The Associated Press
HATTIESBURG – Austin Davis scored five rushing touchdowns and threw another score to lead Southern Mississippi to an easy 70-14 victory over Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday night.

The Golden Eagles, (3-6, 2-4 Conference USA) snapped a five-game losing streak, which was their longest in 32 years. Southern Miss has never lost to UAB in nine all-time meetings.

The Blazers (2-7, 1-4) have lost four of their last five games.

Southern Miss scored the most points since beating Cal-State Fullerton 70-0 in 1975.

Davis, along with running backs Damion Fletcher and Tory Harrison, led a Southern Miss offense with 49 first half points — setting a new team record.

Davis scored on runs of 10, 8, 23 and 1 yards in the first half, and also hit De’Andre Brown on a 60 yard touchdown pass.

He then added a 4-yard scoring run just over one minute into the third quarter, giving the Golden Eagles a 56-7 lead and breaking a Southern Miss record for the most touchdowns by a player in one game.

His scoring pass gave the redshirt freshman 16 touchdown passes on the season, breaking the old Southern Miss freshman mark set by Brett Favre in 1997.

Harrison, who replaced the starter Fletcher, also scored on a pair of 1-yard runs in the first half, as the Golden Eagles took a 49-7 lead at halftime. He added a 69-yard scoring run in the third quarter, and finished with a game high 137 yards on 20 carries.

Fletcher ran for 86 yards on just three carries early in the game, including a career long 69 yarder, before being sidelined by a leg injury. His rushing total put him over the 1,000 yard mark for the season, and also allowed the junior to become the only player in school history to rush for over 4,000 yards in a career.

The Golden Eagles tied a team record with nine rushing touchdowns in the game.

Mississippi State wide receiver Brandon McRae (6) hauls in a 29-yard first quarter touchdown reception against Kentucky Saturday. (AP Photo/Will Smith)

Freshman QB Cobb leads Kentucky to 14-13 victory

STARKVILLE – The Kentucky Wildcats had multiple opportunities to lose Saturday’s 14-13 victory over Mississippi State.

The Bulldogs (3-6, 1-4 Southeastern Conference) missed an extra point that would have tied the game, a 27-yard field goal, failed to convert a fourth down, and threw an interception — all in the fourth quarter.

But the Wildcats (6-3, 2-3), who are 11-5 over the last three seasons in games decided by 10 points or less, never lost its focus and left Starkville with its sixth win of the season.

“The one thing I am proud very proud of about this team is the effort, guts and the determination that it takes to find a way to win on the road in this league,” head coach Rich Brooks said.

The win gives Brooks’ program, which beat Florida State in the Music City Bowl last season, its second straight bowl-eligible season. Mississippi State will have to win three straight games to make its second-straight bowl appearance.

After last year’s breakthrough 8-5 performance under coach Sylvester Croom, the Bulldogs have broken down this season with an anemic offense that has trouble to going anywhere. Kentucky held a run-first Mississippi State team to 43 yards and sacked Tyson Lee four times.

UK freshman Randall Cobb, the team’s go-to receiver who replaced Mike Hartline as starter after Kentucky’s embarrassing 63-5 loss to Florida last week, completed 7 of 13 passes for 56 yards and an interception, but did just enough to make the defensive effort stand up.

Hartline and Cobb alternated possessions under center, and Hartline finished 9 for 17 with 90 yards. Kentucky generated 274 total yards, which was just enough to win.

“Getting our sixth win doesn’t mean that we are necessarly in a bowl,” Brooks said. “But getting that sixth win puts us closer to doing some better things.”

In his first start, Cobb scored on a 5-yard touchdown run on the Wildcats’ opening drive of the second half, and then hit Maurice Grinter with a 3-yard touchdown pass later in the third to rally his team from a 7-0 halftime deficit to a 14-7 lead. Cobb finished the game 7 for 13 for 56 yards and one interception.

“I thought he handled everything better, but what made it easier is that we ran the ball better,” Brooks said.

Mississippi State recovered Alfonso Smith’s fumble late in the third quarter to set up Lee’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Arnil Stallworth. It looked as if the Bulldogs might tie the game, but freshman Matt Roark blocked his second extra point of the season, preserving the lead.

After Adam Carlson missed a 27-yard field goal with seven minutes left, the Wildcats picked off MSU’s Tyson Lee with a minute left to end a final rally.

“A missed extra point and a missed field goal in a close ballgame like we were just a part of are just unacceptable,” Croom said.

“It hurts,” wide receiver Brandon McRae said. “It’s like a punch to the gut.”

