ATLANTA — Tua Tagovailoa threw for 336 yards and four touchdowns Saturday as No. 2 Alabama overcame a sluggish start to blow out Duke 42-3 in a season opener.
The Crimson Tide were held scoreless in the first quarter – which happened only one time in 2018, but the Blue Devils merely delayed the inevitable.
“The goal we had in this game was to try to re-establish our identity as a team in terms of the discipline that we played with, the kind of toughness and accountability, and everybody putting the team first,” Alabama Coach Nick Saban said.
Tagovailoa put his tight ends to good use. He hooked up with Miller Forristall on a 27-yard touchdown pass, then went to Major Tennison for a 1-yard score.
(5) OHIO STATE 45, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 21: Justin Fields threw four touchdown passes and ran for a score in his first game for Ohio State in an opener at Columbus, Ohio.
Fields, the five-star transfer from Georgia, made it look easy early, engineering touchdowns on Ohio State’s first four drives. Despite some occasional rookie mistakes that caused the Buckeyes’ offense to sputter in the second and third quarters, Fields finished 18 of 25 for 234 yards and a 51-yard touchdown run.
(6) LOUISIANA STATE 55, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 3: Joe Burrow tied an LSU single-game record with five touchdown passes before halftime and the Tigers held a multi-touchdown lead for all but the first six minutes in an opener at Baton Rouge, Lousiana.
Georgia Southern will play Maine next Saturday night.
(13) WASHINGTON 47, EASTERN WASHINGTON 14: Jacob Eason threw for 349 yards and four touchdowns in his first game in nearly two years, and Washington opened with a victory at Seattle against the team that defeated Maine in the FCS semifinals last season.
Taking his first snaps since the 2017 season when he lost the starting job at Georgia to Jake Fromm, Eason showed no rust, carving up one of the top FCS programs in the country with a debut that only will increase the hype around the former No. 1 recruit in the country.
(15) PENN STATE 79, IDAHO 7: Sean Clifford completed 14 of 23 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns to lead Penn State in an opener at State College, Pennsylvania.
Making his first career start, Clifford chipped in 57 rushing yards on seven carries and hooked up with K.J. Hamler for scoring strikes of 36 and 21 yards.
(21) IOWA STATE 29, NORTHERN IOWA 26: Sheldon Croney Jr. scored from a yard out in the third overtime and Iowa State rallied in an opener at Ames, Iowa.
La’Michael Pettway had a pair of touchdown catches for the Cyclones, who barely survived the season’s first major upset after entering the year ranked for the first time since 1978.
(22) SYRACUSE 24, LIBERTY 0: Abdul Adams, Jarveon Howard and Moe Neal ran for touchdowns as Syracuse won an opener at Lynchburg, Virginia.
Still recovering from back surgery for a herniated disk on Aug. 16 and a staph infection, Liberty Coach Hugh Freeze coached from a hospital bed in the coaching box. The school said he was in communication with his coaches and players during the game.
(24) NEBRASKA 35, SOUTH ALABAMA 21: Nebraska scored two defensive touchdowns and one on special teams, bailing out a sluggish offense in an opener at Lincoln, Nebraska.
The five-touchdown favorite Huskers led 14-7 at halftime and totaled 66 yards in the second half. But their defense had five takeaways, the biggest one Eric Lee Jr.’s 38-yard interception return for a touchdown, and J.D. Spielman ran back a punt 76 yards to make it a three-touchdown game early in the third quarter.
(25) STANFORD 25, NORTHWESTERN 7: K.J. Costello threw a 2-yard touchdown pass before getting knocked out of the opener on a late hit as Stanford won at home.
Costello completed 16 of 20 passes for 152 yards and the TD pass to Michael Wilson that capped a 90-yard drive in the second quarter. But his day ended when he was hit with a forearm to the facemask while sliding on a scramble by Earnest Brown IV with two seconds remaining in the first half.
OHIO 41, RHODE ISLAND 20: Nathan Rourke accounted for 263 yards and three touchdowns and Ohio won an opener at Athens, Ohio.
Rourke completed 16 of 22 passes for 188 yards with two touchdowns. He carried 10 times for a team-high 75 yards and another touchdown as the Bobcats rushed for 278 yards.
WEST VIRGINIA 20, JAMES MADISON 13: Austin Kendall threw two second-half touchdown passes in his debut at West Virginia and the Mountaineers overcame struggles to hold on in an opener at Morgantown, West Virginia.
Kendall couldn’t generate a ton of offense under constant pressure, but the Oklahoma graduate transfer did just enough to give new coach Neal Brown a victory in his debut while preventing the Mountaineers from losing to an FCS opponent for the first time.
TOWSON 28, CITADEL 21: Shane Simpson accounted for three scores, including a 4-yard touchdown run with 1:27 left to push Towson in an opener at Charleston, South Carolina
The Cadets had just taken their only lead, 21-20 with 3:31 remaining, when Brandon Rainey tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Raleigh Webb in the back of the end zone. Tom Flacco of Towson answered on the next possession, completing three straight passes and breaking loose for a 25-yard run before Simpson scored to cap the six-play drive.
NAVY 45, HOLY CROSS 7: Nelson Smith ran for 96 yards with three touchdowns, Diego Fagot had nine tackles and Navy dominated Holy Cross in an opener at Annapolis, Maryland.
BOSTON COLLEGE 35, VIRGINIA TECH 28: Anthony Brown threw two touchdown passes and ran for another to lead Boston College in an opener at home.
WILLIAM & MARY 30, LAFAYETTE 17: Owen Wright ran for two touchdowns, William & Mary scored 24 points in the third quarter and won an opener at Williamsburg, Virginia.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T 24, ELON 21: Noel Ruiz, who missed twice earlier in the fourth quarter, drilled a 52-yard field goal as time expired, lifting North Carolina A&T in an opener at Greensboro, North Carolina.
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