Top 25 Roundup:
True freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts threw two touchdown passes to ArDarius Stewart and ran for two more scores as top-ranked Alabama began its national championship defense with a 52-6 victory over No. 20 Southern California on Saturday night in Arlington, Texas.
Stewart was wide open in the end zone behind the secondary when Hurts hit him for a 39-yard score midway through the second quarter that made it 7-3 and put Alabama ahead to stay.
Right after halftime, Hurts found Stewart alone near the Alabama 40 and the receiver sprinted up the right sideline untouched for a 71-yard touchdown and a 24-3 lead. USC punter Chris Tilbey bobbled the snap on the ensuing drive to set up Alabama at the Trojans 15 and lead to a 7-yard run by Hurts, who later added a 6-yard score.
The season-opening win came at AT&T Stadium – the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys – was also where the Crimson Tide started their 2012 and 2015 national championship seasons with victories.
The Crimson Tide are 10-0 in season openers under coach Nick Saban, including seven non-conference games at neutral sites against Power Five teams that they have won by an average margin of 23 points.
Hurts fumbled away his first snap after coming in late in the first quarter for redshirt freshman Blake Barnett, who was ineffective in the first two drives after becoming the youngest Tide quarterback to start under Saban. Barnett later returned to throw a 45-yard touchdown.
Wisconsin 16, (5) LSU 14: Rafael Gaglianone kicked a 47-yard field goal with 3:47 left, and the Badgers staved off No. 5 LSU’s desperate last-ditch drive for a 16-14 victory at Green Bay, Wisconscin, in a game that dealt an early blow to the Tigers’ national title hopes. Heisman Trophy hopeful Leonard Fournette ran for 138 yards on 23 carries but limped off on his final carry, a 15-yard run with less than 2 minutes left. Coach Les Miles said Fournette would have returned if LSU was able to get the ball back.
(2) Clemson 19, Auburn 13: Deshaun Watson passed for 248 yards, including 174 to Mike Williams in his return from an injury, and the Clemson Tigers escaped with a 19-13 victory over the Auburn Tigers in Auburn, Alabam.
Clemson struggled to put the away the opener even though Auburn produced little offense for much of the game while swapping three quarterbacks in and out. Finally, Watson hit former walk-on receiver Hunter Renfrow in the back of the end zone on third and goal from the 16 with 9:59 left in the fourth quarter.
(13) TCU 59, South Dakota State 41: Kenny Hill accounted for five touchdowns after a shaky start in his TCU debut, KaVontae Turpin returned a punt 81 yards for a score and the 13th-ranked Horned Frogs pulled away late in a victory over the Jackrabbits in Fort Worth, Texas.
Playing his first game since a 59-0 loss to Alabama that cost Hill the starting job at Texas A&M two years ago, the junior transfer bounced back from interceptions on consecutive passes that led to a 10-point lead for the lower-division Jackrabbits.
(6) Ohio State 77, Bowling Green 10: J.T. Barrett threw six touchdown passes and the Buckeyes rolled up a school record 776 yards in a romp over the Falcons in Columbus, Ohio. Eight players scored touchdowns on offense as the Buckeyes overpowered Bowling Green in front of a crowd of 107,193 at sunny Ohio Stadium. The 776 yards topped the 718 yards Ohio State put up against Mount Union in 1930.
(7) Michigan 63, Hawaii 3: Wilton Speight threw three touchdown passes in the first half and the Wolverines went on to rout the Rainbow Warriors in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for its most lopsided victory since 1975. Speight Michigan’s most decisive win since beating Northwestern by 69 points four decades ago.
(25) Florida 24, UMass 7: Luke Del Rio threw two touchdown passes in his first career start, and the Gators did just enough to beat the Minutemen in Gainesville, Florida, and extend the nation’s longest winning streak in season openers to 27.
Florida had trouble blocking the Minutemen up front and creating holes in the running game. Del Rio completed 29 of 44 passes for 256 yards, with TD passes to Antonio Callaway in the first quarter and Brandon Powell in the fourth. Newcomer Eddy Pineiro kicked three field goals, including from 49 and 48 yards in the fourth.