Michigan was solid early and late i...

Michigan was solid early and late in its opener

In between, Mike Hart acknowledged the Wolverines were sluggish offensively, nevertheless the shifty running back ran for 146 yards to lead No. 14 Michigan to a 27-7 victory from one side of to the other Vanderbilt on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich.

"We made a portion of mistakes that were drive-killers," Hart said. "That's individual thing we can't have in bigger games. each time you win, you're going to be happy. if it were not that we need to improve a fate to be a championship contender"

Michigan has another tuneup against Central Michigan, before visiting No. 2 Notre Dame.

"We have a fate of work to do," coach Lloyd Carr said. "That's for sure"

Michigan scored upon an impressive opening drive and had a chance to build an early cushion, moreover Vanderbilt blocked a kick and scored in succession a trick play to twitch within three points at 10-7 early in the inferior quarter.

The Wolverines went ahead 20-7 late in the third forward Chad Henne's 14-yard pass to a leaping Tyler Ecker forward a third down.

Michigan sealed its eighth straight domestic circle opener by forcing quarterback Chris Nickson to stumble for a second time with 4:33 left near midfield, leading to Henne's 27-yard pass to Mario Manningham. Henne finished 10-of-22 for 135 yards with sum of two units touchdowns.

In his first start in place of Jay Cutler who was drafted from the Denver Broncos with the 11th overall pick, Nickson was 11-of-25 for 99 yards and would have been sacked more than the six times he was if he weren't in this way mobile.

No. 16 Iowa 41 Montana 7: Iowa was a little craggy around the edges in its season opener unless it didn't matter thanks to Drew Tate, Albert Young and an enemy without a running game.

Tate threw for 223 yards and three touchdowns, and Young added 148 yards of total offense and sum of two units scores to lead the Hawkeyes past the I-AA Grizzlies in Iowa City, Iowa.

Iowa held Montana to 10 yards rushing and 144 yards overall en path to its 19th win in 20 residence games.

No. 19 Penn State 34 Akron 16: With a novel quarterback running the offense, Penn State barely missed a beat.

Anthony Morelli threw for 206 yards and three touchdowns in his first start as the Nittany Lions defeated the Zips at rain-soaked Beaver Stadium.

Replacing last year's do-it-all leader Michael Robinson, Morelli impressed early. forward his first pass of the season, the strong-armed junior place Deon Butler for a 42-yard touchdown.

Morelli also had scoring passes to Jordan Norwood and Derrick Williams.

Michigan State 27 Idaho 17: Drew Stanton threw for 225 yards and a touchdown to lead the Spartans above the Vandals and new coach Dennis Erickson in East Lansing, Mich.

The game was a reunion for Erickson and Michigan State coach John L Smith, who coached together with three different programs -- including Idaho -- in the 1980

Smith's Spartans survived against Erickson's Vandals largely because of Stanton's mistake-free football. The senior complet 16 of 25 passes and rushed for 55 yards onward eight carries.

Purdue 60 Indiana State 35: Curtis Painter passed for 261 yards and brace touchdowns and ran for brace scores as the Boilermakers beat the Sycamores in West Lafayette, Ind.

It was the other time in coach Joe Tiller's 10 years at Purdue that the Boilermakers scored 60 or more points.

Indiana 39 Western Michigan 20: Blake Powers and Graeme McFarland each threw undivided touchdown pass, and the Hoosiers scored facing interception and punt returns to beat the Bronco in Bloomington, Ind, for their 16th straight win across MAC schools since 1977.

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