College football: Michigan, Wisconsin and Alabama roll to victories; Notre Dame holds off Ball State

Shea Patterson threw three touchdown passes, one in each of the first three quarters, to help No. 21 Michigan coast to a 49-3 win over Western Michigan on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Patterson, the heralded transfer from Mississippi, was 12 of 17 for 125 yards. He connected for two scores to wide receivers after the position group accounted for a total of just three touchdowns last season for the Wolverines (1-1).

Karan Higdon ran 140 of his 156 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter. The Wolverines desperately needed the confidence-boosting victory after losing four straight, dating to last season, for their longest losing streak since 2009. They lost by seven last week at Notre Dame .

The Broncos (0-2) were unable to rally from a big deficit as they did before falling short in last week’s loss against Syracuse.

at No. 1 Alabama 57, Arkansas State 7: Tua Tagovailoa passed for three first-quarter touchdowns and Jalen Hurts added two more before halftime, combining to lead No. 1 Alabama to a 57-7 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday.

The Crimson Tide (2-0) racked up big plays on the way to a 40-0 halftime lead while rotating the quarterbacks who battled for the job throughout the offseason. Coach Nick Saban officially announced Tagovailoa would remain the starter Monday, but both were big parts of the plan again.

at No. 4 Ohio State 52, Rutgers 3: No. 4 Ohio State blew out hapless Rutgers 52-3 on a gray, rainy afternoon in Columbus. Dwayne Haskins threw for 233 yards and four touchdowns before giving way to backup Tate Martell early in the third quarter. Rutgers’ starting quarterback Arthur Sitkowski was injured and did not play in the second half. The Buckeyes expect a bigger challenge next week when they face No. 16 TCU in Dallas.

at No. 5 Wisconsin 41, New Mexico 14: Jonathan Taylor ran for 253 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 5 Wisconsin asserted its dominance after allowing a score on the game-opening drive.

A.J. Taylor had 134 yards receiving and a score for the Badgers (2-0), who won their 41st straight home nonconference game. That’s the longest active streak in the FBS. New Mexico is 1-1.

at No. 7 Auburn 63, Alabama State 9: JaTarvious Whitlow ran for 122 yards and receiver Anthony Schwartz accounted for 117 total yards and two touchdowns to help No. 7 Auburn rout Alabama State 63-9 on Saturday night.

Starting quarterback Jarrett Stidham played only into the second quarter, with the Tigers (2-0) leading 42-0. The redshirt junior finished 6 of 11 for 113 yards with a passing and rushing score.

at No. 8 Notre Dame 24, Ball State 16: Jalen Elliott had a pair of interceptions that No. 8 Notre Dame turned into touchdowns and the Fighting Irish held off stubborn Ball State 24-16 on Saturday on a day when its offense was frustrated much of the game.

The Irish (2-0), coming off an emotional 24-17 season-opening victory over Michigan, looked lackluster against the Mid-American Conference foe whose campus in Muncie is a two-hour drive. The Cardinals (1-1) also played nothing like the 34-point underdogs they were labeled in the schools’ first meeting in football.

No. 11 Louisiana State 31, Southeast Louisiana 0: Joe Burrow passed for two touchdowns and ran for a score to help No. 11 LSU defeat Southeastern Louisiana 31-0. The score was deceptively lopsided as LSU’s offense struggled to sustain a number of drives. Southeastern also turned the ball over twice after driving deep into Tigers territory.

at No. 12 Virginia Tech 62, William & Mary 17: Virginia Tech had no problem with a short work week. The No. 12 Hokies scored on their last six possessions of the first half and rolled to a 62-17 victory against William & Mary. Steve Peoples ran for two TDs and Josh Jackson threw for one and ran for another for the Hokies.

No. 13 Penn State 51, Pittsburgh 6: Trace McSorley threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as No. 13 Penn State pulled away for a 51-6 victory over sloppy Pittsburgh. KJ Hamler ran 32 yards for a score and hauled in a 14-yard touchdown pass from McSorley as the Nittany Lions (2-0) bounced back from an opening week scare against Appalachian State to dominate their 99th meeting with the Panthers (1-1).

at No. 14 West Virginia 52, Youngstown State 17: Will Grier threw three of his four touchdown passes to Gary Jennings to lead No. 14 West Virginia to a 52-17 victory over Youngstown State on Saturday night.

The Mountaineers (2-0) piled up 625 total yards in winning their 15th straight home opener.

at No. 18 Mississippi State 31, Kansas State 10: Nick Fitzgerald returned from a suspension to throw two touchdown passes, Kylin Hill ran for 211 yards and accounted for three scores while the Bulldogs’ swarming defense shut down the Wildcats.

It was the first road win over a Power Five opponent for the Bulldogs (2-0) since Sept. 16, 1995, when they beat another Big 12 foe in Baylor. Fitzgerald missed the Bulldogs’ bowl game last year with an injury, and then was suspended for last week’s blowout of Stephen F. Austin. But after getting off to a rusty start Saturday, the dual-threat QB made Kansas State (1-1) not-so-fondly recall the days of Heisman Trophy finalist Collin Klein.

at No. 19 Central Florida 38, South Carolina State 0: Adrian Killins Jr. ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns to help No. 19 UCF rout South Carolina State 38-0 for its 15th straight victory. Killins scored on runs of 3 and 24 yards in the first quarter.

at No. 20 Boise State 62, Connecticut 7: Brett Rypien threw for 362 yards and three touchdowns in little more than a half and No. 20 Boise State set a school record for offensive yards in a 62-7 rout of UConn. The Broncos gained 818 yards, including 514 in the first half. The previous record was 742 yards on Oct. 15, 2011 against Colorado State in Boise State’s first Mountain West game. Rypien had his 16th career 300-yard passing game, tying Kellen Moore for most with the program.

at No. 22 Miami 77, Savannah State 0: Malik Rosier threw for two scores and rushed for another, N’Kosi Perry came off the bench to throw the first three touchdown passes of his collegiate career and No. 22 Miami set a school record for margin of victory in a 77-0 win over Savannah State on Saturday night. Brevin Jordan had two touchdown catches and Lorenzo Lingard ran for two scores for Miami (1-1), which set a school record by winning its 12th consecutive home opener.

