Pac-12 roundup:
Freshman Kedon Slovis passed for 377 yards and three touchdowns in an excellent debut start, and Southern California rolled to a 45-20 victory over No. 23 Stanford in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
Slovis went 28 of 33 and set a school record for yards passing by a freshman in his first start as the Trojans (2-0, 1-0 Pac-12) rallied from an early 14-point deficit to beat the Cardinal (1-1, 1-1) for the third time in the California private schools’ past four meetings.
Amon-Ra St. Brown had eight catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns, while Tyler Vaughns added another TD grab in the fourth quarter for USC. Vavae Malepeai rushed for two touchdowns and Stephen Carr added a 25-yard TD run in a 492-yard performance by coordinator Graham Harrell’s Air Raid offense.
Slovis, the unheralded 18-year-old recruit from Arizona whose high school position coach was Kurt Warner, won his duel with fellow first-time starter Davis Mills, who went 22 of 36 for 237 yards for Stanford.
(13) Utah 35, Northern Illinois 17: Tyler Huntley passed for one touchdown and ran for another as the Utes (2-0) held the Huskies (1-1) to 69 yards in the second half in Salt Lake City.
After a shaky first half, the Utah defense clamped down on the Huskies with an effective pass rush, an interception and a fourth-down stop.
Huntley finished 14 for 19 for 214 yards and ran for 38 yards, without a sack for second straight game.
Northern Illinois kept pace with Utah in the first two quarters with an effective mix of short passes and QB runs. Bowers had 202 yards passing to eight receivers from a variety of formations as the vaunted Utes defense couldn’t seem to predict where the each pass was going.
Last year, the Huskies kept Moss to 66 yards, his lowest rushing total of the season as Utah edged NIU, 17-6, in DeKalb.
(16) Oregon 77, Nevada 6: Justin Herbert threw for 310 yards and five touchdowns before heading to the sideline in the third quarter, and the Ducks rebounded from their season-opening loss to Auburn, routing of the Wolf Pack (1-1) in Eugene.
The Ducks have won 15 straight home openers and 24 straight over nonconference foes at Autzen Stadium. Oregon tied a school record with seven touchdown passes – caught by seven receivers. The Ducks also tied their record for points at Autzen.
Tight end Jacob Breeland caught four passes for a career-high 112 yards and a score.
True freshman Brandon Talton kicked a pair of first-half field goals for Nevada. The Wolf Pack were coming off a 34-31 victory over Purdue last week, just the team’s second win over a Big Ten program.
Colorado 34, (25) Nebraska 31 (OT): James Stefanou’s 34-yard field goal in overtime gave the Buffaloes (2-0) their first lead and Colorado beat the Cornhuskers (1-1) in Boulder, Colorado, when punter Isaac Armstrong’s 49-yard try sailed wide right.
The students stormed the field in celebration of the Buffaloes’ second straight win over their old Big 12 rival, whom they rallied to beat in the closing minutes last year in Lincoln.
The Buffaloes rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit and improved to 2-0 under coach Mel Tucker while keeping Cornhuskers’ second-year coach Scott Frost from winning his first road game.
San Diego State 23, UCLA 14: Ryan Agnew passed for 293 yards and a touchdown, Matt Araiza kicked three field goals and the Aztecs (2-0) defeated the Bruins (0-2) in Pasadena, California, marking San Diego State’s first win over UCLA.
It is San Diego State’s fifth victory over a Pac-12 team since 2016, but it was 0-21-1 against UCLA coming into the game.
Agnew completed 23 of 31 passes while Kobe Smith had seven receptions for 131 yards and a score.
The difference in the game was time of possession and turnovers. The Aztecs controlled the ball for 38:16 and scored 10 points off a pair of UCLA turnovers.