Ohio St. Bounces Back in 45-14 Win

David Boston and Joe Germaine saw to it that Ohio State did not stumble again.

Boston caught two of Germaine’s three touchdown passes and Joe Montgomery scored on an 80-yard run as the No. 7 Buckeyes bounced back from their stinging loss to Michigan State to beat Iowa, 45-14, at Iowa City on Saturday.

Ohio State, 9-1 overall and 6-1 in Big Ten, was far from perfect as Germaine threw two interceptions, Michael Wiley lost a fumble and Brent Bartholomew shanked a punt deep in his own territory.

But the Buckeyes amassed a season-high 627 total yards and the defense held Iowa (3-7, 2-5) to 180 while recording 11 sacks.

“It was a chance for us to get back and redeem ourselves,” Germaine said. “It was a good win. We were mentally down. We wanted to get back to our winning ways.”

Ohio State, which lost its No. 1 ranking because of the loss to Michigan State, showed an ability to strike quickly. Its three offensive touchdowns in the first half came on possessions that lasted 16, 22 and 36 seconds.

Boston caught touchdown passes of 54 and 17 yards and finished with five catches for 163 yards.

Germaine, who also threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Matt Keller, completed 18 of 30 passes for 319 yards.

No. 19 Penn State 41, Northwestern 10--Freshman tailback Eric McCoo ran for 127 yards and turned his own fumble into a 57-yard touchdown as the Nittany Lions (7-2, 4-2) defeated the Wildcats (2-9, 0-8) at State College, Pa.

On the bizarre touchdown run, McCoo broke one tackle and cut outside, then fumbled up the sideline. But he kept running, caught the bouncing ball in stride 15 yards downfield and continued on for the touchdown that put the Nittany Lions ahead, 24-3.

Penn State held Northwestern to 21 rushing yards and had five sacks to boost its total to 39.

Purdue 25, Michigan State 24--Drew Brees threw two touchdown passes in the final 5:07 as the Boilermakers (7-4, 5-2) became bowl eligible by defeating the Spartans (5-5, 3-3) at East Lansing, Mich.

Brees, who completed 26 of 47 passes for 196 yards, had been held in check until Todd Stelma blocked Craig Jarrett’s punt to give the Boilermakers the ball at the Spartan 20 with 6:39 left in the game.

Five plays later, Brees--who already has set the Big Ten single-season record with 32 touchdown passes--connected with Randall Lane for a nine-yard touchdown. Brees’ pass on the two-point conversion attempt was incomplete, leaving the Spartans ahead, 24-19.

Michigan State’s Bill Burke, who completed 28 of 40 passes for a career-high 345 yards, was hurt on the third play of the Spartans’ next possession, and they punted a play later.

Brees scrambled for 19 yards, then completed six of seven passes, capping a 70-yard, eight-play drive with a six-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Jones for the lead with 1:21 left.

The Boilermakers’ two-point conversion attempt failed again, leaving Michigan State a chance to win with a field goal. But freshman Ryan Van Dyke, playing for the injured Burke, couldn’t get the Spartans into field-goal range.

Indiana 20, Minnesota 19--Freshman quarterback Antwaan Randle El had a career-high 143 yards rushing to lead the Hoosiers (4-6, 2-5) past the Golden Gophers (4-6, 1-6) at Bloomington, Ind.