DE KALB—Jordan Lynch threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as No. 23 Northern Illinois extended its home winning streak to 23 games with a 27-20 Mid-American victory over Akron on Saturday night.Lynch was 16 of 35 for 220 yards passing and ran for 83 more. Cameron Stingily rushed 21 times for 80 yards and a touchdown and Tyler Wedel added field goals of 42 and 21 yards for the Huskies (6-0, 2-0 MAC East).Jawan Chisholm scored on a pair of 1-yard first half runs for Akron (1-6, 0-3) and ran 20 times for 70 yards. Kyle Pohl was 24 of 56 for 262 yards. The home winning streak is the nation’s current longest. A 34-31 loss to Idaho on Sept 26, 2009, was NIU’ more recent defeat at Huskie Stadium.Akron’s road loss was its 30th straight, also the nation’s longest current streak. The Zips’ beat Central Michigan 42-35 on Oct. 18, 2008, for their last road win.

RIO DE JANEIRO—Derrick Rose missed the first NBA game played in South America on Saturday, sitting out the Bulls‘ 83-81 victory over the Washington Wizards with soreness in his surgically repaired left knee.The NBA star’s absence disappointed a sellout crowd of 13,635 at the HSBC Arena in Rio – the gymnastics venue at the 2016 Olympics – where the top ticket price for the preseason game was 2,000 Brazilian reals ($915).Taj Gibson led the Bulls with 18 points and Luol Deng added 14. Bradley Beal paced Washington with 16.Rose had played two preseason games without any sign of problems, but the knee flared up in practice Friday. There was no immediate indication of the seriousness of the injury, or whether it was just a case of Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau being cautious.Kirk Hinrich started at point guard in Rose’s absence and finished with eight points and three assists.The Bulls led 44-35 at halftime and were in control most of the way until Washington took a 79-77 lead with 5:42 left on Glen Rice’s 3-pointer.Fans started chanting late in the game “Rose, Rose,” hoping to see the Bulls’ star make an appearance.Joakim Noah also missed the game with a groin injury.Brazilian great Oscar Schmidt got a rousing welcome from the fans, but Wizards center Nene, who grew up near Sao Paulo, was jeered as he took the floor. And he was jeered each time he went to the free-throw line.Many Brazil fans are unhappy because Nene seldom plays for the national team, and Schmidt has criticized him for not doing so.The Bulls are 3-0 in the preseason and Washington is 0-2.

NOTES—The Bulls host Detroit Wednesday night at the United Center…..The Bulls are now 3-0 lifetime in games played outside of North America. They won two games at the McDonalds Invitational in Paris,France in October 1997.

MADISON—Two big plays and a fierce defense made for a fun homecoming weekend for Wisconsin. Melvin Gordon ran for a 71-yard touchdown and Chris Borland led a front seven that figured out the 19th-ranked(but soon to be UNranked)Northwestern Wildcats’ high-octane offense in a 35-6 win Saturday. The Badgers (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) recorded seven sacks and otherwise spent much of the afternoon chasing down quarterbacks Kain Colter and Trever Siemian. Jared Abbrederis burned the secondary for a 63-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter before leaving with a head injury. Northwestern (4-2, 0-2) the league’s peskiest defense, grabbed three more turnovers to increase its season total to 17. The Wildcats just couldn’t turn those mistakes into enough points. And they were doomed by the big plays by Gordon and Abbrederis. Gordon had 22 carries for 172 yards and the long run that gave Wisconsin a three-possession lead before halftime.Back from what turned out to be a minor left knee injury that knocked him out of the loss to Ohio State two weeks ago, Gordon ran left on a sweep and burst through the hole on second-and-3. Ibraheim Campbell tried to close out inside the 10, but the speedy, 207-pound back lowered his right shoulder into the safety to just get the ball over the goal line on a play upheld on replay review. The Badgers pushed around Northwestern on both sides of the ball. Do-everything quarterback Colter was held to 10 yards rushing on six carries for Northwestern. The Wildcats tried to stretch the field horizontally to find holes but Borland and his fellow linebackers filled the lanes while the secondary did an admirable job covering up the receiving corps. Colter finished 4 for 5 passing for 34 yards and an interception. Siemian was 13 for 34 for 163 yards. A few drops hurt too, like the one receiver Christian Jones had over the middle that could have led to a first down with Northwestern buried deep in its own territory in the third quarter. Three third-quarter drives, three three-and-outs for the Wildcats. No way to mount a comeback. It didn’t help that running back Venric Mark, who had just returned last week from an injury, got knocked out in the second quarter with an apparent left foot injury. Colter also suffered what Northwestern called a “lower body injury” in the first half but quickly returned. The Wildcats also suffered a damaging blow to their chances of winning the Legends Division after a second straight loss. They fell to Ohio State 40-30 in prime time last week before falling flat in Madison. Northwestern even picked up three more turnovers, including two interceptions of Joel Stave and a fumble recovery after Abbrederis coughed up the ball following a short gain in the first half. But the offense got stuffed. Wisconsin had more sacks than Northwestern had points.The Wildcats only managed two first-half field goals by Jeff Budzien from 27 and 43. Stave had an uneven day and finished 17 for 28 for 241 yards passing with three touchdowns and the two picks. The Badgers relied on the passing game early before the running got going. James White’s 1-yard touchdown run made it 14-3 with 7:06 in the second quarter before Gordon’s long run to add another touchdown. White finished with 101 yards on 19 carries. Abbrederis had two catches for 74 yards. Coach Gary Andersen said after the game that his top receiver looked OK and should be back next week to face Illinois.

