STAYING GROUNDED
Through one game, Bears coach Nagy remained true to his commitment to run the ball
The Big Ten’s third football schedule of the 2020 season is highlighted by Michigan-Ohio State on Dec. 12, the final day of the conference’s regular-season and the latest date the rivals have played.
The Big Ten released an eightgames-in-eight-weeks schedule Saturday that will start the weekend of Oct. 24. Just three days ago, the conference reversed course and decided to play a fall football season after postponing it Aug. 11 because of concerns about COVID-19.
Week 1 features Nebraska at Ohio State, two teams that were at the forefront of the grassroots push to play fall ball in the Big Ten. Michigan will play at Minnesota in the Little Brown Jug rivalry to open the season.
In Week 2, Ohio State will play at Penn State on Halloween. The Buckeyes at No. 2 and Penn State at No. 7 were the highest-ranked Big Ten teams in the preseason Associated Press Top 25.
The regular season concludes, as usual, with the Buckeyes and Wolverines facing off. Michigan and Ohio State have played 103 times but never later than November.
The Big Ten championship game will be played Dec. 19 in Indianapolis, matching the East and West Division champions. The conference has said it will give all its teams the opportunity to play Dec. 19. The tentative plan is to match teams with similar finishes in the respective division standings.
Miami 47, Louisville 34
D’Eriq King threw three touchdown passes, and the No. 17 Hurricanes used big plays to win on the road in a shootout against the No. 18 Cardinals in the ACC opener for both teams. King threw a 75yard touchdown pass to Jaylan Knighton in the third quarter, a series after Cam’ron Harris ran 75 yards for a score.
Oklahoma State 16, Tulsa 7
True freshman quarterback Shane Illingworth made the No. 11 Cowboys’ usually high-powered offense come to life for just long enough to avoid a huge upset against the visiting Golden Hurricane.
Trailing 7-3 late in the third quarter, Oklahoma State received a big offensive spark when Illingworth entered the game and immediately connected on his first three passes, including the two longest plays of the day, hitting Tylan Wallace for completions of 36 and 29 yards.
Chuba Hubbard, who led the nation in rushing last season, was limited to 35 yards in the first half. His three-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter put the Cowboys ahead for good.
UCF 49, Georgia Tech 21
Dillon Gabriel threw for a career-best 417 yards and four touchdowns to lead the No. 14 Knights past the host Yellow Jackets before a socially distanced crowd of about 11,000 at 55,000seat Bobby Dodd Stadium.
After giving up a long return on the opening kickoff, UCF rebounded behind its left-handed sophomore to beat a Georgia Tech team that was looking to build on a big road victory in its first game.
Tre Nixon and Marlon Williams each hauled in a pair of touchdown passes as Gabriel (27-for-41 passing) eclipsed his previous career high of 365 yards. After falling behind 28-7, Georgia Tech climbed within a touchdown on a pair of scores by freshman Jahmyr Gibbs, who also had a long kickoff return.
Louisiana-Lafayette 34, Georgia State 31 (OT)
Elijah Mitchell rushed for 164 yards, including the winning touchdown in overtime, as the No. 19 Ragin’ Cajuns slipped past the host Panthers. Mitchell got going in the second half, bursting free for two long gains.
Clemson 49, The Citadel 0
Trevor Lawrence threw for three touchdowns on only nine passes as the No. 1 Tigers crushed the visiting Bulldogs.
Pittsburgh 21, Syracuse 10
Kenny Pickett threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and the No. 25 Panthers’ defense did the rest in a road triumph.
Marshall 17, Appalachian State 7
Brenden Knox rushed for 138 yards in the host Thundering Herd’s upset of the No. 23 Mountaineers.
FSU’s Norvell out with COVID
Florida State coach Mike Norvell has tested positive for the coronavirus and won’t coach the Seminoles in person this week.