Freshman Jeremiah Smith caught two touchdown passes and No. 2 Ohio State overcame a sluggish start to bury Akron 52-6 in the opener for both teams Saturday.

Under new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, the Buckeyes needed nearly all of the first half to start running smoothly against the overmatched Zips.

Smith dropped the first pass thrown to him on the opening drive. The Buckeyes punted, leading to an Akron field goal.

Smith redeemed himself, however, turning around to make a slick catch in the end zone of a 16-yard pass from Kansas State transfer quarterback Will Howard for a touchdown.

Late in the first half, the much-hyped receiver from South Florida caught a 9-yard pass in the end zone with cornerback Devonte Golden-Nelson draped all over him. That put the Buckeyes up 17-3 at the half.

Howard finished 17 for 28 for 228 yards and three TDs.

No. 3 Oregon 24, Idaho 14 >>Dillon Gabriel threw for 380 yards and two touchdowns in his Oregon debut, but the third-ranked Ducks struggled in their first game as Big Ten members before holding off resilient Idaho 24-14 on Saturday night.

While the victory wasn’t as decisive as expected, Oregon extended its nonconference home winning streak to a national-best 33 games. Oregon has won 20 straight home openers.

Oregon led 14-0 at the half, but Idaho narrowed the deficit on Jack Layne’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Jake Cox. After a field goal by Oregon, Layne rushed for a 4-yard TD to make it 17-14.

Gabriel found Tez Johnson with a 12-yard scoring pass midway through the final quarter to salvage the win.

No. 8 Penn St. 34, West Virginia 12 >> For one week at least, Penn State’s new-look offense delivered.

Drew Allar threw three touchdown passes in the second quarter, Nick Singleton rushed for 114 yards and a TD, and the No. 8 Nittany Lions beat West Virginia 34-12 on Saturday in a season opener delayed for more than two hours by lightning.

Allar and Singleton were able to generate the explosive plays that were lacking from Penn State’s offense in big games late last season and led to a change in offensive coordinators.

Allar completed 11 of 17 passes for 216 yards. Wallace caught five passes for a career-high 117 yards, all in the first half. That was more than half of his yardage for the entire 2023 season.

No. 9 Michigan 30, Fresno State 10 >> Davis Warren and Alex Orji each threw a touchdown pass, Will Johnson returned an interception for a score and No. 9 Michigan started defense of its national championship with a 30-10 win over Fresno State on Saturday night.

The Wolverines (1-0) were sluggish on offense for much of the night, breaking in new quarterbacks behind a revamped offensive line and Sherrone Moore, who made his coaching debut as Jim Harbaugh’s full-time replacement.

The Bulldogs (0-1) trailed by just four points deep into the second quarter and 16-10 midway through the fourth before Michigan pulled away.

Warren, who beat out Orji to start at quarterback, threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Colston Loveland to give Michigan a 23-10 lead with 5:43 left.

Johnson picked off a pass on the ensuing possession and returned it 86 yards, making the score lopsided in a game that was close for much of the night.

No. 25 Iowa 40, Illinois St. 0 >> Cade McNamara threw three second-half touchdown passes and No. 25 Iowa cruised to a season-opening victory without coach Kirk Ferentz, pounding Illinois State 40-0 on Saturday.

Ferentz served a one-game suspension imposed by the university for a recruiting contact violation that is under investigation by the NCAA. Assistant head coach Seth Wallace ran the team in his absence. It was the first game Ferentz had missed in his 26 seasons as the Hawkeyes’ coach.

McNamara, who missed the final nine games of last season with a knee injury, threw touchdown passes of 7 and 19 yards to freshman wide receiver Reece Vander Zee. He also tossed a 31-yard TD pass to Jacob Gill to help the Hawkeyes pull away after leading 6-0 at halftime.

Maryland 50, UConn 7 >> Billy Edwards Jr. threw two touchdown passes to Tai Felton, and Maryland’s defense was as good as advertised in a 50-7 victory over UConn in a season opener on Saturday.

The big question facing the Terrapins this season is how they’ll do without Taulia Tagovailoa, who brought them some rare stability at quarterback for the last four years. Edwards, who guided Maryland to a win over Auburn in the Music City Bowl last season, started the game and completed his first seven passes. He went 20 of 27 for 311 yards and two TDs.

Felton caught seven passes for 178 yards, scoring on strikes of 18 and 75 yards from Edwards.

Purdue 49, Indiana St. 0 >> Hudson Card connected on 24 of 25 passes, including his final 17 in a row, for 273 yards and four touchdowns in leading Purdue to a 49-0 romp over Indiana State in Saturday’s season opener for both teams.

Card tied a FBS completion percentage with 96% on a minimum of 20 passes, tying Georgia’s Greyson Lambert, who was 24 of 25 against South Carolina in 2015.

Indiana 31, Florida International 7 >> Ty Son Lawton rushed for two scores in the first half, Kurtis Rourke threw for another score and the new-look Indiana Hoosiers pulled away from Florida International 31-7 in Saturday’s season opener.

Lawton carried 16 times for 74 yards in his first game with the Hoosiers (1-0). Rourke finished 15 of 24 with 180 yards in his Indiana debut, and Curt Cignetti became the first Hoosiers head coach to win his first game since 2007.

Keyone Jenkins completed 20 of 29 passes for 129 yards with one interception and hooked up with Rocky Beers for a 7-yard TD pass in the final minute of the first half for Florida International’s only score. Beers left the game with a hamstring injury after the score and was ruled out of the game in the second half.

Nebraska 40, UTEP 7 >> Dylan Raiola passed for 238 yards and two touchdowns in his college debut and Nebraska beat UTEP 40-7 Saturday for its first win in a season opener in five years.

Raiola showed poise throughout against the overmatched Miners and flashes of the flair that made him a five-star recruit and the highest-rated player to ever sign with the Cornhuskers.

Raiola had pledged to Ohio State and Georgia before he told Nebraska coach Matt Rhule in mid-December he wanted to play where his father, Dominic, was an All-America center in 2000.

He played one series in the second half and was 19 of 27 for 238 yards when he turned things over to Heinrich Haarberg.

Northwestern 13, Miami (OH) 6 >> Mike Wright led three scoring drives, Robert Fitzgerald intercepted a pass in the final minute and Northwestern won the first game in its temporary lakefront stadium, beating Miami (Ohio) 13-6 in the season opener.

Miami had the ball on the Northwestern 35 when Brett Gabbert tried to hit Reggie Virgil. Fitzgerald picked off the pass at the 25, helping the Wildcats open their second season under coach David Braun on a triumphant note.

They did it in a setting as unique as any, before a sellout crowd of 12,023 not counting the boats bobbing in the background on Lake Michigan.

Wright completed 18 of 30 passes for 178 yards after winning a preseason competition for the starting job. The Mississippi State transfer also ran for 65 yards and a touchdown.