MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Billy Cockerham threw a career-long 89-yard touchdown pass and scored on a 35-yard bootleg as Minnesota opened a season of high expectations with a 33-7 rout of Ohio on Saturday.

Cockerman, a senior, drove the Gophers to four TDs against a small Bobcats team that had to replace most of its front seven.

He was erratic much of the day but made up for it with big plays, including his long TD toss to Antoine Henderson, who shook safety David Walker at midfield and raced into the end zone for a 26-7 lead in the third quarter.

It was the second-longest touchdown in school history, behind Marquel Fleetwood's 94-yard scoring strike to John Lewis on Oct. 24, 1992.

Ohio, which lost its two career rushing leaders off a team that ranked second nationally in rushing last season, gained 54 yards on the ground in its first drive, capped by Jamel Patterson's 2-yard TD scamper that gave the Bobcats a 7-0 lead.

Ohio of the Mid-American Conference bogged down after that, gaining just 65 yards on offense the rest of the half and Minnesota took a 19-7 halftime lead.

Cockerham scored untouched on a perfectly executed bootleg from 35 yards and Thomas Hamner ran it in from 4 yards for a 14-7 advantage. Free safety Delvin Jones blocked Dave Zastudil's punt out of the end zone and Dan Nystrom kicked a 49-yard field goal, the longest ever by a Gophers freshman.

Jones recovered a fumble by Zastudil at the Bobcats 11 in the fourth quarter, leading to Cockerham's 3-yard TD run that made it 33-7.

Strong safety Tyrone Carter had eight tackles, snapping his streak of 13 games in double digits.