Ingram returns and No. 1 Alabama rolls; No. 8 Nebraska routs Washington behind Martinez

By AP
Saturday, September 18, 2010

Ingram returns, Martinez excels for Huskers

Mark Ingram immediately showed he was healthy for Alabama. Taylor Martinez proved that he could handle a hostile environment for Nebraska.

The top-ranked Tide and eighth-ranked Cornhuskers had no issues in their first road games of the season Saturday.

Heisman Trophy winner Ingram rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns in his season debut, and No. 1 Alabama routed Duke 62-13. It was the Tide’s highest-scoring game in 19 years.

Martinez, a redshirt freshman, ran for 137 yards and three touchdowns, threw for another 150 yards and a score as Nebraska overwhelmed Washington 56-21.

In Durham, N.C, the Tide drew an overflow crowd 39,042 to Wallace Wade Stadium and then quickly doused any hope of an upset for the home team.

Ingram, who missed the first two games with a knee injury, took his first carry 48 yards, surpassed the 100-yard mark two carries later and scored on rushes of 1 and 17 yards.

Greg McElroy matched a career high with three scoring passes for the Crimson Tide (3-0). Alabama led 28-0 roughly 10 minutes into the game.

With Ingram and defensive end Marcell Dareus back in the lineup, the Tide won their 17th straight to roll into the SEC opener at No. 12 Arkansas next week.

The Crimson Tide finished with their most points since scoring 62 against Tulane in 1991, and they gained 626 total yards — the first time since 1989 that they rolled up at least 600. Their 45 first-half points were their most in any half since 1973, and the offense was so efficient that it didn’t face a third down until the third quarter.

Sean Renfree was 17 of 37 for 144 yards for Duke (1-2). His 13-yard touchdown pass to Austin Kelly with 29 seconds left in the first half was the first TD of the season allowed by ‘Bama.

In Seattle, Roy Helu Jr. rushed for 110 yards including TD runs of 65 and 8 yards and the Cornhuskers gained 383 yards on the ground against the Huskies’ defense.

Nebraska (3-0) led 28-14 at halftime before Martinez took the first play of the second half 80 yards for his second score. Washington (1-2) never got closer than 14 after that. The 56 points tied the most ever allowed by Washington at home.

While Martinez was tormenting the Washington defense, Jake Locker was slogging through the worst game of his career, on a day the Huskies needed him to be Heisman-worthy to have a chance.

Locker finished 4 of 20 for 71 yards and two interceptions. He added 59 yards rushing and a touchdown.

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No. 2 Ohio State 43, Ohio 7

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Terrelle Pryor picked apart Ohio University’s defense with a school-record 16 consecutive completions Ohio State ran away from the Bobcats.

The victory over the turnover-prone Bobcats (1-2) improved Ohio State (3-0) to 41-0-1 since it last lost to another Ohio college, a 7-6 setback against Oberlin in 1921.

Pryor, who also ran for a touchdown, completed 22 of 29 passes for 235 yards and two scores with two interceptions. Dan Herron ran for two touchdowns and Ohio State’s defense had five takeaways.

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No. 4 TCU 45, Baylor 10

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Ed Wesley ran 19 times for 165 yards and two touchdowns, Andy Dalton completed 21 of 23 passes for 267 yards with two scores as TCU stretched its home winning streak to 16 games.

The Horned Frogs (3-0) scored touchdowns on their first five drives to build a 35-3 lead and had 335 of their 558 total yards by halftime.

Dalton, whose 91-percent completion rate was a single-game TCU record, hit his first 11 passes on the way to his 32nd career victory, most among active BCS quarterbacks.

Baylor (2-1) missed a chance for only its second 3-0 start since 1996. The Bears haven’t had a winning season since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996 and are 2-48 against ranked teams during that span — 0-19 vs. top-five teams.

No. 7 Oklahoma 27, Air Force 24

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — DeMarco Murray gained a total of 148 yards and scored three touchdowns to help Oklahoma hold off a late charge from Air Force’s overpowering run game.

Murray ran for a 5-yard touchdown and scored on a 17-yard screen pass in the third quarter as the Sooners (3-0) reeled off 17 straight points to pull away after Air Force (2-1) had tied it early in the second half.

That ended up being just enough to stave off the Falcons’ comeback bid.

Jared Tew and Kyle Halderman had rushing TDs in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to three, but Oklahoma was able to pick up two first downs and run out the final 3:39.

Air Force piled up 351 yards rushing against the Sooners — the most by any opponent in Bob Stoops’ 12 years as head coach.

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No. 10 Florida 31, Tennessee 17

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Mike Gillislee ran for two touchdowns and Florida beat the Volunteers for the sixth straight time.

The Gators (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) grabbed a third straight win in Knoxville for the first time in the 40-game series after failing to pull of the feat in 1990, 1998 and 2004.