RIO DE JANEIRO—You might want to sit down, Bulls fans. Derrick Rose is sitting the Bulls’ preseason game Saturday against the Wizards in Rio because of left knee soreness.The team says it’s “precautionary.”  That left knee is of course the surgerically repaired one that Rose tore his ACL in during the 2012 playoffs and missed the entire 2012-13 season rehabilitating. Rose has appeared in both preseason games for the Bulls, looking a lot like his old self with explosive drives to the basket, but he played just 20 and 23 minutes in the two games. Rose declared in early September that he was “100 percent,” but he obviously might need to slow things down just a bit.It’s not unusual for Rose to be sitting since this is indeed a preseason game, but there is hyper-concern surrounding Rose’s knee, particularly because of all the time off he had last season. There were worries that he wasn’t healing properly or was experiencing complications or setbacks, but all the while the message was the same — Rose is fine, he’ll return when he’s ready.Again, the team is deeming this precautionary and it very well may be. Rose hasn’t played live NBA action since April of 2012 and with full contact practices and games, he might just need a little break. Let’s just hope that’s all it is. After this game, the Bulls return to Chicago and host Detroit Wednesday night at the United Center.

After blowing an early two-goal lead against the New York Islanders, the Blackhawks buckled down and rode a one-goal lead to victory. Michal Handzus scored the go-ahead goal 6:45 into the second period and the Blackhawks held on for a 3-2 win over the Islanders on Friday night. Hockey-player toughIslanders’ John Tavares pulls out own tooth on bench Jonathan Toews and rookie Joakim Nordstrom connected in the first period, while Duncan Keith had two assists. Nordstrom’s goal was his first in the NHL. In its previous two games, the defending Stanley Cup champion Hawks wasn’t in buttoned-down form as it allowed Tampa Bay and St. Louis to score late in a shootout and a regulation loss. It looked like more of the same was brewing Friday. The Blackhawks jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but New York’s Josh Bailey scored at 19:06 of the first period and Kyle Okposo scored 49 seconds later to it at 2-all.

“Against St. Louis and Tampa, there were a few points we left on the table,” Toews said. “Tonight could have been one of those nights where we fall into that trend of squeezing the stick a little bit too hard late in the game only up one goal.

“But we maintained our composure. We know what we’ve got to do to protect those leads and play smart late in games. We’ve improved on that.”

After Handzus restored the lead in the second, the Blackhawks were poised and tidy, even if they couldn’t add to their advantage.

“We didn’t get that extra goal tonight, which made it close all the way to the end, but I still thought we did some good things,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “But I liked what we gave up, and that wasn’t much.”

Nikolai Khabibulin made 17 saves and New York’s Kevin Poulin finished with 25 as both goaltenders made their first starts this season. The 40-year-old Khabibulin rejoined the Blackhawks last summer as a free agent to back up Corey Crawford. Evgeni Nabokov had started the Islanders’ first three contests. The Blackhawks had allowed five power-play goals in nine attempts entering the game, but killed both New York advantages on Friday.The Islanders lost for the first time in regulation, and coach Jack Capuano wasn’t surprised based on his team’s effort.

“When you mismanage the puck against that team and you don’t make them play a 200-foot game, you’re never going to have success and that’s exactly what happened,” he said. “Our execution level was down and we had some passengers tonight.”

The Blackhawks dominated the first period and took a 2-0 lead before the goals by Bailey and Okposo in the final minute of the frame evened it. Set up by Niklas Hjalmarsson’s feed from behind the net, Nordstrom opened the scoring midway through the first period from just outside the crease to cap a Hawk flurry in the New York zone. Toews made it 2-0 with 3:55 left in the period when Brent Seabrook’s shot from the right point bounced off the back boards and straight to Toews in the left circle. He fired into an open net before Poulin could recover. Bailey wristed in a shot with 54 seconds left in the first to cut it to 2-1 after he corralled Michael Grabner’s drop pass in the right circle. Okposo tied it at 2 with just 5 seconds remaining in the period on a backhand shot from a crowd in the slot. He was set up by John Tavares’ pinpoint pass from behind the net. New York, however, didn’t capitalize on the momentum swing.

“We got a couple of big goals there to get us back in the game and we weren’t able to sustain that into the second period,” Tavares said. “We’ve got to keep on generating opportunities.”

Handzus put the Blackhawks back ahead when he was left uncovered in in the slot and popped in a rebound of Duncan Keith’s shot from the point after the puck rolled off Poulin.

Both teams had a handful of chances in the third, including a couple of close-in attempts by Tavares.

NOTES—RW Cal Clutterbuck played his first game with the Islanders. He was acquired in an offseason trade from Minnesota, then sat out the first three games this season with a leg laceration. … Khabibulin was the Hawks No. 1 goaltender for four seasons, from 2005-09. … The 21-year-old Nordstrom played in his fourth NHL game. … Both teams play again on Saturday night. The Blackhawks host Buffalo and the Islanders are at Nashville.

Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall were simply too much to handle. So was Tim Jennings.Cutler threw two touchdown passes to Marshall, and Jennings had two of the Bears’ three interceptions against Eli Manning in a 27-21 victory over the winless New York Giants on Thursday night.The Bears (4-2) snapped a two-game slide following a 3-0 start. New York is 0-6 for the first time since the 1976 team dropped its first nine, a stunning turn for a franchise that won the Super Bowl two years ago.

“We see things each and every week that tell us we cannot just be good, we can be very good,” Bears coach Marc Trestman said. “But we also know there’s a lot of work ahead.”

The Giants came in clinging to the idea that they could claw their way back into the NFC East race because every team in the division has a losing record. It’s hard to see that happening, the way they’re playing.

“We’re all sick of it,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “We’re all sick of losing, but we put ourselves in this position. There is only one way to get out of it.”

Cutler and Marshall were in tune early on, connecting for two touchdowns, and Jennings returned an interception 48 yards for a score as the Bears built a 24-14 halftime lead.The Bears were up by 13 when New York’s Brandon Jacobs ran it in from the 1 in the closing seconds of the third after Jennings got called for interference against Hakeem Nicks near the goal line. That cut it to 27-21, but Jennings made up for it in a big way when he picked off an overthrown pass by Manning intended for tight end Brandon Myers at the 10 with 1:54 left in the game.Cutler was 24 of 36 for 262 yards after throwing for 358 against New Orleans last week. Marshall played a huge role in this one after venting over a lack of catches against the Saints, finishing with nine receptions for 87 yards. Martellus Bennett had 68 yards on six catches against his former team, while Alshon Jeffery had just one reception after going off for a franchise-record 218 yards in the previous game.

“We won the game but we kind of leave a little bit unsatisfied because I think offensively we could have exploded for a little bit more,” Cutler said.

Robbie Gould kicked two field goals, including a 52-yarder in the third quarter that gave him 12 straight conversions from 50 or longer, and the Bears eased at least a few nerves, even if this win came against one of the NFL’s four winless teams. Manning, the owner of two championship rings, completed 14 of 26 passes for 239 yards and a touchdown, but he ran his league-leading total to 15 interceptions while matching last season’s number. He had passes picked off on the first two possessions, with Jennings’ 48-yard TD coming on the second one.

“I feel bad for my teammates, I feel bad for my coaches and everybody, fighting every day, and I’m fighting too,” Manning said. “I am trying to get a win for these guys.”

It’s not easy when he keeps throwing it to the other team. But the Giants aren’t about to go away from him.

“You’re not going to go back to not throwing the football. That’s not something that’s going to happen,” Coughlin said. “He’s been too successful for so many years throwing the ball.”

