WEST LAFAYETTE—Sometimes, college football victories have a bittersweet angle.Such is the case for Purdue after snapping a three-game losing streak Saturday with a 29-10 victory against Illinois in Ross-Ade Stadium.Junior quarterback David Blough, who led the Big Ten in passing in 2016 and was 16 of 24 for 194 yards against the Illini, suffered a severe and likely season-ending leg injury with 12:27 remaining when tackled by free safety Stanley Green inside the Illinois 5-yard line.Blough was carted off the field while sitting upright and pumping his fist to exhort the crowd. He left the stadium by ambulance.The Boilermakers (4-5, 2-3) outscored Illinois 16-0 during the final 30 minutes.

”I don’t know for sure,” Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said. ”I think the leg was dislocated, but I don’t know for sure. It’s a fairly severe injury that hopefully he can come back from.”

Meanwhile, Purdue’s aggressive defense registered nine tackles for loss, including five sacks.Illinois (2-7, 0-6) lost its seventh consecutive game, six in a row in the Big Ten.

ST. PAUL—For a team not scoring a lot of goals, the Blackhawks are managing just fine – thanks to Corey Crawford,who made 24 saves for his second straight shutout, Artem Anisimov scored a power-play goal with 5:42 left in the third period, and Chicago beat the Minnesota Wild 2-0 on Saturday night.

”Those games are fun against that team. It seems like they’re always close games, intense. The crowds are always into it, so that makes it fun,” Crawford said.

Crawford, who lowered his goals-against average to a league-best 1.75 and increased his save percentage to a second-best .945, made his best stop early in the third when he got his glove up to thwart a breakaway by Eric Staal. He stacked the pads to stop Jared Spurgeon a short time later on another breakaway.Crawford also came out to stop Mikko Koivu with the left pad, seconds before Jan Rutta cleared a loose puck out of the Hawk crease.

”I’m feeling pretty good with that, getting a good feel for when to come out, when to come out aggressively, stay deep and read for a pass across. That’s a big part of the game, but right now it feels pretty good,” said Crawford, who stopped 35 shots in a 3-0 win over Philadelphia on Wednesday.

His strong play has been needed. After scoring 10 times on opening night, the Blackhawks have scored 33 goals in 13 games, yet have gone 6-5-2.

”I’d say we’d still like more production,” coach Joel Quenneville said. ”At the same time, the better you check the more offense you get off it. Tonight, I still don’t think we generated enough offense but certainly I didn’t mind the way we played without it.”

Devan Dubnyk stopped 33 shots for Minnesota, which finished a season-long six-game homestand 3-3-0.

”When you have open nets and you have two breakaways in the third period, you’ve got to score because eventually the other team is going to get that one chance and put it in,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said.

Anisimov did just that.With Minnesota’s Luke Kunin serving a double-minor for high-sticking, Duncan Keith’s shot from just inside the blue line was deflected in front by Anisimov just past the halfway point of the man advantage.

”I saw the puck all the way through from Dunc’s stick to my point. It’s so nice when it goes in,” he said.

Anisimov has scored in four straight games, including two power-play goals. The Hawks are 2-for-8 on the power play in its last two games after going 0-for-14 in three straight losses.

”We had a real tough stretch without scoring on the power play and now we’ve scored two big ones,” Quenneville said.

Alex DeBrincat added an empty-net goal for the second straight game.Both teams missed by inches in the first period.Richard Panik hit the crossbar 13 minutes in, and a redirect from Nino Niederreiter during a late Wild power play bounced off the post, off the far leg of Crawford as he struggled to get back into position and out of harm’s way as the goal horn incorrectly sounded.

DeMarcus Cousins had an uncharacteristically quiet game early Saturday night.He turned it up after halftime and looked like his usual dominant self.Cousins had 25 points and 11 rebounds – 18 and seven in the second half – to lead the New Orleans Pelicans to a 96-90 overtime victory over the Bulls.

”I struggled early on, but that being said, you just got to out and find other ways to have an impact on the game,” said Cousins, who was averaging 29 points and 14 rebounds. ”That’s what I tried to do. It was a great team effort all around. We pulled out an ugly, gritty win.”

