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College Football Saturday: LSU, Boise State Roll To Cap Wild Day

The defending champs get a scare from Utah State, a nasty storm made its mark across the country, and the games of the week are underway.

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82 Total Updates since September 3, 2011
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South Carolina Vs. ECU: Final Score, Gamecocks Defeat East Carolina 56-37

Well, this should be the end of the South Carolina Gamecocks' quarterback controversy, right? RIGHT?!? After a poor start from Connor Shaw, Stephen Garcia played the majority of the second quarter and the entire second half for Steve Spurrier's team. That (completely obvious) move brought USC back into the game, as they overturned the East Carolina Pirates' early 17-0 lead to come away with a 56-37 victory.

Garcia came in and righted the ship immediately in the second quarter, guiding USC to two quick touchdowns, but ECU scored just before halftime to run their lead back up to ten. It felt like that drive was going to give them some momentum heading into the second half, but that's more or less the opposite of what was actually the case.

South Carolina and Garcia came out guns blazing in the third quarter, quickly scoring two touchdowns in under five minutes. At that point, the game was over and the rest was just for fun. East Carolina was able to score a few more times, but Marcus Lattimore's 112 yards on the ground, Garcia's production with his arm and legs, and Ace Sanders' spectacular punt return touchdown guided South Carolina to what was eventually a comfortable victory.

Between Georgia's struggles against Boise State on Saturday night and South Carolina giving up 37 points to ECU, it feels like next week is going to be incredibly fun.

For more on the Gamecocks, visit Garnet and Black Attack. For coverage of Week 1 in college football, please stick with this StoryStream. Stay tuned to the opening Saturday of college football with SB Nation's huge assortment of college football blogs and SB Nation's college football news hub.

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Notre Dame Vs. USF: Final Score, South Florida Squeaks Out 23-20 Victory

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish produced an absolutely incredible amount of offense at home against the South Florida Bulls, but bad mistakes were ultimately their undoing. Despite nearly 400 yards passing and well over 100 yards rushing, USF was able to come away with a 23-20 win at Notre Dame Stadium, thanks to four turnovers by the Irish.

Dayne Crist threw an interception in the end zone - probably the most egregious error by an Irish offensive player in the game - and was pulled at halftime by Brian Kelly. Tommy Rees came in and performed better than Crist, but threw two interceptions. One was entirely the fault of wide receiver T.J. Jones, while the other was on Rees.

The game was delayed by weather twice, both at halftime and in the fourth quarter. The first halftime delay lasted over two hours, while the second weather delay lasted around 30 minutes.

Notre Dame almost engineered a dramatic comeback, as Rees lead the Irish down the field in the fourth quarter in a fantastic two-minute drill to bring his team back within three points, but they couldn't recover the onside kick. The Irish will be left wondering what could have been, as they easily should have scored three or four more touchdowns than they did.

Stay tuned to the opening Saturday of college football with SB Nation's huge assortment of college football blogs and SB Nation's college football news hub. For more on Notre Dame, visit SB Nation's One Foot Down, and for more on USF, visit Voodoo Five.

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Auburn Vs. Utah State: Final Score, Tigers Football Wins 42-38 With Dramatic Comeback

The Utah State Aggies were oh so close to pulling off an absolutely massive upset at Jordan-Hare Stadium, but the Auburn Tigers have pulled off an incredible comeback to avoid embarrassment, defeating the Aggies by a final score of 42-38. Utah State lead or was tied with Auburn for most of the game and lead by 10 points with 3:38 remaining, but two spectacular drives on either side of an onside kick recovery guided Auburn to a dramatic comeback win.

Utah State appeared to wrap up the win late in the fourth quarter when they converted a fourth and eight on a fake field goal, setting up a first and goal that would eventually lead to a touchdown. Barrett Trotter and Onterio McCalebb had been solid, but unspectacular up until that point, but they saved their best for the end of the game.

The first drive after Utah State's final touchdown looked easy, as Trotter guided Auburn down the field for a touchdown quickly. Gene Chizik decided to try an onside kick instead of letting his defense get the ball back and it ultimately proved to be the right call, as Utah State failed to block Auburn's hands team and they recovered easily.

McCalebb had the definitive play of the game-winning drive, rushing for 15 yards on a surprising audible to a draw play. That set up Auburn for a first and goal, giving Auburn four shots at the end zone from inside the ten. They only needed two, as Michael Dyer punched in the game-winning touchdown from one yard out.

Utah State had more more chance to get back into the game, but Auburn's defense finally rose to the occasion. Chuckie Keeton and his offensive line had no answer for the pass rush of Auburn on their final drive and Auburn walked away with a massive win.

Stay tuned to the opening Saturday of college football with SB Nation's huge assortment of college football blogs and SB Nation's college football news hub. And for more on Auburn, visit SB Nation's Track 'Em Tigers.

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