All Buckeyes in showdown vs. Badgers
What was billed as a battle of the nation’s top defenses turned into another rout for surging Ohio State.
The No. 3 Buckeyes’ matchup with No. 13 Wisconsin was supposed to be the biggest challenge of the season for Ohio State, a test of mettle against a Badgers defense that statistically was ranked the best in the country.
Instead, Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins slashed Wisconsin for big gains and two touchdowns, and it was the Buckeyes defense that put on a show. All-America defensive end Chase Young was nearly unblockable with four sacks as Ohio State romped to a 38-7 win in a steady rain Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.
“I think in all honesty we could have put up 50,” said Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, who threw two touchdown passes to Chris Olave and ran for another score. “I think if the weather was different, I think we could have (thrown) the ball more and put up way more points than we did.”
Dobbins rushed for 163 yards against a Wisconsin defense that had limited opponents to 58.4 yards per game. He had 112 of those yards and scoring runs of 9 and 14 yards in the second half after the rain let up some and Fields was able to loosen up the Badgers defense with some effective passing.
“If you put all your attention on one guy, they’ve got a lot of other ways to hurt you,” Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said.
Wisconsin (6-2, 3-2) scored on a 26-yard TD pass from Jack 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 TD drive and was never threatened again.
Dobbins outperformed Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor, who came to town with plenty of Heisman hype. Taylor could muster only 52 yards rushing against the Buckeyes (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) after averaging almost 137 per game coming in.
Dobbins’ teammates teased him all week about the attention being heaped on his counterpart at Wisconsin
“All the Jonathan Taylor stuff,” Dobbins said. “He’s a great player, but I’m here to win games, win championships.”
Dobbins on Saturday passed the 1,000-yard mark for the season, becoming the first Ohio State player ever to rush for more than 1,000 yards in his freshman, sophomore and junior season.
Young also looked like a Heisman contender, tying a school record for sacks in a game, including two strip sacks that led to lost fumbles. He extended his streak to 10 straight games with a sack.
Clemson extends streak: Travis Etienne ran for 109 yards and three TDs, reserve WR Diondre Overton caught three scoring passes and No. 4 Clemson blasted visiting Boston College 59-7 for its 23rd straight victory.
The Tigers (6-0 ACC) easily extended their program best streak and opened 8-0 for the fourth time in the last 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.
TCU knocks off Texas: Freshman Max Duggan threw two touchdown passes, including a tiebreaking 44-yarder to Jalen Reagor the first play after one of Sam Ehlinger’s career-high four interceptions, and host TCU beat No. 15 Texas 37-27.
Duggan finished with a career-best 273 yards passing against the Big 12’s worse pass defense and ran for a clinching score late as the Horned Frogs (4-3, 2-2 Big 12) bounced back from consecutive conference road losses. Duggan led TCU with 72 yards rushing.
The Longhorns (5-3, 3-2) lost a third straight game in Fort Worth for the first time since the 1940s.
Gophers still golden: Rodney Smith ran for 103 yards to become Minnesota’s career leader in all-purpose yards, Seth Green had two touchdown runs and the No. 17 Golden Gophers routed visiting Maryland 52-10.
Tanner Morgan tossed two TDs to help the Gophers (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) reach 8-0 for the first time since 1941. Minnesota has the nation’s fourthlongest winning streak at 10.
The Gophers were national champions when they started 8-0 in 1941. The 5-0 start in conference play is their first since 1961, the last year they earned a trip to the Rose Bowl.
App State wins 13th straight: Zac Thomas had a successful return to his home state, passing for 132 yards and a touchdown to help No. 21 Appalachian State beat host South Alabama 30-3 and run its winning streak to 13.
Appalachian State (7-0, 4-0 Sun Belt) put on an overwhelming defensive performance. When the Mountaineers took a 23-0 lead with 3:45 left in the third, South Alabama hadn’t run a play beyond midfield and had gained only 43 yards and one first down on 32 snaps.