Northridge’s Flowers: Six Touchdowns

Quarterback Aaron Flowers threw a school-record six touchdown passes, and Aaron Arnold scored four touchdowns as Cal State Northridge routed Boise State, 63-23, Saturday in the Matador coaching debut of Jim Fenwick in a nonconference game at Boise, Ida.

The six scoring passes broke the Matador school record of five, which he shared with two other quarterbacks. The victory, played in front of a Bronco Stadium record crowd of 26,824, spoiled the debut of Boise State Coach Houston Nutt.

Flowers completed 31 of 40 passes for 442 yards as Northridge totaled 643 yards in total offense. That was just 20 yards short of the school record.

Arnold scored on runs of two and 22 yards and caught touchdown passes of 59 and 13 yards for the Matadors offensive effort. Brad Cromer, Drew Hill and Arnold combined for 363 yards receiving. Cromer led with nine receptions for 132 yards and three touchdowns.

Arizona State 41, New Mexico State 10--J.R. Redmond steadied an untested backfield with a series of spectacular carries, including a 93-yard touchdown run at Tempe, Ariz., to lead the Sun Devils in their opener.

Redmond, a backup to Michael Martin, had 176 yards in 10 carries while playing about a half. The highlight was the fifth-longest run in school history.

The running game was solid as inexperienced quarterbacks Ryan Kealy and Steve Campbell tried to show they can replace Jake Plummer for the defending Pacific 10 Conference champions. Darrin Ransom scored on an 11-yard run, Martin ran 1 yard for another touchdown and Redmond made it 24-3 midway through the third quarter with his 93 yarder.

Miami (Ohio) 27, Ball State 10--Travis Prentice scored on touchdown runs of one and 11 yards to rally Miami in the Mid-American Conference opener at Oxford, Ohio. Prentice finished with 113 yards in 26 carries.