College Football | Riley sparks Golden Bears to victory

BERKELEY, Calif. — Kevin Riley passed for 202 yards and two second-half touchdowns, and Shane Vereen broke an 81-yard scoring run with 4:21 left in California's 38-31 victory over Michigan State on Saturday night.

Jahvid Best rushed for 111 yards and a score, while tight end Cameron Morrah and fullback Will Ta'ufo'ou caught Riley's TD passes in a solid debut for the Golden Bears' brand-new collection of starting offensive skill players.

Brian Hoyer passed for 321 yards, hooking up with Mark Dell for nine catches and 202 yards, the fifth-biggest yardage total for a receiver in Michigan State history. Javon Ringer rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns for the Spartans, but they couldn't catch up in a back-and-forth second half featuring 45 total points and 503 yards of total offense.

Bryant Nnabuife returned a blocked punt for the first score as Cal won for the fifth time in seven openers under coach Jeff Tedford.

Cal rebuilt its entire offense in the wake of its second-half collapse during a 7-6 campaign last year, and Riley looked sharp in his second career start along with Best and Vereen, who ran for 101 yards in his Cal debut.

Otis Wiley returned an interception 31 yards for an early touchdown for the Spartans, whose trip to the West Coast was a long-delayed return of Cal's visit to East Lansing in 2002.

After struggling on offense for three quarters, Michigan State converted three third downs and got a roughing-the-punter penalty during a 97-yard drive that ended with Ringer's 10-yard TD run with 10:45 to play, pulling within 24-21.

Cal replied with its own lengthy drive ending in Ta'ufo'ou's scoring catch with 5:45 left. Michigan State trimmed the lead to seven points, but Vereen then broke his impressive scoring run on an innocuous first-down play.

Michigan State got an early boost from Cal quarterback Nate Longshore, whose awful play down the stretch last year played a large role in the Bears' 1-6 finish to the regular season.

Longshore lost his job to Riley in training camp, but was promised playing time by Tedford. The senior threw terrible interceptions on both of his possessions, including an inexplicable throw into quadruple coverage that was returned by Wiley for the Spartans' first score.

At Arizona 70, Idaho 0

Willie Tuitama and Nic Grigsby combined for 348 yards in one half to lead the Wildcats' rout in a rainy opener delayed an hour by lightning.

It was the highest-scoring game for the Wildcats since a record 74-0 victory in 1921 over the Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy, the school that eventually became Texas-El Paso.

Tuitama completed 17 of 21 passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns to break the school record for career TD passes with 47, one more than Tom Tunnicliffe from 1980-83.

Grigsby carried 19 times for 169 yards, including two short touchdown runs as the Wildcats set a school record with 49 first-half points.

The players were in kickoff formation when the decision was made to clear the field and advise the fans to leave the stadium as lightning flashed in the approaching storm. Most in the student section stayed.

The game began at 8:09 p.m. MDT, one hour and two minutes late.