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Thursday Football Roundup
Opening Night Action

	Blake Bortles

Aug. 30, 2012

Blake Bortles was 13-of-16 for 168 yards and three touchdown passes, while Storm Johnson ran for two scores as UCF won at Akron, 56-14. Rice's Cameron Nwosu set an NCAA single-game record by blocking three extra-point attempts, but the Owls lost to UCLA, 49-24.

UCF 56, AKRON 14
AKRON, Ohio -- Blake Bortles passed for 168 yards and three touchdowns as UCF ruined Terry Bowden's coaching debut at Akron, routing the mistake-prone Zips 56-14 in the season opener for both teams Thursday night.

Bowden's much-anticipated return to major college football 19 years after the end of his Auburn tenure couldn't have gone much worse. Akron lost three fumbles, including two inside its own 10-yard line, and also had an interception.

Bowden came to Akron after guiding North Alabama to a 29-9 record the past three seasons in Division II following 10 years as a TV analyst. Prior to that, he went 47-17-1 at Auburn, going undefeated his first year in 1993.

UCF was too much for the young Zips, building a 35-0 lead by halftime.

Akron quarterback Dalton Williams went 30 of 51 for 255 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

Bortles went 13 of 16 behind center for the Knights. He connected with Rannell Hall for TDs of 18 and 56 yards, and opened the scoring with a 5-yard pass to Chris Martin.

Latavius Murray gained 108 yards with one score on 14 carries, playing little more than one quarter. He rushed for 68 yards on UCF's opening drive of 73 yards,and Murray's 2-yard run later made it 14-0.

Miami (FL) transfer Storm Johnson scored on runs of 2 and 3 yards, both after the Knights recovered fumbles. Knights backup Tyler Gabbert also threw a 12-yard TD pass to Rob Calabrese.

Williams had touchdown passes of 13 yards to L.T. Smith and 16 yards to Marquelo Suel in the second half for the Zips.

UCF is now 22-12 in season openers and has won seven in a row.

UCLA 49, RICE 24
HOUSTON -- Jonathan Franklin rushed for 214 yards and three touchdowns as UCLA racked up 348 yards on the ground en route to a 49-24 win over Rice on Thursday night.

Brett Hundley, a redshirt freshman, was 21 of 28 for 202 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 68 yards and a touchdown.

Franklin just missed his career high of 216 yards rushing set in 2010 against Washington State. He became the first player in UCLA history to have two rushes of at least 72 yards in a game after scoring on touchdown runs of 74 and 78 yards in the first half.

Rice's Taylor McHargue threw for 172 yards and two touchdowns on 17 of 28 passing and rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

The Owls Cameron Nwosu set an NCAA single-game record by blocking three extra-point attempts.

UCLA finished with 651 total yards in Jim Mora Jr.'s first game as coach, compared to 347 for Rice.