Saturday's Big Ten: No. 22 Colorado beats Nebraska in home debut for Deion Sanders
Boulder, Colo. — Shedeur Sanders spent all day avoiding the rush, including from his own fans who were storming the field.
It's a moment the Colorado quarterback thought he wanted — even stayed on the field to enjoy.
“But I started getting beat up," he said with a laugh.
Sanders accounted for three scores, the defense forced four turnovers and the 22nd-ranked Buffaloes beat longtime rival Nebraska, 36-14, on Saturday in the home debut of Deion Sanders at sold-out Folsom Field.
After Coach Prime's team was the story of Week 1 with an upset of TCU, the Buffs showed it was no fluke. They even used a slightly different blueprint — one that relied on the defense early until the offense found its rhythm.
“This team,” Deion Sanders said, “hasn’t scratched the surface of what it’s capable of doing.”
Shedeur Sanders threw for 393 yards and two scores, while running for another touchdown. He capped his 6-yard romp in the fourth quarter with the dance steps his dad made famous during his playing days.
“I really think I did better than him, honestly,” the quarterback said of his shuffle.
Not so fast, his father cautioned.
“The Lord passed us when it came to dancing,” his dad said.
The Buffaloes (2-0) needed a moment to wake up given the early kickoff. But once they did, they were unstoppable. After punting on their first four drives, Shedeur Sanders and the offense scored on seven of eight possessions to turn the game into a rout. The Buffaloes outgained the Huskers (0-2) by a 454-341 margin.
“We've just got to be able to start faster and be able to lock in quicker,” Sanders said. "They (the defense) had our backs.”
The fans ran onto the field to celebrate with a second remaining. After a momentary delay, the official announced it was over and more rushed out.
“This is my first time somebody rushed the field,” he said. “It looked fun."
Then, all the contact.
“I’m telling you, stay out of it,” he said. “It was a bittersweet moment.”
The contest featured two coaches trying to turn around programs that have fallen on lean times. Deion Sanders has elevated Colorado to the point where the Buffaloes had 53,241 fans in attendance — their largest crowd in 15 years — and tickets going for roughly $400. His counterpart, Matt Rhule, is still looking for his first win at Nebraska.
“I think we’re better than we’re showing. But what does that mean? It’s just words,” Rhule said. “I told the team, ‘We’re going to get this right.’”
Xavier Weaver hauled in 10 passes for 170 yards and a score, while Jace Feely connected on three field goals.
Shedeur Sanders stayed cool despite being under constant pressure and sacked seven times. He distributed the production, just like he did in a 45-42 win at TCU last weekend.
Tar’Varish Dawson had a big afternoon, with a 30-yard touchdown catch and an 8-yard score on a reverse.
The defense held the Cornhuskers in check until Colorado's offense got revved up.
Nebraska quarterback Jeff Sims fumbled two snaps, lost another on a botched handoff and had a pass picked off. Sims also had a 57-yard run for a score that cut the deficit to 13-7 in the third quarter. But he was knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter when he had his left ankle rolled on as he scrambled to make a throw.
“I don’t think there’s any finger pointing going on," linebacker Nick Henrich said. "We've just got to keep growing together. Everyone can do something better.”
Travis Hunter, CU's versatile cornerback and receiver, rarely left the field. He finished with three catches for 73 yards, while also making four tackles. Hunter played 129 snaps at TCU.
The fans showed up early to get good seats as Folsom Field kicked off its 100th season in electric fashion. The crew for Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” was on hand, too, and welcomed Colorado royalty Kordell Stewart and Michael Westbrook to the set. Hall of Fame receivers Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders' old Cowboys teammate, and Terrell Owens also were at the game.
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▶ (At) No. 5 Ohio State 35, Youngstown State 7: Kyle McCord threw for three touchdowns in the first half, two of them to All-American Marvin Harrison Jr., and Ohio State blew past Youngstown State.
McCord, starting for the Buckeyes in his third year in the program, was 14-for-20 for 258 yards and also threw a scoring pass to Emeka Egbuka, a solid bounce-back against a lesser opponent after a shaky opener at Indiana last week.
TreVeyon Henderson rushed for a pair of scores.
Harrison was looking for a big day after only two catches for 18 yards and zero touchdowns in a lackluster offensive effort for the Buckeyes in the Week 1 win. He finished with seven catches for 160 yards — all in the first half.
▶ (At) No. 7 Penn State 63, Delaware 7: Nick Singleton ran for three touchdowns and Penn State’s defense was nearly perfect as the Nittany Lions defeated Delaware.
Kaytron Allen ran for 103 yards and a touchdown, while quarterbacks Drew Allar and Beau Pribula each scored on second-half runs for the Nittany Lions who dominated their FCS counterparts.
Penn State (2-0) scored touchdowns on its first four possessions. All of Singleton’s and Allen’s scores came inside five yards and ended long drives that wore the Blue Hens (1-1) down.
