CHAMPAIGN—Jeff George Jr. threw for 140 yards and two touchdowns Saturday, the second a 16-yard strike to Sam Mays that gave Illinois a 31-27 win over Michigan State.The win broke a two-game losing streak for the Illini (3-6, 2-4 Big Ten). It also extended the Spartans’ misery. Michigan State (2-7, 0-6) has lost seven in a row.George started the season as the third-string quarterback for the Illini. With injuries to No. 1 quarterback Wes Lunt and backup Chayce Crouch, though, the son of longtime NFL quarterback Jeff George has now started three straight games at his father’s alma mater.

”We had forgotten what it’s like,” Illinois coach Lovie Smith said after the win. ”There’s no excitement like a winning locker room, just genuine emotion, that’s what the locker room was like.”

On Dad’s Day at Illinois, the younger George was just 13-of-29 passing.But the second touchdown gave the Illini the lead they would keep.Kendrick Foster added 146 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns.The loss was a stunner for a Spartan team that dominated the game on paper, outgaining Illinois 490-304 overall and 315 to 140 in passing yardage. And eight times Michigan State moved the ball to the Illinois 36-yard line or further, bit turned those possessions into just two touchdowns and four field goals. Michigan State’s 10 penalties for 89 yards hurt.

”Very disappointing,” Spartan coach Mark Dantonio said several times in his postgame news conference, shaking his head. ”You kick four field goals, that sounds good. (But) it means there’s missed opportunities in the red zone.”

Michigan State had a shot late, driving the ball to the Illinois 15. But on fourth down with 19 seconds left in the game, Illinois linebacker Hardy Nickerson and defensive end Carroll Phillips stuffed quarterback Damion Terry’s draw for a 1-yard loss.Terry came into the game in the fourth quarterback when Tyler O’Connor left with an injury and finished 6-of-12 for 50 yards and a touchdown.O’Connor and Terry proved Saturday that the Spartans aren’t lost at quarterback. With Brian Lewerke out for the season, O’Connor was steady. He kept plays alive with his feet on a key third-quarter drive that ended with a touchdown and tied the game at 17-17. And when Terry came off the bench, he was cool under pressure for the late fourth-quarter touchdown.Illinois came into the season talking up its defense, then spent eight weeks struggling to stop the run and, at times, avoid penalties and other mistakes that cost the Illini games. On Saturday, the Illini defense looked as good as initially promised. Playing with short fields and against an offense that has shown it can move the ball, defense kept the Illini in the game Saturday until the offense woke up.The Illini head to Madison to face No. 8 Wisconsin on Saturday

JACKSONVILLE—Navy’s final fourth-down play worked to perfection. Just don’t bother asking coach Ken Niumatalolo how it played out.”I had my eyes closed. I was praying,” Niumatalolo said. ”It obviously worked out great.”

It helped Navy get a rare win against Notre Dame.Will Worth ran for 175 yards and two touchdowns, his eighth consecutive game with a rushing score, and the Midshipmen beat the Fighting Irish 28-27 Saturday in the nation’s longest-running intersectional rivalry.Navy (6-2) won its fourth game against Notre Dame since 1963. The Irish (3-6) had won five in a row in the series.

”We’re kind of in euphoria, Cloud 9 right now having beaten Notre Dame,” Niumatalolo said. ”I’ve been here a long time. We’ve had some crushing defeats to these guys. To be able to finally come out on top, it feels so good.”

Irish coach Brian Kelly deserved some of the blame for this one. Trailing 28-24 with a little more than 7 minutes to go, Kelly opted for a 31-yard field goal instead of trying to convert a fourth-and-4 play at the 14. He made the call even though his defense hadn’t forced a punt all afternoon.

”Well, certainly thought about going for it,” Kelly said. ”Now in hindsight, it’s something that we didn’t get the ball back. But 28-27 made sense to me at the time. Even if they score a touchdown, we still have the opportunity to score and get the two-point conversion. … But those are the decisions you got to make.Again, I don’t question the decision to go for the field goal other than the fact that we couldn’t get the ball back.”

Navy got the ball and ran out the clock with its triple-option offense. Worth converted two huge fourth-down plays on the final drive, one on a dive play near midfield and another with a pass to Jamir Tillman that essentially ended it.Worth took a knee after that, setting off a raucous celebration that surely will continue through the weekend.