Rueben Randle had 75 yards receiving and a touchdown for New York. Jacobs, starting for the injured David Wilson, ran for 106 yards and two scores, but the Giants fell yet again.Cutler threw for 179 yards in the first two quarters, Marshall had 65 and the Bears racked up 227 yards in the opening half. The Giants (212 yards) moved the ball in the early going but had trouble hanging onto the ball again — no surprise there.After all, they came in leading the league with 20 turnovers. The Bears, who had 14 takeaways when the night began, quickly added to that total.Zackary Bowman, starting for Charles Tillman (right knee injury), picked off a pass intended for Randle on the game’s third play from scrimmage at the 36 and returned it to the New York 12. The Bears came away empty-handed on an incomplete pass from Cutler to Marshall on fourth-and-2 at the 4, but they quickly grabbed the lead on the Giants’ next possession. Jennings got an easy interception on what looked like a miscommunication between Manning and Randle, returning it 48 yards for his second touchdown this season.The Giants then drove 80 yards to tie it at 7, with Jacobs dragging Corey Wootton and Jennings as he plowed in on a 4-yard run. Marshall, wearing lime green shoes in honor of mental health awareness week, put the Bears back on top with a 10-yard TD catch in the opening minute of the second quarter to finish an 86-yard drive.New York quickly tied it when Randle stayed inbounds along the sideline on a 37-yard TD catch, but the Bears immediately answered with an 80-yard scoring drive, with Cutler connecting with Marshall on a 3-yard pass to make it 21-14.Gould added a 40-yarder in the closing seconds of the half to extend the lead to 10 after some curious clock management along the way. The Bears let the seconds tick away rather than use their final timeout or spike the ball before several plays.Already short-handed, the Bears defense took another hit in the third quarter when middle linebacker D.J. Williams left the game with a chest injury. They also had Tillman missing his first game since the 2009 finale, and nose tackle Stephen Paea (turf toe) sat out his second straight game.

ST. LOUIS—Alexander Steen got just enough on a slap shot in the closing seconds to get the puck past Corey Crawford and give the St. Louis Blues a win over the Blackhawks.Steen’s drive with 21.1 seconds left trickled through Crawford and lifted the Blues to a 3-2 victory against the defending Stanley Cup champions on Wednesday night.Steen broke down the left side as part of a 3-on-1 rush. Instead of passing, he let go a shot from just inside the left circle.

“You pick a spot,” Steen said. “I don’t know that it’s really how hard it is. It’s more where you put it.”

The Blackhawks (1-1-1) lost for the first time in regulation. Joel Quenneville was particularly upset that his team gave up an odd-man break so late in a tie game.

“You’ve got to get that game to overtime,” Quenneville said. “You take one [point] maybe two. You don’t get none. That’s unacceptable.

“There was not a lot of mistakes. We played a good game. But you can’t make a mistake like that.”

The Blues (3-0) matched their best start to a season, also done in the 1969-70 and 1993-94 campaigns.

“Playing Chicago is always a big game,” Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak said. “I think our guys came up big. We stuck to the game plan and didn’t give up.”

Halak, who made 26 saves, has been in net for all three wins.

“You just have to focus on every shot and try not to give up rebounds,” Halak said.

Vladimir Tarasenko and David Backes also scored for St. Louis.Patrick Kane scored for the third straight game for the Blackhawks, and Jonathan Toews had the other Hawk goal. Crawford made 31 saves.Tarasenko gave the Blues a 1-0 lead when he beat Crawford with a wrist shot from the slot with 4:16 left in the first period. Kane tied it with a power-play goal 1:17 later. Patrick Sharp’s shot from the right circle trickled through to Kane at the left post, and he swatted the puck in.In the second period, Backes put the Blues back in front at 8:37 when he redirected Alex Pietrangelo’s shot from the right point into the net. But after Jaden Schwartz went off for hooking, Toews tied it 39 seconds later when he shoved a rebound past Halak.

NOTES—Kane’s power-play goal was the first allowed by the Blues in 12 chances this season. The goal also ended Halak’s shutout streak at 111 minutes, 52 seconds. … The game featured a matchup of the two most successful coaches in Blues history. Current St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock entered with the best winning percentage of .676 (74-32-13). Quenneville is second at .598 (307-191-95).

