More big ten results from Saturday

Nebraska 29, Northwestern 28

EVANSTON, ILL.

The way Taylor Martinez sees it, there isn’t a team that can beat Nebraska if the Cornhuskers play the way they did down the stretch in this one. Northwestern certainly couldn’t. Martinez threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns and Nebraska rallied to beat the Wildcats. “We’re the one that’s stopping ourselves,” Martinez said. “If we don’t stop ourselves, no one in the country can beat us.” The Cornhuskers (5-2, 2-1 Big Ten) rallied from 12 down to match the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in school history, taking a one-point lead when Martinez hit Ben Cotton with a 7-yard pass with just over 2 minutes left, and hung on when a 53-yard field goal attempt by Northwestern’s Jeff Budzien barely missed wide right with 1:10 remaining. That kept Nebraska in the thick of the Legends division race after being blown out at Ohio State two weeks earlier. The Cornhuskers can thank Martinez for that. He led them to two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and completed all five passes on that last scoring drive, going 27 of 39 overall to help Nebraska rack up 543 yards of total offense. “He really showed he’s a leader, said Quincy Enunwa, who had 110 yards receiving. “He came out and made sure all of our heads were in the game.” Kenny Bell caught six passes for 77 yards and a touchdown. Ameer Abdullah ran for 101 yards on a day when Rex Burkhead again hurt his troublesome left knee after a short run early on. It’s a problem that surfaced in the season opener and forced him to miss the next two games. He also tweaked it against Ohio State. Venric Mark led Northwestern (6-2, 2-2) with 118 yards rushing, including an 80-yard touchdown that made it an 11-point game early in the third. He also got shaken up after a short run in the fourth and spent the rest of the game on the sideline. Trevor Siemian threw for two touchdowns but was just 15 of 35 for 116 yards. The Wildcats had three fumble recoveries but only seven points off them on the way to their second loss in three games.

Wisconsin 38, Minnesota 13

MADISON, WIS.

James White raced 15 times through Minnesota’s defense for 175 yards rushing and three touchdowns. It was the ninth straight time the Badgers have beaten the Gophers to keep Paul Bunyan’s Axe. Montee Ball let his partner steal the show for most of the afternoon but still muscled his way for 166 yards on 24 attempts and two fourth-quarter scores to put the game out of reach and push the Badgers (6-2, 3-1 Big Ten) to their 21st win in a row at Camp Randall Stadium. That matches LSU for the longest current streak in major college football. Freshman Philip Nelson was the surprise starting quarterback for the Gophers (4-3, 0-3). He threw two touchdown passes, but the Badgers turned one interception into a third-quarter field goal. Three plays after the second pick, Ball scored his second touchdown.

Navy 31, Indiana 30

ANNAPOLIS, MD.

Keenan Reynolds completed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Matt Aiken with 2:02 to play and Nick Sloan added the point after as Navy rallied. Parrish Gaines’ interception with 1:38 remaining sealed the win for the Midshipmen (4-3), who beat a Big Ten opponent for the first time since 1979 when they won at Illinois 13-12. Earlier in the game, Navy linebacker Jordan Drake’s 24-yard interception return had cut the Hoosiers’ lead to 17-14. The win also kept the Midshipmen’s bowl hopes alive as they need just two wins in their final five games to return to postseason play. It was the fifth straight loss for Indiana (2-5) and came despite the fact the Hoosiers moved the ball almost at will against Navy for most of the first three quarters and gained 417 yards on 78 plays.

Staff report