Jason White threw three touchdown passes and Oklahoma's defense was as good as advertised as the No. 1 Sooners opened the season with a 37-3 victory over North Texas on Saturday night.
The Sooners limited North Texas to 50 yards through three quarters before the Mean Green's only scoring drive, which began against the second-stringers. Midway through the second quarter, North Texas had more penalty yards (29) than offensive yards (18) and didn't cross midfield until just before halftime.
PHOTO: AP
White went 23-of-35 for 248 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown pass to receiver Brandon Jones early in the second quarter that left a defender sprawled on the ground and gave Oklahoma a 17-0 lead.
No. 2 Ohio State 28,
No. 17 Washington 9
In Columbus, Ohio, with Craig Krenzel directing the offense and the same stout defense that won the national title, Ohio State didn't miss Maurice Clarett a bit.
Krenzel accounted for 230 yards and ran for two first-half scores as the second-ranked Buckeyes opened the season with a punishing victory over No. 17 Washington.
Clarett showed little emotion as he stood on the sideline in a red sweat suit serving the first of his multigame suspension for violating NCAA rules.
His replacements, Maurice Hall and Lydell Ross, each ran for a score in the Buckeyes' 15th straight win, the second-longest streak in school history. Hall finished with 58 yards on 15 carries and Ross had 43 on 12.
The defensive line led by Simon Fraser, Will Smith and Darrion Scott gave Cody Pickett no time to throw and held the Huskies to seven yards rushing.
No. 4 Michigan 45,
Central Michigan 7
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Chris Perry ran for a career-high 232 yards and two touchdowns as No. 4 Michigan beat Central Michigan.
The Wolverines scored three TDs in the third quarter to turn the opener for both teams into a rout after leading 17-0 at halftime.
Michigan's John Navarre was 19-of-33 passing for 245 yards with two TDs and an interception. He joined Rick Leach as the only quarterbacks in school history to start four season openers.
Terrence Jackson led Central Michigan with 104 yards on 21 carries.
No. 8 USC 23,
No. 6 Auburn 0
In Auburn, Alabama, Matt Leinart passed for 192 yards in his first start and No. 8 Southern California set up 17 points with three turnovers in a season-opening win over sixth-ranked Auburn.
The Trojans, who won the final eight games of last season, hardly seemed to miss Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer.
No. 7 Kansas St. 41, Troy St. 5
In, Kansas, Ell Roberson ran for three touchdowns and threw for 234 yards and another score as No. 7 Kansas State overcame its own mistakes to beat Troy State. Roberson was 9-for-23 with two interceptions and ran for 69 yards for the Wildcats (2-0), who lost star running back Darren Sproles to an apparent leg injury late in the first half.
No. 11 Georgia 30, Clemson 0
In Clemson, South Carolina, David Greene threw for one touchdown and ran for another as No. 11 Georgia handed Clemson its first shutout under coach Tommy Bowden.
Greene went 12-of-17 for 203 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown pass to Fred Gibson. Greene added a 3-yard touchdown run and D.J. Shockley closed the scoring with a 29-yard scoring run.
Georgia's defense held Clemson to 35 yards rushing and 199 yards of offense overall.
No. 12 Tennessee 24,
Fresno State 6
In Knoxville, Tennessee, Casey Clausen threw two touchdown passes and Jabari Davis ran 44 yards for another score as No. 12 Tennessee beat Fresno State in the season opener.
Tennessee racked up 433 yards of total offense, the most since a six-overtime win over Arkansas last October, and 274 yards rushing behind a stronger and healthy offensive line.
Cedric Houston led Tennessee with 161 yards on 19 rushes.
Fresno State's Rodney Davis had a school-record 1,586 yards rushing last season but was held to 16 yards on 13 carries.
No. 13 Florida St., 37,
North Carolina 0
In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Florida State returned to the scene of its worst regular-season loss in 16 years and had little trouble this time.
Chris Rix ran for a pair of short touchdowns and threw for another score as the 13th-ranked Seminoles built a 27-point halftime lead and cruised to a season-opening victory over North Carolina.
Rix had four turnovers in an embarrassing 41-9 loss to the Tar Heels here in 2001 _ his third career start and the program's most lopsided regular-season loss since Auburn beat the Seminoles 59-27 in 1985.
But two years later, the junior finished 17-of-26 for 232 yards as Bobby Bowden won his 333rd game while improving to 26-2 in openers at FSU.
No. 14 LSU 49, La-Monroe 7
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Matt Mauck threw three touchdown passes in a 6 1/2-minute span to lead No. 14 LSU over Louisiana-Monroe in the opener for both teams.
Mauck, who missed the final seven games of last season with torn ligaments in his foot, finished 13-for-28 for 153 yards. He was intercepted once before being replaced by Marcus Randall in the third quarter.
No. 21 Wisconsin 24,
West Virginia 17
In Morgantown, West Virginia, Anthony Davis ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 2:57 remaining as No. 21 Wisconsin rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to beat West Virginia.
Special team miscues and injuries to West Virginia's top two offensive players kept Wisconsin in the game. The Badgers' offense finally came alive behind the scrambling of quarterback Jim Sorgi and the running of Davis, who carried 30 times for 167 yards.
Sorgi was 20-of-34 for 215 yards, including a 20-yard TD pass to Lee Evans that tied the score at 17 early in the fourth quarter.
Quincy Wilson ran for two scores for West Virginia, but he left with a leg injury early in the fourth quarter and did not return. He finished with 99 yards on 24 carries.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier