No. 23 Boise State holds off Washington, 16-13

Jeremy McNichols rushed for 89 yards and two first-half touchdowns, and No. 23 Boise State withstood a second half filled with special teams mistakes for a 16-13 victory over Washington on Friday night in Chris Petersen’s return to the school he helped grow into a national power.

Boise State (1-0) dominated the first half in building a 16-0 lead and looking like it would make Petersen’s return a miserable memory. But Washington’s defense stymied the Broncos in the second half and three big plays on special teams — including Dante Pettis’ 76-yard punt return for a touchdown — gave Washington a chance.

Washington freshman quarterback Jake Browning nearly pulled off a late rally to make Petersen a winner. Starting at Washington’s 35 with 1:59 left, Browning drove the Huskies (0-1) into field goal range. But Cameron Van Winkle’s 46-yard field goal attempt with 21 seconds left was wide right. Van Winkle had hit from 40 and 28 yards earlier in the game.

No. 4 Baylor 56, at Southern Methodist 21: Seth Russell threw for 376 yards and five touchdowns and also ran for a score to help the Bears win their season opener.

SMU played its first game for new Coach Chad Morris, Clemson’s offensive coordinator the past four seasons. The Mustangs, who scored only 12 total points their first four games last season with a 45-0 loss at Baylor, had 21 points in the first 11/2 quarters, but couldn’t keep up with the Bears, who had 723 total yards.

Dual-threat quarterback Matt Davis had 166 yards passing and 115 rushing for SMU. But he was sacked on the final play of the first half with the Mustangs at the 3 and down only 28-21.

No. 5 Michigan State 37, at Western Michigan 24: Madre London ran for two touchdowns in the first several minutes of his college career to help the Spartans build a big lead they needed to hold off Western Michigan.

The Spartans (1-0) had a 27-7 lead in the second quarter and were up by 24 points in the third. The Broncos (0-1) pulled within 10 points early in the fourth by putting together two long TD drives.

The Spartans set a school record by scoring 30-plus points for the ninth straight game.

at Oregon State 26, Weber State 7: True freshman Seth Collins threw a pair of touchdown passes, including a 44-yard fourth-quarter strike to Jordan Villamin, and the Beavers won in Gary Andersen’s debut as head coach.

Collins, who started both halves, is sharing quarterback duties with redshirt freshman Marcus McMaryion as the Beavers adjust to a new spread offense under Andersen, who came to Corvallis after two years in Wisconsin.

In addition to two TD passes, Collins also led the Beavers with 152 yards rushing. Garrett Owens added four field goals.

Josh Burton intercepted McMaryion for an 8-yard touchdown return late in the third quarter for Weber State’s lone score.