Anthony Davis had 27 points and 16 rebounds to help the Pelicans snap a six-game, regular-season losing streak to the Bulls.Jameer Nelson added 13 points, Darius Miller had 11, and Jrue Holiday 10 for New Orleans. The Pelicans improved to 4-2 on the road.Justin Holiday had 18 points, Denzel Valentine added 16 and Lauri Markkanen and Robin Lopez had 14 apiece for the Bulls. They were coming off their first road victory.
Both teams looked sluggish completing their first back-to-backs of the season. The Bulls shot 35.4 percent from the field to the Pelicans’ 40.2 percent.

”We were like playing in mud,” New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said. ”It was a struggle we couldn’t seem to get ourselves going but we found a way. At the end of the day, I told the guys, `You just got to find a way to win on the road.”’

Cousins made two of three foul shots for a 91-86 lead with 2:35 left in overtime before Nelson hit a 3 for a 96-88 lead with 48.9 seconds remaining.Davis rebounded Lopez’s putback attempt with 9.7 seconds remaining in regulation. Holiday missed at the other end with 4 to go before Cousins blocked Lopez to send the game to overtime.

”He made a great play,” Lopez said of Jerian Grant’s pass to him. ”I missed two shots. It’s frustrating.”

The Pelicans opened the final quarter on a 20-7 run to take a 77-71 lead.Justin Holiday scored 10 points in the third quarter for the Bulls, who led by as much as nine and 64-57 after the period.
”I feel like they’re better than their record shows,” Cousins said about the Bulls. ”They’re probably top-three hardest-playing teams in the league at this point.”
The Pelicans shot 40.5 percent from the field to the Bulls’ 31.9 percent in the first half of a tied game.

While the Blackhawks work on their power play and coach Joel Quenneville searches for the right combinations for his lineup, at least they have Corey Crawford in goal.Crawford made 35 saves in his first shutout of the season, and the Blackhawks stopped a three-game slide with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.

”Crow was outstanding,” Quenneville said. ”We gave them some real serious looks and he was outstanding.”

Artem Anisimov and Jonathan Toews scored 20 seconds apart in the second and Crawford took over from there, helping the Hawks kill off three Philadelphia power plays in the last half of the game. Rookie Alex DeBrincat added an empty-net goal with 1:49 left in Crawford’s 22nd career shutout.Brian Elliott made 32 stops for Philadelphia, which was coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to lowly Arizona on Monday. The Flyers have dropped four of five heading into Thursday night’s game at Central Division-leading St. Louis.

The Hawks had dropped five of six, prompting Quenneville to juggle his lines and defensive pairings in search of a spark. Quenneville also had his team do sprints at the end of practice on Tuesday after he grew frustrated with the effort by the players.The Blackhawks responded with a workmanlike effort while improving to 4-2-1 at home.

”We just have to build off that,” Crawford said. ”We’ve been playing well. Some tough losses in those games, and it’s nice to get one.”

The Hawks came up empty on its first four power plays before Anisimov delivered in the second. With Brandon Manning in the box for holding Ryan Hartman, the rugged center skated behind the Flyers’ penalty killers and slammed home a rebound for a 1-0 lead at 8:58.Anisimov’s fourth goal of the season was the Blackhawks’ first successful power play since Richard Panik scored at Arizona on Oct. 21. They were unsuccessful in their previous 18 chances.

”I think that turned out to be a big goal for us,” Quenneville said. ”Our first couple power plays had some decent looks and as far as doing the right thing on that one, I mean get it to the net, you’ve got traffic at the net, get the rebound, and get rewarded.”

Philadelphia defenseman Robert Hagg then mishandled the puck near the blue line and Toews skated in alone on Elliott. The captain slipped a backhander between the goaltender’s legs for his first goal since Oct. 12 against Minnesota, stopping a seven-game drought.That was more than enough for Crawford, who came up with a couple of big plays as Philadelphia pressed for a score in the third. He made his best save of the night with 1:45 left in the first, doing the splits to get over for a pad stop on Valtteri Filppula’s wraparound.

”We had quality chances, and so many times the puck was just laying there and Crawford found a way to make the save,” Flyers forward Claude Giroux said. ”He’s pretty good.”

NOTES—Connor Murphy had a huge hit on Philadelphia forward Taylor Leier in the first, and then got into a fight with Flyers forward Scott Laughton. Murphy’s father, Gord, is an assistant coach for Philadelphia. … The Blackhawks and Flyers play again on Nov. 9 in Philadelphia, finishing their two-game season series.

