SALT LAKE CITY » Utah was wavering between stifling defense and play sloppy enough to blow an 11-point lead before Brian Blechen saved the Utes.

The freshman safety intercepted a pass on the first play of overtime, setting up Joe Phillips for a 21-yard field goal that gave the Utes a 27-24 victory against No. 15 Pittsburgh last night.

"The quarterback rolled out and looked to the flat and we were ready for that play," Blechen said of his read on Pitt’s Tino Sunseri. "I saw it happening and just went for it."

Blechen bolted in front of Mike Shanahan and grabbed Sunseri’s pass at the Utah sideline, keeping a late collapse at the end of regulation from deteriorating into something worse. It’s a lot easier to deal with blowing a double-digit, fourth-quarter lead when the result is a victory.

Pittsburgh had a much more bleak outlook as the Panthers filed out of the locker room toward the bus. Despite having a new quarterback in Sunseri and no run support to help him out in his first start, the Panthers still battled back to be in position to win at the end.

"We didn’t play good enough to win. We really didn’t," Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. "Down the stretch Utah made less mistakes than we did."

That was a pretty good summary. The season opener was full of blunders — 12 penalties for Pitt and 11 called on the Utes, turnovers at the most crucial moments and then failing to cash in on some great opportunities.

Pitt drove inside the Utah 10 twice, but went backward from there and had to settle for field goals by Dan Hutchins. Utah had second and goal from the 2 late in the second quarter, but didn’t score at all because of an interception off a bad pass from Jordan Wynn into the end zone.

"We made enough mistakes in this game to lose it — enough to lose two games," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.

Wynn passed for 283 yards with three touchdowns, including two to Jereme Brooks.

No 2 Ohio State 42, Marshall 7

Terrelle Pryor tossed three touchdown passes, Brandon Saine rushed for 103 yards and two scores and the host Buckeyes rolled over the error-prone Thundering Herd in a tune-up for a big date with Miami.

Pryor completed 17 of 25 passes for 247 yards and TDs covering 6 and 11 yards to DeVier Posey and 65 yards to Dane Sanzenbacher.

No. 13 Miami 45, Florida A&M

Jacory Harris threw for 210 yards and three touchdowns before sitting out the second half, Leonard Hankerson caught six passes for 115 yards and two scores, and the host Hurricanes rolled over the Rattlers.

WAC

Nevada 49, Eastern Washington 24

Colin Kaepernick passed for 306 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for two others as the Wolf Pack beat the visiting Eagles.

Kaepernick completed 26 of 37 passes and added 60 yards rushing for Nevada.

Idaho 45, North Dakota 0

Nate Enderle threw for 311 yards and two touchdowns to lead the host Vandals to a victory over the Fighting Sioux in the season opener for both teams.

Enderle, who left the game late in the third quarter with Idaho in control, was 24-for-37 with one interception.

Princeton McCarty ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns for Idaho, which led 17-0 at halftime.