New Mexico State- 49, Sacramento State- 19
One of three WAC teams opposing a Big Sky squad this past week, the Aggies handled theirs with ease. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Andrew Manley was offered his redshirt year last season after the Hawaii native tore his ACL in the team’s third game of the season. Manley made his return Thursday and it seemed as though he hadn’t skipped a beat, chucking three touchdowns and 367 yards off of 14 pass attempts. The Hornets fumbled twice and were intercepted once, leading to three separate Aggie touchdowns. Tiger Powell, who found the end zone twice on five carries, led NMSU’s rushing attack. Robert Clay and Germi Morrison tacked on one touchdown apiece en route to 30-plus yard rushing games. The Aggies visit Ohio University next weekend.
Utah State- 34, Southern Utah- 3
The loss of NFL draft picks Robert Turbin and Bobby Wagner hasn’t seemed to faze the Aggies…just yet. Against their Big Sky opponent, the Aggies scored a trifecta of touchdowns in the first quarter, two of them being 35 and 48-yard touchdown passes from sophomore quarterback Chuckie Keeton. Turbin’s successor, sophomore Joe Hill, compiled 113 yards on the ground while scoring three times with touchdown runs of 27 and 33 yards. The USU defense held Thunderbird quarterback Brad Sorensen to 12 of 33 and 153 yards. The Aggie rush defense held its opponent to 56 yards. Utah State hosts rival Utah on Sept. 7 for an ESPN 2 Battle of the Brothers clash.
Stanford- 20, San Jose State- 17
A battle between two Bay Area foes got interesting in the second half, when San Jose State erased a 17-3 deficit, scoring twice to tie things up at Stanford Stadium. The host Cardinal went up three with an early fourth quarter field goal and both defenses were perfect for the remainder of the game. Though the Spartan defense was fortunate to face an Andrew Luck-less Stanford team, the visitors held their own offensively. Junior quarterback David Fales went for 216 yards and threw for a third quarter touchdown. The SJSU defense held first-year Stanford quarterback Josh Nunes to 16 of 26 and 125 yards. Things may have been different if the visitors hadn’t given away two turnovers late in the second half. One of those, a Fales interception, happened with 2:21 to go in the fourth.
Texas-San Antonio- 33, South Alabama- 31
The Roadrunners were victorious in their first game as an FBS program, defeating the Jaguars, another program that recently moved up and joined the Sun Belt Conference. At Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala., the hosts scored first off of an 11-yard Demetre Baker touchdown run. But UTSA quarterback Eric Soza would throw for two first quarter touchdowns and Sean Ianna converted field goals from 47 yards and 32 yards to give the Roadrunners a 20-7 lead. The Jags struck back with two more touchdowns and a field goal, proving this one was far from over. UTSA regained the lead through a Soza TD pass and Ianna field goal, but with less than three minutes to go in the game, South Alabama quarterback C.J. Bennett found receiver Jereme Jones for a 34-yard touchdown pass. The Jaguars’ 31-30 lead held up for almost two and a half minutes when the Roadrunners drove down the field and gave Ianno a chance to end it with 16 seconds left. The sophomore slotted what would be a career-long 51-yard field goal and UTSA left Mobile 1-0.
Texas State- 30, Houston- 13
Without the NCAA’s all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns and completions, the Cougars appeared a much-weakened team in Saturday’s opener against the Bobcats. The end of the Case Keenum era meant the beginning of the David Piland era, which got off to a poor start as the sophomore was 17 of 44 with 211 yards and an interception. Texas State, on the other hand, benefited from senior running back Marcus Curry’s two rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. Curry’s 14 carries went for 131 yards and as a unit, the Bobcats racked up 444 total yards of offense. Texas State will face a much tougher opponent next week in Big 12 powerhouse Texas Tech.