle Skarb was incomplete. Wisconsin took over with 1:37 remaining in the contest, and ran out the clock.
The hosts enjoyed a substantial advantage in total yards (433-274), but they committed a number of errors. The Badgers were flagged six times for 56 yards, lost their one fumble and threw two interceptions. They also missed two field goals.
Wisconsin got on the board early when quarterback Scott Tolzien found Issac Anderson for an 80-yard pass play. Philip Welch converted the PAT.

Northern came back with a 40-yard Mike Salerno field goal with 3:15 remaining in the first quarter, but  Anderson picked up his second TD of the evening on a 23-yard run. The 5-11, 180-pound junior had 123 all-purpose yards against Northern Ilinois.
 
Salerno added a 29-yard field goal with 5:12 left in the second quarter, and the Huskies trailed 14-6 at halftime.

Tolzien completed four passes during an 11-play, 92-yard Wisconsin drive to open the second half. John Clay took it in from one yard out and Welch added the PAT. Clay punched in another touchdown from the one-yard line at 1:47 of the third quarter. The PAT put Wisconsin up 28-6, but Northern Illinois refused to quit and closed in on the Badgers with Spann’s two short TD runs.

Me’co Brown led Northern Illinois in rushing with 64 net rushing yards on 11 carries (5.8 ypc) with a long of 47 yards. Harnish, meanwhile, completed 15-of-24 with no interceptions or TDs. He was sacked three times. Eight receivers caught passes for a total of 174 yards.

NOTES: -Time of possession was nearly equal. Northern Illinois ended up with 30:14, while Wisconsin had the ball for a total of 29:46. NIU had the ball for 10:55 minutes of the fourth quarter. Wisconsin had the ball for 4:05 minutes, which included the final 1:37 after it took over on downs and ran out the clock.
- Wisconsin recorded three sacks for 21 yards in losses. The Huskies did not have a recorded sack

CONNECTICUT 23, OHIO 16
ATHENS - Visiting Connecticut used a solid running game to average 5.3 yards per rush on the way to a hard-fought 23-16 win. Jordan Todman (157 yards) and Andre Dixon (100 yards) were paced the Huskies attack, which included 259 rushing yards among the total offensive output of 396 yards.
“A lot of what they were doing was running a lot of power, pulling a lot of guys,” Ohio senior linebacker Lee Renfro said. “Sometimes we had guys out of position and weren’t hitting it right. We started getting that corrected there at the end.”
He continued, “Ucon just wants to line up there and get those huge offensive linemen and try to move us. They were getting us early …. We made corrections, but it was a little late.”
UConn struck the night’s first blow with a four-yard TD pass from Zach Frazer to Anthony Davis to cap a 10-play drive. Ohio, however, was able to even things following a second quarter interception by Melvin Payne. Four plays later, quarterback Boo Jackson hit Taylor Price on a 44-yard touchdown play. Jackson was 8-of-16 passing for 117 yards with one touchdown and  with one interception on the evening. Theo Scott, who came in later, was 7-of-12 for 69 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Their counterpart, Frazer, was successful on 11-of-24 attempts. He also threw two touchdowns, but was intercepted three times.

Connecticut regained the lead just before halftime on a 35-yard Frazer to Brad Kanuch TD pass and made it a 16-7 game thanks to a safety with 2:48 left in the third quarter. The final UConn score was a five yard run by Tolman.

Ohio creeped back into the contest with two fourth quarter tallies. Riley Dulop scored on an 11-yard pass from Scott at 9:08 and Matt Wellerhit a 50-yard field goal with 2:36 remaining.

ARMY 27, EASTERN MICHIGAN
YPSILANTI, MI – Visiting Army pitched a first-half shutout while scoring 13 points and went on to spoil the debut of Eastern Michigan coach Ron English with a 27-14 victory.
Army gained just eight total yards through the air, but it rolled to 300 rushing yards. Eastern Michigan, meanwhile, had 183 yards passing and only 40 rushing yards.
“They played well against our triple option,” new Army coach Rich Ellerson said of Eastern’s defense. “We were just able to get the big plays.”
Patrick Mealy’s six-yard run opened the game’s scoring, but the PAT kick failed.
An EMU miscue opened the door for another Army score in the second stanza. After an Army punt to the Eagles seven-yard line, the Black Knights recovered an Eastern fumble on the first play from scrimmage. After a false start penalty and a rush for no gain, Jameson Carter took it in for a touchdown. Matthew Campbell’s PAT made it 13-0.
“When you can’t score when you’re on the five-yard line and when you turn the ball over inside the 10, you can’t win that way,” English said.
After a scoreless third quarter, Eastern finally got on the scoreboard at 13:58 when Any Schmitt tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Trey Hunter. Joe Carithers converted the PAT.
Army added two TD runs by Kingsley Ehie (10-yards, five yards) before EMU concluded scoring with a one-yard Dwayne Priest run and Carithers kick at 1:58 to top off a nine-play, 70-yard drive.

MICHIGAN 31, WESTERN MICHIGAN 7
ANN ARBOR – Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit felt like his team’s opponent had something to prove in Saturday’s opener at the Big House. The Wolverines certainly played like it in posting a 31-7 win.
Coming off one of the most disappoint years in Michigan football and currently dealing with allegations concerning practice time, UM looked good early on both sides of the ball. The Broncos got just one first down in the opening quarter and didn’t get a second until it moved the chains four times on their last drive of the second quarter. But after making it to UM’s 17-yard stripe, the Broncos were pushed back and settled for a 44-yard John Potter field goal attempt that went wide left.
Western Michigan’s only touchdown on the day was a 73-yard pass play from Tim Hiller to Juan Nunez.  The 6-0, 181-pound junior finished with a career high 151 receiving yards.
The touchdown pass was Hiller’s 77th career TD toss, and Cubit is expecting more from his senior QB in the near future. “He’s a guy that hasn’t played since Texas. He didn’t go through spring ball and in the summer, we had to take it easy on him because of his knee,” Cubit said. “He’ll get better.”

PENN STATE 31, AKRON 7
STATE COLLEGE, PA – Eighth-ranked Penn State racked up 344 yards of offense and scored all 31 of its points in the first half of a 31-7 season opening victory over Akron Saturday.
Akron managed just eight yards of offense in the second half, but gained nearly 200 yards and scored its only touchdown after intermission. Deryn Bowser tallied the Zips score on a 40-yard pass from Chris Jacquemain with 6:07 left in the third quarter.
Evan Royster started the days scoring with a five-yard run at 11:18 of the first quarter. Daryll Clark hit Chaz Powell for another Lions TD at 3:43.
After a second quarter 29-yard Collin Wagner field goal, Penn State added touchdown receptions by Derek Moye (22 yards) and Graham Zug (19 yards).
Akron’s Jalil Carter returned the second half opening kickoff 42 yards and Jacquemain hit Jeremy Bruce with a pass for the Zips initial first down of the contest and the drove to Michigan’s two-yard line before getting stopped on fourth down. Bowser tallied later in the quarter for Akron’s only score. He led Akron with 63 yards on three catches. Jeremy LaFrance had five catches for 53 yards. Jacqueman completed 13-of-22 for 158 yards with one interception and one TD.
Michigan’s Clark connected on 29-of-40 for 353 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
Michigan accumulated 515 yards of total offense, while Akron netted 186 yards.