ARLINGTON—Tommy Rees and Notre Dame felt right at home during another trip to South Bend South in Texas. Rees threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns, and Notre Dame made it 5 for 5 in the traveling Shamrock Series with a 37-34 victory against No. 22 Arizona State on Saturday night.Kyle Brindza kicked three second-half field goals, including the go-ahead kick from 25 yards with 3:03 remaining. He tied a Notre Dame record with a 53-yarder that matched the longest in a college game at the $1.2 billion home of the Dallas Cowboys.It was the second win in Texas in the five-year Shamrock run of home games on the road for the Irish (4-2), starting with a victory over Washington State in San Antonio in 2009.

“It’s a big win for us, to get right back on the right track in the bye week and the halfway point of the season,” said Rees, who had just nine completions in a loss to Oklahoma last week. “It was kind of a game we understood the importance of and we were really ready to go and had a great week of preparation.”

Taylor Kelly threw for 362 yards and three scores for the Sun Devils (3-2), who missed on a chance to become the first team to beat Southern California and Notre Dame in consecutive weeks. Notre Dame’s T.J. Jones had eight catches for 135 yards, including a pair of first-down catches on the drive to the winning field goal. Cam McDaniel, who went to school in nearby Coppell, had four straight carries for 32 yards to get Notre Dame in field goal range. McDaniel finished with a game-high 82 yards. The Irish clinched the win when Dan Fox, who recovered a fumble to set up a touchdown, returned Kelly’s second interception 14 yards for a touchdown with 1:08 remaining.The Sun Devils pulled within 37-34 on Kelly’s third TD — a 16-yarder to Marion Grice with 11 seconds left — but Jones recovered an onside kick.Notre Dame, one of the best in the country at rushing the passer last year but statistically one of the worst this year, found its form. The Irish pressured Kelly throughout, and Prince Shembo had three of their six sacks, including one for a 10-yard loss the first play after Brindza’s kick that put the Irish ahead for good.

“We all remember what we saw last year defensively salting away games and we feel(asterisk) like our defense is continually getting better,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “We are not there yet.”

The Irish led 24-13 after Rees’ 21-yard touchdown on a jump ball to 6-foot-7 tight end Troy Niklas, but the Sun Devils got back in it with a 37-yard interception return by Osahon Irabor and Kelly’s 21-yard scoring toss to De’Marieya Nelson that made it 27-all. Rees’ scoring toss to Niklas — his third — came two plays after Bennett Jackson stripped ASU receiver Richard Smith on a short pass, with the loose ball bouncing into the arms of Fox.

“I thought that was the play of the game,” Arizona State coach Todd Graham said. “There’s 14 points off two plays and guess what, those count. We just did a poor job taking care of the football.”

Notre Dame’s first regular-season game in the Dallas area since 1958 was technically a home game, and had that feel. Both end zones were labeled “Notre Dame,” with the Texas-themed Shamrock Series logo at midfield. The huge video board constantly showed smiling Notre Dame fans, and any sign of ASU yellow or red was by accident. Rees finally gave the green-clad bunch something else to get excited about with two touchdown passes in the last 3:35 of the first half.Ben Koyack scored his first career touchdown for Notre Dame when he caught a pass from Rees on the sideline with nobody around him and ran most of the 19 yards untouched for a 7-6 lead. Kelly gave ASU the lead back when he took a snap with the play clock at zero and hit Jaelen Strong in stride behind the defense for a 36-yard touchdown on fourth-and-4. Strong had eight catches for 136 yards.

“They beat us in the turnover ratio so that’s the biggest thing,” Kelly said. “We were winning that and in the second half we lost the turnover ratio, and I think that’s where we kind of lost it.”

Rees, who had 156 yards passing in the second quarter, put the Irish in scoring range again with a 35-yard pass to Jones, then found Jones in the end zone from 8 yards for a 14-13 lead with 10 seconds left in the first half.

Valtteri Filppula scored in the shootout and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Blackhawks on Saturday night.Ben Bishop made 37 saves in his first start for the season for Tampa Bay, and then denied each of the Hawks three shooters in the tiebreaker. Filppula beat Corey Crawford into the right side of the net in the first round.Tampa Bay looked listless before Martin St. Louis and Teddy Purcell scored midway through the third period, tying it at 2.It was the first victory of the season for the Lightning, who opened with a 3-1 loss at Boston.Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad scored for the Hawks, who outshot Tampa Bay 39-16.

