Carlos Hyde rushed for a career-high 246 yards and four touchdowns against Illinois. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Snap Judgments from the Week 12 early slate. For more coverage, check out files from Auburn-Georgia and Michigan State-Nebraska and our midday and late Snaps.
• No. 3 Ohio State 60, Illinois 35: As long as Alabama and Florida State remain undefeated, the Buckeyes don’t have much control over their national title chances. All the they can do is continue to win, which is exactly what they did on Saturday against the Fighting Illini.
Running back Carlos Hyde rushed for a career-high 246 yards and four touchdowns, as Ohio State coach Urban Meyer’s offense torched Illinois. Hyde’s two long touchdown runs (of 51 and 55 yards) in the fourth quarter sealed the victory after the Illini had cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 47-35. In all, Ohio State gained 591 yards of total offense — 441 of it on the ground.
The Buckeyes played pretty well on defense, too. Cornerback Bradley Roby returned an interception 63 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, and linebacker Ryan Shazier forced a safety late in the third, a play that sparked a near-tussle between Illinois coach Tim Beckman and offensive coordinator Bill Cubit. But the story of the game was Hyde and the Ohio State rushing attack. Quarterback Braxton Miller also shone, rushing for 184 yards and a touchdown, and passing for 150 yards and two scores.
Either the Crimson Tide or the Seminoles must lose this season if the Buckeyes hope to jump into the top two of the BCS standings. Ohio State won’t face another major test the rest of the way — the Buckeyes hosts Indiana on Nov. 23 before traveling to Ann Arbor to play an inconsistent Michigan team on Nov. 30. Their last chance to impress will be in the Big Ten title game on Dec. 7. [RECAP | BOX]
• No. 22 Oklahoma 48, Iowa State 10: Former Sooners coach Barry Switzer didn’t look particularly sage early in Oklahoma’s win over the 1-9 Cyclones. The score was tied 10-10 at halftime, and it appeared as though Switzer had jinxed the Sooners with his Saturday morning tweet.
Since everyone beats ISU at home, I want to be the first to congratulate @OU_CoachStoops on tying the record of 157 wins! #coachescabana—
Barry Switzer (@Barry_Switzer) November 15, 2013
Luckily for Switzer, however, Oklahoma finally found its groove. Running back Damien Williams rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns as the Sooners scored 38 unanswered points in the second half. With the victory, Bob Stoops tied Switzer for the most all-time victories (157) as the Oklahoma coach. [RECAP | BOX]
• Kansas 31, West Virginia 19: The streak is over in Lawrence. The Jayhawks beat the Mountaineers on Saturday to snap a 27-game Big 12 losing streak. It was the first league win for Kansas since it beat Colorado — now a member of the Pac-12 — on Nov. 6, 2010. The Jayhawks’ last Big 12 win against a team currently in the conference came on Oct. 10, ’09, when the Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling sat atop the Billboard charts, Modern Family was in its debut season and Zombieland was the highest-grossing movie at the box office.
James Sims rushed for 211 yards and three touchdowns for Kansas, who rallied from a 7-0 first-quarter deficit. West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen didn’t mince words after the loss.
#WVU's Holgorsen: "This would be an all-time low."—
Geoff Coyle (@GFCoyle) November 16, 2013
Meanwhile, Jayhawks fans stormed the field.
Overjoyed Jayhawks after beating WVU 31-19. http://t.co/C9fHqPlUOR—
Allan Taylor (@AllanTaylorWVU) November 16, 2013
With a victory against either Iowa State or Kansas State in the last two games, Kansas can match its highest conference win total (two) since 2008. [RECAP | BOX]
• No. 15 UCF 39, Temple 36: Thanks to a thrilling, last-gasp comeback, the Knights survived against the Owls to stay unbeaten in American Athletic Conference play. UCF tied the score at 36 with just over a minute to play when quarterback Blake Bortles connected with receiver J.J. Worton for what may be the touchdown catch of the year. After the Knights kicked off to Temple, their defense forced a punt and UCF got the ball back on its own 30-yard line with 19 seconds left. Bortles then hit wideout Rannell Hall down the left sideline for a 64-yard completion to the Owls’ six-yard line. Shawn Moffitt kicked a 24-yard field goal to win the game as time expired. Now 8-1 (5-0 AAC), the Knights play Rutgers (Nov. 21), USF (Nov. 29) and SMU (Dec. 7) to close out the regular season. [RECAP | BOX]
• No. 17 Wisconsin 51, Indiana 3: The Hoosiers have one of the worst rushing defenses in the Big Ten, and it certainly showed on Saturday. Badgers tailback James White ran for a career-high 205 yards and a touchdown, while Melvin Gordon (146 rushing yards) and Corey Clement (108) also gashed Indiana. Wisconsin ran for 554 yards and averaged 11.1 yards per carry. [RECAP | BOX]
• Cincinnati 52, Rutgers 17: Coach Tommy Tuberville has the Bearcats rolling. Cincinnati won its fifth straight game this weekend with a rout of the Scarlet Knights. Quarterback Brendon Kay had a career day, throwing for 405 yards and four touchdowns, and the Bearcats rolled to 619 yards of total offense. [RECAP | BOX]
• Ole Miss 51, Troy 21: Rebels quarterback Bo Wallace accounted for four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) as the Ole Miss offense gained 751 total yards and dominated the Trojans. It was the most yards the Rebels have gained in a game since 1951. Seven Ole Miss players, including Wallace, rushed for at least 46 yards. [RECAP | BOX]
• Boston College 38, NC State 21: Eagles tailback Andre Williams, the nation’s leading rusher, carried 42 times for 339 yards and two touchdowns to help Boston College improve to 6-4 (3-3 ACC) and clinch bowl eligibility in its first season under coach Steve Addazio. Williams’ 339 rushing yards set a single-game ACC record, and his 1,810 rushing yards in 2013 is the league’s single-season mark — the Eagles still have two regular-season games left. [RECAP | BOX]