MIAMI—Goran Dragic scored 20 points, Tyler Johnson added 19 and the Miami Heat beat the Bulls 97-91 on Wednesday to snap a three-game slide. It also marked the fourth consecutive year that the Heat played and won on their coach’s birthday – Spoelstra is now 47, celebrating that on the same day he and his wife publicly announced they are expecting their first child.

”It was good to finally get a result … get a little bit closer to our identity,” Spoelstra said. ”I liked all the emotions we had to go through. These guys want to win so badly.”

There clearly were emotions: Miami was up 15 early, trailed by six midway through the third, then used a 32-12 run down the stretch to finally put the game away. Hassan Whiteside returned from a five-game absence with a bruised knee and scored 13 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Heat, who went 3-3 on their six-game homestand.Lauri Markkanen scored 25 points and Robin Lopez added 22 for the Bulls, who were 7 for 28 from 3-point range and got five of those makes in the final 2 minutes. The Bulls fell to 1-5, matching its worst start since 2007-08.Markkanen also grabbed eight rebounds.

”We had a couple good days of practice, competed a lot,” Markkanen said. ”It definitely showed today, but just wasn’t good enough to win.”

Dion Waiters also scored 13 for the Heat, who were without starting forward James Johnson – a late scratch with right knee tendinitis.Miami was rolling early, up 20-6 after 8 minutes and 35-20 midway through the second quarter. The Bulls started 1 for 10 from the floor, and Whiteside had eight rebounds in the game’s first 4:50.A 24-10 run by the Bulls tied the game late in the half, seven of those field goals by the Bulls coming in close proximity to the rim. The Bulls led by as many as six in the third and probably should have been up more, but missed five shots at the rim late in the quarter.

”Certainly something we can build on,” said Fred Hoiberg, who raved about his team’s effort after the slow start.

The Heat reclaimed the lead with a 10-1 run to end the third, then kept it the rest of the way. And now Miami’s six-game homestand is followed by a six-game trip that starts Friday.

NEW ORLEANS—Drew Brees delivered accurate, aggressive throws downfield in tense moments, when conventional wisdom might have called for a more conservative play.New Orleans’ defense came up with a fourth-down stop and rookie Marshon Lattimore’s interception on its final two series.Kicker Wil Lutz hit from 45 and 49 yards in the second half, hitting the longer kick inside the final two minutes.Frequent clutch performances in all phases allowed the surging Saints to once again overcome some potentially disastrous mistakes and win their fifth straight, 20-12 over the feisty Bears on Sunday.

”This was encouraging because I think in the past there’s been very little room for error,” said Brees, who completed 23 of 28 passes for 299 yards without an interception against a Bears defense that ranked sixth against the pass. ”While it’s frustrating that I don’t feel like we’re playing our best football – really, anywhere near our best football – we’re still finding ways to win.”

Running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara each ran for touchdowns for New Orleans (5-2). Ingram finished with 99 yards from scrimmage, including 75 on the ground, but his two late fumbles kept the Bears (3-5) in the game into the final minutes.

”I was terrible. I let my teammates down, put us in a bad position,” Ingram said. ”The game was only close because I sucked.”

Kamara had 76 yards from scrimmage – 48 receiving, including his 34-yard, back-shoulder catch along the sideline in the fourth quarter.The Saints were threatening to score both times the Bears stripped the ball from Ingram.

”We found a way to make it interesting,” Payton said. ”To turn the ball over like we did, you don’t deserve to win games like that.”

The Vistors converted the first fumble into its only touchdown with 3:43 left on Tarik Cohen’s short dive over a pile of players at the goal line. The second turnover occurred with a little more than two minutes left on the Bears 30, but they was unable to get a first down as rookie Mitchell Trubisky’s fourth-and-1 pass fell incomplete.John Fox said he considered running the ball, which is his team’s strength, but stopped short of expressing regret over his decision.

”It was like flipping a coin,” Fox said. ”It was 50-50.”

The Bears had one more chance to tie after Lutz’s field goal with 1:35 left, but Lattimore’s interception ended that threat.

”It’s hard to predict a rookie’s growth. But he has got exceptional ball skills and a lot of confidence,” Payton said of Lattimore.

Trubisky completed 14 of 32 passes for 164 yards in his fourth start. Jordan Howard had 102 yards rushing on 23 carries.

”We’re getting closer as an offense. Nobody has their heads down,” Trubisky said. ”I’m really excited for where this team is headed.”

