American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco flipped the coin for the first football game in the new conference. Houston claimed the first win in the AAC by beating Temple 22-13 in Philadelphia.
The Owls jumped out to a 13-9 halftime lead but could not score in the second half.
The Houston Cougars racked up 524 yards on offense but could only punch it in for one touchdown. Kicker Richie Leone booted five field goals in the win.
Louisville had no problem with Eastern Kentucky, rolling to a 44-7 victory. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater continued the build up to his Heisman Trophy campaign with 397 passing yards and four touchdowns.
After losing by a point to Fresno State in the opener last week, Rutgers bounced back with a shutout of the Division-1 Football Championship school, Norfolk State. Scarlet Knight running back Paul James rushed for 119 yards and scored three of the team’s four rushing touchdowns.
Cincinnati had a convincing win last week against Purdue but was handled easily this week by Illinois. Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase led the second-straight Big 10 opponent for the Bearcats. Scheelhaase threw for 312 yards and four touchdowns. Cincinnati’s Munchie Legaux struggled with a touchdown and an interception. Legaux was replaced by Brandon Kay.
Bobby McCain’s 75-yard interception return for a touchdown was the lone bright spot for Memphis in their season opener against the Duke Blue Devils. McCain picked off Duke starter Anthony Boone in the second quarter to tie the game 7-7. Boone was replaced by Brandon Connette and threw two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to break a 14-14 tie.
Southern Methodist scored nine fourth-quarter points to slip past Montana State 31-30. Chase Hover kicked a 39-yard field goal and Darius Joseph caught a touchdown pass from Garrett Gilbert to complete the comeback.
Central Florida has had two games and has scored 38 points in each of them. Quarterback Blake Bortles didn’t match his first career 300-yard passing game from week one but did add one of the Knights’ four rushing touchdowns. In two games the Golden Knights have only given up seven points.
