No Young, no problems for Ohio St.
Justin Fields threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in the first half Saturday, and No. 3 Ohio State hardly missed suspended defensive star Chase Young in a 73-14 romp over Maryland.
A team that gave the Buckeyes (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten, CFP No. 1) headaches last season was no trouble this time, even without the fierce pass rushing of Young. The preseason All-American was suspended Friday while Ohio State investigates a possible NCAA violation involving a loan.
“We went through a little adversity this week,” coach Ryan Day said. “Adversity reveals character, and our character was at the forefront of this game.”
J.K. Dobbins rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns as the Buckeyes built a 42-0 halftime lead.
Fields tossed touchdown passes to Binjimen Victor, K.J. Hill and Chris Olave before taking a seat in the second half. Backup Chris Chugunov threw another one in the third quarter. Ohio State piled up 705 yards of offense and 40 first downs.
The Buckeyes held the Terrapins to 1 yard of offense in the first quarter and 139 for the game. Anthony McFarland, who rushed for 298 yards against the Buckeyes last season, managed only 7 yards on six carries.
Another comeback for Baylor: Denzel Mims made a leaping 4-yard touchdown catch in the third overtime for No. 11 Baylor, capping another comeback victory that kept the Bears undefeated.
Charlie Brewer also threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Mims on fourth down in the second overtime to extend the game. Brewer had a 3-yard scoring run in the first overtime.
The Bears (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) finally won on Grayland Arnold’s interception of Max Duggan’s fourth-down pass in the end zone.
Baylor forced overtime when John Mayers kicked a 51-yard field goal with 36 seconds left in regulation. The ball just cleared the crossbar to tie it at 9. TCU (4-5, 2-4) led 9-0 after Jonathan Song made two field goals at the end of the first half.
Georgia posts third shutout: Jake Fromm threw two touchdown passes to George Pickens and No. 6 Georgia posted its third shutout, dominating a Missouri offense missing two of its biggest playmakers in a 27-0 victory Saturday night.
Georgia (8-1, 5-1 Southeastern Conference, No. 6 College Football Playoff) moved closer to its third straight berth in the SEC championship game. The Bulldogs can clinch the SEC East by beating No. 12 Auburn next week.
Missouri (5-4, 2-3) fell to 0-4 in road games with its third straight loss.
Taylor, Davis power Wisconsin: Jonathan Taylor rushed for a season-high 250 yards and Danny Davis ran for a touchdown and caught a scoring pass for No. 16 Wisconsin.
Taylor became the first running back this season to rush for more than 100 yards against 18th-ranked Iowa as Wisconsin (7-2, 4-2 Big Ten, No. 13 College Football Playoff ) held on to the Heartland Trophy, given each year to the winner of this game.
Quintez Cephus caught five passes for 94 yards and a score to help Wisconsin stay in contention for the Big Ten West crown.
Nate Stanley passed for 208 yards and two TDs for Iowa (6-3, 3-3, No. 18 CFP).
Cincinnati stays unbeaten: Desmond Ridder threw for a pair of touchdowns and Michael Warren II ran for two more scores during a dominant opening half, and No. 17 Cincinnati remained the only unbeaten team in American Athletic play.
The Bearcats (8-1, 5-0) retained the inside track for the conference title by ending their recent trend of slow starts. They led 38-0 at halftime against the conference’s lowliest team.
UConn (2-8, 0-6) had two players ejected while losing its 17th straight conference game.
Late FG sinks Kansas State: Cameron Dicker kicked a 26-yard field goal as time expired to lift Texas past No. 20 Kansas State. Texas (6-3, 4-2) had lost two of its previous three games. The victory over the Wildcats (6-3, 3-3, No. 16 College Football Playoff ) made the Longhorns bowl-eligible and kept them in the hunt for a berth in the Big 12 championship.
Keaontay Ingram rushed for 139 yards and two second-half touchdowns for the Longhorns. K-State rallied on Joshua Youngblood’s 98-yard kickoff return and Blake Lynch’s 45-yard field goal.
SMU rebounds: Shane Buechele threw five touchdown passes, Xavier Jones broke one of Eric Dickerson’s school records and SMU bounced back from its first loss.
The Mustangs (9-1, 5-1 American Athletic) played from ahead and kept it that way in a second straight game with more than 1,000 combined yards.
Jones, who ran for 157 yards, had three rushing touchdowns for the third time this season, giving him 18. His total number of touchdowns reached 20, one more than Dickerson had in 1981.