Ohio State showed little concern over being second in the Bowl Championship Series as the top-ranked Buckeyes defeated Indiana 38-7 Saturday in Bloomington, Ind.
It was business as usual for the Buckeyes in their first outing since the BCS standings were released placing them behind UCLA.
“I’m not going to tell you it had anything to do with it,” Ohio State coach John Cooper said of the standings. “I’d be lying to you if I said we didn’t mention it to them.”
“There were a lot of people on our team offended,” said wide receiver Dee Miller, who had career-highs of 11 catches for 159 yards. “We can’t control that. All we can control is that we keep winning.”
David Boston returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown and padded his school record for TD receptions with two for Ohio State (8-0, 5-0).
Boston’s punt return put the Buckeyes ahead to stay with 8:33 left in the opening quarter. His 29th TD catch, on a 3-yard pass from Joe Germaine, gave the Buckeyes a 28-7 lead. He caught No. 30 on a 2-yard toss from Germaine midway in the fourth quarter, giving the Buckeyes a 38-7 lead.
Germaine, who was 32 of 45, threw for three TDs and 351 yards, his school-record fourth straight 300-yard game, fifth of the season and sixth of his career.
Indiana fell to 3-5, 1-4.
Purdue 36, Iowa 14: Drew Brees threw four touchdown passes in West Lafayette, Ind., giving him a Purdue school-record 24.
Brees tied a 29-year-old school record of 23 TD passes with three in the first half, when he completed 20 of 29 attempts for 221 yards. Mike Phipps set the record in 1969, and it was tied by Mark Herrmann in 1980 and Jim Everett in 1985. Brees got the record 24th with 5:36 left in the third quarter on a 2-yard pass to tight end Tim Stratton.
Iowa (3-6, 2-4) trailed 19-0 by halftime and yet was fortunate to be so close. Purdue sacked quarterback Scott Mullen three times in the first half, intercepted a pass and also recovered one of his fumbles. The Boilermakers (5-4, 3-2) missed two field goal attempts and had a pass intercepted inside the 10-yard line in the half.
rees was 31 of 44 for 362 yards, giving him 2,982 yards this season.
Michigan 15, Minnesota 10: Even when it can’t run the ball, even when its offense stalls over and over as it has all season, No. 22 Michigan still can rely on one scoring play–a safety.
James Hall came up with the now-familiar two-point play this time, sacking Billy Cockerham in the end zone early in fourth quarter in Minneapolis. That snapped a punchless 10-10 tie and sparked the Wolverines’ victory.
Hall’s game-turning play marked the third time in four games the Wolverines (6-2, 5-0) have had a safety.
Tai Streets caught six passes for 192 yards, five short of Michigan’s school record, and a touchdown. But Minnesota (4-4, 1-4) held Michigan to minus-23 yards rushing.
Michigan quarterback Tom Brady was 19 for 27 for a career-best 282 yards and a 76-yard TD to Streets.
The Gophers led 10-7 after Trevis Graham recovered a fumbled punt snap for a TD in the first quarter.
But with the game tied 10-10 early in the fourth quarter, two false-start penalties backed the Gophers up to their 4-yard line. Hall barreled in on the next play to hit Cockerham from the blind side to snap the tie that had stood since Jay Feely kicked a field goal for Michigan with 5:14 left in the first half.
The safety also came shortly after another key Minnesota mistake.
With Michigan facing a second-and-10 at the Gophers’ 42, Anthony Thomas fumbled. Defensive end Curtese Poole was all alone with the bouncing ball, but he bobbled it trying to scoop it up. When he tried to fall on it, Brady dove in to steal it back.
Michigan was forced to punt, but the sequence left Minnesota’s offense in dangerous territory, and the Wolverines’ defense capitalized.
The Wolverines sealed the win with two late interceptions, the second coming after Minnesota’s Tony Henderson bobbled and dropped what would have been the go-ahead TD with 1:38 remaining.
