Bears end Sooners’ streak at 17
NO. 13 BAYLOR 27, NO. 8 OKLAHOMA 14
WACO, Texas — Gerry Bohanon had a hard time finding the words to describe just how he felt after 13th-ranked Baylor ran over Oklahoma, ending the eighthranked Sooners’ nation’s-best 17-game winning streak.
The hard-nosed quarterback does know what it means going forward for the resurgent Bears.
“I know we’ll keep going,” Bohanon said. “I know that was just motivation for what we can do, and we can be as a team.”
Bohanon (Earle High School) threw a touchdown pass and ran for two scores in the fourth quarter and Baylor’s defense harassed both Oklahoma quarterbacks in a 27-14 win Saturday that kept the Bears in contention for a spot in the Big 12 championship game, a week after an unexpected loss at struggling TCU.
“It’s controlled confidence. You know, we put in the work and we expected results,” said linebacker Terrel Bernard, who had nine tackles and two sacks for Baylor (82, 5-2). “We didn’t play up to our standard last week. And, we corrected some things on tape. We put in a great game plan and came out here and executed.”
The Sooners (9-1, 6-1) were held to 260 total yards, their fewest ever with Coach Lincoln Riley in his five seasons as head coach and two seasons as offensive coordinator before that. It was their fewest points in a regular-season game since a 48-14 home loss to Baylor in 2014, which came weeks before they ended that season with a 40-6 loss to Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
Oklahoma lost in November under Riley for the first time.
“Disappointing, no other way to put it,” Riley said. “Still a whole lot left for this football team. That’s the advantage of winning your first nine games, is you do set yourself up to be able to overcome something like this. … We’ll bounce back like we always do and like we fully expect to.”
Abram Smith had 148 yards rushing, including a 75yard scamper to set up the first of Bohanon’s rushing TDs for a 17-7 lead early in the fourth quarter. Bohanon, who threw an interception near midfield with a minute to go in the 30-28 loss at TCU, ran for 107 yards against the Sooners while hitting 12 of 21 passes for 117 yards and an interception.
Baylor fans stormed the field when they thought the game was over, but there had been a timeout, and 3 seconds remained. Pretty much all of Oklahoma’s team had left the field and it took several minutes to clear the field and get 11 Sooners back out for the final snap after officials spoke with an irate Riley.
Isaiah Hankins then kicked a 32-yard field goal for points that could come into play in a Big 12 tiebreaker, and the fans then swarmed the field again. NO. 4 OHIO STATE 59,
NO. 19 PURDUE 31
COLUMBUS, Ohio — C.J. Stroud threw for 361 yards and five touchdowns, freshman TreVeyon Henderson rumbled for two more scores and Ohio State struck early and rolled over Purdue.
The Buckeyes (9-1, 7-0) scored on all seven of their first-half possessions, piling up 45 points against a Purdue team that hadn’t allowed more than 30 in any game this year.
Garrett Wilson, who was unavailable last week for unspecified reasons, had 10 catches for 126 yards and three touchdowns. Jaxson Smith-Njigba followed up a 15-catch, 240-yard effort last week with nine catches for 139 yards a a TD.
David Bell had 11 catches for 103 yards for Purdue (6-4, 4-3).
NO. 6 MICHIGAN 21, PENN STATE 17
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Cade McNamara threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to tight end Erick All with 3:29 left and Michigan stayed in the Big Ten championship race, rallying past Penn State.
McNamara completed 19 of 29 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns to boost the Wolverines (9-1, 6-1).
Hassan Haskins ran for 156 yards on 31 carries and Roman Wilson caught a pair of touchdown passes for the Wolverines.
Sean Clifford withstood seven sacks for Penn State (6-4, 3-4), completing 23 of 43 for 205 yards and a touchdown. NO. 7 MICHIGAN STATE 40, MARYLAND 21
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Payton Thorne threw two of his four touchdown passes to Jayden Reed, and Kenneth Walker ran for 143 yards and two scores, helping Michigan State bounce back from its first loss with a victory over Maryland.
The Spartans (9-1, 6-1) stayed in the Big Ten championship race.
If Mel Tucker’s team can upset No. 6 Ohio State on the road next Saturday and beat No. 23 Penn State at home the following week, it will be in the conference’s championship game with an opportunity to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff.
