Brandon Wilson went end line to end zone to score a touchdown with an Oklahoma missed field goal and No. 15 Houston beat the third-ranked visiting Sooners, 33-23, Saturday, looking every bit ready to compete in the Big 12.

Regardless of whether Houston (1-0) ends up in the Big 12 if the conference expands, coach Tom Herman’s Cougars made an opening statement that could have season-long ramifications on the College Football Playoff.

Greg Ward Jr. passed for 321 yards and two TDs for Houston. Wilson provided the key play in the biggest regular-season nonconference game the Cougars have played in 25 years.

Baker Mayfield threw for 323 yards and two scores for defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma (0-1).

When Oklahoma kicker Austin Seibert’s 54-yard field goal attempt came up just short, Wilson reached up to catch the ball while barely keeping his feet in bounds. Wilson came flying out of the end zone, hit the sideline and hurdled a fallen teammate to score what went into the books as a 100-yard return. Wilson’s dash made it 26-17 Cougars with 8:28 left in the third quarter.

‘‘I thought I stepped out, but I didn't,’’ Wilson said. ‘‘I just saw the green grass and I scored.’’

‘‘I was just looking for flags,’’ Herman said. ‘‘It looked too good to be true.’’

Oklahoma called a timeout before trying the kick, which Herman said allowed Houston to set up for the return the Cougars practice about once a week.

‘‘You know you have to cover it, but the personnel on the field isn’t the best cover guys because the best cover guys wouldn’t be able to protect the field goal. So you’re in a little bit of a dilemma,’’ Sooners coach Bob Stoops said. ‘‘I don’t really second-guess. I've seen Austin make that quite a few times.’’

Alabama 52, Southern Cal 6 — True freshman Jalen Hurts threw two touchdown passes to ArDarius Stewart and ran for two more scores as the top-ranked Crimson Tide began defense of their national championship with a rout of the No. 20 Trojans in Arlington, Texas.

Stewart was wide open in the end zone behind the USC secondary when Hurts hit him for a 39-yard score midway through the second quarter that made it 7-3 and put Alabama ahead to stay.

Right after halftime, Hurts found Stewart alone near the Alabama 40 and the receiver sprinted up the right sideline untouched for a 71-yard touchdown and a 24-3 lead. USC punter Chris Tilbey bobbled the snap on the ensuing drive to set up Alabama at the Trojans 15 and lead to a 7-yard run by Hurts, who later added a 6-yard score.

The season-opening win came at AT&T Stadium — the home of the NFL’s Cowboys — where Alabama started its 2012 and 2015 national championship seasons with victories.

Wisconsin 16, LSU 14 — Rafael Gaglianone kicked a 47-yard field goal with 3:47 left, and the Badgers staved off the No. 5 Tigers’ desperate last-ditch drive in Green Bay, Wis.

LSU’s frustration was on full display at the end of the game, when offensive lineman Josh Boutte was ejected for a flagrant foul after a vicious blind-side hit on Wisconsin’s D'Cota Dixon after the safety sealed the win with an interception with 57 seconds left.

Wisconsin’s defense delivered in the clutch to back up the strong-legged Gaglianone.

LSU’s Leonard Fournette ran for 138 yards on 23 carries but limped off on his final carry, a 15-yard run with less than 2 minutes left.

Les Miles’s first loss in a season opener in his 12 years as LSU coach will surely put him back on the hot seat. He was nearly run out of Baton Rouge after a 9-3 season in 2015.

Ohio State 77, Bowling Green 10 — J.T. Barrett threw six TD passes and the No. 6 Buckeyes rolled up a school record 776 yards against the Falcons in the season opener for both schools in Columbus, Ohio.

Eight players scored TDs on offense as the Ohio State overpowered Bowling Green in front of a crowd of 107,193 at Ohio Stadium.

The 776 yards topped the 718 yards Ohio State put up against Mount Union in 1930.

Barrett also set a school record with seven TDs overall — six passing, one running. The junior was 21 for 31 for 349 yards and ran for another 30 in the hurry-up offense before giving way to backup Joe Burrow with 6:30 left in the third quarter.

Tailback Mike Weber, a redshirt freshman seeing his first playing time, bullied his way for 136 yards on 19 carries. H-back Curtis Samuel ran for two touchdowns and caught a TD pass.

Ohio State’s defense held Bowling Green to 244 total yards.

Michigan 63, Hawaii 3 — Wilton Speight threw three touchdown passes in the first half as the No. 7 Wolverines (1-0) routed the Rainbows (0-2) in Ann Arbor, Mich., for their most lopsided victory since 1975.

Speight finished 10 of 13 for 145 yards as Michigan recorded its most decisive win since beating Northwestern by 69 points four decades ago.

Freshman Chris Evans ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns. Delano Hill and Channing Stribling each returned an interception for a score.

‘‘If I was a Michigan fan, I'd be excited,’’ Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich said.

TCU 59, South Dakota State 41 — Kenny Hill accounted for five TDs, KaVontae Turpin returned a punt 81 yards for a score, and the 13th-ranked Horned Frogs pulled away late in a victory over the Jackrabbits of the FCS in Fort Worth, Texas.