”There are no words for that (win),” Tillman said. ”Every year we get so close. But close only matters in horseshoes. So it feels crazy to bet them my senior year and to go out just how we did.”

Tillman finished with four receptions for 41 yards. Worth notched with his fourth straight 100-yard rushing performance and fifth of the season.

”The kid’s playing phenomenal,” Niumatalolo said. ”We’re where we’re at right now because of Will Worth. He’s given our team belief the way he plays, tough, hard-nosed and he’s created an edge on our football team. We’re a scrappy team that’s not going to back down from anybody. A lot of that edge comes from the way he plays.”

Navy finished with 368 yards, including 320 on the ground.The Midshipmen actually punted once, but it was wiped out after a replay because Notre Dame had 12 men on the field. Instead, the Midshipmen kept the drive alive, converted a fourth-and-1 play and Worth later scored his second rushing TD and his 15th of the season.

”Listen, Navy won the game,” Kelly said. ”I’m not here to cry over that call. We had chances to get off the field and we couldn’t get off the field.”

The Irish now need to win out against Army, Virginia Tech and USC to become bowl eligible. It was the Irish’s fifth loss in seven games, continuing Kelly’s worst season in seven years. The Irish have a young team and should be better in 2017, but making a bowl seems like a long shot.The Middies are bowl eligible again, improving to 23-5 in their last 28 games. Three of those losses came against ranked teams.Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer completed 19 of 27 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns. He added 52 yards rushing and didn’t have a turnover. But he was standing on the sideline, unable to do anything, in the final 7-plus minutes.

Derrick Rose tried watching the video tribute to him and Joakim Noah during a first-quarter timeout in their return to Chicago on Friday night.Noah, though, would have none of it.

”I watched some of it, but Jo was telling me to stay focused,” Rose said. ”I had to listen to my big brother at that time.”

Stay focused they did.Perhaps inspired by the emotional homecoming, the New York Knicks shrugged off their early season struggles for a 117-104 victory over the Bulls.Kristaps Porzingis had 27 points and Carmelo Anthony added 25 to help New York (2-3) snap a two-game losing streak. The night, though, belonged to the former Bulls.Rose, the first-round draft pick in 2008, finished with 15 points and 11 assists (five in the fourth quarter), while Noah, a 2007 first-rounder, had 16 points and nine rebounds. They teamed up to play a familiar two-man game late as New York held off a Bulls rally.Noah hadn’t scored more than six points in a game this season and was held scoreless in two of the previous four games.

”We’re still trying to find ourselves as a team,” Noah said, ”but I’m not going to lie: this win felt really good.”

Dwyane Wade led the Bulls (3-2) with 35 points on 12-for-20 shooting and Jimmy Butler added 26 points.

”We didn’t come out with the right mentality,” Wade said. When asked if the game meant more to Rose and Noah, Wade said: ”Anybody could sense that.”

Both Rose and Noah received loud ovations from the United Center crowd during pregame introductions, although there were some boos mixed in for Rose. The Chicago native also was booed every time he touched the ball in the first couple of minutes.

”I love when the crowd is into it,” Rose said. ”I knew there was going to be some yells, I knew there were going to be some boos. I’m from here, I’m used to it. I’ve been getting it since I was in sixth grade going to play on the West Side and me being from the South Side.”

New York broke open a close game by scoring 10 straight points to begin the fourth quarter for a 94-81 lead with 9 minutes to play.The Knicks led by as much as 98-83 before the Bulls rallied within 108-102 with just under 2 minutes to go. But Rose ended any hopes of a comeback with a three-point play on the next possession.Doug McDermott, who missed Wednesday’s game at Boston with a concussion, was cleared by the NBA’s concussion protocol earlier Friday. … Wade had five 3-pointers to give him 10 in five games this season. He had a total of seven last season.On the day the Cubs celebrated their World Series title, Rose said the biggest disappointment during his time in Chicago was not leading the Bulls to a championship.

”Only thing I can do about that is say I gave it my all,” he said. ”I really tried. I had multiple times, many times, where I envisioned winning a championship here. It never happened, so I’ve got to take (those) visions and take them to New York.”

Noah said he wasn’t surprised management broke up the Bulls’ core following last season.