Singleton scored on a 2-yard run on the opening drive and Allen made it 14-0 with a 4-yard run. Singleton scored twice more in the second quarter before Allar hit tight end Tyler Warren with a short touchdown pass that gave Penn State a 35-7 halftime lead.
Iowa 20, (at) Iowa State 13: Jaziun Patterson rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown, Iowa's defense made a final stand in the last two minutes, and the Hawkeyes took back the CyHawk Trophy and gave Kirk Ferentz his 200th win as a Division I coach.
The Cyclones scored with 2:53 left to make it a seven-point game, and they got the ball back a minute later after forcing a three-and-out. But they turned over the ball on downs when Ethan Hurkett stuffed Cartevious Norton for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-1, and Cade McNamara took a knee twice to run out the clock.
Former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican presidential candidates showed up for the 70th meeting of the cross-state rivals. The state holds the first nominating caucus next year.
The Hawkeyes, who lost 10-7 to the Cyclones in Iowa City last year, have won seven of the last eight meetings and lead the series 47-23.
Ferentz owns a 188-115 record in 25 seasons with the Hawkeyes. His other 12 wins came at Maine.
Iowa (2-0) put together drives of 70 and 80 yards on its first two possessions, taking a 10-0 lead on Patterson’s 4-yard run.
The lead grew to 17-0 on Sebastian Castro’s 30-yard interception return for a touchdown with 4:29 left in the first half. Castro stepped in front of Rocco Becht’s pass intended for Norton and ran it in for the Hawkeyes' nation-leading 10th pick-six since 2020.
Iowa State cut the margin to 20-13 when Becht threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Higgins with 2:53 left in the game.
(At) Northwestern 38, UTEP 7: Ben Bryant threw for a touchdown and ran for one, and Northwestern used a huge second half to get its first win since a hazing and abuse scandal rocked the athletic department.
The Wildcats (1-1) scored all but seven of their points in the second half in stopping a 12-game losing streak and giving interim coach David Braun his first victory. The win was their first since last year’s opener against Nebraska in Ireland – and their first on this side of the Atlantic since beating Rutgers at Ryan Field in October 2021.
The Wildcats had lost 18 of 19. But they buried UTEP (1-2) in the second half after struggling through the first two quarters.
Bryant threw an 18-yard touchdown to Thomas Gordon on the opening drive of the third. He scored from the 1 just over two minutes later, after Xander Mueller returned an interception 28 yards to the 3.
Joseph Himon II turned a third-down screen from Ryan Hilinski into an 85-yard touchdown to make it 28-7 with just under three minutes left in the third, and just like that, the Wildcats were on their way.
With everything else going on, Northwestern sure needed this.
The school is facing more than a dozen lawsuits across multiple sports with allegations including sexual abuse of players by teammates, as well as racist comments by coaches and race-based assaults. Longtime coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired in July and replaced on an interim basis by Braun, who was hired last winter as defensive coordinator. Braun, who spent the past four years at FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, took over with no college head coaching experience.
Bryant didn’t exactly light it up after struggling in the opener at Rutgers. The Cincinnati transfer completed 11 of 17 passes for 116 yards.
Cam Porter ran for 90.
Backup quarterback Jack Lausch scored on a 6-yard run on Northwestern’s first possession after UTEP drove for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive. He also broke off a 46-yard run on a keeper in the fourth quarter, leading to a 4-yard TD for A.J. Henning that made it 35-7.
Mueller had a sack, Blake Gallagher added an interception, and the Wildcats stopped an eight-game losing streak at Ryan Field.
UTEP found itself in a rare spot as a favorite to beat a Power Five team for the first time in 56 years. But the result was a familiar one for the Miners.
Gavin Hardison threw for 192 yards and a touchdown.
Deion Hankins ran for 27 after going for a career-high 174 yards in last week’s win over Incarnate Word. And the Miners remained winless over Power Five teams since beating Mississippi in the 1967 Sun Bowl. They’re 0-37 against them since 1998.
Purdue 24, (at) Virginia Tech 17: Hudson Card threw for 248 yards and rushed for a score after a lengthy weather delay. Card’s 1-yard run with eight minutes remaining was the difference for the Boilermakers (1-1), who handed first-year coach Ryan Walters his first victory and took some of the sting out of a 39-35 defeat to Fresno State in the season opener.
The Boilermakers survived what turned out to be a long day at Lane Stadium. A thunderstorm hit the area with five minutes remaining in the first quarter, resulting in Virginia Tech officials clearing the stadium. The storm dumped more than four inches of rain and caused a 5 hour, 27-minute delay.
Virginia Tech (1-1) rallied from a 17-0 deficit, scoring 17 unanswered in the final six minutes of the first half. But the Hokies' six second-half possessions ended with four punts, a turnover, a loss of possession on downs.
Grant Wells threw for 243 yards and two scores for the Hokies, but also threw two interceptions and was sacked three times.
