Aug 31, 2013 4 min read

Johnny Manziel’s day began late because of the NCAA and ended early because of his mouth.

In between he looked like Johnny Football at his best.

After serving his first-half suspension, the Heisman Trophy winner threw three TD passes, scrambled for 19 yards and, well, acted up while No. 7 Texas A&M rolled over Rice, 52-31, Saturday.

Manziel was sitting out because of what the school called an “inadvertent” violation of NCAA rules involving signing autographs.

His first touchdown came on a 23-yard pass to Mike Evans on A&M’s second drive of the half. But just before that, Manziel got into it with a Rice defender, appearing to mimic signing an autograph while getting up from a tackle.

Coach Kevin Sumlin said he didn’t see that exchange, but would have “done something about it” if he did.

Manziel ended his day by getting yanked following an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for pointing at the scoreboard after a TD pass in the fourth quarter.

“A foolish penalty at the end,” Sumlin said. “No matter what the comments are or what. He’s going to face that every week with the people chirping. That’s not OK, and obviously I addressed that on the sideline right after the play. That’s something he’s going to have to deal with every week.”

Manziel, who was replaced by starting Matt Joeckel on A&M’s last drive, wasn’t made available to the media after the game.

No. 2 Ohio State 40, Buffalo 20: Braxton Miller threw two touchdown passes before fighting leg cramps and Jordan Hall ran for two more scores to lead Ohio State to a victory over Buffalo in the season opener for both teams.

No. 3 Oregon 66, Nicholls 3: Marcus Mariota threw a touchdown pass and ran for two additional scores and the Oregon Ducks made easy work of lower-tier Nicholls.

No. 10 Florida 24, Toledo 6: Mack Brown had a career day, Jeff Driskel was efficient and Florida opened the season with a victory over Toledo.

Brown ran 25 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns. Driskel completed 17 of 22 passes for 153 yards and a score. And Florida’s defense, which ranked fifth in the country in 2012, looked every bit as good as last year’s version despite losing eight starters and its coordinator.

No. 13 Oklahoma State 21, Mississippi State 3: J.W. Walsh threw for 135 yards and ran for another 125 and a touchdown to lead the Oklahoma State Cowboys to a win over the Mississippi State in the Texas Kickoff.

Walsh finished 18 of 27 after relieving starter Clint Chelf on the Cowboys’ third series. Jeremy Smith rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries for Oklahoma State (1-0)

No. 14 Notre Dame 28, Temple 6: Tommy Rees threw a pair of 32-yard touchdown passes to DaVaris Daniels, a 66-yard scoring pass to Troy Niklas and Notre Dame had three quick scoring drives en route to a victory over Temple.

No. 17 Michigan 59, Central Michigan 9: Devin Gardner ran for two touchdowns and threw for another in the first half as Michigan went on to beat Central Michigan.

No. 23 Wisconsin 45, Massachusetts 0: Melvin Gordon ran for 144 yards, James White added 143 and Wisconsin’s revamped defense pitched a shutout of Massachusetts in coach Gary Andersen’s debut.

Northern Illinois 30, Iowa 27: Mathew Sims hit a 36-yard field goal with four seconds left and Northern Illinois rallied to beat Iowa 30-27 on Saturday in the season opener for both teams.

Jordan Lynch threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns for the Huskies, who scored 10 points in the final 5:05 to record their first win over the Hawkeyes.

Arkansas 34, Louisiana-Lafayette 14: Brandon Allen was 15-of-22 passing for 230 yards and three touchdowns as Arkansas opened the Bret Bielema era with a 34-14 win over Louisiana-Lafayette.

Duke 45, NC Central 0: Brandon Connette threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and Duke earned its first shutout in 24 years with a season-opening 45-0 rout of North Carolina Central on Saturday. Jamison Crowder returned a punt 76 yards for a touchdown, starting QB Anthony Boone had a 1-yard touchdown run and Jela Duncan added a 3-yard scoring run.