Week Zero is officially in the books. While the college football season won't kick off in full force until next week, we had four FBS games to enjoy on Saturday. Here's a quick recap of what you may have missed if you were doing something besides watching college football.
Why you'd ever do such a thing, however, is a mystery.
Week Zero scores
UMass 63, Duquesne 15
Rice 31, Prairie View 28
Hawaii 43, Colorado State 34
Wyoming 29, New Mexico State 7
Hawaii holds off late rally from Colorado State
Hawaii picked up the first major upset of the season, though it seemed as if the Warriors did everything they could to give it away. The Warriors entered this game as a 17-point underdog, but they didn't play like one. Hawaii scored on each of its first three possessions of the game, taking a 23-7 lead on the Rams at halftime, and the Warriors extended that lead in the second half.
At one point it was 37-7 Hawaii, but then the Colorado State comeback began. In fact, the Rams cut the margin to 40-34 in the final minutes, but Hawaii was able to milk the clock on a field goal drive late to put it out of reach at 43-34.
The star of the game was Hawaii QB Cole McDonald. You may not have heard of him before, but believe me, Cole McDonald has an arm, E-I-E-I-O.
3Q - 3:35 | Cole McDonald connects with Cedric Byrd for a 55-yard TD pass and @HawaiiFootball is up 37-7 on CBS Sports Network #MWFB pic.twitter.com/SZnDipRirc
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) August 26, 2018
McDonald finished the game completing 26-of-37 passes for 418 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also rushed for another 96 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was a hell of an introduction to the college football world.
Wyoming dominates New Mexico State
Wyoming beat New Mexico State 29-7, and believe me, that score doesn't tell the real story. Wyoming dominated throughout, holding New Mexico State to 135 yards of offense, and 93 of those yards came on the Aggies' lone touchdown drive.
A touchdown drive that came in the final minutes of the fourth quarter against Wyoming's reserves on defense.
Josh Allen may be gone, but the Wyoming offense will be just fine. The Cowboys rushed for 325 yards as a team, with Nico Evans leading the way with 206 yards and two touchdowns.
Rice avoids upset against Prairie View A&M
For a while, it looked like we wouldn't have to wait long for the first FCS over FBS upset of the season. Prairie View A&M had a 21-19 lead over Rice at halftime and extended that lead to 28-19 in the third quarter. But that was as good as it'd get for the Panthers, as Rice would battle its way back. After scoring a touchdown to cut Prairie View's lead to 28-26, this happened:
Welp, we're tied. pic.twitter.com/Fm6GaxoLs4
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 26, 2018
That tied the game, and Rice then won the game with a 23-yard field goal as time expired to get the win. Emmanuel Esupka had a huge game for the Owls, rushing for 173 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries.
Hawaii wearing sweet helmets against Colorado State
Look good, play good. The Rainbow Warriors are debuting some sweet new lids in their season opener against the Rams.
Someone please show me a better looking helmet than this.#NoCan pic.twitter.com/Rok51i5U1K
— Robert Kekaula (@RKekaula) August 25, 2018
UMass cruises past Duquesne, 63-15
It did not take long for the first touchdown of the 2018 season. Less than a minute into UMass' game against Duquesne, the Minutemen scored on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Ford to Brennon Dingle.
It didn't take much longer for UMass to score the season's second touchdown, either. Just a little over two minutes after the first score, Ford hit Andy Isabella for a 60-yard touchdown pass to take a 14-0 lead.
✌️ drives, ✌️ trips to the 🏠
— UMass Football (@UMassFootball) August 25, 2018
Turn on those ✈️ Izzy!
1️⃣4️⃣-0️⃣ #Flagship🚩 pic.twitter.com/eJsbXX6e0O
And that's how the game remained, for the most part. The Massachusetts offense racked up 572 yards of offense and scored nine touchdowns to win easily, 63-15.