(At) Maryland 38, Charlotte 20: Roman Hemby ran for 153 of his 162 yards in the second half, and Maryland overcame a wretched start. The 49ers (1-1) scored two touchdowns in a 10-second span early in the first quarter – the second of which came when Maryland's Taulia Tagovailoa threw a pick-6 on his team's first offensive play. The Terrapins (2-0) mostly shut Charlotte down after that, however, and slowly took control of the game.
Down 14-9 at halftime, Maryland took the opening drive of the third quarter and went 75 yards for its first touchdown. Hemby broke free for a 40-yard run on the drive's first play, and Billy Edwards Jr. replaced Tagovailoa at quarterback for a couple big short-yardage plays.
On third-and-1 from the Charlotte 26, Edwards fumbled the snap, but Hemby picked up the ball and was able to run for the necessary distance. Then on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Edwards scored on a sneak, and Tagovailoa's pass to Tai Felton on a 2-point conversion put the Terps up 17-14.
Maryland improved to 2-0 for the eighth time in the last nine years, but it was a struggle for a while. After going three straight games without allowing a touchdown – a streak that dated to last season – the Terps yielded one 3 minutes into the game when Jairus Mack was left alone behind the defense and hauled in a 48-yard scoring pass from Jalon Jones.
After Maryland nearly fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, Tagovailoa's pass was picked off by Demetrius Knight II and returned 16 yards for a 14-0 lead.
Maryland didn't manage a first down until the final play of the first quarter, but Jack Howes kicked three field goals in the second to leave the Terps well within striking distance by halftime.
After Maryland took the lead in the third, Tagovailoa was intercepted in the end zone, but Charlotte couldn't take advantage. Then the Terrapins broke the game open in the fourth. Colby McDonald scored on a 23-yard run, and Tagovailoa connected with Kaden Prather for a 40-yard TD.
Hemby's 15-yard touchdown run made it 38-14. Charlotte's Joachim Bangda scored on a 1-yard run with 1:22 to play.
(At) Rutgers 36, Temple 7: Kyle Monangai ran for a career-high 165 yards and a touchdown. Monangai carried the ball a career-high 28 times for a 5.9 average as Rutgers (2-0, 1-0 Big Ten) defeated Temple for the seventh straight time.
Rutgers quarterback Gavin Wimsatt threw for 199 yards and a touchdown as the Scarlet Knights pounded out 458 total yards.
Temple (1-1, 1-0 AAC) quarterback E.J. Warner, the son of Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, was 20-of-45 for 214 yards, with one TD and two interceptions.
Monangai scored on a one-yard run early in the fourth quarter to give Rutgers a 19-7 lead.
Wimsatt connected with running bac k Ja'shon Benjamin on a 33-yard catch-and-run TD in the first quarter and kicker Jai Patel added field goals of 51, 43 and 23-yards. The 51-yarder tied for the seventh longest in Rutgers history.
(At) Washington State 31, No. 19 Wisconsin 22: Cameron Ward passed for 212 yards and two touchdowns and added 43 yards rushing, and Nakia Watson scored on a 1-yard run with 5:30 remaining. Ward scrambled for runs of 23 yards and 14 yards during a pivotal fourth-quarter drive to help the Cougars avoid a second-half meltdown and beat the Badgers for the second straight season. Watson capped the drive with his 1-yard plunge.
Washington State (2-0) hosted its first Power Five non-conference opponent since 1998 and played its first home game since the collapse of the Pac-12 this summer. Facing an uncertain future as a Power Five program, Washington State put on a show in the first half to race to a 24-6 lead.
It got dicey after that for the Cougars.
Wisconsin (1-1) scored 16 straight points and was driving in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead before running back Chez Mellusi fumbled near midfield.
The Badgers lost three fumbles and had little go right in the first half. Nathanial Vakos made three field goals in the first half, but Wisconsin didn't find the end zone until Mellusi's 2-yard run midway through the third quarter that cut Washington State's lead to 24-16.
Mordecai hit Skyler Bell on a 16-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter to pull Wisconsin to 24-22, but the two-point conversion attempt failed.
Mordecai was 25 of 40 for 278 yards and fumbled twice, both on sacks by Ron Stone Jr. One of the fumbles was recovered by Brennan Jackson for a touchdown in the first half.
Temple made it a one-score game, 13-7, on the first play of the fourth quarter. Warner hit wide receiver Dante Wright on a nine-yard TD pass in the middle of the end zone but Temple couldn't muster anything else as Warner threw two second half interceptions. The Owls had a prime opportunity to score in the third quarter, but a Warner pass fell incomplete in the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the three-yard line.
On the ensuing drive, Rutgers went 75 yards in 7 plays, with Monangai getting the bulk of the work, carrying six times for 57 yards.
The Owls managed only 277 yards against a stout Rutgers defense that has allowed just 14 points in its first two games.