The Bulldogs scored the only points of the first half on a 29-yard pass from Lee to McRae with seven minutes left in the first quarter.

McRae had a game-high 73 yards on six receptions. Lee finished 26 of 42 for 261 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Alabama running back Mark Ingram (22) flips over Ole Miss defensive back Brandon Sanders (14) for a first down during the first half in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

By JOHN ZENOR
AP Sports Writer

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – John Parker Wilson threw for a season-high 219 yards and a pair of touchdowns and No. 2 Alabama made a late defensive stand to hold off Mississippi for a 24-20 victory Saturday.

The Crimson Tide stopped the Rebels on fourth-and-5 from its 43-yard line in the final minute, when Jevan Snead’s pass to Dexter McCluster fell incomplete. He was well covered by Javier Arenas.

Alabama (7-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) scored 24 consecutive points after falling behind for the first time, 3-0, and allowing its first points in an opening quarter. Then Ole Miss answered 17 straight points and closed to within 24-20 on Joshua Shene’s 35-yard field goal with 6:09 left.

By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer

NEW YORK – Another Clemson flop. A banged up Beanie. Sputtering spreads from Ann Arbor to Seattle.

The first college football Saturday was one to forget for the Atlantic Coast Conference and the first truly memorable day of the Nick Saban-era at Alabama.

Here’s what we learned:

The Big Story

Oh, Clemson. How you Tigers love to tease.

This was the supposed to be the season, right. The one when Tommy Bowden’s Clemson Tigers — with their fancy Thunder and Lightning tailbacks (James Davis and C.J. Spiller), their ACC preseason player of the year (QB Cullen Harper) and their scary freshman pass rusher (Da’Quan Bowers) — would put it all together and make a run at the national title.

Well, Clemson’s national championship hopes got shelved before the white shoes went into storage for the winter.

The ninth-ranked Tigers got pushed around by No. 24 Alabama, 34-10.

Clemson fans have learned to expect disappointment, especially during Bowden’s schizophrenic 10-year tenure. So many times the planets appear to be aligning for Clemson, right before the world comes crashing down on Howard’s Rock.

So Clemson’s season can now go two ways.

There’s an Atlantic Coast Conference title still out there for the Tigers taking. If Clemson’s preparing for the Orange Bowl with an 12-1 record in December, the debacle in the Georgia Dome will be spun by the Tigers as a rallying point.

Or somewhere along the road to their first ACC title game, maybe after winning six or seven straight games and getting their fans’ hopes up again, the Tigers will stumble and even that dream will fade away.

Given the history, and what went on Saturday night in Atlanta, which one of these scenarios seems more likely?

Ouch!

- Missouri’s Jeremy Maclin twisted his ankle in the Tigers’ 52-42 victory over Illinois. Before the injury, Maclin returned a kick 99 yards for a touchdown and had a 45-yard punt return. Coach Gary Pinkel didn’t seem too worried about his do-it-all receiver. If Maclin needs time to heal, he can rest while the Tigers play Southeast Missouri, Nevada and Buffalo over the next three weeks.

- Ohio State’s Chris “Beanie” Wells went down with a foot injury in a 43-0 win over Youngstown State. Ohio State is still in wait-and-see mode, but Wells doesn’t have as much time as Maclin to heal. Up this week for the Buckeyes is Ohio. The next week it’s off to USC.
Making a statement

- Roll Tide! The $4 million man is going to be a factor in the Southeastern Conference race sooner rather than later. Coach Nick Saban’s crew is probably too inexperienced to win the Western Division this year, but rest assured Clemson will not be the only team Alabama upsets this season.

- Mark Sanchez: college football’s next superstar. One good game against Virginia won’t win anybody a Heisman Trophy (especially this Virginia team), but Sanchez reminded everyone why coming out of high school he was being compared to John Elway by slicing up the Cavaliers for 338 yards and three TDs.
Spread’ em

- From the department of square pegs and round holes, we present Michigan’s offense. The first result of the Rich Rodriguez-era was a 25-23 loss to Utah. The spread slogged its way to 203 yards. Sure it was ugly, but please remember that the Wolverines lost Chad Henne, Mike Hart, Mario Manningham and Jake Long to the NFL. No matter who was coaching them, no matter what offense they were running, 2008 was going to be a reloading year for Michigan.

- Michigan’s wasn’t the only sluggish spread on opening day. Auburn’s passed for 85 yards out of it’s new scheme. “We stink, and it’s my fault,” Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin said. Of course the Tigers ran for 321 yards while shutting out Louisiana-Monroe 34-0. Washington State wasn’t so lucky with its spread in coach Paul Wulff’s debut. The Cougars managed 196 yards in a 39-13 loss to Oklahoma State.

