Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
No. 4 Michigan hands Penn St. 49-10 loss
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — De’Veon Smith led an overwhelming ground game with 107 yards rushing and a touchdown and Karan Higdon ran for two scores and No. 4 Michigan routed Penn State 49-10 on Saturday in both teams’ Big Ten opener.
The Wolverines scored six touchdowns on the ground as they finished with 326 yards rushing. Wilton Speight threw one touchdown pass.
Michigan (4-0) dominated both sides of the ball. Penn State (2-2) has lost three straight to the Wolverines.
Jabrill Peppers gave the fans an early thrill by returning Penn State’s first punt to the 9, although a bench-interference penalty moved the ball to the Nittany Lions 24. Seven plays later, Khalid Hill dove in on 4th-andgoal from the 1.
The Wolverines also scored touchdowns on their next two drives. Penn State finally got a couple stops, but the Wolverines took a 28-0 halftime lead on Higdon’s 2-yard run.
The Nittany Lions got on the board with a field goal early in the third, but Chris Evans made it 35-3 with a 3-yard run and the Wolverines cruised to the win.
The takeaway
Penn State: The Nittany Lions came into the Big House without any of their starting linebackers then lost Brandon Smith to a second-quarter targeting penalty. That left the Penn State defense helpless against Michigan’s running game and short passes. The offense was even worse, putting up 50 yards in the first half. Saquon Barkley had 19 yards rushing and caught two passes for 47 yards, but the rest of the team combined for minus-16.
Michigan: The Wolverines dominated in the trenches, with their defensive line continuously overrunning Penn State’s offensive line. They registered five sacks while building their firsthalf lead and Speight had all the time he needed.
Up next
Penn State: Returns to Happy Valley for the first of three straight home games. The Nittany Lions face Minnesota next Saturday in the Golden Gophers’ first trip to Penn State since 2009.
Michigan: Plays its fifth-straight game at the Big House to open the season, but will have a tougher test against Wisconsin. The 11thranked Badgers routed No. 8 Michigan State 30-6 in East Lansing. …
Iowa 14, Rutgers 7: Akrum Wadley scored on 26-yard run on the play after Iowa’s defense forced a turnover deep in Rutgers’ territory and the Hawkeyes rebounded from their stunning loss to North Dakota State with a victory over tougher-than-expected Rutgers on Saturday.
Safety Brandon Snyder set up the score by stripping the ball from receiver Andre Patton with just under nine minute to play to help Iowa (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) win its ninth straight regular-season conference game and its seventh straight league win on the road.
C.J. Beathard threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to tight end George Kittle late in the first half to give Iowa a 7-0 lead.
Rutgers (2-2, 0-1) tied the game early in the fourth quarter on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Chris Laviano to Patton.
The Scarlet Knights got to the Hawkeyes 17 on their next possession, but Iowa came up with stops on third- and fourth-down runs to end the drive.
Iowa took the lead late in the first half on Beathard’s touchdown pass to Kittle. It capped an eight-play, 99-yard drive that started after the Hawkeyes’ defense stopped the Scarlet Knights after they got a first-and-goal at the 3 on a 76-yard catch and run by Janarion Grant.
Hawkeyes cornerback Desmond King stepped on Grant’s right leg at the end of the play and Rutgers’ dynamic receiver was knocked out of the game.
Beathard had runs of 14 and 12 yards on the drive and hit four passes, the last to a wide-open Kittle, who just got across the goal line with 34 seconds left in the half.
Rutgers tied the game on Laviano’s third-down pass to Patton in the left corner of the end zone with 12:45 left in regulation, capping a 13-play, 88-yard drive. Justin Goodwin had runs of 24 and 13 yards and Laviano had a 12-yard run.
Iowa linemen James Daniels and Sean Welsh returned after missing last week. …
Purdue 24, Nevada 14: For Purdue sophomores David Blough and Markell Jones, Saturday’s comefrom-behind victory against Nevada was all about redemption.
Blough threw an interception during the game’s opening series that the Wolf Pack converted into a touchdown and Jones lost two opening-half fumbles, one of which was converted into a touchdown.
But Blough threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns, and Jones had a go-ahead score in the third quarter as Purdue rallied to win.
Purdue, which turned it over four times, pulled within 14-10 late in the second quarter on Blough’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Bilal Marshall. Purdue’s defense dominated the third, limiting Nevada to 23 yards on 11 plays.
Jones’ 5-yard TD run capped a 12-play, 49-yard drive in the third quarter, and the Boilermakers (2-1) added a TD with 1:17 remaining in the fourth on Blough’s 51-yard pass to Brycen Hopkins. Jones finished with 124 yards for his third career 100-yard game.
The Boilermakers have turned the ball over 10 times, including seven interceptions for Blough, in their first three games but are 2-1 for the first time in coach Darrell Hazell’s fourth season at Purdue.
Tyler Stewart threw touchdown passes of 15 yards to Hasaan Henderson and 6 yards to James Butler for Nevada (2-2). The
Wolf Pack converted the Blough interception and a Jones fumble into a 14-3 lead.
