Florida quarterback Rex Grossman had 375 yards passing Saturday night as the nation's number one team, the Florida Gators, blew out four-time MAC champion Marshall 49-14.
The Thundering Herd, who were without two starters due to suspension, could not match up to the high-powered Gator offense. Marshall was forced to play in a 4-4-3 set on defense, leaving linebackers to cover the Florida receivers, a mismatch that ultimately led to big plays for the men from the swamp.
Three of Florida's touchdowns came on spectacular deep balls by Grossman. He threw passes for 27 yards, 28 yards, and 64 yards that resulted in touchdowns three through five, respectively.
Gator running back Earnest Graham scored the first two touchdowns of the game on runs of seven and six yards.
Toledo running back Chester Taylor scored four touchdowns and ran for 186 yards as the Rockets downed Minnesota Thursday night before a school record crowd of 34,950.
The Rockets, one of the preseason favorites to win the MAC championship, did not punt until the third quarter.
The Western Michigan Broncos totaled 613 yards of offense in a lopsided win over Illinois State Thursday night.
Quarterback Jeff Welsh passed for 330 yards and five touchdowns, highlighted by a 65-yard touchdown catch by Josh Bush.
Mid-American Conference play began Thursday night in Akron, Ohio with a nail-biter of a game between Akron and Ohio.
Zak Derr booted a 38-yard field goal as time expired to give Akron a 31-29 win. Derr's field goal was the answer to Ohio's Kevin Kerr's, who connected from 32 yards with 2:45 to go to give the Bobcats a 29-28 lead.
Down 21-19 at halftime, the Central Michigan Chippewas scored 16 points in a span of six minutes to pull out a 42-28 victory over Eastern Kentucky.
Eastern Kentucky's freshman running back C.J. Hudson ran for 189 yards and three touchdowns in a losing effort.
A 42-yard field goal kicked by Steve Azar as time expired gave Northern Illinois a 20-17 win over D-I independent South Florida Thursday night. Azar also hit a field goal from 37 yards to tie the game at 17 with 2:30 remaining.
The Iowa Hawkeyes put the departure of quarterback Jon Beutjer behind them long enough the dominate Kent State in a 51-0 win Saturday afternoon. Beutjer left the team earlier this week because of a July attack in his apartment by teammate Sam Aiello.
The tenth ranked team in the country, the Michigan Wolverines, scored 21 points off three interceptions in a deceptively close 31-13 win over Miami of Ohio Saturday night.
The game was the one hundredth home opener for the Wolverines, and was played before a crowd of 109,676 at Michigan Stadium.
Freshman quarterback Jason Campbell threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Robert Johnson, highlighting the Auburn Tigers 30-0 shutout of Ball State Thursday night. Campbell, the first freshman quarterback to start for Auburn in 11 years, also ran for one touchdown.
Eastern Michigan squeaked out a 16-12 home win over Southeast Missouri State behind three field goals and a five-yard touchdown run Saturday night.
The Bowling Green Falcons scored a major upset over Missouri Saturday night 20-13. The winning score came when Joe Alls tallied a two-yard touchdown run with 3:40 to play in the game.
The Falcons, who lost their three non-conference games by a combined score of 107-37 last season, will face Buffalo at home this week.
