No. 4 Penn State runs away from Maryland, into Big Ten title game

No. 4 Penn State tripped out of the gates, then lapped visiting Maryland for a 44-7 victory Saturday in State College, Pa.

Win No. 11 on the season sends the one-loss Nittany Lions to Indianapolis for the Big Ten conference championship game to challenge No. 1 Oregon in Indianapolis next Saturday.

Penn State running back Nick Singleton scored two touchdowns and Tyler Warren, the Nittany Lions’ record-setting tight end, had another game for the books.

After trailing 7-3 at the end of the first quarter, the Nittany Lions (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten) found overdrive in the second quarter, scoring four touchdowns before halftime.

Quarterback Drew Allar’s desperate toss behind the line of scrimmage to his left found Warren, who hurdled one tackler, busted through another and kept driving for what registered as a 29-yard run to set up PSU’s third rushing touchdown in a span of barely six minutes to give the Nittany Lions a 24-7 lead with 6:53 left in the half.

Penn State wasn’t done, with Warren catching a 7-yard scoring pass from Allar to make it 31-7 with 1:46 left in the second quarter.

In all, the Nittany Lions scored the game’s final 44 points after spotting the Terrapins (4-8, 1-8) an early 7-0 lead.

Allar plowed for a 1-yard touchdown with 10:11 on the clock in the second quarter to make it 17-7, Beau Pribula jogged in from 6 yards out a few ticks under the seven-minute mark, then Penn State took the ball right back. Audavion Collins intercepted MJ Morris to set up Allar’s TD pass to Warren — the tight end’s 17th career touchdown reception (a school record for the position).

Moments after Happy Valley erupted in celebration of the Michigan upset at Ohio State, Maryland took the air out of the stadium.

Maryland forced a fumble on Penn State’s opening play and the Terrapins scored a touchdown on their first offensive snap — a 25-yard pass from Morris to Kaden Prather — to claim a 7-0 lead.

Warren set the Big Ten career record for receptions by a tight end with a catch in the first quarter, which was his 15th gain of 20-plus yards in 2024. The same 13-play drive ended with Penn State’s first touchdown of the game, Singleton’s 2-yard plunge off left guard two minutes into the second quarter. Singleton later broke through for an 18-yard score in the fourth quarter.

Pribula rounded out the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Tyseer Denmark on the game’s final play.

Morris was intercepted three times.

No. 5 Notre Dame beats USC, eyes playoff bye

Despite surrendering a season high in points, No. 5-ranked Notre Dame’s defense came through in the clutch with pick-sixes of 99 and 100 yards, and the Fighting Irish closed the regular season with their 10th consecutive win in a 49-35 defeat of host USC on Saturday in Los Angeles.

Notre Dame (11-1) pulled ahead by two touchdowns late in the third quarter when Riley Leonard connected with Mitchell Evans for a 23-yard score. It was the second of Leonard’s two touchdown passes on a 17-of-22, 155-yard day, and his third score overall after a 2-yard end-zone rush earlier in the third quarter broke a 21-21 tie.

Leonard’s scoring strike to Evans also gave the Fighting Irish the first two-possession lead of the game, but it did not last long. USC (6-6) capitalized on favorable field position when Jayden Maiava threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Kobi Lane to finish a 45-yard Trojans drive and make it 35-28 with 8:43 to play in the fourth quarter.

USC regained possession less than three minutes later after forcing a Notre Dame punt, and Maiava completed passes of 16, two and 22 yards before Quinten Joyner rushed 23 yards to position the Trojans at the Irish 21-yard line.

Maiava targeted Kyron Hudson on a pass near the pylon, but Christian Gray snagged the underthrown ball and returned it 99 yards down the sideline for a score to put the game away.

Notre Dame snuffed out any hope of a last-ditch USC comeback effort when, on the next Trojans possession, Xavier Watts intercepted Maiava and went 100 yards to make it 49-28 with 1:18 to play.

With the win, the Fighting Irish likely sewed up a berth in the College Football Playoff. Coupled with Ohio State’s loss earlier in the day, Notre Dame is in position to move into one of four first-round byes.

Kurtis Rourke, No. 10 Indiana shred hapless Purdue

Kurtis Rourke threw for 349 yards and six touchdowns Saturday night as No. 10 Indiana appears headed for an unlikely spot in the College Football Playoff with a 66-0 Big Ten Conference rout of Purdue in Bloomington, Ind.

Picked 17th among 18 teams in the conference’s preseason poll, the Hoosiers improved to 11-1 overall and 8-1 in the conference. Though they lost the tiebreaker to No. 4 Penn State to meet No. 1 Oregon in the conference title game on Dec. 7, they should be among the 12-team CFP field when it’s announced on Dec. 8.

Rourke completed 23 of 31 passes, and Elijah Sarratt finished with eight catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns as Indiana found the offensive form that was missing in a 20-15 win over Michigan on Nov. 9 and a 38-15 loss last week at No. 2 Ohio State. The Hoosiers rolled up 582 total yards Saturday.

Their defense stifled the hapless Boilermakers (1-11, 0-9), which managed just 67 yards and five first downs in absorbing their 11th straight loss.