The Terrapins (5-5, 2-5) have lost five of their last six games.
NO. 9 NOTRE DAME 28, VIRGINIA 3
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Jack Coan threw three touchdown passes and Notre Dame beat Virginia to extend its regular-season winning streak against Atlantic Coast Conference schools to 23 games.
Coan connected with Michael Mayer from 6 yards, Braden Lenzy from 4 yards and Kevin Austin from 15 yards for the Fighting Irish (9-1), who also stretched their road winning streak against teams from the ACC to 11 games.
Virginia (6-4) played without quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who leads the nation in total offense with an average of 425.3 yards but did not dress after sustaining a rib injury in a loss to No. 14 BYU two weeks ago.
Freshman Jay Woolfolk completed 18 of 33 passes for 196 yards, 2 interceptions and was sacked 7 times.
NO. 10 OKLAHOMA STATE 63, TCU 17
STILLWATER, Okla. — Jaylen Warren ran for three touchdowns to help No. 10 Oklahoma State roll past TCU.
The Cowboys (9-1, 6-1) won their third in a row. Oklahoma State moved into a tie for first place in the Big 12 Conference with Oklahoma with two games remaining, including a showdown with the Sooners on Nov. 27.
Warren ran for 103 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries in the first half as the Cowboys took a 28-3 lead. Oklahoma State gained 352 yards and held TCU to 162.
NO. 12 WAKE FOREST 45, NO. 16 N.C. STATE 42
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Sam Hartman accounted for four touchdowns while Justice Ellison ran for a short score with 1:47 left to help No. 12 Wake Forest beat No. 16 North Carolina State, claiming a critical ACC division win.
The win allowed the Demon Deacons (9-1, 6-0) to take a huge step toward claiming the Atlantic Division championship won by Clemson each year on the way to winning the past six league titles. Wake Forest now must win one of its last two games, both on the road, to secure the division winner’s ticket to the ACC championship game.
Fittingly, in a matchup of the division’s top two teams, the Demon Deacons had to grind to the final minute to hold off the Wolfpack (7-3, 4-2) and quarterback Devin Leary.
Ellison’s 4-yard score pushed Wake Forest to a 45-35 lead, though N.C. State responded with a clutch drive that ended with Leary’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Devin Carter with 45 seconds left. The Wolfpack then nearly recovered the onside kick, with Ricky Person Jr. grabbing the bouncing ball about a yard shy of the 10-yard requirement to secure the possession.
NO. 18 WISCONSIN 35, NORTHWESTERN 7
MADISON, Wis. — Braelon Allen ran for 173 yards and three touchdowns to help Wisconsin beat Northwestern for its sixth consecutive victory.
Graham Mertz threw two touchdown passes for Wisconsin (7-3, 5-2 Big Ten) and Badgers had four interceptions. Northwestern’s Andrew Marty threw three interceptions for the second straight week.
Northwestern (3-7, 1-6) was lost four in a row.
NO. 20 IOWA 27, MINNESOTA 22
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Alex Padilla threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in his first career start and Iowa withstood three fourth-quarter comeback attempts to beat Minnesota.
The Hawkeyes (8-2, 5-2 Big Ten) led 24-16 before Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Chris Autman-Bell with 5:28 to play. The Gophers (6-4, 4-3) went for the twopoint conversion, but Morgan’s pass was tipped by Iowa safety Dane Belton and fell incomplete.
The Gophers got the ball back at their own 10 with 3:08 left. Morgan was sacked for a 7-yard loss on second down, and his fourth-down pass was broken up by Iowa’s Matt Hankins. NO. 23 UTSA 27, SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI 17
SAN ANTONIO — Frank Harris passed for 227 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 54 yards and UTSA overcame a sluggish performance to beat Southern Mississippi and remain undefeated.
The Roadrunners (10-0, 6-0 Conference-USA) needed late defensive stands to avoid an upset by the Golden Eagles (1-9, 0-6).
With the game tied at 17 with six minutes remaining, UTSA noseguard Jaylon Haynes recovered a fumble by Southern Miss quarterback Antavious Willis at the Golden Eagles 35. The turnover led to Hunter Duplessis’ go-ahead, 24-yard field goal with 4:39 remaining.