The Wolf Pack had an opportunity to pull even at 17 with 4:16 remaining in the fourth, but Brent Zuzo hooked a 27-yard field-goal attempt wide left, and Blough iced it.
Purdue outgained Nevada 466-253. …
Minnesota 31, Colorado State 24: Rodney Smith rushed 17 times for 99 yards and two touchdowns to help Minnesota wear down Colorado State on the way to a 31-24 victory on Saturday.
Shannon Brooks, the team’s leading rusher last year, returned from a broken foot that kept him out of the first two games and netted 85 yards and a score on 13 carries for the Gophers (3-0).
The Gophers didn’t need much from Kobe McCrary, who rushed for 13 yards on four carries.
Freshman Collin Hill, making his second start at quarterback for the Rams (2-2), cut Colorado State’s deficit to seven points with a 15-yard toss to Michael Gallup with 6:24 remaining. The Gophers followed with a three-and-out, but Hill’s fourth-down pass at the Minnesota 45 around the 2-minute mark was broken up by Adekunle Ayinde to quash the comeback.
Leidner’s underthrow toward the sideline was intercepted near midfield by Braylin Scott in the final minute of the first half, but Wyatt Bryan missed a 46-yard field goal as the clock expired to preserve a 17-7 lead for the Gophers.
Leidner ran the ball 10 times for 50 yards and a touchdown, looking as spry as ever after suffering foot injuries in each of the last two Septembers that hampered his sophomore and junior seasons.
“He’s a big reason why we’re having the success we are on offense,” Claeys said.
The Rams were worried enough about the speed of Minnesota’s outside rush that coach Mike Bobo put wide receivers on the scout team at defensive end for a better test in practice this week for his blockers. On the first play from scrimmage, defensive tackle Steven Richardson charged into the backfield for a 10-yard sack.
Hill absorbed several hard hits on the afternoon, none more jarring than the sack by Tai’yon Devers that knocked the ball loose and his helmet off to give the Gophers possession at the Colorado State 33-yard line following the recovery by Gaelin Elmore. Devers, a freshman from Pompano Beach, Florida, has forced a fumble on all three of his sacks just 2½ games into his college career.
The Rams, who started three different quarterbacks over the first three games, have come a long way since a 44-7 loss to Colorado in their opener. …
Wake Forest 33, Indiana 28: John Wolford ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, and Jessie Bates returned an interception for a third score Saturday to lead Wake Forest past Indiana.
The Demon Deacons are 4-0 (1-0 ACC) for the first time in 10 years and have already surpassed the three-win totals they had each of the previous two seasons. It was coach Dave Clawson’s 100th career victory.
And it was impressive, too, as Wake Forest ended Indiana’s eight-game winning streak against non-conference opponents.
After Indiana (2-1) took a 7-0 lead with a 75-yard TD pass from Richard Lagow to Nick Westbrook on the game’s first play, Wake converted three interceptions and a blocked field goal into 24 points.
The first interception, off a tipped pass in the end zone, led to Wolford’s 4-yard TD run that tied the score at 7. Bates returned his second pick of the game 55 yards to make it 14-7, and the Deacons finished the half with a 26-yard TD pass from Wolford to Chuck Wade to make it 21-7.
Wolford wound up 16 of 29 for 172 yards and ran 14 times for 61 yards.
Lagow’s fourth interception led to a Wake field goal in the third quarter and a 24-7 lead. …
No. 20 Nebraska 24, Northwestern 13: Tommy Armstrong Jr. threw for 246 yards and ran for a career-high 132 to lead No. 20 Nebraska to a victory over Northwestern on Saturday night in the Big Ten opener for both teams.
The Cornhuskers (4-0) remained unbeaten coming off a tight win over Oregon that vaulted them into the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since December 2014.
They lost two fumbles near the Northwestern goal line in the first half, but scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to stretch their lead from three to 11.
The Wildcats (1-3) matched their loss total from last year when they went 10-3.
Armstrong went 18 of 29, hitting Alonzo Moore with a 59-yarder in the first half and throwing a 4-yard touchdown strike to Cethan Carter that made it 17-7 early in the third after Aaron Williams intercepted Clayton Thorson’s pass in the end zone.
Terrell Newby ran for 69 yards and a touchdown. Moore had 72 yards receiving, and Nebraska finished with 556 yards in all.
Thorson threw for 249 yards and had a 42-yard touchdown run. But he also threw two interceptions and was sacked four times, bringing his Big Ten-leading total to 15.
Austin Carr had another big game for Northwestern with 109 yards receiving and a touchdown, giving him at least one scoring catch in three straight games. But a team that seemed to be getting on track with last week’s win over Duke after opening with losses to Western Michigan and Illinois State came up short against the resurgent Cornhuskers.
Nebraska drove 80 yards for a touchdown after Williams picked off Thorson in the end zone on the opening drive of the second half, with Carter’s 4-yard TD catch making it 17-7.
Northwestern answered with a 24-yard TD pass from Thorson to Carr, but Jack Mitchell’s extra-point attempt hit the left upright. The Cornhuskers then went 79 yards with Jordan Westerkamp running it in from the 10 to boost the lead to 24-13.