Worst debut for new coach
Arkansas State 18, Mike Sherman’s Texas A&M Aggies 14. “Am I discouraged? No, I’m not discouraged,” Sherman said. “But I am disappointed. I expected to win at home.”

Second-worst debut for new coach
Bobby Petrino’s Arkansas Razorbacks needed a late rally to beat Western Illinois, 28-24. “Whoo,” Petrino said. “That was a lot closer than we anticipated.” No doubt there were a lot of Leathernecks fans in Louisville and Atlanta.

And another thing about Clemson
The Tigers’ loss was another gut shot to the ACC, following Virginia Tech’s 27-22 loss to East Carolina earlier in the day. The ACC’s national reputation is abysmal right now, which is why, even if Clemson goes undefeated in the ACC, it’s not going to erase the memory of 34-10 Alabama in the minds of poll voters.

Heisman-worthy performances
- Shun White, Navy, rushed for a school-record 348 yards on just 19 carries (18.3 per carry) in a 41-13 victory over Towson. White smashed Eddie Meyers’ record of 298 set in 1981 against Syracuse.

- Damion Fletcher, Southern Miss, ran for 222 yards and two touchdowns and the Eagles gave coach Larry Fedora a victory in his debut, 51-21 over Louisiana-Lafayette.

Say what?
Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt elected to punt from the Bowling Green 35 and 34 early in what turned out to be a disappointing 27-17 loss for the No. 25 Panthers, who entered the season as a trendy pick for a breakout year.

The conservative play calling didn’t seem to go over well with Pitt star LeSean McCoy.

“It would have been nice to get a touchdown but, you know, we follow the leader,” McCoy said.

What’s next?

The week before the best week of the season has few intriguing matchups, but the best should be in Gainesville, Fla., where Miami will get to see how its rebuilding is going against Tim Tebow and the No. 5 Florida Gators. If the Hurricanes can stay within three touchdowns, they should be encouraged.

***

Ralph D. Russo covers college football for The Associated Press. Write to him at rrusso@ap.org.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Duke and James Madison were warming up prior to kickoff when two men unexpectedly parachuted into Wallace Wade Stadium with the game ball.

The men didn’t hit any of the players on the field. They just hit the wrong field.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that the parachutists were supposed to land at North Carolina’s season-opening game, eight miles away.

UNC assistant athletic director Michael Beale said the jumpers from Virginia-based Aerial Adventures canceled the leap into Kenan Stadium because of bad weather.

When the weather cleared, the pilot saw a stadium and the skydivers jumped. It was when they landed that they realized they missed their mark. The two men scrambled off the field with the game ball, and UNC associate athletic director Rick Steinbacher called Duke officials to apologize.

***

Information from: The News & Observer

Game in Fulton will be moved back to 6 p.m. Saturday due to Hurricane Gustav.

Click here for the game thread at MSU-La. Tech.

Click here for updates from Ole Miss-Memphis.

Check out the scores all day here with the ESPN COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD.

You may not agree on which team to cheer for, but it is easy to agree that it is great for college football to be back! Ole Miss and Mississippi State swing into action today.

Blogs, blogs and blogs …
- Parrish Alford blogs from the Memphis-Ole Miss game.

- Brad Locke blogs from the Mississippi State at La. Tech game .

From today’s Daily Journal …
- Click here for Brad Locke’s preview of MSU at La. Tech.

- Click here for Parrish Alford’s look at Memphis at Ole Miss.

There is a new coach at USM, too …

Louisiana-Lafayette out to spoil Fedora’s debut
By CHRIS TALBOTT
The Associated Press

JACKSON – Forget New Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora’s search for a quarterback. If the Golden Eagles are going to win in the coach’s debut, it’ll be his successful search for four new defensive linemen that brings victory.

The school is set to open a new stadium expansion and fans bought a record number of season tickets in anticipation of Fedora’s first win. But if the Golden Eagles can’t stop Tyrell Fenroy and a Louisiana-Lafayette rushing attack that was seventh in the nation last season, it won’t matter who runs his high-octane offense.

“We’ve got four guys on defense basically that have played,” Fedora said. “And just a couple more on offense. You don’t know how those guys are going to react when you have to adjust.”

Fedora replaces longtime coach Jeff Bower, who guided the Golden Eagles to 14 straight winning seasons. If the former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator wants to continue that winning streak, he’ll need fill several gaps left by departed players.

And check out GameDay in today’s Daily Journal newspaper!