STATE
COUGARS ROLL OVER TENNESSEE TECH
HOUSTON (AP) — Greg Ward Jr. threw for one touchdown and ran for two more and Houston rolled over Tennessee Tech, 52-24 in the season opener for both schools on Saturday night.
Ward completed 21 of 28 pass attempts for 275 yards, firing a 29-yard strike to Kyle Postma in the third quarter to push Houston’s lead to 31-10 to start the second half. He dashed 3 yards for a first-quarter score and 41-yards for another in the second quarter. Ward finished with 107 yards on 13 carries.
Jared Davis was 16 of 26 for 312 yards and two touchdowns to Brock McCoin through the air to lead Tennessee Tech, but the Golden Eagles could manage just 29 net yards on 33 carries.
McCoin finished with nine catches for 264 yards for Tennessee Tech.
Houston, meanwhile, picked up 627 total yards — rushing for 272 yards on 44 carries.

RED RAIDERS UPEND
BEARCATS, 59-45
LUBBOCK (AP) — Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury was glad for his team’s 59-45 win over Sam Houston State on Saturday but wonders where their killer instinct is.
Leading 59-31, the Red Raiders allowed the Bearcats to score twice in the fourth quarter after shutting them out in the third.
Mahomes, who said he thought he did OK, threw for 425 yards and four touchdowns, two each to Ian Sadler and Devin Lauderdale. The sophomore also ran for 48 yards on five carries.
Jakeem Grant ran for his third career kickoff return for a TD on a 94-yarder. He also scored the Red Raiders (1-0) first TD on a 3-yard run.
Mahomes completed 33 of 53 passes with one interception. That pick led to the first of two TDs by Sam Houston State’s Donavan Williams.
Lauderdale finished with 150 yards on eight catches.

NATIONAL
FEDERER ADVANCES IN U.S OPEN AFTER SWEEP
NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Federer might not be so keen to try out his old-dog-new-trick, rush-the-net “SABR” — “sneak attack by Roger” — return strategy against his next opponent at the U.S. Open.
“I don’t think so,” Federer said. “I can always try. But it’s probably not the right guy to do it against.”
Probably not.
That’s because the second-seeded Federer, who advanced Saturday by beating 29th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, will have to deal with 6-foot-10 American John Isner and his massive serve in the fourth round.
Federer has been doing that rather well, lately. While dropping a total of only 20 games and zero sets through three matches, he has been broken only twice — both times by Kohlschreiber.
The 13th-seeded Isner, meanwhile, had lost in the third round each of the past three years — and each time, coincidentally, against Kohlschreiber.
NO. 18 ARKANSAS ROLLS PAST UTEP
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Brandon Allen wanted to leave a lasting first impression on new Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos.
The senior quarterback did that while going a long way to showing he’s up to leading a talent-rich group of Razorbacks loaded with expectations for the first time in his career as the starter.
With Enos calling the plays for the first time since leaving his job as head coach at Central Michigan, Allen was at his best — and most efficient — in leading No. 18 Arkansas to a 48-13 win over UTEP in the season opener on Saturday.
Allen threw for a career-high 308 yards and matched his best with four touchdown passes, doing so while completing 14 of 18 passes.
Arkansas won only three games two years ago in Allen’s first season as the starter, though it improved to 7-6 a year ago. However, the Razorbacks enter this season ranked for the first time since 2012, and Allen thrived on Saturday with a restocked roster surrounding him to open coach Bret Bielema’s third season.
Keon Hatcher caught two of Allen’s touchdown passes, finishing with six catches for 106 yards, but it was Allen who shined the brightest while extending his streak of pass attempts without an interception to 108.