Zook’s Debut Is a Winner, 33-30

Illinois seemingly was on the brink of a crushing loss to Rutgers on Saturday in Ron Zook’s debut as coach, but the Fighting Illini put on a furious comeback and defeated the Scarlet Knights, 33-30, in overtime at Champaign, Ill.

After Rutgers’ Brian Leonard leaped over would-be-tackler Charles Bailey and raced 83 yards down the sideline for a spectacular touchdown, Illinois trailed by 20 points with 5 minutes 11 seconds elapsed in the third quarter.

But the Illini made a remarkable fourth-quarter rally, tying the score with 73 seconds left in regulation and winning it in overtime on Pierre Thomas’ two-yard run up the middle for a touchdown.

“It really wasn’t pretty, but my biggest concern was what we were going to do under adversity,” Zook said. “If you look at the first half we were awful. The field position was awful. We were killing ourselves on first downs. [Quarterback] Tim [Brasic] had more turnovers in the first half than he has had [in practices] since we’ve been here. Defensively, we were very sloppy at times.

“We kept playing; we kept going. Believing is half the battle. The players did what we’ve been preaching. They have a long way to go but we did something that was a major hurdle for us to have a successful program.”

The touchdown that forced overtime came on a 13-yard pass from Brasic to E.B. Halsey. The junior running back broke through several Rutgers defenders to the end zone to complete a nine-play, 65-yard drive.

The drive began when Chris Norwell blocked Jeremy Ito’s 43-yard field-goal attempt at the Illini 35-yard line. Ito missed four field-goal tries.

“That was the first time I felt the momentum was ours,” Zook said. “There were so many turning points and that was one of them.”

After the Illini tied the score, Jason Reda had a chance to win the game with three seconds remaining in regulation but his 42-yard field-goal attempt missed.

No. 4 Michigan 33, Northern Illinois 17 -- Mike Hart ran for 117 yards and a touchdown and had a 34-yard touchdown reception as the Wolverines pulled away from the Huskies at Ann Arbor, Mich.

The Huskies ran for 211 yards and threw for 200, but lost four fumbles, threw an interception and had a field-goal try blocked.

No. 6 Ohio State 34, Miami (Ohio) 14 -- Ted Ginn Jr. caught a 42-yard touchdown pass and Donte Whitner returned an interception 26 yards for a score as the Buckeyes tuned up for Saturday’s showdown against Texas by routing the RedHawks at Columbus, Ohio

No. 11 Iowa 56, Ball State 0 -- Drew Tate threw two touchdown passes and the Hawkeyes scored on each of their possessions in the first half in rolling past the Cardinals at Iowa City, Iowa.

Ball State suspended 13 players Friday while officials continue to investigate possible NCAA violations involving a book loan program.

Penn State 23, South Florida 13 -- Alan Zemaitis returned a fumble 16 yards for a score and Tony Hunt rushed for a touchdown and set up another score with a long run as the Nittany Lions jumped to an early lead and held off the Bulls at State College, Pa.

Michigan State 49, Kent State 14 -- Jehuu Caulcrick rushed for 140 yards and three touchdowns and the Spartans had 685 yards -- second-most in school history -- in rolling to victory at East Lansing, Mich.

Northwestern 38, Ohio 14 -- Brett Basanez threw two touchdown passes to Shaun Herbert and ran for another -- all in the first half -- as the Wildcats spoiled Frank Solich’s return to coaching at Evanston, Ill.