Smith ignites Buckeyes to win

Troy Smith tossed touchdown passes of 5 and 58 yards to Ted Ginn Jr. on top-ranked Ohio State’s first two possessions to fuel its 35-12 victory over Northern Illinois on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.

Tailbacks Antonio Pittman and acclaimed freshman Chris Wells also ran for scores for the Buckeyes.

Ginn had four catches for 123 yards and returned two punts for 44 yards and two kickoffs for 25 more yards. Pittman totaled 111 yards on 19 carries and scored on a 1-yard plunge on the first play of the fourth quarter, with Wells chipping in with 50 on 10 attempts and an 8-yard touchdown run.

Ohio State rocketed to a 21-0 lead after a quarter and a 28-0 lead after the first play of the second and never looked back.

(3) Texas 56, North Texas 7: At Austin, Texas, Colt McCoy, who replaced Vince Young at quarterback for Texas, hit the pass that got the Longhorns rolling into the new season: a 60-yard touchdown to Limas Sweed. McCoy passed for 178 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another in the Longhorns’ win over the Mean Green.

The Longhorns held North Texas to 95 total yards with four sacks. Brian Robison tied safety Michael Griffin with his sixth career field goal block and Aaron Lewis recovered a fumble in the end zone for the final touchdown.

(5) West Virginia 42, Marshall 10: At Morgantown, W.Va., Steve Slaton ran for 203 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead the Mountaineers past the Thundering Herd.

Slaton, the nation’s top freshman in 2005 with 19 rushing TDs, had his second straight 200-yard game. The Mountaineers, who are 6-0 all-time against Marshall, scored on four of their first five possessions and totaled 312 rushing yards.

(7) Florida 34, Southern Mississippi 7: At Gainesville, Fla., Chris Leak threw three touchdown passes, highly touted freshman Tim Tebow ran for a score and the Gators overcame a sluggish start to beat the Golden Eagles.

Leak completed 21 of 30 passes for 248 yards. Dallas Baker finished with nine catches for 123 yards.

Another receiver, freshman Percy Harvin, had a memorable debut.

He ran four times for a team-high 58 yards and had three receptions for 33 yards.

(8) LSU 45, Louisiana-Lafayette 3: At Baton Rouge, La., JaMarcus Russell’s second pass of the game was a 58-yard bomb for a touchdown as he was getting hit on a rollout, and he had two more scoring passes in the first half to send the Tigers to a victory.

He finished 13 of 17 for 253 yards, validating second-year coach Les Miles’ decision to make him the starting quarterback over Matt Flynn and high-profile recruit Ryan Perrilloux.

(10) Oklahoma 24, Alabama-Birmingham 17: At Norman, Okla., Adrian Peterson ran for 139 yards and scored twice in the second half, saving the Sooners from the embarrassment of losing a second consecutive home opener with a win over the Blazers.

With Paul Thompson proving inconsistent in his return to quarterback after nearly a year away, Peterson took control in the second half running for 83 yards as the Sooners offense became almost completely reliant on him.

(14) Michigan 27, Vanderbilt 7: At Ann Arbor, Mich., Mike Hart ran for 146 yards to lead the Wolverines to a victory over the Commodores.

The Wolverines went ahead 20-7 late in the third on Chad Henne’s 14-yard pass to a leaping Tyler Ecker on a third down.

Michigan sealed its eighth straight home opener by forcing quarterback Chris Nickson to fumble for a second time with 4:33 left near midfield, leading to Henne’s 27-yard pass to Mario Manningham.

Henne finished 10 of 22 for 135 yards with two touchdowns.

(15) Georgia 41, Western Kentucky 12: At Athens, Ga., Joe Tereshinski threw for 90 yards and a touchdown and two other Bulldogs quarterbacks saw playing time in the victory over the Hilltoppers.

Tereshinski, who won a four-way battle for the starter’s job, finished 7 of 17, including a 17-yard touchdown pass to Mario Raley. Matthew Stafford, Georgia’s top recruit, directed two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.

(17) Virginia Tech 38, Northeastern 0: At Blacksburg, Va., Sean Glennon threw three touchdown passes in his first career start as the Hokies won their season opener.

Glennon, a sophomore who won the job vacated when Marcus Vick was dismissed from the team after last season, completed 15 of 18 for 222 yards in less than three quarters. His touchdowns went for 54, 55 and 6 yards.

(18) Clemson 54, Florida Atlantic 6: At Clemson, S.C., Will Proctor got off to a solid start, throwing for 166 yards and three touchdowns in the win.

Proctor waited four seasons behind Charlie Whitehurst for his chance to be Clemson’s starter. While Proctor stumbled at first, he and the Tigers settled down to put up their highest point total since a 63-17 win over South Carolina in 2003.

(19) Penn State 34, Akron 16: At State College, Pa., Anthony Morelli threw for 206 yards and three touchdowns in his first start and the Nittany Lions threw in some new wrinkles on defense to get the victory at rain-soaked Beaver Stadium.

The running game struggled, and Tony Hunt, who ran for 1,000 yards last season, gained just 36 on the ground, though he did manage to get into the end zone for a late touchdown.

(25) Texas Tech 35, Southern Methodist 3: At Lubbock, Texas, Graham Harrell threw for 342 yards and five touchdowns in his first start for the Red Raiders to lead his team to the victory over the Mustangs.

Harrell threw TD passes of 8, 12, 14, 45 and 3 yards, two more scoring strikes than he threw all last season as the backup in Tech’s high-octane aerial offense.