This was originally titled the “early games wrap-up.”
With all of the weather delays that wound up affecting games along the east coast, I’m not sure we can really call it that, but I suppose we can leave it.
How about the “games that originally started early in the day wrap-up?”
Utah 20, Baylor 13: This game at Waco was, without question, the game of the day of the games that began earlier, maybe the game of the day, period.
But the officiating at the very end might have marred it. At least, just a bit.
Baylor trailed 20-13 in the game’s final moments, but managed to scare the heck out of Utah, who had actually just scored with 17 seconds left to break a 13-all tie.
Trying to catch Utah in the game’s final moments, Bears quarterback Sawyer Robertson and Hal Presley hooked up for a 47-yard pass play – Presley got loose from Utah coverage, behind the defenders and out of bounds for what appeared to be a second left on the game clock.
The time on TV expired, but officials looked at replay, and Presley did get out with a second left. Baylor had one more play, at Utah’s 22-yard-line.
On the final snap of the game, Robertson threw the ball into the end zone to teammate Ketron Jackson Jr., who leapt for the ball with Utah’s Miles Battle. Battle was all over Jackson, but a pass interference flag did not come, and the Utes had won the contest.
They did so without starting quarterback Cam Rising, who missed his second game of the season after being injured in last year’s Rose Bowl.
Instead, Utah played two quarterbacks, and almost didn’t escape Waco with the victory.
The Utes got a 7-yard run from quarterback Nate Johnson to tie the game at 13 with 1:59 left, and then an interception by Cole Bishop of Baylor’s Robertson on the next Bears’ drive.
Jaylon Glover got the go-ahead score for Utah, an 11-yard run, but didn’t do so as fast as he could: Glover got free from the Baylor defense, who appeared to be willing to let him go to conserve time for their offense, and then Glover ran parallel with the goal line for a couple of seconds to take even more time off the clock before going in with 17 seconds left.
After that was when Baylor’s Robertson and the offense pulled their near-comeback that fell short.
Utah finished with 213 rushing yards, and had 72 total offensive plays to Baylor’s 54. The teams averaged almost virtually the same yards per play: 5.1 for Utah, 5.3 for Baylor.
Robertson, a replacement for the injured Blake Shapen, went 12-of-28 for 218 yards and two interceptions. Dominic Richardson was Baylor’s leading rusher, with 77 yards on 14 carries.
Presley caught four passes for 72 yards.
Matt Jones had nine tackles for the Bears’ defense. T.J. Franklin, Trey Wilson and Gabe Hall each had a sack for the Bears.
For Utah, Johnson was 6-of-7 for 82 yards and the rushing touchdown. Bryson Barnes went 6-of-19 for 71 yards. Ja’Quinden Jackson had 129 yards rushing on 19 carries. Mikey Matthews had four catches for 48 yards to lead Utah.
Sione Vaki had eight tackles for the Utes. Zemaiah Vaughn and Cole Bishop each had an interception.
Baylor (0-2) hosts Long Island, oddly enough, next Saturday night at 6 p.m. Utah (2-0) will host Weber State, a 1 p.m. kickoff.
In the rest of the games that started early, No. 1 Georgia blasted Ball State, 45-3; No. 5 Ohio State did the same to Youngstown State, 35-7; Penn State, ranked seventh, laid it on Delaware, 63-7; after a thunderstorm delay, No. 10 Notre Dame held off North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C., 45-24; No. 15 Kansas State hosted Troy and won big, 42-13; Colorado, now ranked No. 22, beat Nebraska by 22, 36-14, to drop coach Matt Rhule to 0-2 in his first year as the head coach of the Cornhuskers; Vanderbilt went to Wake Forest and came home with a 36-20 loss; Army shut out Delaware State, 57-0; and James Madison edged Virginia, 36-35.
Some of the more interesting happenings from those games:
Georgia 45, Ball State 3: New Bulldogs’ starter Carson Beck completed 23-of-30 passes for 283 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Georgia’s defense had three interceptions, and Mekhi Mews had a 69-yard punt return for a score after opening the game with a 47-yard kick return.
Ball State (0-2) hosts Indiana State next Saturday; Georgia hosts its third straight home game to start the season, and plays its Southeastern Conference opener, welcoming coach Shane Beamer and the South Carolina Gamecocks to town on Saturday.
Notre Dame 45, North Carolina State 24: The Irish got four touchdown passes from Sam Hartman and moved to 2-0 Saturday with a weather-delayed win over the Wolfpack.
Audric Estime jump-started everyone after the delay with an 80-yard touchdown on the first play afterward, and the Wolfpack never recovered.
Hartman was 15-of-24 for 286 yards and the four scores. Holden Staes had four catches for 115 yards and a 40-yard touchdown catch.
Estime ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.
It was the Irish’s 29th straight win over an ACC team in the regular season.
For NC State, quarterback Brennan Armstrong was 22-of-47 for 260 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 26 yards and another touchdown, but also threw three interceptions.
VMI will visit NC State (1-1) next Saturday. Notre Dame will host Central Michigan.
Colorado 36, Nebraska 14: Two games to begin the season, both on the road for the Cornhuskers, and neither with a good trip home afterward.
But boy, does Colorado seem to have the nation’s attention.
Quarterback Shedeur Sanders was big again, going 31-of-42 for 393 yards and two touchdowns. Xavier Weaver had 10 catches for 170 yards and a score. Travis Hunter, the defensive back who doubles as a receiver, had three catches for 73 yards. And Tar’Varish Dawson had three catches for 41 yards and Sanders’ other touchdown pass.
The Buffaloes only rushed for 58 yards as a team, however.
Nebraska put the ball on the ground four times – four fumbles – and lost three of them. Quarterback Jeff Sims also threw an interception and was only 9-of-15 for 106 yards, and no touchdowns. Heinrich Haarberg was 2-of-6 for 13 yards and a score (to Sims) and Chubba Purdy threw one pass that was incomplete.
Defensively, Colorado had two sacks and six tackles for loss.
Up next for the Cornhuskers (0-2): Finally, a home game. It’ll be against Northern Illinois next Saturday night on Fox Sports 1. Colorado (2-0) will host Colorado State next Saturday evening on ESPN.
Clemson 66, Charleston Southern 17: A week after losing in sort of embarrassing fashion at Duke, Clemson didn’t exactly set the world on fire in the first half against Charleston Southern.
The Tigers looked sluggish, for sure, and led just 24-17 at the break.
But they turned it on in the second half.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik finished 28-of-37 for 315 yards, four touchdowns and an interception, and even though he only threw for 48 yards, Hunter Helms came on and went 5-of-5.
Beaux Collins had seven catches for 137 yards and a score; Antonio Williams had five for 64 yards and two scores; and Josh Sapp had a 25-yard touchdown catch.
The Tigers as a team ran for 274 yards and three touchdowns, and Phil Mafah had two TDs.
Defensively, Wade Woodaz had an interception return for a touchdown (from 35 yards out), and Clemson had two sacks, to go with 10 tackles for loss.
Leon Thomas had an interception return for a TD for Southern (67 yards), but offensively, Southern was held to just 12 yards rushing in just a very good performance by Clemson’s defense.
Next up: Clemson will host Florida Atlantic next Saturday night, and Charleston Southern hosts William & Mary. No word if Steve and Jan will also be on the team.
