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© St. Petersburg Times, published August 30, 2002
MIAMI -- Jamie Burke threw for 115 yards and two touchdowns as Florida International defeated St. Peter's 27-3 in the Golden Panthers' inaugural game Thursday.
FIU, coached by former NFL quarterback Don Strock, scored four first-half touchdowns and quickly took control before a sellout crowd of 17,314.
St. Peter's of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference allowed only six touchdowns over its final nine games last season and had the No. 1-ranked defense in Division I-AA, allowing 8.2 points per game.
FIU opened the scoring on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Burke to fullback Jerrid Lundstedt with 8:18 left in the first quarter.
On FIU's next possession, Burke took a quarterback draw 6 yards to give his team a 13-0 lead.
Leading 19-0 in the second quarter, Burke struck again with a 52-yard completion to Cory McKinney, who raced down the right sideline for the score and a 27-0 halftime lead.
N. ILLINOIS 42, WAKE FOREST 41 (OT): Thomas Hammock scored on a 7-yard touchdown run in overtime and the host Huskies stopped the Demon Deacons' two-point conversion attempt after their score.
Wake Forest could have sent the game into a second overtime, but instead opted to go for two after Ovie Mughelli's 1-yard touchdown run. The Demon Deacons tried to run right on the attempt, but were tackled well short of the end zone by several defenders.
The Huskies, who play in the Mid-American Conference and went 6-5 a year ago, swarmed onto the field.
Hammock finished with 172 yards rushing on 38 carries and two touchdowns. He entered the season ranked seventh on the school's career rushing list with 2,260 yards and needs to average 124 yards to become the all-time leader.
The Demon Deacons led throughout, but were outscored 11-0 in the fourth quarter. They appeared to have the game in hand when they intercepted Josh Haldi's pass late in the fourth quarter.
Wake Forest drove into Northern Illinois territory, but missed a field-goal attempt that would have given them a six-point lead.
The Huskies took over on downs and drove down the field. Kicker Steve Azar made a 46-yard field goal as time expired in regulation to send the game into overtime.
BYU 42, SYRACUSE 21: Bret Engemann passed for 386 yards and three touchdowns, and Marcus Whalen ran for 140 yards for the host Cougars.
BYU ran off 21 consecutive points in the final 17:43 to pull away from the Orangemen, who lost a season opener in an opponent's stadium for the first time since 1985.
Despite losing quarterback Brandon Doman and running back Luke Staley to the NFL, the Cougars, the 2001 NCAA total offense leaders, had 615 yards of total offense.
Engemann, who last played for BYU in a 42-14 loss to Syracuse two years ago when he was knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury, completed 35 of 54 passes and also ran for a touchdown.
TEMPLE 34, RICHMOND 7: Tanardo Sharps ran for 121 yards, Mike McGann threw two touchdowns and the host Owls forced five turnovers.
Temple, using a new spread, no-huddle offense this season, occasionally looked confused with the ball. It committed 11 penalties and failed to get into the end zone three times from inside the 10-yard line in the first three quarters.
MONTANA 21, HOFSTRA 0: John Edwards ran for two touchdowns and threw for a third for the visiting defending NCAA Division I-AA champion Grizzlies, who have won 15 straight since a 30-12 loss at Division I-A Hawaii in the second game of last season, and are 29-3 since Joe Glenn took over as coach in 2000.
"I think Hofstra has themselves a really good team, however I don't know if I would want to play against our defense," Glenn said. "We were well prepared and things went our way."
DELAWARE 22, GA. SOUTHERN 19: Andy Hall, a transfer from Georgia Tech playing his first game for the host Blue Hens, rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown and passed for 99 yards.
YOUNGSTOWN ST. 27, CLARION 14: P.J. Mays rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns for the host Penguins. Mays had a 73-yard run and scored from a yard out on the next play with 4:44 left in the first quarter to give the Penguins a 7-0 lead.
W. MICHIGAN 48, INDIANA ST. 17: Backup quarterback Chad Munson threw four touchdowns for the host Broncos.
TOLEDO 44, CAL POLY 16: Brian Jones passed for 197 yards and two touchdowns for the host Rockets. William Bratton had 105 yards on 17 carries for Toledo, including a 3-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. The Rockets rushed for 262 yards and three touchdowns.
Astin Martin scored on a 17-yard run in the first quarter and Quinton Broussard scored on a 13-yard run in the fourth.
CENTRAL FLORIDA: Afternoon showers doused the practice fields but the team worked through some heavy, but relatively short, downfalls, until lightning and persistent rain became an issue. Wet weather may be a factor Saturday with a 30 percent chance of showers at Penn State.
GEORGIA TECH: Saturday's season opener against Vanderbilt is a sellout. With the completion of Phase I of a two-year, $70-million expansion, Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field will hold 43,719 for the 2002 season, about 2,000 more than last year. Phase II will be completed for 2003, making capacity 55,000.