AUBURN, Ala. -- Trevor Knight and No. 17 Texas A&M won the matchup of teams trying to defy modest expectations, and the Aggies did it mostly three points at a time.Knight passed for 247 yards and Daniel LaCamera kicked five field goals to lead No. 17 Texas A&M to a 29-16 victory over Auburn Saturday night and get off to a good start in the competitive Southeastern Conferences Western Division.It was a question mark game for our team since we came into the season not being picked very high, Knight said. There were all kinds of questions about who we were going to be and what our identity would be. We came on the road to a team that I think has one of the better defenses in the country.We played very well, and it was a big win for us.Knight also ran for 42 yards and several first downs for the Aggies (3-0, 1-0 SEC), who are off to another fast start. Myles Garrett had two sacks and Texas A&Ms defense harassed quarterback Sean White enough to minimize big-play chances for Auburn (1-2, 0-1).Texas A&M kept its hopes of a higher division finish firmly intact with a 478-yard offensive performance. Freshman Trayveon Williams weaved through Auburn defenders for an icing-on-the-cake 89-yard touchdown run with 6:52 left and gained 127 yards on eight carries.The Aggies are 3-0 for the third straight year, a run they havent had since 1939-41.Knight kept the Aggies moving even if though they struggled to find the end zone. He completed 20 of 40 passes but led one 92-yard drive in the first half and another march for three points in the fourth quarter.Auburn couldnt cash in on defensive stops with any points in the third quarter.I really thought the third quarter was probably the key to the game, Tigers coach Gus Malzahn said. It was a dogfight, and then in the third quarter I thought our defense played very good, gave the offense a lot of opportunities, and the offense just couldnt seize the moment.Auburn drove deep into Texas A&M territory with runs by speedy backup quarterback John Franklin III and hard running Kamryn Pettway. Then Daeshon Hall stuffed Franklin behind the line on fourth down from the 12. Williams put it away with his sprint to the end zone, though Franklin did lead an Auburn scoring drive in the final minutes.I wasnt happy with how we finished the game, Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin said. To really kind of let down on defense and give up the score and then not close out things the way we needed to in the final 5-6-7 minutes. Weve got to improve there.Knight gave Texas A&M a 16-7 first-half lead with the long second-quarter drive. He completed all four attempts for 86 yards, including a dead-on 51-yard strike to Josh Reynolds. That set up Reynolds 5-yard touchdown catch.LaCamera had kicks of 46, 35, 31, 37 and 26 yards.THE TAKEAWAYTexas A&M: The Aggies sputtered at times offensively -- mostly in the red zone, but also going three-and-out on their first three drives after halftime. Converting 2 of 15 third-down attempts wont always get the job done. The defense produced four sacks and 13 tackles for loss.Auburn: The Tigers are still plagued by inconsistent offense and are just 2-10 over the last 12 SEC games. Sean White hit some third-down passes but nothing downfield and was 18-of-27 passing for 126 yards. The Tigers did rush for 236 yards after piling up 462 against Arkansas State .POLL IMPLICATIONSThe Aggies could make some headway in the rankings with the win and face tougher games ahead.UP NEXTTexas A&M faces No. 24 Arkansas in Arlington, Texas after winning in an overtime thriller last season.Auburn hosts SEC West rival LSU, which won the last meeting 45-21.---AP college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org Stan Smith Uomo Saldi . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. Stan Smith Offerta . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. http://www.stansmithscontate.it/ .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. Scarpe Stan Smith Scontate . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. Stan Smith Italia . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. For more than a decade, every weekday during the college football season I have written 3-Point Stance, three short notes to entertain, make you think or maybe even both. This season, as Kickoff Week begins Thursday night, we move to seven notes, twice a week. The mathematically inclined will note that means one fewer note per week. You are getting slightly less for the same price. Which, by the way, is nothing. And have you taken a look at your half-gallon of ice cream lately? Its not a half-gallon.But I digress. Lets get on with the season: It is here, by god. It is here.Tide will overwhelm the Trojans on the line Its always dangerous to assess this years team by how it did last year. But when I look at No. 20 USCs chances against No. 1 Alabama on Saturday (ABC, 8 p.m. ET), I think of how Stanford dominated the line of scrimmage last season, held the ball for 35:42 and rushed for 262 yards against the Trojans in the Pac-12 championship game last December. The Trojans have a young defensive front. The Tide have three returning starters on the offensive line, including Cam Robinson, who might be the best left tackle in the country, not to mention a veteran defensive front.Fun fact from the Group of 5 San Diego State, which won its last 10 games a year ago, has the second-longest active winning streak in the FBS behind Alabamas 12-game streak. In the first six years of this decade, Northern Illinois four home losses are tied for the fewest in the FBS, with Alabama, Boise State, Clemson, Florida State, LSU and Stanford. And really, the Huskies lost only two at home. The other two home games were at Soldier Field. If you need to prove your Power 5 knowledge, mention that Florida State has won 21 straight home games dating to 2012.Tar Heels forced to backtrack after fumbling with appointment of Beckman North Carolina chancellor Carol L. Folt, on the short tenure of Tim Beckman as a Tar Heels volunteer coach: Moving forward I dont expect this situation to recur. I dont know Folt, but I know that a lot of university presidents are academics who couldnt find the football stadium with a campus map. Folt is a scientist who came to Chapel Hill after spending 30 years on the Dartmouth faculty. Between the ongoing NCAA investigation and the tone-deaf hiring of Beckman by head coach Larry Fedora, Folt has gotten a crash course on the dark side of the football team being the universitys front porch.Babers spread will thrive in Carrier Dome Texas offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert spent three seasons (2012-14) on the staff of Dino Babers at Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green.dddddddddddd. Babers plucked Gilbert out of Temple (Texas) High to help install Baylors spread offense. Now Babers is at Syracuse, and Gilbert believes he will turn around the Orange because the Baylor spread is made for the Carrier Dome. To be able to play probably half or more than half their games in a controlled climate? Especially up there? It will be huge to run this offense in that kind of conditions, Gilbert said.K-State will try and catch McCaffrey if it can Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder, asked about the task of slowing down Stanford back Christian McCaffrey, last years Heisman runner-up, gave a tutorial on defensive preparation. Being able to identify where he is and why hes there becomes important, Snyder said. He can line up in a lot of different positions, and [we must] not get baited out of position because of where his linemen are. They have to understand what he can, but also equally important, what he cant do from certain positions. Of course, everyone is waiting to find out what McCaffrey cant do.Beamer ball alive and well at Virginia Tech?Virginia Tech will award its special teams player of the week with the honor of wearing the No. 25 jersey, the retired number worn by former Hokies head coach Frank Beamer, in the next game. Another cool special teams honor: Because Duke quarterback and team co-captain Thomas Sirk has re-injured his Achilles tendon, he will be replaced at the coin toss in each game by a special teams captain of the week. Four-year long snapper Thomas Hennessy gets the honor when the Blue Devils open Saturday against North Carolina Central.Looking for signs of life from the Buffaloes Yes, Colorado has won two Pac-12 games in head coach Mike MacIntyres three seasons. But here are some things to think about as the Buffs try to snap their streak of consecutive seasons with a losing record at 10. Four of Colorados five losses to Pac-12 South teams last year came by seven points or fewer. Eighteen starters return. Senior quarterback Sefo Liufau has started 29 games, thrown for nearly 7,400 yards and 49 touchdowns. It might be too much to ask against a schedule with road trips to Michigan, Oregon, USC and Stanford in the first eight games. But the Buffs just might show some life. ' ' '