In brief

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher has cautioned his seventh-ranked Seminoles not to overlook Football Championship Subdivision member Murray State in Saturday's season opener for both teams.

The third-year Florida State coach doesn't apologize for bringing in teams that are heavy underdogs to begin each season and says the Racers will present a good test for his squad.

Fisher has said several times this week that Murray State has good players at the skill positions and a dangerous quarterback who can run and throw.

Still, The Seminoles have outscored their last two FCS opponents 121-16 in Fisher's first two seasons as head coach at Florida State. The Seminoles are such a heavy favorite Saturday that there is no point spread on the game.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — New Ohio State coach Urban Meyer says the days are long gone when a big, feared, ranked team could line up against an overmatched and undersized one and steamroll it.

One of the reasons is the pass-happy spread offense that Meyer helped to popularize: It's the great equalizer.

Now Meyer embarks on his first game in his new job after spending a year in the TV booth analyzing other teams — and his first opponent is a Miami (Ohio) team that is as good as any at running his favorite offense. The 18th-ranked Buckeyes still have an advantage in talent, but the RedHawks will provide an interesting test in a game involving two teams trying to turn things around.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina says the NCAA has reviewed irregularities in an academic department and told university officials it has found no rules violations so far.

In a statement Friday, the school said NCAA and UNC officials jointly reviewed problems in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies last fall during the NCAA's ongoing probe of violations within the football program.

The school said the NCAA found no apparent violations then and "reaffirmed" that when the school updated the NCAA on its AFAM findings on Aug. 23.

NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn confirmed the university's statement in an email and said there was nothing to add at this time.

In May, the school found fraud and poor oversight in 54 classes between 2007 and 2011, though there are still ongoing AFAM probes.

NEW ORLEANS — The season opener between Tulane and Rutgers is very much about the hope of fresh starts and a little about the fear of the unknown.

The Green Wave's Curtis Johnson and the Scarlet Knights' Kyle Flood both make their head coaching debuts on Saturday night.

Flood was promoted from within a Rutgers program that has played in six bowl games in seven seasons. He succeeds, Greg Schiano, who took an NFL head coaching job in Tampa Bay.

Johnson left the successful Saints of the NFL for a struggling college program that also plays in the Superdome, albeit before crowds that are far smaller and often more frustrated.