East Carolina 49, GGSM{Memphis} 27

East Carolina ended their first game of the season by scoring a touchdown on their final five drives. And so Memphis could feel proud when ECU took the opening kickoff and only managed 25 yards on six plays before punting. That pride didn't last long. On their second play, Memphis fumbled. Three plays later, ECU scored a touchdown. Three plays after that, ECU returned an interception for a touchdown. Ten minutes later, another Memphis fumble set up ECU's fourth first quarter touchdown, and that was all ECU needed.

It wasn't all bad for Memphis, however. Backup quarterback Ryan Williams came in and went 18/25 and 293 yards and three touchdowns. Not too shabby. The last three quarters seemed relatively equal between the two teams, but when one team wins the first quarter 28-3, that doesn't really matter.

Kentucky 63, OSM{WKU} 28

Sept. 11, 2010--The Hilltoppers took the relatively short trip up to Lexington, and things really could not have started better. On the third play from scrimage, Bobby Rainey scampered 59 yards for a touchdown. No one could realistically expect someone to keep up a pace like that, but the junior had a great game, carrying the ball 22 times for 184 yards and two touchdowns.

However, football is a team game. The rest of WKU rushed 11 times for a total of only 3 yards. Quarterback Kawuan Jakes was only 8 of 15 for 97 yards. He had a touchdown, but he also had an interception. On the other hand freshman wide receiver Willie McNeal returned seven kickoffs for 204 yards including a 90-yard touchdown.

The real problem, though, was that McNeal had seven kickoffs to return. Kentucky had 276 yards passing and 206 yards rushing in addition to returning a punt for a 50-yard touchdown.

Nebraska 49, OSM{Western Kentucky} 10

Western Kentucky faced a tall order if they wanted to snap their 20-game losing streak, heading to Lincoln to take on Nebraska, the 8th ranked team in preseason AP poll. The Cornhusker defense stiffled the Hilltopper attack in the first half, allowing them to cross midfield only once on a penalty. The Nebraska offense started early, too, with two drives in the first 5 minutes, 20 seconds of the game.

WKU's Bobby Rainey did manage to break through for a 46-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter en route to a career high 155 yards on 30 carries, but it wasn't enough.

The Hilltoppers try to break that very unluckly streak of 28 straight losses to I-A (FBS) opponents next week at Kentucky.

Mississippi State 49, GGSM{Memphis} 7

Woohoo! College football is back again! I'm celebrating this, but the folks down in Memphis might not be.

Former Tiger running back Larry Porter made his head coaching debut for his alma mater and led his down to Starkville to take on Mississippi State. It didn't go well. The Bulldogs' backup quarterback freshman Tyler Russell completed 13 of his 16 passes for 256 yards and 4 touchdowns. It seems to me that starter Chris Relf's 7 of 9 for 116 yards and a touchdown might have been enough.

The Tigers tested two quarterbacks as well. Both starter Cannon Smith and backup Ryan Williams completed 10 passes, but Cannon's included a touchdown on their final drive, whereas two of Williams's were intercepted.

Oddly Memphis's next opponent also allowed 49 points in their opening game, but East Carolina managed to win their game by scoring 51 of their own.