College Football Roundup, Week 1: UConn Rolls, Boston College Falls

Don't have time to catch up on the weekend's college football action in New England? SB Nation Boston presents the weekly College Football Roundup, bringing you all of the scores from the region's college football teams.

Northwestern 24, Boston College 17:  Chase Rettig threw for 375 yards on 24-of-44 passing and Andre Williams rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns, but the Boston College Eagles were defeated by the Northwestern Wildcats in the season opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, MA.

Northwestern (1-0) racked up 227 net rushing yards to BC's 104, marking the first time since October of 2009 that the Eagles' defense has allowed over 200 yards on the ground, which has been an area of specialty for the team in recent years. BC (0-1) out-passed Northwestern, 375-197, and outgained the Wildcats, 479-424, in total yards.

"They came in there, and they did what they had to do. They scored more points than we did," said Boston College third-year head coach Frank Spaziani. "I think in general, we couldn't run the ball the way we need to run the ball, and they had too many yards on the ground, [and] played defense. We made too many mistakes."

Kain Colter led the charge for Northwestern, throwing for 197 yards on 17-of-24 passing and running for 71 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Mike Trumpy rushed for 85 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries.

Connecticut 35, Fordham 3: Lyle McCombs carved up the Fordham defense, rushing for 141 yards and four touchdowns as the UConn Huskies trampled the Fordham Rams, 35-3, in the season opener at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.

McCombs lead a Huskies offensive charge that totaled 434 total yards (206 rushing, 228 passing). All four of McCombs' touchdown runs came on rushed of less than five yards, but he did have a long run of 60 yards.

"I can say I'm happy about the win," said UConn first-year coach Paul Pasqualoni. "Anytime you're playing division-one football and you get a win, you know you went out there and performed. My hat goes off to (redshirt freshman RB #43) Lyle McCombs who played very well with (senior RB #24) D.J. Shoemateout with an injury. We found out before the game that D.J. wasn't going to be able to play so we started Lyle and he really had a big day, scoring four times. I know everyone wants to hear about the Quarterbacks, and I thought we got a lot out of all three (McEntee, McCummings, and Nebrich)."

Johnny McEntee completed 8-of-12 passes for 113 yards, Michael Nebrich was 3-for-8 for 60 yards and an interception and Scott McCummings had one 55-yard pass for UConn. Byron Jones had a pick for the Huskies.

Peter Maetzold completed 12-of-25 passes for 149 yards and an interception for Fordham. Darryl Whiting ran for 21 yards on 12 carries and Brian Wetzel led the Rams' receivers with 58 yards on one catch.

UMass 24, Holy Cross 16: Jonathan Hernandez put the UMass Minutemen on his back, rushing for 156 yards on 29 carries to lead his team to a 24-16 victory over the Holy Cross Crusaders in the season opener and first ever game under the lights at Fitton Field in Worcester, MA on Thursday night.

"It's nothing you wouldn't expect from John," said UMass head coach Kevin Morris. "We want that from John, we need that from John. He's going to provide it. Some of those runs were well-blocked and some of those runs were John Hernandez runs where a three-yard gain turns into 12 [yards] somehow, someway."

UMass (1-0) jumped out to an early 14-3 lead by the second quarter and never looked back, outscoring Holy Cross10-7 in the final two quarters and sending the 15,942 fans in attendance at Fitton Field home on a sour note.

"We're very excited about coming away with a win," Morris said. "This may be the end of a long series dating back to the 1800s. We wanted to go out on top and that's been our theme all preseason and in the offseason."

Thursday night's game marked the start of UMass' last season in the CAA, as it will make the move to the MAC and the FBS level starting next season. In addition, the game was the first ever under the lights for Holy Cross, and the Minutemen did everything they could to spoil it for the Crusaders.

The Minutemen used two quarterbacks, with redshirt freshman Brandon Hill (5-for-8, 30 yards) starting the game and Bowling Green transfer Kellen Pagel (10-for-16, 104 yards, 2 TDs) finishing it. Hill struggled from the start and nearly threw two interceptions before Pagel replaced him and took most of the remaining snaps in the game.

Ryan Taggart threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns on 23-of-44 passing for Holy Cross. Reggie Woods led the Crusaders rushing game with 45 yards on nine carries. Jon Smith had four catches for 43 yards.

FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SUBDIVISION (DIVISION I-AA)

Maine 28, Bryant 13: Pushaun Brown ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries as Maine (1-0) toppled Bryant, 28-13, in the season opener for both teams at Alfond Stadium in Orono, Maine. Jordan Harris had six catchers for 75 yards for Bryant (0-1).

Toledo 58, New Hampshire 22: Kevin Decker completed 21-of-28 passes for 162 yards, a touchdown and an interception and Nico Steriti ran for 63 yards and a score on three carries, but the Wildcats (0-1) fell to the Rockets, 58-22, in the season opener for both teams on Saturday. Austin Dantin threw for 161 yards and three TDs for Toledo (1-0).

Central Connecticut State 35, Southern Connecticut State 21: Jake White threw for 74 yards and two touchdowns and also threw two interceptions as Central Connecticut State (1-0) edged Southern Connecticut State, 35-12, in Week 1 on Saturday at Arute Field in New Britain, CT. Kevin Lynch threw for 223 yards, a TD and a pick for Southern Connecticut State.

UTEP 31, Stony Brook 24 (OT): Brock Jackolski rushed for 96 yards and a score on 12 carries, but the Seawolves (0-1) fell to UTEP, 31-24, in overtime on Saturday in the season opener for both teams at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. Nick Lamaison threw for 365 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions for UTEP (1-0).

Marist 20, Sacred Heart 7: Chuckie Looney had 278 passing yards, three touchdowns and an interception as Marist (1-0) took down Sacred Heart, 20-7, in the season opener for both teams on Saturday at Campus Field in Fairfield, Connecticut. Luke Wischnowski had 136 passing yards and an interception for Sacred Heart (0-1).

DIVISION II/III

• American International 13, LIU-C.W. Post 7.
• Bowie State 28, Assumption 7.
• Bentley 50, SUNY Maritime 3.
• Western New England 28, Norwich 24.
• Merrimack 60, Worcester Polytechnic Institute 3.
• New Haven 35, West Chester 32.
• Kutztown 56, Saint Anselm 30.
• Curry 35, Stonehill 7.
• Worcester State 55, Anna Maria 30.
• Becker College 30, Fitchburg State 24.
• Endicott 33, Framingham State 13.
• Westfield State 21, Nichols 20.
• Plymouth State 28, Castleton State 20.
• Adrian College 77, Husson 7.
• Salve Regina 25, Union 22.