UNC defeats TCU 15-10 in rainy Ireland
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DUBLIN (AP) -- New North Carolina quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. threw for 232 yards, Aeron Burrell kicked two field goals and the Tar Heels opened coach Bill Belichick’s second season with a 15-10 win over TCU on a rainy Saturday in Ireland for the Aer Lingus Classic.
TCU didn’t score again after going up 10-3 on its first two drives. The Horned Frogs got the ball eight more times, and were stopped on fourth-and-short deep in Tar Heels territory on their last two drives.
The 74-year-old Belichick, who won six Super Bowls coaching the New England Patriots, was 4-8 in his college debut with the Tar Heels last year. That season began with a 48-14 home loss to TCU in prime time on Labor Day.
“I’m just happy for the players. They’ve worked really hard,” Belichick said. “To have positive results back up that hard work, reinforces it. I think they’ve been believing in what we’re doing, but I think this just gives everybody a little bit more belief and we’ve just got to keep building.”
The Tar Heels ran out the final 4:05 after new TCU quarterback Jaden Craig threw an incompletion when rolling left on fourth-and-2 from the 10, when the Harvard transfer may have been able to run for a first down. Craig finished 20-of-32 passing for 175 yards.
Jeremy Payne, who ran for 142 yards, was stuffed on fourth-and-1 from the 5 on TCU’s previous drive.
“Looking back now obviously, I wish we had kicked the two field goals, but at the time, it makes sense to try,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said. “When you’re not moving the football, you’ve got to try to get the ball in the end zone.”
After Payne was stopped, the Frogs got the ball for the last time after North Carolina had a 13-play drive that ended with Burrell missing a 42-yard field goal attempt.
Payne had a 48-yard run on TCU’s opening drive and the Frogs had 111 yards on the ground by halftime. They had only 26 after halftime.
“Once we kind of got settled down a little bit on the outside runs … we kind of forced him to cut back and those guys did a good job inside,” Belichick said about his defensive front. “They hit the quarterback, they didn’t really let him step up in the pocket and throw much.”
North Carolina last season never had a halftime lead against a Power Four opponent, but went ahead 12-10 on a safety with 1:49 left in the first half of the first major college football game this season. TCU punter John Hoyet Chance kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone after the snap sailed over his head.
Edwards, a transfer from Wisconsin, completed 16 of 28 passes. Jordan Shipp had five catches for 71 yards and Jaylen McGill had the Tar Heels’ only TD, on a 9-yard run in the first quarter after they had converted a fourth-and-7.
NO. 14 USC 42, SAN JOSE STATE 26
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jayden Maiava passed for 286 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score, and No. 14 Southern California opened a season of high expectations with a 42-26 victory over San Jose State on Saturday.
Trent Mosley caught seven passes for 118 yards and a touchdown in the Orange County product’s impressive debut for the Trojans, who showcased several promising newcomers in coach Lincoln Riley’s offense. Kayden Dixon-Wyatt also caught a TD pass in his debut, while Riley Wormley and Shahn Alston rushed for their first TDs.
USC has College Football Playoff aspirations with a restocked roster around Maiava, who went 25 for 29 as the Trojans built a 35-3 lead heading into the fourth quarter at the Coliseum. Six of the 10 Trojans who caught a pass were making their USC debuts.
“Really dominated the game there through three quarters,” Riley said. “A lot of exciting ball. (Had) a lot of guys (in) their first games as Trojans make a lot of big plays out there.”
Maiava began his third season as the Trojans’ starting quarterback by rushing for a score on the opening drive. Dixon-Wyatt caught a short scoring slant in the second quarter, and 2025 breakout star King Miller rushed for a TD and a 28-0 lead right before halftime.
Spartans surge late
Hawaii transfer Weaver passed for 234 yards and threw fourth-quarter TD passes to Jerry McClure and Jordan Anderson before rushing for a late score. The Spartans’ thoroughly overhauled roster will get a boost from its strong finish to head coach Ken Niumatalolo’s third-season opener.
N. DAKOTA STATE 33, JACKSONVILLE STATE 7
FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- Nathan Hayes threw two touchdown passes to help North Dakota State roll past Jacksonville State 33-7 in the Football Bowl Subdivision debut for the Bison and season opener for both teams on Saturday.
Hayes completed 14 of 22 passes for 160 yards with one interception. Blake Schiltz recovered the ball in the end zone from an errant snap for a score for North Dakota State, and Drew Klein made field goals from 34, 44 and 42 yards.
Hayes’ 6-yard touchdown pass to Reis Kessel capped an eight-play, opening drive for the Bison. Jacksonville State answered later in the first quarter on Caden Creel’s 8-yard touchdown run. Hayes tossed a 44-yard TD pass to Jordan McCants to give the Bison a 17-7 lead heading into halftime.
Schlitz’s score made it 27-7 midway through the third quarter.
Creel was 12-of-23 passing for 85 yards and threw one interception for Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks were held to 170 yards of offense and were 2 of 10 on third-down conversions.
STANFORD 37, HAWAII 27
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- Micah Ford scored his third touchdown on a 2-yard run with 1:41 to play and Stanford rallied after nearly blowing a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter to beat Hawaii 37-27 on Saturday in the first game under new coach Tavita Pritchard.
“It’s been a theme throughout our entire early goings together through the offseason, in the spring, up until training camp is how we finished,” Pritchard said. “We finished tonight.”
Davis Warren threw for 310 yards and one touchdown in his debut for the Cardinal and engineered the game-winning drive after Hawaii had scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to turn a 23-7 deficit into a 27-23 lead.
But instead of the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in school history, the Rainbow Warriors fell just short of beating the Cardinal for the second straight year in the season opener with the final attempt at a comeback ending when Micah Alejado fumbled and Tevarua Tafiti returned it 31 yards for the game-sealing touchdown.
Warren made his first start since finishing the 2024 season at Michigan with wins over Ohio State and Alabama. He sat out last season with a knee injury and then transferred to Stanford where he won the starting job this summer.
He went 22 for 34, committed no turnovers and set a career high in yards passing. He threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Atticus Joseph and set up Ford’s first two TD runs with long passes, connecting on a 57-yarder to JonAnthony Hall and a 48-yard deep strike to freshman Zion Robinson to the Hawaii 4 on Stanford’s first drive of the second half.
He then went 5 for 5 for 58 yards on the game-winning drive.