Kentucky 27, No. 25 Florida 16: Kentucky ended one of college football’s longest losing streaks by upsetting No. 25 Florida 27-16 Saturday night in the Swamp. Terry Wilson accounted for three touchdowns, Benny Snell ran for 175 yards and the Wildcats beat the Gators for the first time since 1986. Kentucky hadn’t won in Gainesville since 1979. The 31-game streak had been the fourth-longest in NCAA history in an uninterrupted series.

In other games around the nation:

— Blake Barnett threw for 202 yards a pair of touchdowns and ran for two more to help South Florida (2-2) come from behind to beat Georgia Tech 49-38 in Tampa, Fla. TaQuon Marshall and Tobias Oliver keyed a 419-yard rushing attack for the Yellow Jackets (1-1).

— Ryan Finley compleed 31 of 38 passes for 370 yards and two touchdowns to lead North Carolina State (2-0) to a 41-7 victory over Georgia State (1-1) in Raleigh, N.C.

— Vanderbilt (2-0) overcame two early red-zone disappointments and bottled up a high-scoring Nevada (1-1) offense, winning a critical early-season nonconference game 41-10 in Nashville with a dominant second-half performance.

— Daniel Jones threw for 192 yards and three touchdowns before leaving the game with an apparent injury as Duke beat Northwestern 21-7 in Evanston, Ill.

— Chad Ryland kicked the go-ahead field goal as time expired to lift Eastern Michigan (2-0) to a 20-19 victory over Purdue (0-2) in West Lafayette, Ind.

— Darnell Woolfolk ran for 98 yards and two touchdowns as Army’s triple option began to return to form with 449 yards rushing, and the Black Knights beat Bowl Subdivision newcomer Liberty 38-14 in West Point, N.Y. Both teams are 1-1.

— Pooka Williams rushed for 125 yards and two touchdowns as Kansas snapped the second-longest road losing streak in college football history at 46 games, winning 31-7 at Central Michigan. Central Michigan quarterback Tony Poljan was intercepted four times by Kansas, which won on the road for the first time since Sept. 12, 2009. The Kansas streak was only topped by Idaho State, which lost 48 straight through 2014.

— Mekhi Sargent scored on a 2-yard TD run with 4:47 left and Iowa beat Iowa State 13-3 for the fourth year in a row. Miguel Recinos added a pair of field goals for the Hawkeyes (2-0), whose winning streak over the Cyclones (0-1) is their longest since they took 15 straight from 1983-97.

Other scores:

No. 2 Clemson 28, at Texas A&M 26

No. 3 Georgia 41, at No. 24 South Carolina 17

at No. 6 Oklahoma 49, UCLA 21

at No. 9 Washington 45, North Dakota 3

at No. 10 Stanford 17, No. 17 USC 3

Arizona State 16, No. 15 Michigan State 13

at No. 23 Oregon 62, Portland State 14

at Houston 45, Arizona 18

Colorado 33, at Nebraska 28

Utah 17, at Northern Illinois 6

at Oregon State 48, Southern Utah 25

California 21, at Brigham Young 18

at Washington State 31, San Jose State 0

at Wake Forest 51, Townson 20

at Boston College 62, Holy Cross 14

at Florida Atlantic 33, Air Force 27

at Navy 22, Memphis 21

at East Carolina 41, North Carolina 19

at Syracuse 55, Wagner 10

Buffalo 36, at Temple 29

at Kent State 56, Howard 14

at Tennessee 59, East Tennessee State 3

at Texas Tech 77, Lamar 0

at Mississippi 76, Southern Illinois 41

at Georgia Southern 34, Massachusetts

Appalachian State 45, at Charlotte 9

Maryland 45, at Bowling Green 14

Baylor 37, at Texas San Antonio 20

at Missouri 40, Wyoming 13

at Troy 59, Florida A&M 7

at Marshall, 32 Eastern Kentucky 16

at Middle Tennessee 61, Tennessee Martin 37

at Indiana 20, Virginia 16

Alabama Birmingham 47, at Coastal Carolina 24

at Texas State 36, Texas Southern 20

at Cincinnati 21, Miami of Ohio 0

at Minnesota 21, Fresno State 14

at Texas 28, Tulsa 21

at Louisiana Tech 54, Southern 17

at Tulane 42, Nicholl State 17

at Colorado State 34, Arkansas 27

at Utah State 60, New Mexico State 13

Louisiana Monroe 21, Southern Mississippi 20

at Illinois 34, Western Illinois 14

at Oklahoma State 55, South Alabama 13

at North Texas 58, Incarnate Word 16

Florida International 28, at Old Dominion 20

at Louisville 31, Indiana State 7

at Florida State 36, Samford 26

at San Diego State 28, Sacramento State 14