West Lafayette, Ind. ? Purdue came up with big plays and long touchdowns on offense, which was no surprise.

The dominating defense even caught the Boilermakers off guard.

Kyle Orton passed for 287 yards and a career-high four touchdowns to lead the No. 25 Boilermakers to a 51-0 victory over Syracuse on Sunday, their first shutout in four years.

“The defense obviously played great. Nobody expected this,” Orton said. “I knew they were going to be a good defense, but I didn’t think they would be this good this early. We’ve got a lot of great athletes.”

Orton, a senior, and the experienced Purdue offense produced 571 yards and seven touchdowns. The defense has eight new starters and was expected to take a while to develop. Instead, it held Syracuse to 197 yards, forced four fumbles and added three sacks and two interceptions.

“We did a good job flying to the ball and keeping up our pursuit,” Purdue linebacker Stanford Keglar said. “We were very successful with our penetration. We also stayed in our alignment and tried not to overpursue.”

The last Purdue shutout came in the 2000 season opener against Central Michigan.

Orton hit Brian Hare for a 75-yard score in the first quarter, Taylor Stubblefield for TDs of 33 yards in the second quarter and 67 yards in the third period, and Brandon Jones for 32 yards late in the third. Ben Jones’ 34-yard field goal gave Purdue a 37-0 lead going into the final period, when Brandon Kirsch replaced Orton in the opener for both teams.

The Boilermakers scored their final touchdowns on a 44-yard run by Jerome Brooks and a 47-yard pass from Kirsch to freshman Dustin Keller with just more than two minutes to go.

“We gave up too many big plays on defense,” Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni said. “We were hoping to play through our inexperience, especially at the quarterback position, but just didn’t do enough offensively. Purdue’s an awful good team. We thought we’d run the ball better, but they kept coming with the blitz and we never adapted.”

For Syracuse, it was the worst shutout loss since a 59-0 beating at Miami in 2001.

“Our defense did what we hoped it would. We were able to get the heat up front,” said Purdue coach Joe Tiller, remembering last year’s 27-26 loss to Bowling Green, his only loss in a home opener in eight years with the Boilermakers.

“When you end up winning the game the way this game was won, you’re pleased by many things,” he said. “We did a lot of positive things.”

No. 14 Tenn. 42, UNLV 17

Knoxville, Tenn. — Brent Schaeffer became the first Southeastern Conference freshman quarterback to start an opener in 59 years, running for one touchdown and throwing for another.

Fellow freshman Erik Ainge, who was bracketed with Schaeffer at No. 1 on the depth chart, passed for two touchdowns.

Georgia’s John Rauch in 1945 was the last true SEC freshman to start a season opener.

Both freshmen were able to show off their special skills: Schaeffer’s elusive running, and Ainge’s strong arm.

Schaeffer fumbled to end his first series, but he ran for a one-yard touchdown in his second series.

On third-and-one, Schaeffer got past a defender in the backfield, rolled right, dodged more defenders and ran into the end zone to give Tennessee a 7-3 lead.

Schaeffer went 7-of-10 for 123 yards and ran seven times for 29 yards. Ainge came in for the Volunteers’ third possession and capped an 80-yard drive with a 42-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Fayton.