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Penn State Blasts Punchless Illini; ISU, EIU Win; Western Loses

 width=Christian Hackenberg threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns, caught a scoring pass and Penn State beat Illinois 39-0 on Saturday.

Hackenberg was 21 of 29 and connected with Chris Godwin and Geno Lewis for 5- and 6-yard touchdowns in the first quarter. He caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Nick Scott in the third.

Saquon Barkley rushed for 84 yards on 20 carries and added another 58 yards receiving. He scored on a 7-yard run to give Penn State (7-2, 4-1 Big Ten) a 32-0 lead early in the fourth.

After two of his extra points were blocked and he sailed a kickoff out of bounds, Joey Julius was replaced by Tyler Davis who made 42- and 28-yard field goals. Mark Allen added a 20-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring.

The Fighting Illini (4-4, 1-3) managed just 167 yards and punted on 12 of their 15 possessions.

 width=>>Illinois State Needs Late Rally To Beat Indiana State

Marshaun Coprich ran for 165 yards and a touchdown as Illinois State rallied to defeat Indiana State 27-24 Saturday.

Tre Roberson's 5-yard scoring run, and Coprich's 2-point conversion, gave the Redbirds the lead with 2:58 left.

On the Sycamore's ensuing drive, DraShane Glass stopped Robert Tonyan Jr., short of a first down, and the Redbirds took over on downs and killed the clock.

Illinois State (7-1, 5-0) overcame three Matt Adam's touchdown strikes- all to Tonyan- in the second quarter, which put the Sycamores on top 21-9 at halftime.

Eric Heidorn's 38-yard field goal gave Indiana State (4-4, 2-3) a 24-9 lead.

But on the following drive, Coprich sprinted 44-yards to score to make it 24-16. Sean Slattery's 23-yard field goal early in the fourth cut it to 24-19.

Adam threw for 231 yards and Tonyan had 117 receiving. Roberson threw for 121 yards and rushed for 61 and two scores.

 width=>>Eastern Illinois Tames Racers

As heard on WHOW Saturday, Shephard Little ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns to help lead Eastern Illinois to a 34-20 victory over Murray State on Saturday.

The Panthers (5-3, 4-0 Ohio Valley Conference) have won five consecutive games following a three game losing skid to open the season.

Jalen Whitlow added 236 yards passing and one touchdown for the Eastern Illinois, an 80-yard strike to Ben Odugbesan in the third quarter. Tray Mitchell also returned a kick 94 yards for a TD for the first Panthers points of the game.

Murray State (2-6, 1-4) held a 13-10 first quarter lead after a 26-yard interception return by Marquez Sanford six seconds into the game and a KD Humphries 27-yard scoring strike to Jesse Blackburn.

Eastern Illinois took the lead for good 26 seconds into the second quarter on a 1-yard Little TD run.

Humphries had 346 yards passing and two touchdowns for the Racers.

 width=>>Youngstown State Too Much For Western

Zak Kennedy's third field goal of the game lifted Youngstown State to a 23-21 win over Western Illinois on Saturday in a matchup of FCS-ranked teams.

Kennedy's 30-yarder came with 2:07 left in the third quarter. He also had field goals of 46 and 40 yards. His final kick came on the end of a 62-yard drive that followed Nikko Watson's 2-yard touchdown run that had given the Fighting Leathernecks a 21-20 lead.

The Leathernecks (4-4, 3-2 Missouri Valley) struggled against the nation's second-best passing defense with Trenton Norvell completing only 8 of 29 passes for 154 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He was sacked four times. Watson had two touchdown runs.

Hunter Wells was 16 of 26 for 152 yards and an interception for the Penguins (4-4, 2-3). Ricky Davis completed both of his passes, including a 48-yard score to Andre Stubbs for game's first score. Stubbs finished with 129 yards on six receptions.

>>North Carolina Back in Top 25 AP Poll

The top 20 teams in the AP Top 25 won over the weekend, meaning there wasn't much in the way of movement at the top of the poll. But closer to the bottom, two new teams entered the top 25, including a first 2015 appearance for 7-1 North Carolina.

The Tar Heels defeated former No. 23 Pitt last Thursday, giving Larry Fedora's team its first AP Top 25 appearance since early in the 2014 season at No. 21. Texas A&M also returned to the poll at No. 25.

At the top of the poll, Ohio State maintained its grip on no. 1 following a bye week, collecting 39 of a possible 61 first-place votes. The Buckeyes were followed by No. 2 Baylor, No. 3 Clemson, No. 4 LSU and No. 5 TCU. The only change in the top 10 occurred at No. 8 and No. 9, where Notre Dame moved up a spot and Stanford down after the Cardinals' escape at Washington State.

Joining Pitt in dropping out of the poll was the Panthers' ACC Coastal rivals at Duke, controversial-and-then-some losers to Miami.

>>Coaches Poll Largely Unchanged

A week almost entirely devoid of upsets saw little change at the top of the Coaches Poll top 25, but North Carolina made its first appearance of the season after moving to 7-1.

The largest drop for any team still in the poll was just one spot, with Michigan State slipping to No. 6 from No. 5 and Temple dropping just one spot after losing to Notre Dame, going from No. 22 to No. 23. The largest jump belonged to the Tar Heels, who went from unranked to No. 21 after winning at Pitt.

The Panthers were one of three teams to drop out of the poll, along with previous No. 18 Duke and No. 23 Georgia. Along with the Tar Heels, Texas A&M and Mississippi State also re-entered the poll at the Blue Devils' and Bulldogs' expense.

Ohio State remained comfortably No. 1 after a bye week, followed by No. 2 Baylor, No. 3 TCU, No. 4 LSU, and new No. 5 Clemson. The Tiger's leapfrog of Michigan State was the only change in the poll's first 17 spots.

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