No. 16 Indiana keeps on rolling with rout

BIG TEN HIGHLIGHTS

Indiana wide receiver Miles Cross celebrates after scoring a touchdown against visiting Nebraska during Saturday’s Big Ten game. AJ Mast / The Associated Press

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The Associated Press

Justice Ellison ran for 105 yards and two first-half touchdowns and No. 16 Indiana continued its best start in 57 years with a 56-7 home rout of Nebraska on Saturday, matching the Hoosiers’ most lopsided Big Ten win in program history.

Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke injured his right (throwing) hand and was on the sideline in street clothes in the second half. Tayven Jackson replaced him for the rest of the game.

“A little thumb thing, I feel good about it,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said of Rourke. “It was precautionary (to take him out).”

The Hoosiers (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) have yet to trail this season and each victory has been by double digits. The 49-point margin of victory was the biggest in conference play since a 49-0 win at Minnesota in 1945. The last time Indiana started with seven consecutive wins was 1967, when it opened 8-0.

Cignetti is the first coach in program history to win his first seven games.

The Cornhuskers (5-2, 3-2) were supposed to be the stiffest opposition to date for Indiana. But the only defense in the country to not allow a rushing touchdown surrendered five, including Ellison’s 5-yard TD on the opening possession. Ellison, a senior transfer from Wake Forest, added a 31-yard TD rush for a 28-7 lead just before halftime. His 105 yards came on just nine carries.

Rourke completed 17 of 21 passes for 189 yards. He threw a 7-yard TD pass to Myles Price for a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Jackson added a pair of scoring passes to Miles Cross and Elijah Sarratt.

NO.22 ILLINOIS 21, NO. 24 MICHIGAN 7: Luke Altmyer threw for a touchdown and ran for another, leading the Illini at home.

Tanner Arkin caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Altmyer in the second quarter and raced 36 yards on a fake punt in the third to set up Altmyer’s 1-yard TD run.

Illinois (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten) beat Michigan for the first time since 2009. The Illini had lost six straight to the Wolverines (4-3, 2-2). Michigan has lost back-to-back games for the first time since 2020.

WISCONSIN 23, NORTHWESTERN 3: Tawee Walker ran for 126 yards, Braedyn Locke threw for a touchdown and ran for a score, and the Badgers beat the host Wildcats.

Wisconsin (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) came away with another easy win, locking down Northwestern (3-4, 1-3) after pummeling Purdue and Rutgers by a combined 94-13.

Walker, coming off a career-best 198-yard outburst against Rutgers, delivered again. He carried 23 times, including a 24-yarder that helped set up Wisconsin’s first TD, facing a defense that was ninth in the nation against the run.

Locke threw for 160 yards, completing 14 of 24, in his fourth start since Tyler Van Dyke was injured in a loss to Alabama on Sept. 14. He ran for an 8-yard touchdown that made it 7-0 early in the second quarter.

MICHIGAN ST. 32, IOWA 20: Jonathan Kim kicked a school-record six field goals and Aidan Chiles threw for 256 yards and a touchdown to lead the Spartans (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) at home against the Hawkeyes (4-3, 2-2).