Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Dobbins, Young, No. 3 Ohio State roll No. 13 Badgers
COLUMBUS, Ohio — J.K. Dobbins rushed for 163 yards and two touchdowns, Chase Young was nearly unblockable with four sacks and No. 3 Ohio State routed No. 13 Wisconsin 38-7 on Saturday.
Dobbins slashed Wisconsin’s top-ranked defense for long gains in the second half, including scoring runs of 9 and 14 yards in a game played from beginning to end in the driving rain. He outperformed Badgers Heisman Trophy candidate Jonathan Taylor, who could muster only 52 yards rushing against the Buckeyes (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) after averaging almost 137 per game coming in.
Young looked like the Heisman contender on his day, tying a school record for sacks in a game, including two strip sacks that led to fumbles recovered each time by linebacker Pete Werner.
Justin Fields was harassed and sacked five times but — as he has been all season — was masterful at extending plays at critical times for the Buckeyes. He finished 12 for 22 for 167 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for a score.
Chris Olave caught two touchdowns passes and had seven catches for 93 yards.
Wisconsin (6-2, 3-2) scored on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Coan to A.J. Taylor early in the second half after the Badgers blocked an Ohio State punt and started with a short field. That made it 10-7, but Ohio State immediately answered with a touchdown drive and was never threatened again.
Ohio State has outscored opponents 386-63 and hasn’t played a close game yet.
NO. 6 PENN STATE 28, MICHIGAN STATE 7
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Sean Clifford threw four touchdown passes — three to Pat Freiermuth — and Penn State had little trouble shutting down Michigan State’s anemic offense.
The Nittany Lions (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) avenged close losses to Michigan State from each of the past two seasons. The Spartans (4-4, 2-3) wrapped up a dreadful stretch in which they lost to Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State by a combined score of 100-17.
Penn State now moves on to a surprising matchup of undefeated teams on Nov. 9 at Minnesota. The Nittany Lions had lost five of their previous six against Michigan State.
Clifford’s first touchdown pass to Freiermuth, a 16-yarder, opened the scoring in the first quarter, and those same two players gave Penn State a 13-0 lead with a 19-yard strike in the second. KJ Hamler’s 27-yard TD catch with 1:20 left in the half — plus a successful 2-point conversion — made it 21-0.
NO. 17 MINNESOTA 52, MARYLAND 10
MINNEAPOLIS — Rodney Smith ran for 103 yards to become Minnesota’s career leader in all-purpose yards, and Seth Green had two touchdown runs.
Tanner Morgan was 12-of21 passing for 138 yards and two touchdowns to help the Gophers (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) reach 8-0 for the first time since 1941. Minnesota has the nation’s fourth-longest winning streak at 10, trailing Clemson, Ohio State and Appalachian State.
NO. 20 IOWA 20, NORTHWESTERN 0
EVANSTON, Ill. — Nate Stanley passed for 179 yards and a touchdown and Iowa allowed just 202 yards of total offense.
The Hawkeyes (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) had their second shutout of the season and fourth in two years. Northwestern’s deepest advance into Iowa territory was the 28 late in the third quarter.
Northwestern (1-6, 0-5) was lost five in a row.
NO. 21 APPALACHIAN STATE 30, SOUTH ALABAMA 0
MOBILE, Ala. — Zac Thomas had a successful return to his home state, passing for 132 yards and a touchdown to help Appalachian State run its winning streak to 13.
Appalachian State (70, 4-0 Sun Belt) put on an overwhelming defensive performance at rain-soaked Ladd-Pebbles Stadium. When the Mountaineers took a 23-0 lead with 3:45 left in the third quarter, South Alabama had not run a play beyond midfield and had gained only 43 yards and one first down on 32 offensive snaps. The Jaguars (1-7, 0-4) were held to a season-low 139 total yards.
NO. 4 CLEMSON 59, BOSTON COLLEGE 7
CLEMSON, S.C. — Travis Etienne ran for 109 yards and three touchdowns, reserve receiver Diondre Overton caught three scoring passes and No. 4 Clemson blasted Boston College 59-7 on Saturday night for its 23rd straight victory.
The Tigers (6-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) easily extended their program best streak and opened 8-0 for the fourth time in the past five seasons, jumping on the Eagles (4-4, 2-3) early and never letting up. Clemson had the ball six times in the first 30 minutes and scored each time — including Etienne’s TD runs of 3, 4 and 5 yards — to take a 38-7 lead by halftime.
Trevor Lawrence completed 16 of 19 passes for 275 yards and scoring throws of 22 and 63 yards to Overton and 19 yards to Amari Rodgers. Overton, a senior, had only seven catches on the season, none of them finishing in the end zone. His final one was a 34-yard catch from Chase Brice in the third period. Overton had 119 yards in receptions.
Etienne, a junior and reigning ACC player of the year, has 46 career rushing touchdowns to move within one of James Davis’ all-time Clemson mark. Etienne also had his 13th 100-yard game, just four away from the school record.
Clemson finished with a season-high 674 yards.
NO. 19 MICHIGAN 45, NO. 8 NOTRE DAME 14
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Zach Charbonnet ran for two touchdowns in the first half and Shea Patterson threw for two scores in the second, helping No. 19 Michigan rout No. 8 Notre Dame 45-14 in driving rain Saturday night.
The Wolverines (6-2) ended an eight-game losing streak against top-10 teams under coach Jim Harbaugh, who needed a signature win in his fifth season that likely won’t end with the Big Ten title he and college football’s winningest program desperately covet.
The Fighting Irish (5-2) were knocked out of the College Football Playoff picture on the rain-filled night that seemed to affect them much more than Michigan.
Notre Dame took advantage of a questionable call on pass interference to set up Ian Book’s 7-yard TD pass to Cole Kmet to pull within 10 points late in the third quarter.
Michigan responded with Patterson’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Peoples-Jones on the ensuing drive, which got off to a good start with Hassan Haskins’ 49-yard run. The former linebacker finished with career-high 149 yards on 20 carries.
Charbonnet had 74 yards rushing on 15 carries, giving Michigan a tandem of running backs to control the game behind an offensive line that created huge holes.
Patterson threw his second TD early in the fourth, connecting on a 16-yard pass to Nico Collins, to put Michigan ahead 31-7.
UCLA 42, NO. 24 ARIZONA STATE 32
PASADENA, Calif. — Joshua Kelley scored a career-high four touchdowns and rushed for 164 yards to lead UCLA to a 42-32 victory over No. 24 Arizona State on Saturday night.
Kelley has rushed for over 100 yards in three of the past four games. The Bruins scored on five of their first six drives, including four straight from late in the first quarter to midway in the third after it was tied at 7.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson completed 16 of 23 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns. The sophomore injured his left leg after being hit on a scramble during the fourth quarter and did not return.
UCLA (3-5, 3-2 Pac-12) has won consecutive games for only the second time in Chip Kelly’s two-year tenure.
Jayden Daniels had 338 all-purpose yards and accounted for all four touchdowns for Arizona State (5-3, 2-3).