”I think it was time for a change,” he said. ”I look back on (last season) and I was definitely frustrated. There was definitely a lot of adversity going on there. Now I can look back at it and see where went wrong. It’s not about blaming one person. Everybody in that locker room is good people. It’s just (stuff) happens.We didn’t make the playoffs. Everybody was disappointed. It was a team that had high expectations.”

The Bulls are at Indiana on Saturday seven days after shooting 52.3 percent (42.9 on 3-pointers) in a blowout win against the Pacers in Chicago.

AFC GAMES: MIA over NY Jets, KC over Jax, BALT over Pitt, Tenn over SD
NFC GAMES: Phil over NYG, Car over LA, N.Orl over SF
INT-CONF GAMES: Dal over CLEVE
THUR NIGHT Atl over TB
SUN NITE: OAK over Den,
MON NITE: SEAT over Buff
NFC NORTH GAMES: MINN over Det, GB over Indy
Teams with ALL CAPS are Home Teams

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville is looking for a more complete effort from his team. Pretty much everyone except Corey Crawford.Hard to argue with the way Crawford is playing right now.The veteran goaltender made 38 saves in his second shutout in three games, helping the Hawks beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-0 on Thursday night for their fourth straight victory.

”Just trying to get better every game,” Crawford said. ”Feeling good with reading the play. The conditioning’s there, too. Feeling sharp every game. I just go out there and battle.”

Marian Hossa had two goals, Jonathan Toews also scored and the Blackhawks killed off three more penalties to run their streak to 12 after an awful start to the season. Artemi Panarin added his fifth of the season off a slick pass from Patrick Kane in the third.The Hawks won for the seventh time in nine games, but Quenneville pointed out a couple areas of concern, mostly having to do with puck possession and movement. Of course, he sounded pretty satisfied with the situation in goal.Colorado dominated parts of the first and second periods, but Crawford was on top of his game again. He stopped Tyson Barrie about 5 minutes into the first, and denied Matt Duchene on a breakaway in the second. He also had a sharp glove save on Barrie at 9:34 of the third.

”He’s been outstanding,” Quenneville said.

Crawford caught a break when Nathan MacKinnon banged a shot off the left post about 4 minutes into the first, and Brent Seabrook helped out by breaking up a 2-on-1 in the second.

”The guys played well,” Crawford said. ”PK (Kane) was solid again, moving pucks down. It makes it harder on the power play when you’ve got to skate back all the time. It’s just a big game for us.”?

Semyon Varlamov made 17 saves for Colorado, which has dropped four of five.The Avalanche had a prime chance to jump in front with two power plays in the first, but the Blackhawks turned away each opportunity. Then Toews and Hossa scored in a 38-second span.First, Toews poked in a loose puck at 14:25. Then Hossa got free for a breakaway and managed to flick a wrist shot over Varlamov’s glove before sliding into the corner. Hossa celebrated by getting up on his knees and flexing for the cheering crowd.Hossa beat Varlamov on the glove side again early in the third, making the most of a great stretch pass by defenseman Duncan Keith, and Kane found a streaking Panarin in front at 12:40. It was Kane’s team-high 10th assist.

NOTES—Hossa has four goals in his last four games. … The Blackhawks showed the last out of the Cubs’ win in Game 7 of the World Series on the videoboard in the first period, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd of 21,580. They also played part of ”Go Cubs Go,” and the crowd sang along. … Blackhawks F Ryan Hartman returned to the lineup after he was a healthy scratch for the previous two games. He took the spot of Vinnie Hinostroza, who was a healthy scratch. … D Eric Gelinas and LW Cody McLeod were the scratches for the Avalanche. … Blackhawks C Artem Anisimov extended his point streak to nine in his 500th career game…..The Blackhawks visit Dallas on Saturday night, and then host the Stars on Sunday.

BOSTON—The Boston Celtics played without new addition Al Horford for the first time this season on Wednesday night.Thanks to Isaiah Thomas and Amir Johnson, they didn’t miss a beat.Thomas had 23 points and 10 assists, Johnson finished 23 points – including a career-high four 3-pointers – and the Boston Celtics handed the Bulls their first loss of the season, 107-100.Boston avenged its lone setback of the season despite being without Horford, who was placed in the concussion protocol Tuesday after exhibiting concussive symptoms during practice.Johnson was active from all over the court, scoring 16 points in the third quarter. The Bulls managed just 18 points in the period, their lowest scoring quarter of the season.

