Iowa, Tennessee, Texas roll; Nittany Lions top Mountaineers

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Cade McNamara threw three second-half touchdown passes and the No. 25 Hawkeyes cruised to a 40-0 season-opening victory over Illinois without coach Kirk Ferentz.

Ferentz served a one-game suspension imposed by the university for a recruiting contact violation that is under investigation by the NCAA. Assistant coach Seth Wallace ran the team in his absence. It was the first game Ferentz had missed in his 26 seasons as the Hawkeyes’ coach.

McNamara, who missed the final nine games of last season with a knee injury, threw touchdown passes of 7 and 19 yards to freshman wide receiver Reece Vander Zee. He also tossed a 31-yard TD pass to Jacob Gill to help the Hawkeyes pull away after leading 6-0 at halftime.

Kaleb Johnson rushed for 119 yards, including touchdown runs of 64 and 18 yards in the fourth quarter.

TENNESSEE 69, CHATTANOOGA 3

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Nico Iamaleava threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns — all in the first half — in his first regular-season start to lead the 15th-ranked Volunteers to a victory over Chattanooga.

Dylan Sampson rushed for 124 yards and three scores in the first half as the Volunteers had an easy opener against an in-state FCS foe. Chattanooga, ranked eighth in the FCS preseason poll, didn’t cross into Tennessee territory until its first drive of the second half.

Tennessee dominated both sides of the ball in the first half and built a 45-0 lead. The Vols put up 490 yards of total offense and the Mocs didn’t get past their own 47.

PENN ST. 34, WEST VIRGINIA 12

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Drew Allar threw three touchdown passes in the second quarter, Nick Singleton rushed for 114 yards and a TD, and No. 8 Penn State beat West Virginia in a season opener delayed for more than two hours by lightning.

Allar and Singleton were able to generate the explosive plays that were lacking from Penn State’s offense in big games late last season and led to a change in offensive coordinators.

Allar threw a 50-yard TD pass to Harrison Wallace and found Kaytron Allen from 20 yards out on the next series.

Just before halftime, Allar caught the Mountaineers off guard with a quick snap count instead of running out the clock from deep in his own territory. He threw to a wide-open Omari Evans for 55 yards and found Wallace in the corner of the end zone on the next play from 18 yards out for a 20-6 halftime lead.

Allar completed 11 of 17 passes for 216 yards. Wallace caught five passes for a career-high 117 yards, all in the first half. That was more than half of his yardage production for the entire 2023 season.

TEXAS 52, COLO. ST. 0

AUSTIN, Texas — Quinn Ewers passed for 260 yards and three touchdowns and No. 4 Texas rolled past Colorado State in the opener for both teams.

Ewers connected with Matthew Golden for a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, and had another strike to Isaiah Bond as the Longhorns built a 31-0 lead by halftime.

A big question for Texas heading into this season was just how quickly Ewers and Texas would find their rhythm in a passing attack that lost the top five receivers from the 2023 Big 12 championship team. Texas joined the Southeastern Conference this year.

OHIO ST. 52, AKRON 0

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Freshman Jeremiah Smith caught two touchdown passes and No. 2 Ohio State overcame a sluggish start to bury Akron in the opener for both teams.

Under new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, the Buckeyes needed nearly all of the first half to start running smoothly against the overmatched Zips.

Smith dropped the first pass thrown to him on the opening drive. The Buckeyes punted, leading to an Akron field goal.

Smith redeemed himself, however, turning around to make a slick catch in the end zone of a 16-yard pass from Kansas State transfer quarterback Will Howard for a touchdown.

MIAMI 41, FLORIDA 17

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Cam Ward threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns — looking cool, calm and collected on a sweltering Saturday in the Swamp — and No. 19 Miami dominated Florida to give coach Mario Cristobal a signature victory to start his third season at his alma mater.

The Hurricanes controlled both lines of scrimmage and never trailed in the renewal of a once-heated rivalry. The latest iteration was a one-sided beatdown, the kind that sent Florida fans scurrying for the exits in the third quarter and raised speculation about coach Billy Napier’s job security.

Napier fell to 11-15 in Gainesville, including 2-10 against ranked opponents and 1-8 against rivals Miami, Florida State, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee. The Gators lost their sixth consecutive game overall and witnessed the end of their 33-game winning streak in home openers.