DFW college football teams open season on the road

by Todd E. Jones of College Football Top Ten

All three of the North Texas college football teams opened the 2008 season on the road this weekend. Texas Christian University visited the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque play the Lobos, Southern Methodist University opened their season in Houston, TX against Rice University on Friday night, and the University of North Texas opened their 2008 campaign by playing at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS.

In Houston, the June Jones Era started fast for SMU as they jumped out to a 13-to-zero lead in the first quarter. However, quarterback Chase Clement and the Owls stormed back to win by a score of 56 to 27. Clement accounted for 345 total yards including 258 yards passing and six touchdown passes. Rice's Jarett Dillard caught seven passes for 89 yards and three touchdowns. For SMU, Freshman quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell passed for 244 yards and three touchdowns along with three interceptions. Mustang receiver Emmanuel Sanders had eight catches for 121 yards and a touchdown while fellow receiver Aldrick Robinson caught seven passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns. The Mustangs new Run-and-Shoot offense only had 337 total yards and suffered from five turnovers. The Pony defense gave up a total of 466 yards to Rice's spread attack.

TCU also raced out to an early lead against New Mexico, but they never let the Lobos back in the game. The Frogs, who traveled to the game minus Senior running back Aaron Brown , used a stifling defense and a ball controlling offense to get the important Mountain West Conference opener. TCU held the ball for almost 10 minutes longer, rushed for 171 total yards, picking up 20 first downs to keep New Mexico from getting close for a final score of 26 to 3. The Frogs picked up two touchdowns from Sophomore quarterback Andy Dalton.

In Manhattan, Kansas, it was all Kansas State as the Wildcats scored 35 straight points and finished by beating the Mean Green 45 to 6. The Wildcats rolled up 468 total yards to North Texas' 205 holding the ball seven minutes longer than North Texas. North Texas quarterback Giovanni Vizza tossed a touchdown pass in the third quarter and finished with 100 passing yards with no interceptions. Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman passed for a total of 232 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for two more.