”I just made the first one and my confidence got a little higher,” Johnson said of his 3-point performance. ”When I knocked down the fourth one, I don’t even think I even saw the basket.”

The Bulls cut into what had been a 16-point Boston lead in the fourth quarter and tied it at 100 on two free throws by Nikola Mirotic. But Boston regained the lead 101-100, then went up five on a driving layup by Thomas and a basket by Marcus Smart.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 23 points and nine rebounds.Before Wednesday Johnson had never made more than two 3-pointers in a game and had never attempted more than four. He entered the night 0 for 1 on the season.Boston led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but took only a two-point lead into halftime.After a slow start, Jae Crowder scored eight straight points during a 21-4 Boston run. The Bulls stayed in it via a few mini spurts, including an 8-0 run by Butler.But Crowder will join Horford on the injured list after he left in the second quarter with a left ankle sprain. Coach Brad Stevens said he doesn’t expect Crowder back ”any time soon.” Michael Carter-Williams (left knee bruise, left wrist sprain) and Doug McDermott both sat out. Coach Fred Hoiberg said McDermott felt good, but that he hadn’t gone 24 hours without experiencing symptoms yet.

”We fought our way back in the second quarter to get back in it. (Johnson) had a hell of a third quarter. I like the fight in this team. We gave ourselves a chance to win.” – Dwyane Wade on the Bulls’ second-half effort.

The Bulls outrebounded the Celtics 49-39 but they had 19 turnovers that led to 18 Boston points.The Celtics’ 36 points in the first quarter were the most in a period for Boston this season. Its previous high was 33.Hoiberg said he thinks former Bulls guard Derrick Rose to get a good reception when he returns to the United Center later this week. ”I think he should be received well,” Hoiberg said. ”Derrick did a lot of good things for the city and for the franchise. I think he’ll be received very well.”

The Bulls host the Knicks on Friday night in Rose’s and Joakim Noah’s first game back in Chicago since leaving for New York this offseason.

Patrick Kane was terrific, and Corey Crawford had another solid performance for the Blackhawks.Oh, and the Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in Game 6 of the World Series.

”Sure is a good day for the city of Chicago,” Blackhawks forward Tyler Motte said.

Kane had a goal and two assists, and the Blackhawks beat the Calgary Flames 5-1 on Tuesday night for their third straight win. Then there was another loud cheer in the nearly empty United Center as fans in the private boxes and bars celebrated the final out of the Cubs’ 9-3 victory in Cleveland.The Blackhawks know a little something about success, winning the Stanley Cup three times since 2010, and they seem to be enjoying the Cubs’ run. Moments after the Blackhawks’ victory, coach Joel Quenneville was already looking forward to Game 7 of the World Series on Wednesday night.

”It’s going to be a fun day for Chicago tomorrow,” he said. ”Biggest game maybe in the whole history of Chicago sports.”

Kane scored his third of the season on a dazzling play in the first, and then set up Artem Anisimov’s tiebreaking power-play goal at 7:44 of the third. Anisimov extended his career-best point streak to eight games with his team-best seventh goal of the season.With Sam Bennett in the penalty box for tripping, Kane made a perfect pass to Anisimov in front for the redirect. Motte added his third of the season on an impressive rush, making it 3-1 at 12:44, and Kane assisted on Artemi Panarin’s sliding empty-netter with 3:01 left.

”For us, it’s probably as ugly a 5-1 win is gonna get for our team,” Kane said. ”Still can be better.”

Crawford finished with 33 saves after posting his first shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.

”I’m feeling better and better every game, feeling quicker out there,” Crawford said.

Michael Frolik scored a short-handed goal for Calgary, which beat Chicago 3-2 on Kris Versteeg’s goal in the seventh round of a shootout on Oct. 24. Brian Elliott finished with 17 stops in the opener of a four-game road trip.

”I think those first two were two of the best periods we played this year,” Frolik said. ”It’s just that second goal kind of, they get the momentum and we opened the game and they finished us.”