Hill was 33 of 49 for 439 yards with two TD passes, ran for three scores, and converted a critical third down with a 13-yard scramble in the fourth quarter. That drive ended on a 46-yard scoring pass to Taj Williams for a 52-41 lead.

Washington 48, Rutgers 13 — Jake Browning threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns, John Ross caught two TD passes and returned a kickoff for another score, and the No. 14 Huskies (1-0) looked every bit a Top 25 team with a rout of the Scarlet Knights in Seattle.

Entering a season of lofty expectations, Washington raced to a 24-0 first-quarter lead and was never threatened by rebuilding Rutgers in its first game under coach Chris Ash.

Ross took a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown and Dante Pettis returned a punt 68 yards for a score in the third quarter. It was the third time in school history Washington had kickoff and punt return touchdowns in the same game, and first since 2001.

Texas A&M 31, UCLA 24 — Trevor Knight threw for 239 yards and a TD and ran for two more scores, including one in overtime to lead the Aggies (1-0) to a victory over the No. 16 Bruins (0-1) in College Station, Texas.

Texas A&M had a fourth and 1 from the 1 in OT when Knight waltzed into the end zone untouched for the score. The Aggies sealed the victory when Justin Evans knocked down Josh Rosen’s pass at the goal line on fourth down.

Knight, a graduate transfer from Oklahoma, outplayed Rosen. Rosen threw three interceptions while working under heavy pressure from a defense led by Myles Garrett.

Iowa 45, Miami (Ohio) 21 — Akrum Wadley ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns, LeShun Daniels added 83 yards rushing and two scores, and the No. 17 Hawkeyes defeated the Redhawks in the opener for both teams in Iowa City.

C.J. Beathard was 13 of 20 passing for 192 yards and a TD for Iowa, whose sloppy defensive play in the second half let Miami hang around.

Daniels and Wadley each scored twice in the first half, and Jerminic Smith’s 12-yard TD reception put the Hawkeyes ahead 35-7 early in the third quarter.

Billy Bahl threw for 266 yards and two TDs for Miami, which outgained Iowa 424-404.

Georgia 33, North Carolina 24 — Nick Chubb rushed for 222 yards in his return from a knee injury, including a 55-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter that clinched the 18th-ranked Bulldogs’ victory over the No. 22 Tar Heels (0-1) in Kirby Smart’s debut as Georgia coach.

Chubb scored a pair of touchdowns for Georgia, sending the largely red-clad crowd at the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game into delirium when he broke loose down the right sideline with 3:34 remaining and the Bulldogs clinging to a two-point lead over the Tar Heels.

Leaving no doubt he was fully recovered from a horrific knee injury that looked like it might be career-threatening, Chubb carried a staggering 32 times and was every bit as dominating as the Heisman-touted back he was before.

Oklahoma State 61, SE Louisiana 7 — Jhajuan Seales caught two TD passes, helping the No. 21 Cowboys open the season with a rout in Oklahoma City.

Seales finished with three catches for 61 yards. Barry J. Sanders compiled 76 all-purpose yards and scored a touchdown. Sanders, whose father, Barry, won the Heisman Trophy for Oklahoma State in 1988, is a graduate transfer who played for Stanford last season. The younger Sanders scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter and nearly scored again later in the quarter. He was stopped at the 1-yard line after weaving through the Lions for a 57-yard punt return.

Mason Rudolph completed 18 of 26 passes for 188 yards and two TDs for Oklahoma. Kaelyn Henderson ran 13 times for 68 yards and a TD for Southeastern Louisiana (0-1).

Oregon 53, UC Davis 28 — Dakota Prukop threw for 271 yards and three TDs in his Oregon debut and the No. 24 Ducks overcame a rocky start to beat the Aggies in the opener for both teams in Eugene, Ore.

Prukop, a graduate transfer from Montana State, completed 21 of 30 passes for the Ducks, while also scoring on a 1-yard keeper.

Royce Freeman rushed for 87 yards and two scores, and Darren Carrington caught seven passes for 117 yards and a touchdown. Ben Scott was 27 of 47 for 303 yards and had a touchdown run for UC Davis.

Holy Cross 51, Morgan State 24 — Peter Pujals passed for three TDs and 240 yards as the Crusaders pulled away from the Bears in the opener for both teams in Baltimore.

Morgan State stuck around for a while — the Bears led 17-14 midway through the second quarter on Orlando Johnson’s 1-yard touchdown dive, his second TD of the game.

But Holy Cross benefited from a poor snap that ended as a safety and after the two-pointer, the Crusaders travelled 67 yards in nine plays, culminating with Diquan Walker’s 3-yard plunge. On the ensuing drive, Morgan State was stopped on fourth-and-14 on a sack at the Bears 42 with 1:21 left in the half. Pujals then led a quick scoring drive, hitting Teddy Capsis from the 3 with 18 seconds to go.

Two Holy Cross third-quarter TDs — a 12-yard run by Gabe Guild and Pujals’s 12-yard toss to Lucas Nikolaisen — put it out of reach. Guild and Diquan Walker both rushed for two touchdowns.

Kansas 55, Rhode Island 6 —Montell Cozart threw three touchdown passes as the Jayhawks gave second-year coach David Beaty his first victory by routing the Rams in the opener for both teams. Kansas went 0-12 last season.