The opening weekend of the college football season produced some eye-popping numbers. We know that Florida State and South Florida posted 59 and 51 points, respectively.
Florida put up 61 points on New Mexico State and Miami scored 45 points while shutting out Bethune-Cookman. What are some other numbers worthy of mention?
233 Yards in punt returns by Maryland’s William Likely in the Terrapins’ 50-21 romp over the Richmond Spiders. Likely’s outburst set an all-time Big 10 record. Maryland is only in their second year in the B1G.
103 — Combined points scored by #7 Oregon against Eastern Washington. Tough to score 42 points and lose by 19 as EWU did. Trouble ahead for the Ducks?
95 — Combined points scored by Southern Illinois and Indiana. The Hoosiers won the game, 48-47 when SIU dropped a 2-point conversion pass in the end zone that would have won for the Salukis.
87 — Completion percentage of Notre Dame Quarterback Malik Zaire in a 38-3 rout of the Texas Longhorns. It’s the second best in Irish history. Not missing Everett Golson yet.
79 — Total offense yards gained by Bethune-Cookman in the loss to Miami.
10 — Minutes left on the clock before lightning forced the cancellation of the remainder of Georgia’s 51-14 rout of Louisiana Monroe.
9 — First downs gained by Penn State in a shocking 27-10 loss to the Temple Owls. Temple is known for a respectable defense, but Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg and the Nittany Lions’ offense was expected to be a strength.
6 — Points scored by the Stanford Cardinal in a stunning 16-6 upset loss at Northwestern.
4 — Number of touchdown passes thrown by Florida State’s Everett Golson in his Doak Campbell Stadium debut against Texas State. His completion percentage of 74 didn’t quite equal his former Notre Dame backup Zaire’s 87, but not bad.
0 — Chance that Virginia Tech will defeat Ohio State for the second year in a row.
The numbers don’t, and won’t, lie.
