CINCINNATI — Emory Jones threw five touchdown passes and ran for two more scores as Cincinnati opened its first season in the Big 12 Conference with a 66-13 rout of FCS-member Eastern Kentucky on Saturday.
Jones’ seven total touchdowns tied a career high. The Florida and Arizona State transfer threw six scores and ran for another against Samford on Nov. 13, 2021, while playing for the Gators.
Cincinnati got the ball first and first-year coach Scott Satterfield’s offense took just 3:09 to get on the board. Jones led a seven-play, 71-yard drive that ended with a 49-yard pass down the Eastern Kentucky sideline to wide receiver Xzavier Henderson for a touchdown.
Jones completed all four of his passes on the opening drive. Henderson finished the day with seven catches for a career-high 149 yards.
After a three-and-out by quarterback Parker McKinney and the Colonels on their first possession, Jones stayed hot on Cincinnati’s second drive, linking up with Dee Wiggins on a deep post for a 39-yard score.
Jones started 10-for-10 for 206 yards before throwing his first incompletion. He finishes 19 of 23 for 345 yards, his second career 300-yard passing game. He threw for 464 in that 70-52 win over Samford in 2021.
Jones added a rushing touchdown from a yard out to put Cincinnati ahead 21-0 just before the end of the first quarter.
Eastern Kentucky, a member of the United Athletic Conference, saw its next drive stall at the Cincinnati 17-yard line when Bearcats safety Bryon Threats collected his third career interception. Threats’ six-yard return set up a 54-yard run by Corey Kiner, who finished with 105 yards on 13 carries.
The Bearcats seized a commanding 28-0 lead three plays later on a 1-yard pass from Jones to Payten Singletary.
Jones evaded the rush and danced through the Colonels’ defense for the second rushing touchdown, the 16th of his career, with 7:17 to play in the first half.
The Colonels finally scored with 5:08 remainng in the first half. McKinney capped a four-play, 74-yard drive with a 17-yard pass across the middle to Hunter Brown, giving him a program-record 75 career passing touchdowns.
Jones’ sixth score of the half on a short pass to Branden Smith, who raced 48 yards to the end zone.
Eastern Kentucky’ opened the second half by fumbling on its own 20-yard line when Daniel Grzesiak sacked McKinney and recovered the loose ball. The turnover led to a 46-yard field goal for a 45-7 lead.
Jones accounted for his seventh and final score on a 6-yard pass to Aaron Turner with 2:42 left in the third frame.
Ohio 27, Long Island 10
ATHENS — Sieh Bangura rushed for 107 yards, Bryce Houston had 11 tackles, a sack and an interception, and Ohio defeated FCS-member Long Island 27-10 in the Bobcats’ home opener on Saturday.
The Bobcats (1-1) rushed for 199 yards but all three of their touchdowns came through the air. Parker Navarro completed 5 of 7 passes for 60 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. CJ Harris added 7-of-8 passing for 44 yards with one touchdown.
Houston led a defense that allowed just 206 yards — 172 passing and 34 rushing. Ohio had 303 yards of total offense.
Liberty 34, Bowling Green 24
LYNCHBURG, Va. — Kobe Singleton’s pick-6 highlighted a five-interception day by the Liberty defense, Kaidon Salter threw two touchdown passes and the Flames defeated Bowling Green 34-24 in a season opener on Saturday.
It was the 100th win for new coach Jamey Chadwell, who had four previous stops, the last at Coastal Carolina.
Singleton’s 36-yard return of a Connor Bazelak pass helped stake Liberty, which has moved to Conference USA this year, to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter. Brylan Green and Quinton Reese also intercepted Bazelak in the second quarter. Camden Orth was picked off twice in the second half by linebacker Jerome Jolly Jr. after the Falcons cut the deficit to a touchdown.
Temple 24, Akron 21
PHILADELPHIA — E.J. Warner threw two touchdown passes to Edward Saydee including a fourth-quarter toss that gave Temple its first lead and the Owls held on to defeat Akron 24-21 on Saturday in a season opener.
Temple went in front 24-21 on the second play of the fourth quarter via Warner’s 1-yard swing pass on fourth down to Saydee with Warner adding a two-point conversion toss to David Martin-Robinson. Warner’s 7-yard pass to Saydee got the Owls within 21-16 in the third quarter.
Akron’s final drive started at its own 4-yard line with 6:26 left and it ended about two minutes later on an interception by Tywan Francis near midfield.
DJ Irons and Lorenzo Lingard connected on a 77-yard touchdown play in the first minute of the game to give Akron the lead. Temple tied the game on Quincy Patterson’s 1-yard run but the Zips extended their lead to 21-7 on Tahj Bullock’s 2-yard scoring run and Irons’ 14-yard TD pass to Myles Walker with 1:37 left before the break.
Camden Price kicked a 40-yard field goal as time ran out in the first half to cut the lead to 21-10.
Illinois State 41, Dayton 0
NORMAL, Ill. — Mason Blakemore scored on a 71-yard run, Daniel Sobkowicz hauled in a 47-yard touchdown pass and Illinois State beat Dayton 41-0 in a season opener on Saturday.
Zack Annexstad completed 25 of 30 passes for 255 yards, including a perfect rainbow to Sobkowicz to make it 14-0 in the second quarter.
Blakemore burst untouched off right tackle and made it 28-9 in the middle of the second quarter. In-between Lavoise-Deontae McCoy added a defensive touchdown with a fumble recovery.
Six different running backs and Annexstad amassed 193 yards with no one carrying the ball more than five times. The Redbirds had 473 yards of total offense.
Two Dayton quarterbacks combined for 17 completions but just 106 yards. The Flyers finished with 203 yards of offense. They ran 16 more plays to average just 2.6 yards a snap.
Miami (Fla.) 38, Miami (Ohio) 3
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Tyler Van Dyke’s first pass of the year resulted in the first of four Miami Hurricanes touchdowns Friday night, and they defeated the Miami-Ohio RedHawks 38-3 in the season opener for both teams.
Coming off a shoulder injury that hindered him last season, Van Dyke connected on his first five passes. The Hurricanes’ fourth-year quarterback finished 17 of 22 with 201 yards and an interception. He said he bruised his thumb about a week ago, but it didn’t affect him much.
“Overall, I felt pretty accurate,” Van Dyke said. “The line did a good job protecting for me. I only took one hit, so happy with the performance. Happy with the win. Definitely need to clean the interception up a little bit, but gotta move on and prepare for next week.”
Brett Gabbert, who is the brother of Kansas City Chiefs backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert, completed 12 of 21 passes with 127 yards for the RedHawks.