For a second straight week, Florida played sluggishly early in the game and had only 94 yards of offense at halftime.

Tennessee (1-2, 0-1) tied the game at 10-10 with a 49-yard touchdown pass from Matt Simms to Denarius Moore with 8:59 in the third quarter. Simms completed 19 of 31 for two touchdowns and a pair of turnovers.

John Brantley completed 14 of 23 for 167 yards and a touchdown for Florida.

No. 11 Wisconsin 20, Arizona State 19

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s Jay Valai blocked a game-tying extra point try and the 11th-ranked Badgers held on.

Arizona State’s Cameron Marshall scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to cut Wisconsin’s lead to 20-19 with 4:09 left in the game. But Valai, a senior safety, burst through the line to block the kick.

Wisconsin’s offense then converted a critical third-and-2 play and the Badgers (3-0) ran out the clock.

John Clay rebounded from a slow start to rush for 123 yards and the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter for Wisconsin. The Badgers sustained several injuries on defense during the game — including linebacker Chris Borland, who appeared to re-injure his left shoulder.

Wisconsin’s Scott Tolzien was 19 of 25 for 246 yards and a touchdown.

Steven Threet was 21 of 33 for 211 yards for the Sun Devils (2-1) and nearly pulled off what would have been his second career comeback against the Badgers. Threet, a transfer from Michigan, led the Wolverines to a comeback victory over the Badgers in 2008.

No. 12 Arkansas 31, Georgia 24

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Ryan Mallett threw a 40-yard scoring pass to Greg Childs with 14 seconds remaining and Arkansas picked up a huge win on the road after blowing a two-touchdown lead.

The Bulldogs (1-2, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) rallied from a 24-10 deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game on Washaun Ealey’s 3-yard touchdown run with 3:55 remaining.

Georgia got the ball back with a chance to win it, but Jake Bequette halted the drive with a ferocious sack of Aaron Murray. A poor punt by Drew Butler gave Arkansas (3-0, 1-0) the ball back at its own 28 with 47 seconds left.

Mallett completed three straight passes — the last of them to Childs, who faked out a defender at the 25 and went the rest of the way untouched.

No. 18 USC 32, Minnesota 21

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Robert Woods returned a kick 97 yards for a touchdown to jumpstart USC’s sluggish offense and the 18th-ranked Trojans pulled away.

Allen Bradford rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries as the Trojans (3-0) returned to a power running game with quarterback Matt Barkley struggling.

Barkley threw for 192 yards and two touchdowns. But he also threw his first two interceptions of the year.

Adam Weber was 15 of 29 for 224 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for the Gophers (1-2).

USC trailed 14-13 with under six minutes to go in the third when Woods came through with his big return. They scored 19 straight points before a Minnesota garbage-time touchdown.

No. 20 Michigan 42, Massachusetts 37

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Denard Robinson accounted for 345 yards and three touchdowns to help No. 20 Michigan overcome its poor defense to beat Massachusetts.

Robinson was 10 of 14 for 241 yards, connected with Darryl Stonum for TDs 45 seconds apart late in the first half and had an interception. He ran 17 times for 104 yards and a score that put the Wolverines (3-0) ahead 35-17 midway through the third quarter.

The Minutemen (2-1) scored to get within five points with 2:05 left, but their onside kick went out of bounds and Michigan ran out the clock, avoiding another embarrassing upset by a Championship Subdivision team. Appalachian State won at the Big House three years ago.

No. 21 West Virginia 31, Maryland 17

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Geno Smith threw four touchdown passes, Noel Devine rushed for a season-high 131 yards and West Virginia beat Maryland.

Smith, a sophomore making his third career start, completed 19 of 29 passes for 268 yards. He had two scoring tosses apiece to sophomore Tavon Austin and redshirt freshman Stedman Bailey as West Virginia (3-0) jumped ahead 28-0 early in the third quarter.

Maryland’s Jamarr Robinson threw third-quarter TD passes of 60 and 80 yards to Torrey Smith, but the Terrapins (2-1) did little else on offense.

Maryland entered the game averaging 241 yards rushing, but was held to minus-10 on the ground. West Virginia recorded eight sacks.

No. 22 Penn State 24, Ken State 0

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Evan Royster and freshman quarterback Rob Bolden each ran for first-quarter touchdowns, and the Penn State defense capitalized on quarterback Spencer Keith’s shaky performance in a 24-0 win Saturday over Kent State.

The Nittany Lions (2-1) scored on their first two drives before the offense played uninspiring stretches to give the Golden Flashes (1-2) hope of pulling off an upset.

But the Nittany Lions intercepted Keith twice and the defense improved its pass rush a week after getting roughed up at Alabama.

Bolden finished with 217 yards passing and ran for 33 yards. Royster went over 3,000 in his career.

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