In the third quarter, the Bears had a TD overturned on video review after Zach Miller’s 25-yard catch, during which the tight end’s left leg bent unnaturally as he landed. As Miller was carted off the field with what Fox said was a dislocated knee, officials ruled that replay showed the ground caused the ball to loosen in Miller’s grasp as his upper body crashed to the turf.On the game’s opening possession, the Bears defense was offside on a field goal attempt, putting New Orleans’ offense back on the field. The result was Kamara’s 8-yard touchdown run.Later, Trubisky took a third-down sack by end Trey Hendrickson in Saints territory. That pushed back Connor Barth’s field goal attempt to 48 yards, and he hooked it.

The Blackhawks have lost three in a row and are 1-4-1 in their last six games. They got goals from Ryan Hartman, Nick Schmaltz and Artem Anisimov, and Corey Crawford had seven saves in relief of Anton Forsberg.Forsberg had 16 saves before being pulled after Colorado took a 5-0 lead on Andrighetto’s goal at 6:44 of the second.The Hawks woke up after Andrighetto’s goal. Schmaltz and Anisimov scored later in the second as they swarmed the Avalanche. They outshot Colorado 13-7 in the second and had several chances to make it a two-goal game.Bernier made a glove save on Hartman’s breakaway at 6:51 of the third, and Grimaldi, recalled from the AHL on Friday, tipped in Erik Johnson’s shot from the point at 8:45 for his first goal of the season.

”It certainly would have been what we were looking for,” Joel Quenneville said of Hartman’s chance. ”We hit the post and it’s 2-0. It could of have 1-1 and they score in the dying seconds of the first. As bad as the first period was it wasn’t horrendous. Chances were 4-3.”

Hartman made it 6-3 with his fourth goal at 15:05. Chicago pulled Crawford with 3:22 left.The Hawks host Philadelphia Wednesday night.

Russell Westbrook had yet another triple-double milestone to accomplish.Westbrook had recorded a triple-double against every NBA opponent except for the Bulls. He marked that team off his list at last.Westbrook had 12 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 101-69 rout of the Bulls on Saturday night. He became the first player in league history to record a triple-double against 29 different opponents.Westbrook has even done it against his own team.

”He had one against us in practice,” Carmelo Anthony said with a smile.

Anthony scored 21 points and Paul George had 20 for the Thunder, who won their first road game in three attempts after losing three of their last four games overall. Steven Adams and Raymond Felton had 12 points apiece for the Thunder.Lauri Markkanen scored 15 points to lead the rebuilding Bulls, who were coming off their first win in four games this season after beating the Atlanta Hawks 91-86 on Thursday. Justin Holiday added 11 points and Robin Lopez had 10 for the Bulls, which shot 28.2 percent from the field.

”We took a step in the wrong direction tonight,” coach Fred Hoiberg said. ”We didn’t compete. We didn’t stay together. We didn’t fight through adversity as a team. We were careless. We were stagnant.”

SOUTH BEND—There was plenty of Love in the air and on the ground as No. 9 Notre Dame continued its comeback season with a convincing 35-14 victory over 14-ranked North Carolina State on a blustery Saturday afternoon.

”It’s amazing running behind those guys,” Notre Dame running back Josh Adams said after he rushed for 202 yards on 27 carries, including a 77-yard touchdown burst in the third quarter. ”I just love those guys.”

The long run came almost eight minutes after cornerback Julian Love returned an interception 69 yards for a touchdown, his second interception return for a touchdown this season. The two touchdowns put the Irish, up 21-14 at halftime, on cruise control.Adams, whose sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season and second 200-yard effort, has been catapulted into the Heisman Trophy race by his offensive line that produced 318 rushing yards. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound junior now has 1,169 yards on 132 carries, an average of 8.9 yards per carry.

”There’s 11 guys on offense, 11 on defense and 11 on special teams,” said Adams, who wears No. 33, about the on-line campaign ”33 Trucking.” ”I don’t think it’s built around me. We’re just trying to stay focused in what we want to accomplish.”

The sixth straight victory by Brian Kelly’s team, now 7-1, avenged a 10-3 loss at N.C. State last year in windy and rainy conditions caused by Hurricane Matthew that was the low point of a 4-8 campaign. N.C. State (6-2) saw its six-game winning streak come to an end.

”Our guys were up to the task,” Kelly said. ”They continually come out with energy and a mindset to get after the opponent.”

The two long third-quarter plays broke open a game that Notre Dame led 21-14 at halftime.

”I thought we really needed it,” said Love, who also had three passes broken up. ”We were up but you always need that turn of momentum, that crushing blow to an opponent.”

