ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -Jim Tressel became the first Ohio State coach to beat Michigan six times in seven years, and the seventh-ranked Buckeyes’ 14-3 victory Saturday over their archrival gave them consecutive outright Big Ten titles for the first time in a half-century.
Chris Wells ran for a career-high 222 yards and two touchdowns and Vernon Gholston and the Buckeyes’ defense dominated Michigan’s banged-up offense.
The Buckeyes (11-1, 7-1 Big Ten) are likely headed to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1997. No. 23 Michigan (8-4, 6-2) missed out on its fourth trip to Pasadena in five years.
Michigan led 3-0 after the first quarter, but the Buckeyes controlled the game by stopping a one-dimensional offense and handing the ball off to Wells early and often.
Wells put Ohio State ahead with a 1-yard run in the second quarter and a 62-yard score made it 14-3 on its first snap after halftime. He had a career-high 39 carries, and ran for more yards than any other Buckeye in the history of the storied series.
No 6. Missouri 49, Kansas State 32
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) – Jeremy Maclin scored three touchdowns for Missouri, and had 252 total yards to set the NCAA single-season freshman record for all-purpose yards.
He returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown and caught two scoring passes, giving him 2,201 all-purpose yards for the season – 175 more than Terrell Willis of Rutgers had in 1993. Maclin finished with nine catches for 143 yards.
Chase Daniel threw for 284 yards and four touchdowns, including two to tight end Martin Rucker, helping Missouri (10-1, 6-1 Big 12) to its first win in Manhattan since 1989.
James Johnson ran for 172 yards for Kansas State (5-6, 3-5), and Josh Freeman passed for 243 yards, giving him 3,097 for the season and breaking Michael Bishop’s school record set in 1998.
No. 8 Georgia 24, No. 22 Kentucky 13
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – Knowshon Moreno ran for 124 yards, Matthew Stafford added a 10-yard TD run and No. 8 Georgia overcame four turnovers to keep alive its chances of playing for an SEC championship.
The Bulldogs (9-2, 6-2 SEC) clinched at least a tie for first in the Eastern Division and will face top-ranked LSU in the Dec. 1 title game if Tennessee loses one of its last two games.
The Wildcats (7-4, 3-4) were trying to win out and claim at least a share of the division crown, though they had no chance of playing in Atlanta. But their high-scoring offense couldn’t take advantage of two interceptions and two fumbles by the Bulldogs.
Andre Woodson had a rough afternoon against Georgia’s blitzing defense. He was 24-of-41 for 268 yards, managed only one TD pass and was sacked five times.
No. 14 Florida 59, Florida Atlantic 20
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) – Tim Tebow became the first player in NCAA history with at least 20 touchdowns passing and rushing in the same season, and Andre Caldwell broke the Florida school record for career receptions in a rout of Florida Atlantic.
Tebow finished 25-of-34 passing for a career-high 338 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score. He has 20 rushing touchdowns and 26 TD passes for Florida (8-3), which was eliminated from the SEC title race when Georgia beat Kentucky.
His 20th on the ground broke the previous SEC record of 19 held by Georgia’s Garrison Hearst (1992), Alabama’s Shaun Alexander (1999) and LSU’s LaBrandon Toefield (2001).
Caldwell caught a career-high 13 passes for 164 yards, giving him 176 career receptions.
No. 20 Illinois 41, Northwestern 22
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) – Juice Williams ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 220 yards and another score, helping the Illini move closer to a New Year’s Day bowl game.
Illinois (9-3, 6-2 Big Ten) piled up 541 yards, scored on each of its first two possessions and capitalized on mistakes that plagued Northwestern in the first half.
The Wildcats (6-6, 3-5) started the day with a good possibility of landing in a bowl. But with 10 Big Ten teams eligible, the Wildcats needed a seventh win to improve their case.
C.J. Bacher completed 29 of 49 passes for 310 yards and touchdowns with two interceptions for Northwestern, which yielded touchdown drives of 97, 94 and 84 yards to Illinois.
No. 25 Connecticut 30, Syracuse 7
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Tyler Lorenzen threw for 213 yards and a touchdown, helping the Huskies stay in sole possession of first place in the Big East.
Connecticut (9-2, 5-1 Big East) can win its first conference title with a victory at West Virginia next week. UConn finished 7-0 at home, only the second Big East team to do that.
UConn’s tailback tandem of Donald Brown and Andre Dixon combined for 151 yards rushing and two scores, and helped the Huskies jumped to an early 21-0 lead that was never really challenged by the Orange (2-9, 1-5).
Lorenzen finished 16-of-24 for 213 yards, and no interceptions. He also ran for 28 yards.
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