No. 3 Michigan beats Illinois with late FG, 19-17
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan survived a pair of scares.
Jake Moody made a goahead, 35-yard field goal with nine seconds left, lifting the third-ranked Wolverines to a 19-17 win over Illinois on Saturday.
Michigan (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten, No. 3 CFP) played much of the second half without star running back Blake Corum, who hurt his left knee after being tackled just before halftime and had only one carry in the second half.
The Wolverines’ nationally ranked defense is led by coordinator Jesse Minter, the son of Rick Minter of Nash, Texas. Rick was Cincinnati’s head coach years ago.
X-rays, though, gave coach Jim Harbaugh and his players a sense of relief.
“Structurally good, which is great news,” Harbaugh said.
The Wolverines will now turn their attention to playing rival and second-ranked Ohio State on the road, where they have not won since 2000 with a spot in the Big Ten champinship game at stake and College Football Playoff implications.
“We’ve been preparing for this the whole year,” defensive lineman Kris Jenkins said.
The Fighting Illini (7-4, 5-3) took a 17-10 lead late in the third quarter on Chase Brown’s 37-yard touchdown run. But the couldn’t build on it.
With a chance to run out the clock and a one-point lead, they had to punt to Michigan late in the game. The Illini failed to hold on and beat a top-three team for the first time since knocking off top-ranked Ohio State in 2007.
“Very angry. Very upset,” coach Bret Bielema said. “I think our kids did a lot to win the football game and to continually have things just go against us, very frustrating.”
Brown finished with 140 yards rushing and two scores on 29 carries, choosing to play with an injured right leg that he hurt last week.
Illinois quarterback Tommy Devito, a Syracuse transfer, was 21 of 30 for 178 yards.
With Corum out and the passing game off, the Wolverines had to settle for Moody making four field goals in the second half.
J.J. Mccarthy was 18 of 34 for 208 yards, missing some throws and having some dropped on afternoon that had a wind chill of 11 degrees and wind gusts hovering around 18 mph.
NO. 2 OHIO STATE 43, MARYLAND 30
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Dallan Hayden scored three touchdowns in the second half of Ohio State’s victory over Maryland to set up a monumental matchup of unbeatens next weekend between the Buckeyes and rival Michigan.
Ohio State trailed 13-10 at halftime, and the Buckeyes were up just 33-30 when they turned the ball over on downs at the Maryland 42 with 6:36 remaining in the game.
Ohio State forced a threeand-out and then ran out much of the clock before making a field goal and scoring a defensive touchdown with 9 seconds remaining.
Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa completed 26 of 36 passing attempts for 293 yards and two touchdowns.
NO. 9 CLEMSON 40, MIAMI FLA. 10
CLEMSON, S.C. — DJ Uiagalelei threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third as Clemson wrapped up an undefeated ACC regular season and won its 40th straight at home beating Miami.
The Tigers (10-1, 8-0 ACC) have won at least 10 games in 12 straight seasons and — for a half — had their most dominant showing on both sides of the ball.
Clemson scored touchdowns on three of its first four possessions while Miami (5-6, 3-4) was stuffed by the Tigers defense.
The Hurricanes managed just 8 yards total the first two quarters and a season-low 98 for the game.
NO. 11 PENN STATE 55, RUTGERS 10
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Sean Clifford ran for a touchdown and threw for another and Penn State scored twice on fumble returns and once on a kickoff return in beating Rutgers.
Freshman Nick Singleton scored on a 100-yard kickoff return, Kobe King gave Penn State (9-2, 6-2 Big Ten) the lead for good with a 14-yard fumble return and Ji’ayir Brown rumbled 70 yards with another fumble as the Nittany Lions blew it open in the second half.
The Nittany Lions beat Rutgers (4-7, 1-7) for the 16th straight time.
The Penn State defense limited Rutgers to 167 yards and forced three turnovers that led to 21 points.
NAVY 17, NO. 17 UCF 14
ORLANDO, Fla. — Fullback Daba Fofana rushed for 114 yards and Navy beat UCF without completing a pass.
Navy (4-7, 4-4 American Athletic) possessed the ball for nearly 40 minutes and gained 248 yards, all on the ground.
The loss dropped UCF (8-3, 5-2) out of first place in the AAC and all but eliminated the Knights’ chances of playing at home in the conference championship game.
Mikey Keene replaced quarterback John Rhys Plumlee in the second half and immediately led the Knights to their only touchdown of the game.
NO. 18 NOTRE DAME 44, BOSTON COLLEGE 0
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Cornerback Benjamin Morrison had three interceptions, the Notre Dame defense forced two fumbles and the Fighting Irish scored on their first eight possessions to beat Boston College.
The Fighting Irish (83) won their ninth straight against Boston College (3-8).
The temperature at game time was 27 degrees, making it the coldest game at Notre Dame in nine years, and heavy snow fell through much of the third quarter.
NO. 20 FLORIDA STATE 49, LOUISIANA 17
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Jordan Travis and Treshaun Ward each had a pair of touchdown runs in the first half and Florida State ran for 251 yards, routing Louisiana.
Florida State (8-3) scored a season high in points, surpassed 200 rushing yards for a sixth straight time and picked up its fourth straight double-digit victory against the Ragin’ Cajuns (5-6).
Louisiana quarterback Chandler Fields completed 19 of 36 passes for 159 yards and a 5-yard touchdown to Michael Jefferson.
NO. 22 CINCINNATI 23, TEMPLE 3
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jacob Dingel and Bryon Threats intercepted passes, Noah Potter and Dontay Corleone recovered fumbles and Cincinnati beat Temple.
Cincinnati (9-2, 6-1) can guarantee a berth in its fourth straight conference title game with a win in its regular-season finale Friday against Tulane, with whom it is presently tied atop the standings.
Temple quarterback E.J. Warner — the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner — passed for 167 yards and two interceptions, completing 21 of 36 attempts. Last week, Warner set a school record for passing yards with 486 yards and had three TD passes in a 43-36 loss at Houston.
NO. 25 OREGON STATE 31, ARIZONA STATE 7
TEMPE, Ariz. — Damien Martinez ran for 137 yards and two touchdowns in Oregon State’s win over Arizona State.
The Beavers (8-3, 5-3 Pac12) won for just the second time at ASU since 1972.
The Sun Devils (3-8, 2-6) played their final home game of the season, falling to 2-6 under interim coach Shaun Aguano, who replaced Herm Edwards on Sept. 20.
Quarterback Trent Bourguet went 20 of 32 for 122 yards passing for the Sun Devils. He ran eight times for 26 yards.