College football Week 8 winners and losers: Did Michigan emerge as Ohio State's biggest threat? - Yahoo Sports

We entered the postponed 2020 Big Ten season thinking that Penn State was going to be Ohio State’s biggest challenger in the East.

But RB Zach Charbonnet quickly tied the game with a 70-yard score and the rout was on from there. .

Milton was a comfortable 13-of-19 passing for 160 yards and a score.

And with an Ohio State team that Harbaugh has been unable to beat and a top-10 Penn State that had won two of its last three games against Michigan, why was 2020 going to be any different than 2019 or 2018 or 2016.

After watching Penn State fumble both literally and mentally against Indiana, there’s a convincing case to be made that Michigan is still the biggest threat to Ohio State on that side of the conference. .

The Badgers kicked off the Big Ten season on Friday night with a dominating win over Illinois and a passing game that hasn’t been seen in years in Madison. .

Redshirt freshman Graham Mertz started in place of the injured Jack Coan and was 20-of-21 passing for 248 yards and five touchdowns.

Mertz became the first Wisconsin QB in nearly 17 years to throw for five touchdowns in a single game.

The Badgers rushed 54 times for just 184 yards and no one had a run longer than 13 yards.

But the talk of Michigan and Wisconsin being serious threats to Ohio State is pretty empty if neither team is capable of beating the Buckeyes.

Wisconsin hasn’t beaten Ohio State since 2010.

In a 45-7 win, Mertz completed 20-of-21 passes for 248 yards and five touchdowns.

3, Ohio State defensive lineman Haskell Garrett was shot in the face while trying to break up a fight.

Indiana: Before Saturday’s dramatic — and controversial — overtime win over Penn State on Saturday, Indiana had not knocked off a top-10 opponent since 1987 when it upset No.

9 Ohio State 31-10 on the road.

Notre Dame: Notre Dame finally got its passing game going.

Ian Book had combined for 451 yards and two touchdowns passing in the Irish’s three previous games.

In Saturday’s 45-3 road win over Pittsburgh, Book threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns.

He caught touchdowns of 34 and 73 yards in the first half to help his team jump out to a big lead it would not relinquish.

The Scarlet Knights went on the road and upset Michigan State 38-27 on Saturday.

Saturday, he threw for 169 yards, rushed for 24 yards and combined for two touchdowns.

The sophomore caught 13 passes for 121 yards and three touchdowns!

Rattler threw only 22 passes in the game while the Sooners had 45 rushing attempts.

In a 52-24 win, Finley threw for 265 yards, rushed for 24 yards and accounted for three touchdowns — two passing, one rushing.

Louisiana: UAB had not lost a single home game since its return in 2017 — until Friday night when UAB’s 21-game home winning streak was snapped by Louisiana.

The Spartans also turned it over on downs twice while mustering only 50 rushing yards on 39 attempts.

Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech started the year strong, going 3-1 while putting up some eye-popping rushing yards.

The Hokies rushed for 210 yards on Saturday against Wake Forest, but were doomed by their passing game in a 23-16 road loss.

Hendon Hooker led Tech with 98 rushing yards, but was just 17-of-33 for 223 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions as a passer.

Kansas’ punting: There’s bad and there’s what went on with Kansas’ punting game on Saturday.

The Jayhawks lost 55-14 to Kansas State with the help of a horrid punting game.

Brooks had a staggering 189 return yards on just four returns.

He struggled mightily, completing just 14-of-25 passes for 94 yards and three interceptions

The Wildcats averaged only 297.1 yards per game last year, too

In a 20-10 loss, UK had only 145 yards of offense, including a measly 47 passing yards on 4-of-13 attempts

The usually reliable rushing attack was limited to just 98 yards on the afternoon

On the heels of postponing its game at Charlotte because of COVID-19 issues, the Panthers lost on Friday night to Jacksonville State, an FCS team

FIU’s offense struggled mightily, gaining just 156 yards and going 2-of-11 on third down