Calhoun carries Badgers

Brian Calhoun, a transfer from Colorado, rushed for a career-best 258 yards and a school record-tying five touchdowns on 43 carries in Wisconsin’s 56-42 win over Bowling Green on Saturday in Madison, Wis.

Nobody in the proud program’s history ever rushed for more yards in his debut, and his five scores tied the school mark set by Billy Marek in 1974 and tied by Anthony Davis in 2002, both against Minnesota.

East

Penn State 23, South Florida 13: At State College, Pa., Alan Zemaitis returned a fumble 16 yards for a score and Tony Hunt rushed for a touchdown and set up another score with a long run as the Nittany Lions beat the Bulls.

Maryland 23, Navy 20: At Baltimore, Sam Hollenbach threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Drew Weatherly with 61 seconds left, capping a frantic 82-yard drive that carried the Terrapins past the Midshipmen.

South

Alabama 26, Middle Tennessee 7: At Tuscaloosa, Ala., Brodie Croyle threw for 210 yards and a touchdown, and Tim Castille ran for two scores to lead the Crimson Tide to a victory over the Blue Raiders.

More than 300 refugees from Hurricane Katrina attended the game, thanks to some Alabama fans who donated their tickets at a Red Cross shelter in Tuscaloosa. Alabama gave $1 from every ticket sold to the hurricane relief effort.

East Carolina 24, Duke 21: At Greenville, N.C., James Pinkney ran for two touchdowns and threw for a score to lift the Pirates over the Blue Devils in Skip Holtz’s debut as East Carolina’s coach.

Aundrae Allison had 10 catches for 164 yards and a score for the Pirates, who won their season opener for the first time since beating Duke 38-0 in 2000.

Mississippi State 38, Murray State 6: At Starkville, Miss., Omarr Conner threw two of his career-high four touchdown passes to freshman Keon Humphries, and the Bulldogs routed the Division I-AA Racers in a game played days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the region.

Jerious Norwood rushed for 123 yards on 16 carries for the Bulldogs, who outgained the Racers 482-229.

Troy 27, Cal Poly 10: At Troy, Ala., Carl Meadows passed for 213 yards and a touchdown and the Trojans opened their season with a strong defensive outing in beating the Mustangs.

Midwest

Illinois 33, Rutgers 30 (OT): At Champaign, Ill., the Fighting Illini rallied from a 20-point deficit and Pierre Thomas’ 2-yard touchdown run in overtime gave Illinois a win over the Scarlet Knights in Ron Zook’s first game as coach at Illinois.

Trailing 27-10 when the fourth quarter began, the Illini tied the game 27-all when Tim Brasic hit running back E.B. Halsey with a swing pass and he ran in from 13 yards out with 1:13 to go.

Michigan State 49, Kent State 14: At East Lansing, Mich., Jehuu Caulcrick rushed for 140 yards and three touchdowns and the Spartans had 685 total yards – second-most in school history – on the way to beating the Golden Flashes in the first meeting between the schools.

Northwestern 38, Ohio 14: At Evanston, Ill., Brett Basanez threw two touchdown passes to Shaun Herbert and ran for another – all in the first half – as the Wildcats rolled to a victory over the Bobcats, spoiling Frank Solich’s return to college coaching.

Solich was fired after the 2003 season at Nebraska, despite a 9-3 record and 58-19 mark in six years. His debut with the Bobcats showed how far the program must come after just two winning seasons since 1982.

Kansas State 35, Florida International 21: At Manhattan, Kan., Thomas Clayton ran for 177 yards and two scores to lead the Wildcats past the Golden Panthers for their 16th straight win in a season opener.

It was Florida International’s first game as a full member of Division I.

Iowa State 32, Illinois State 21: At Ames, Iowa, Bret Meyer passed for 314 yards and a touchdown and Stevie Hicks sprinted 17 yards for the tiebreaking score in the third quarter, lifting the Cyclones past the Division I-AA Redbirds.

Iowa State, which shared the Big 12 North title last year, got stung by two long touchdown passes and gave up another TD on a fumble return.

Kansas 30, Florida Atlantic 19: At Lawrence, Kan., backup quarterback Brian Luke directed four scoring drives and Clark Green ran for 107 yards to lead the Jayhawks over the Owls.

Danny Embick threw for 299 yards and three touchdowns for the Owls, who this year are playing their first full Division I-A schedule.

Nebraska 25, Maine 7: At Lincoln, Neb., Jordan Congdon kicked four field goals and the Cornhuskers had 11 sacks and scored a late defensive touchdown to make up for an uninspired offensive effort in a win over the Division I-AA Black Bears.

Maine never penetrated deeper than the Nebraska 44 until Ron Whitcomb’s 52-yard touchdown pass to Kevin McMahan drew them to 15-7 with 11:57 left.

Southwest

Missouri 44, Arkansas State 17: At Kansas City, Mo., Brad Smith thrived in Missouri’s new spread offense, throwing four touchdown passes and just missing 100 yards rushing, as the Tigers romped past the Indians.

Brad Ekwerekwu caught his first two career TD passes for the Tigers, who rolled up 657 yards of offense.

Baylor 28, SMU 23: At Dallas, Paul Mosley ran for 105 yards and three touchdowns, including two in the final 7:47, to help the Bears end a 24-game road losing streak with a victory over the Mustangs.

Far West

Colorado 31, Colorado State 28: At Boulder, Colo., Mason Crosby kicked a 47-yard field goal with 4 seconds left to lift the Buffaloes to a come-from-behind victory over the visiting Rams.

The teams combined for 20 points – two touchdowns and two field goals – over the frantic final 2:32.

UTEP 34, New Mexico State 17: At Las Cruces, N.M., Jordan Palmer passed for three touchdowns – all in the first half when the Miners took a 31-0 lead – en route to a victory over the Aggies.