Thursday Night's Action

There were 12 games in play Thursday night with the rescheduling of Louisiana Tech and Texas A&M to mid season. BYU, UCF, Ball State, Central Michigan, Kent State, New Mexico State, and Utah State came up winners.



BYU 30 Washington State 6-- Behind quarterback Riley Nelson’s 285 yards passing and 2 touchdowns, the BYU Cougars made quick work of the Pac 12’s Washington State Cougars 30-6 in Provo, Utah. BYU started slowly but scored 17 2nd quarter points in route to a commanding 24-6 halftime lead. BYU held Washington State to 224 total yards and -5 rushing yards on the day. The BYU defense forced two Washington State turnovers and held the ball for over 35 minutes of game action in starting the season 1-0.

UCF 56 Akron 14--Behind a 28-point explosion in the second quarter, the Central Florida Knights of Conference USA cruised to a 56-14 road win over the Akron Zips of the Mid American Conference. Quarterback Blake Bortles threw for 3 touchdown passes and three separate running backs scored touchdowns during the rout. 4 Akron turnovers gave the Knights easy drives of 27 or fewer yards resulting in 28 of the 56 total points for UCF.

UCLA 49 Rice 24--With the defense unable to stop the anyone Thursday night, the Rice Owls ran out of gas in the second half and fell to the UCLA Bruins 49-24 in the season opener in Houston, Texas. In a wild first half, the teams combined for 59 points with the Bruins leading 29-24. The second half was all Bruins as UCLA held Rice scoreless in the final two frames in pulling away to a 49-24 victory. The Bruins ended the game with 646 yards of total offense including over 300 on the ground and in the air.

Ball State 37 Eastern Michigan 26--Behind an offense that put up 596 yards, including 329 on the ground, the Ball State Cardinals beat conference foe Eastern Michigan in Muncie, Indiana. Jahwan Edwards ended the game with 200 yards on the ground for a career high and found the end zone three times on the night. The score was tied 13-13 at the half but Ball State erupted in the second half for 24 points to earn their first win of the season as well as their first conference win of the year.

CMU 38 SEMO 27--Tied 24-24 at the half with FCS foe South Eastern Missouri State, the Central Michigan Chippewas buckled down on defense and pulled away in the second half for a 38-27 in in Mount Pleasant, Michigan Thursday night. Zurlon Tipton ran for a career-high 180 yards and three touchdowns igniting an offense that put up 495 yards of total offense. The Chippewas held SEMO to only 188 yards of total offense but turned the ball over three times giving SEMO multiple chances to stay in the game.

Kent State 41 Towson 21--Behind 6 takeaways, the Kent State Golden Flashes took a commanding early lead and beat the Towson Tigers 41-21 in Kent, Ohio. The Golden Flashes were bad on offense only accumulating 267 total yards but used big plays from the defense and the kicking game to get win #1 of the season. Running back Dri Archer found the end zone three times, two on the ground and one on special teams for Kent State in the win.

UCONN 37 UMASS 0--With expectations high going into the season opener, the Massachusetts Minutemen were brought back to earth in a 37-0 thrashing at the hands of Connecticut in East Hartford Thursday night. The story of the game was the UCONN defense which held UMASS to 59 yards of total offense and only three first downs and 3-15 on third down conversions. UCONN quarterback Chandler Whitmer threw for 219 yards in the win.

Minnesota 30 UNLV 27--In an ugly game that took three overtimes to complete, the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten defeated the UNLV Rebels of the Mountain West Conference 30-27 in Las Vegas Thursday night. The Golden Gophers nearly topped 500 yards of total offense breaking 200 yards in the air and on the ground in the win. The play of running back Tim Cornett was a pleasant surprise with Cornett rushing for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns on the night.

McNeese State 27 MTSU 21--Despite a furious rally in the fourth quarter, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders fell to McNeese State of the FCS 27-21 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee Thursday night. The Blue Raider offense played well with 343 yards of total offense but turned the ball over three times in the loss. The story of the game was MTSU’s inability to stop the Cowboy rushing game which gashed the defense for 298 yards on the ground and 450 yards of total offense. The Blue Raiders cut the lead to 6 points with just over 5 minutes left in the game but were unable to complete the rally and fall to 0-1 with a conference game versus FAU coming up on September 8th.

New Mexico State 49 Sacramento State 19--The New Mexico State Aggies used an explosive offense and three forced turnovers to blow out FCS team Sacramento State in the season opener in Las Cruces, New Mexico Thursday night. The Aggies took a 28-10 lead into the half but two scores by Sacramento State cut the lead to 9 points going into the 4th quarter. The Aggies rode three 4th quarter touchdown runs to pull away in the final stanza and account for the 49-19 final margin.

Utah State 34 Southern Utah 3--The Utah State Aggies of the WAC used a 21-point first quarter and nearly 600 yards of total offense in route to a 31-point win over in state foe Southern Utah 34-3 in Logan, Utah Thursday night. Running back Joe Hill ran for 116 yards and three touchdown to supplement quarterback Chuckie Keaton’s 304 yards in the air and two touchdowns in the season opener. The Aggie defense was stifling in holding Southern Utah to 209 total yards and 12 first downs on the night.

Eastern Washington 20 Idaho 3--For the supporters attempting to keep Idaho in the FBS beyond this season Thursday night was a large step backward as the Idaho Vandals lost to FCS’ Eastern Washington 20-3 in Moscow, Idaho. The Vandal were held to 237 yards of total offense and turned the ball over twice in the loss. Led by quarterback Kyle Padron, EWU accumulated 412 yards of total offense and scored in every quarter in the 17-poin win. The Vandals face Bowling Green next week and could be facing an 0-6 start that could seal their fate in the FBS.