Love’s interception ended N.C. State quarterback Ryan Finley’s streak of consecutive passes without throwing an interception at 339. Earlier this season, Love had a 50-yard interception return for a TD in Notre Dame’s 38-18 victory at Michigan State.

”That was a huge momentum play,” N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said. ”I thought their defensive kids played well We were able to score just one touchdown.”

Notre Dame junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush had three first-half touchdowns, his 11th rushing TD of the season and two scoring passes of 25 yards to Durham Smythe and 11 yards to Kevin Stepherson. The scoring pass to Smythe came after Germaine Pratt of N.C. State fell on a blocked Irish punt to put the Wolfpack up 7-0.

EVANSTON—A gory injury couldn’t knock Nate Hall out of the game or stop him from coming up with Northwestern’s biggest interception of the season.Hall picked off Brian Lewerke in the end zone on the game’s final play – even though he had 30 stitches in his left hand – after Clayton Thorson threw a 22-yard touchdown to Flynn Nagel in the third overtime to lead the Wildcats to a 39-31 victory over No. 16 Michigan State on Saturday.NU had a third down at the 22 when Thorson hit Nagel on a crossing pattern for the go-ahead TD. Cameron Green caught the two-point conversion to make it an eight-point game, and two big plays by the defense on one snap preserved the victory .Lineman Joe Gaziano stripped Lewerke as he dropped back on second down at the 25. Hall heard the crowd roar and figured there was a sack, but he stayed locked in coverage.Lewerke picked up the loose ball and fired toward the goal line. Hall reached up and came down with a pass intended for Matt Sokol , setting off a wild celebration with the sideline emptying and fans pouring out of the stands.

”We’re taught to stay in coverage,” Hall said. ”That’s exactly what I did.”

That Hall finished the game was quite an achievement. He missed most of the second quarter after his middle and index fingers got bent so far back they broke the skin.His interception set off a wild celebration, with the sideline emptying and fans pouring out of the stands.

”We’ve always kind of had the same mentality,” Nagel said. ”We’ve known that we can be a good team. We are a good team. I think we’re not just starting to prove that.”

The win was the third straight for the Wildcats (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) and their second in overtime in as many weeks. Michigan State (6-2, 4-1) came up short after winning four in a row.Thorson threw for 356 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson had 41 yards rushing and 51 receiving. But the star running back threw for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter on his first career pass.Nagel added 87 yards receiving, and Cameron Green had 76 yards and a TD catch.

”We kept playing,” Thorson said. ”So proud of our guys. These are the games that – just think back to playing NCAA Football and going to triple-overtime with my brothers – this is something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Lewerke threw for 445 yards and four touchdowns. But he was second guessing his decision on the game’s final play.

”I should have thrown it away, but I saw Sokol running on the right side and it looked like he had a couple of steps on a guy,” he said. ”It just takes a little bit bigger of an arm to make that throw and obviously I probably shouldn’t have thrown it in that situation.”

Cody White had 165 yards receiving and two TDs. But instead of heading into next week’s home game against No. 2 Penn State unbeaten with a perfect conference record, the Spartans came up short facing a resurgent team.After Michigan State deferred to start the first OT, Thorson threw a 14-yard touchdown to Green.Lewerke then hit Felton Davis with a 6-yarder to tie it and gave the Spartans a 31-24 lead with an 11-yarder to White. But Jackson tied it again with a 3-yard run for his 38th career touchdown, tying Damien Anderson’s program record.

”They’re seeing the return on the investment, that the work (they’re) putting in, (they’re) getting the reward,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said.

Jackson also gave Northwestern a 17-10 lead early in the fourth. He took a handoff from Thorson and threw a wobbly 12-yard touchdown to Bennett Skowronek in the back of the end zone.Michigan State’s Matt Coghlin hit the right upright attempting a 32-yard field goal with about six minutes left in regulation. But the Spartans got another chance.Lewerke scrambled for 5 yards on a fourth-and-4 from the 30 and threw a 13-yard touchdown to Felton Davis III in the left corner of the end zone to tie it with 25 seconds left in regulation.The Spartans could have really made things interesting in the Big Ten with back-to-back games against No. 2 Penn State and No. 6 Ohio State coming up.The Wildcats squeezed out another tight win and once again seem to be hitting their stride after a slow start, just as they did last year.NU visits Nebraska on Nov. 4.