INDIANAPOLIS—Derrick Rose made a successful return to the Bulls, scoring 13 points in 20 minutes in an 82-76 exhibition victory over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night.Rose led the Bulls to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference two seasons ago before he tore his left ACL during the playoffs, then missed all of last season while recovering.Rose was at his lightning-fast best against the Pacers in the preseason opener for both teams, breaking away for several layups and converting a steal and dunk in the third quarter. He appeared unafraid of contact, constantly challenging Indiana’s large front line. He misconnected with his teammates several times and committed four turnovers.Indiana’s Danny Granger also returned after missing most of last season with a left knee injury. He finished with six points on 2-for-10 shooting in 29 minutes.

KENT—Cameron Stingily ran for a career-high 266 yards and two scores as Northern Illinois remained undefeated with a 38-24 win over Kent State on Saturday.Northern Illinois (5-0, 1-0 Mid-American) trailed 24-21 in the third quarter but proceeded to score 17 unanswered points, beginning with a 22-yard touchdown run by James Spencer midway through the quarter. Spencer then scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Lynch on the Huskies’ following possession. Northern Illinois finished with 698 yards of total offense, 454 yards rushing.Kent State (2-4, 1-2) took the lead early in the third with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Colin Reardon to Tyshon Goode but failed to score after that.The game was a rematch of last season’s conference title game, a 44-37 double-overtime win by Northern Illinois that helped propel the Huskies to an Orange Bowl berth.

LINCOLN—Ameer Abdullah ran for a career-high 225 yards and two touchdowns and Nebraska’s maligned defense was much improved in a 39-19 victory over Illinois on Saturday.  Tommy Armstrong, starting his second straight game in place of injured quarterback Taylor Martinez, led the Cornhuskers (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) to touchdowns on his first three series and was solid throughout.Armstrong was 8 of 13 for 135 yards.Just as big as Armstrong’s performance was that of Nebraska’s defense, which had been one of the nation’s worst through four games.Illinois (3-2, 0-1), which came in averaging 40 points a game, didn’t score its first touchdown until the middle of the third quarter. Twice when the Illini looked as if they would make a game of it, the Huskers made big stops.Josh Ferguson led the Illini with 114 yards on 19 carries and another 82 yards on eight catches.

DEERFIELD—The big news in Saturday’s preseason game between the Bulls and Pacers is of course the return of Derrick Rose after nearly an 18-month absence. But while Rose is coming back, another Bull won’t be playing in Indianapolis, or for a while. Joakim Noah is going to miss some time.Even with it being a precaution, it’s more than the usual level of concern because Noah has missed so much time over the past year with plantar fasciitis. The two aren’t related, but groin injuries tend to be persistent. The good news is it really does sound like something that isn’t significant and unlikely to keep him out for any determined length of time. Meanwhile, Taj Gibson gets to start off his year guarding Roy Hibbert. Have fun guarding the guy five inches taller than you.

Thur Night-CLEVELAND over Buffalo

Sunday Afternoon-NY GIANTS over Philadelphia
Carolina over ARIZONA
Baltimore over MIAMI
New England over CINCINNATI
Kansas City over TENNESSEE
Seattle over INDIANAPOLIS
ST.LOUIS over Jacksonville
Denver over DALLAS

Sunday Night-SAN FRANCISCO over Houston
Sunday Night-OAKLAND over San Diego

Monday Night-ATLANTA over NY Jets

NFC NORTH GAMES:
GREEN BAY over Detroit
New Orleans over BEARS

BYES: Minnesota,Pittsburgh,Tampa Bay,Washington

HOME TEAMS in ALL CAPS

The Blackhawks watched as their championship banner rose to the rafters at the United Center. They took another look at the Stanley Cup, and soaked in the applause from the sellout crowd. Then Johnny Oduya and Co. went out and reminded the rest of the NHL how they won that title. Oduya, Brandon Saad and Marian Hossa scored in the third period, and the Blackhawks kicked off their title defense with a 6-4 victory against Mikhail Grabovsky and the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.

“We wanted a good start. I think we got that,” Oduya said. “Maybe in the second we came down a little bit, the win is the key thing to that, and to keep building on that. There’s a lot of games this year, so we’ve got to stay strong and get better.”

Patrick Kane, Brent Seabrook and Brandon Bollig also scored for the Hawks, who won their first game for the second successive season. Corey Crawford made 28 saves, including a couple of huge stops when the Blackhawks killed off a late 5-on-3 power play.The Hawks ruined Los Angeles’ title celebration with a 5-2 victory in last season’s opener and then set an NHL record by recording at least one point in its first 24 games. The fast start played a key role in the Blackhawks’ run to the Stanley Cup, and coach Joel Quenneville made it clear in training camp that another opening surge is a priority.