Philadelphia over TAMPA BAY
SAN FRANCISCO over Arizona
NY JETS over Pittsburgh
KANSAS CITY over Oakland
Cincinnati over BUFFALO
DENVER over Jacksonville
HOUSTON over St.Louis
SEATTLE over Tennessee
NEW ENGLAND over New Orleans
DALLAS over Washington(Sun Night)
Indianapolis over SAN DIEGO(Min Night)

NFC North Games:
MINNESOTA over Carolina
CLEVELAND over Detroit
BALTIMORE over Green Bay
BEARS over NY Giants(Thur Night)

Home Teams in ALL CAPS

ST. LOUIS—Carlos Boozer scored 16 points and Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson added 15 each to lead the Bulls to a 106-87 preseason victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.Derrick Rose added 13 points for the Bulls (2-0).Jerryd Bayless scored 15 points for Memphis (0-1) while Ed Davis had 13.Rose, in his second preseason game after missing the 2012-13 season, hit on three of eight shots from the field in 23 minutes. He added three steals and three assists.Rose scored 13 points in an 82-76 win at Indiana on Saturday, his first game in over 17 months. Rose tore his left ACL on April 28, 2012.Rose delighted a crowd of 13,497 with a coast-to-coast drive in the first quarter that culminated with a driving, spinning layup. He hit a 3-pointer early in the third quarter in the middle of a 26-13 run that put the Bulls in front to stay.

EVANSTON—Ohio State took Northwestern‘s best shot on a wet and raucous night at Ryan Field and Carlos Hyde and the Buckeyes are still perfect.Hyde ran for a career-high 168 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 4 Ohio State rallied to beat No. 16 Northwestern 40-30 Saturday night and extend the nation’s longest win streak to 18 games. The Buckeyes (6-0, 2-0 Big Ten) remained undefeated since Urban Meyer took over as coach last year. On a rain-soaked field and with a prime-time audience watching, they rallied from 10 down in the third quarter to take out a team aiming to show it could beat the best in the conference. Hyde, who was suspended for the first three games after an alleged conflict with a female in a bar this summer, prevented that. He scored on a 4-yard run late in the third and added two more touchdowns in the final quarter to lift the Buckeyes. He was credited with a 2-yard touchdown after a replay review early in the fourth to put Ohio State ahead 26-23. Then, after Northwestern’s Trevor Siemian connected with Cameron Dickerson on a 12-yard score, Hyde ran it in from the 7 with 5:22 left in the game. That made it 34-30. The Wildcats’ Kain Colter then got stopped on fourth-and-1 at the Ohio State 34 with 2:43 left after he picked up his own fumble, wiping out a late threat. The game ended with Northwestern (4-1, 0-1) lateralling and the Buckeyes recovering the loose ball in the end zone. Ohio State pulled this one out even though Braxton Miller had a rough night. He threw for 203 yards but had an interception and fumbled twice after matching a career-high with four touchdown passes against Wisconsin last week. He also ran for 68 yards.Corey Brown added 127 yards receiving, and the Buckeyes beat the Wildcats for the 29th time in 30 games. Northwestern hasn’t beaten a top-five team since it opened the 1959 season with wins over No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 5 Iowa.

“There’s a team getting on the bus going back to Columbus that just got into a fight with (our) football team,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “That’s what I’ll take from this game.”

And there’s a team staying in Evanston that has the Buckeyes’ respect.

“Very, very good players. Borderline great players,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. “And a scheme that’s hard to defend.”

Siemian threw 245 yards and two touchdowns against a defense missing one of its leaders in safety Christian Bryant. He broke his left ankle late in last week’s game and is expected to miss the rest of the regular season.Kain Colter completed all 12 passes for 98 yards and had a touchdown catch early in the game.Venric Mark added 60 yards rushing after missing three games with a lower body injury, but instead of a signature victory, Northwestern came away with a tight loss.NU was leading 23-20 early in the fourth when Doran Grant stepped in front of Rashad Lawrence to pick off a pass by Siemian at the 23. He returned it 7 yards to the Northwestern 16, and on third-and-goal at the 2, Hyde reached across the goal line and was credited with the touchdown after a replay review. That delighted the Buckeyes fans, but the Northwestern crowd had plenty to cheer moments later. Siemian connected with Lawrence on a 67-yard slant to the 7. Then, with the ball at the 12, a scrambling Siemian found Dickerson in the end zone on third down. Just like that, the Wildcats were back on top, 30-27, but in the end, it was Ohio State’s night.