Ohio State and Notre Dame Drop the Hammer While Illinois Survives an OT Classic at Michigan State

Saturday's afternoon window gave us the two kinds of games that define October: the blowouts that tell you who's real, and the one-point overtime classic that tells you why we watch. Ohio State and Notre Dame both made statements. Illinois and Michigan State played the game of the day. For the morning setup, see our Saturday preview — and for the day's two biggest results, Oklahoma's walk-off over No. 1 Texas and UCLA's stunner at Oregon. Here's the rest of what mattered across college football.

Ohio State 45, Maryland 16 — the machine keeps humming

This is what a championship program does to an overmatched opponent: 449 yards to 146, 24 first downs to 10, and a second quarter that buried the game before halftime. Ohio State's 45-16 win over Maryland at the Horseshoe was the Buckeyes' 10th straight in the series, and it was never competitive after the opening exchanges.

Jeremiah Smith is playing a different sport than everyone else. The wideout scored twice — his third straight multi-touchdown game — including a 40-yard strike that was his ninth touchdown of the season. He's now one touchdown away from tying the Big Ten career receiving touchdowns record held by Michigan's Braylon Edwards. Every week the record gets closer, and every week it feels more inevitable.

Julian Sayin wasn't perfect — an interception and a lost fumble — but 242 passing yards and four touchdowns at a 61.9% clip will play. His fourth TD pass of the day, to tight end Mason Williams, made it 31-10 at the half. Nate Roberts added a 68-yard touchdown grab on a two-play, 71-yard drive that took about a minute of game time.

The run game finally showed up, too. Bo Jackson carried 19 times for 104 yards and two scores — Ohio State's first 100-yard rusher of the season, and his first triple-digit game since last year's Michigan game. His second touchdown, a 2-yard plunge that capped a nearly 10-minute drive, made it 45-16 with 4:52 left and let the backups finish it.

Maryland's highlights were thin but real: a strip-sack recovery that set up an early field goal (7-3 at the time), a 75-yard touchdown march capped by Malik Washington's 5-yard scramble, and a 52-yard pick-six of Sayin in the third quarter — though the failed two-point try kept it 31-16 and the Terps never threatened again. The Buckeye defense held strong when it mattered: 3-of-12 on third down for Maryland, 0-for-1 on fourth, 2.8 yards per play.

The takeaway: Ohio State keeps doing exactly what elite teams do in October — handling business, developing the run game, and letting the defense feast. The bigger games are coming. Saturday suggested they'll be ready.

Notre Dame 58, Stanford 7 — sixteen straight, all by double digits

The No. 3 Fighting Irish didn't just beat Stanford — they authored a stat line that belongs in the record book. Fifty-eight to seven. Sixteen consecutive wins, every single one by double digits, edging closer to Army's all-time mark of 21 straight double-digit victories (1944-46). Five touchdowns of 30 or more yards. A freshman running back with a 97-yard touchdown run.

Jonaz Walton's day deserves the full treatment: 13 carries, 181 yards, two touchdowns — the most rushing yards by a Notre Dame back all season. The 97-yarder is the third-longest offensive play in Notre Dame Stadium history. Only Josh Adams (98 yards vs. Wake Forest in 2015) and Jeremiyah Love (98 vs. Indiana in 2024) have gone longer. Walton also scored from 40 yards out. As a freshman. In October. The Irish ran it 47 times for 361 yards and five touchdowns, and the offensive line had what one breakdown called its most dominant performance of the season by a landslide.

C.J. Carr was surgical: 14-of-20 for 181 yards and three touchdowns — to Jaden Greathouse (his second straight game with a TD catch after a 20-month scoring drought), Aneyas Williams (a 70-yard slot fade), and Elijah Burress. Williams' 70-yarder and Walton's 97-yarder marked Notre Dame's first twin 70-plus-yard scores in the same game since 1993. Nolan James Jr. added 73 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.

The defense set the tone in 12 seconds. Boubacar Traore sacked Davis Warren, forced a fumble recovered by Jaiden Ausberry at the Stanford 18 — and two plays later James scored from the 3. Traore added an interception and a tackle for loss. All of this without Leonard Moore (concussion) and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (left wrist).

Stanford (2-4) got its only points with 2:43 left in the third — Warren's 52-yard strike to Caden High setting up a 3-yard TD to Benji Blackburn. The Cardinal have now lost 14 straight road games, tied for the longest active streak in the nation, and been outscored 115-10 over the last two weeks.

The takeaway: Notre Dame hasn't been tested yet, and now the tests arrive. Next Saturday the Irish travel to Provo to face No. 8 BYU (5-0) at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC — their first real test of the season. Miami looms after that. If this offensive line plays like this against real competition, the Irish are winning the whole thing.

Illinois 38, Michigan State 37 (OT) — the game of the day

If you only watch one game from Saturday's afternoon slate, make it this one. Illinois led 17-0 early at Spartan Stadium. Michigan State roared all the way back on homecoming. And overtime delivered the kind of ending that gets talked about for years.

The regulation finish was wild enough. Michigan State, down 31-24 late, watched its defense bleed — 24 second-half points allowed — until Jaz Patterson powered in from 2 yards out with 77 seconds left to tie it at 31. Patterson was magnificent filling in for the injured Cam Edwards (out for the season): four touchdowns, including the game-tying score, with the Big Ten's social account noting a mark no Spartan running back had reached in five seasons.

Overtime took about 30 seconds to get dramatic. Illinois' true freshman quarterback Michael Clayton II — in because starter Katin Houser spent the game in street clothes with his right wrist in a brace and the index finger on his throwing hand taped — threw a 25-yard touchdown to Hudson Clement on the first play of the extra period. 38-31, Illini.

Michigan State answered the way desperate teams do: four plays to the 1-yard line, Patterson's fourth touchdown of the game, 38-37. And then Pat Fitzgerald — 11-6 in his career against Illinois — made the call: go for two and the win. Trick play. Reverse. Quarterback Alessio Milivojevic throwing back across the field. Illinois defensive back Xavier Scott broke it up, and the Illini sideline erupted.

Milivojevic deserved better: 22-of-26 for 196 yards and two touchdowns, a bounce-back performance he was proud of after. "We knew, going into the first OT, we were going for two. We trusted our guys to go win that game. Being aggressive, it happens," he said. "Losing any game, it's going to sting. No one is waving the white flag or throwing the towel. There are six games left."

The takeaway: Illinois survives behind a freshman quarterback and stays alive in the Big Ten race. Michigan State falls for the fourth straight time, and the what-ifs will sting — but Fitzgerald's aggression was the right call. You don't get many chances to beat a ranked team at homecoming. You take the shot.

Still to come tonight

Two games with massive playoff implications were still in progress when we filed: Georgia at Alabama (the Tide led 14-10 at the half) and USC at Penn State (tied 17-17 at the half). By morning the playoff picture could look very different. We'll have the full takeaways in the morning cycle.