“The guys have always been in a good place since Day 1 of the season,” Quenneville said. “You’ve got to commend them on how they prepared themselves.”

Grabovsky had three goals and an assist in his first game since he signed with Washington in August. Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist, but the Capitals dropped their opener for the second straight season.

“They got a little bit lucky today,” Grabovsky said. “We need to learn from our mistakes what we did. We just need to play better the next game.”

Grabovsky had consecutive power-play goals in the third, lifting Washington to a 3-2 lead with 14:44 left. But Saad finished a beautiful give-and-go with Michal Handzus, and Oduya converted a long slap shot at 13:53 to put the Blackhawks ahead to stay. Oduya caught a fortunate break on his 32nd birthday when his fluttering shot went in off the glove of goalie Braden Holtby on its way to the net.

“It just completely fooled me,” Holtby said. “I had a clean look at the shot, it was just one of those sinkers. It happened. It was one I would love to have, but I think there are a couple of others in the game that I should have done a better job on, more than that one.”

Hossa finished the scoring when he was dragged down from behind as he skated toward an empty net in the final minute, prompting the officials to award him with an insurance goal. Cheered on by the rollicking crowd of 22,158, the Blackhawks staged one last celebration of the franchise’s fifth title. The team handed out special wristbands that lit up during parts of the pregame ceremony, making the rows of seats look like a clear night sky full of stars. The wristband lights were joined by camera flashes as a group of youth hockey players presented the championship banner to the 19 returning players from last year’s squad, who carried it to the spot for its trip to the rafters. Front-office staff and players posed for a picture with the banner hanging just over the ice. It was then raised to the top while the crowd roared.

“It was amazing,” Hossa said. “So much light in the stands. To stand on the ice and look at 20-something-thousand people just celebrating. It’s going to stay in my heart for the memories.”

The Hawks then brushed aside any concern of a letdown caused by the banner ceremony and grabbed the lead when Bollig stuffed home a rebound 4:06 in for his first career regular-season goal. After Ovechkin tied it with a power-play goal, Kane sent a wrist shot past Holtby to make it 2-1 at 11:06. Kane won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP when the Blackhawks made their run to the championship. Holtby made 29 saves in Washington’s first regular-season game in Chicago since March 18, 2012. NHL teams played games strictly within their own conference last season after the lockout cut the campaign nearly in half.

“The first 40 minutes I thought that we played pretty good hockey,” Capitals coach Adam Oates said. “If anything, our turnovers gave them momentum and gave them some life. They’ve got a good hockey team. It’s hard to play that way.”

NOTES—The Blackhawks beat Washington twice during the preseason, including a 4-3 overtime victory on Saturday night. … The teams will meet again in Washington on April 11. … NHL commissioner Gary “Beavis” Bettman was booed during the pregame ceremony(OF COURSE!).

DETROIT—The Bears and Detroit Lions have a pretty intense rivalry. It’s been that way for years, despite Detroit’s long dip into mediocrity. And Lions vice chairman Bill Ford just poured some more fuel on the fire.Ford, speaking at the Lions Courage House dinner on Tuesday, called — jokingly, according to the Lions — the Bears “a bunch of thugs.”

“It was really alive, and it was alive when we played those same bunch of thugs on Monday Night a couple (years ago),” Ford said of the atmosphere at Ford Field last Sunday. “When this place gets going it’s electric and we do have wonderful fans. Our fans are amazing and we would love to pay them back and bring home a winner, and I love the way this team is playing right now.”

Detroit handed the Bears a 40-32 loss in an exciting game (mostly for Detroit) that showed just how valuable Reggie Bush can be for the Lions and just how damaging Jay Cutler can be for the Bears.Of course it was also a game that managed to miff Lions coach Jim Schwartz because he believes the Bears got away with some not-quite-clean hits.

“We talk a lot about player safety and things like that and he’s laying prone on the ground, is giving himself up and takes a helmet right to the back and we don’t any call there,” Schwartz said. “It’s a little hypocritical to talk about player safety when we allow that to not get called. But Kris toughed it out and he had to hold onto that ball and he did. And he did a nice job today.”

Schwartz was referring to a hit from Bears linebacker on Jon Bostic that he believes warranted some sort of penalty at the very least.It stands to reason that if Schwartz isn’t thrilled with the hits Bears players were busting out that the chairman has similar feelings. Even if Ford was joking it probably won’t stop the Bears from using his comments as bulletin board material going forward.

Of course the Bears have more pressing issues with the high flying Saints at Soldier Field Sunday.