The crowd of 21,166 seemed to go back and forth from the action in Cleveland to the Blackhawks’ fourth win in five games. About 20 minutes before the puck dropped, there was a roar in the concourse when Kris Bryant homered to give the Cubs an early lead.There were more cheers and high-fives with about 4:15 left in the first, celebrating Addison Russell’s grand slam.Then Kane gave the crowd something to cheer about on the ice. The reigning NHL MVP skated around Calgary defenseman TJ Brodie, and then away from Deryk Engelland and Mikael Backlund before beating Elliott low on the glove side for a 1-0 lead at 18:58.

”It was a big turn of events after one, and we got better as the game progressed,” Quenneville said.

The Hawks had a chance to add to their advantage when Calgary was whistled for too many men on the ice in the second, but Backlund made a great pass to Frolik for a tying tap-in goal at 7:06.It was still tied before the Blackhawks scored four times in the third, helped by another solid performance by Anisimov. The Russian center, off to a fast start, also got an assist on Niklas Hjalmarsson’s second of the season at 18:16.

NOTES—Blackhawks D Gustav Forsling returned to the lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury. D Michal Kempny was among the scratches after playing in each of the previous two games. … The Hawks killed each of Calgary’s four power-play opportunities. It has killed nine in a row overall after an awful start to the season. … The Flames scratched C Freddie Hamilton and Ds Nicklas Grossman and Brett Kulak….The Blackhawks host Colorado on Thursday night.

DEKALB—Joel Bouagnon set a career-high with five rushing touchdowns and Northern Illinois beat Bowling Green 45-20 on Tuesday night in a rematch of the last three Mid-American Conference championship games.Northern Illinois (3-6, 3-2) took a 7-0 lead on its first possession after Bouagnon scored on a 14-yard run. He added a short scoring run on the Huskies’ second drive and Christian Hagan kicked a 41-yard field goal early in the second quarter for a 17-7 lead.Northern Illinois safety Jackson Abresch intercepted a pass on a Bowling Green fake punt and Bouagnon capped a 24-yard drive with a 2-yard TD to make it 31-13. Bouagnon also had a 15-yard touchdown late in the third and a 6-yarder with 1:40 left.Bouagnon carried it 26 times for 134 yards and Anthony Maddie added 93 yards and one touchdown for NIU, which gained 286 yards on the ground.James Morgan threw for 224 yards and three touchdowns, including Teo Redding’s one-handed catch in the end zone, for Bowling Green (1-8, 0-5). The Huskies host Toledo at newly named Guarenteed Rate Field(formerly U.S.Cellular Field)nwxt Wednesday night.

Jay Cutler’s halftime speech – yup, that Jay Cutler – helped the Bears turn a strong start into one surprising victory.Cutler threw for 252 yards and a touchdown after missing five games with a thumb injury, rookie Jordan Howard ran for a career-high 153 yards and a TD, and the Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings 20-10 on Monday night.The Bears (2-6) sacked Sam Bradford five times while handing NFC North-leading Minnesota (5-2) its second straight loss.Cutler was on target in his return from a sprained right thumb, and Howard easily surpassed his previous high of 118 yards. Alshon Jeffery got his first touchdown reception of the season while helping the Bears outgain Minnesota 403 yards to 258.

”I think it was more fun just to watch my teammates and see how hard they played and how well they played,” Cutler said. ”One win coming into this one, they had a lot of outside noise.”

Cutler has faced criticism for his body language and leadership skills throughout his time in Chicago, but Jeffery said the quarterback told his teammates to ”keep our pedal to the metal” at halftime.

”Everyone in there is from different backgrounds and different cultures, societies,” Cutler said. ”Whatever it takes to find the inspiration – because motivation usually wears off at some point during the game. Those guys played inspired football.”

Minnesota’s performance was far from inspired.

”We’re a good team,” guard Brandon Fusco said. ”It’s not us. It’s not Viking football. That’s what is frustrating, we’re such a good team. What we’re putting out on the field is not us. We have to watch the film and get better from this.”

Cutler had not played since he left the second game of the season against Philadelphia. But with his future up in the air after coach John Fox wavered in his commitment to him as the starter, he made a triumphant return.Cutler completed 20 of 31 passes, including an 11-yard touchdown to Jeffery early in the third that made it 20-3. Whether he quieted fans who thought the Bears were better off with Brian Hoyer is another issue. But that became a moot point when Hoyer broke his left arm last week in a Thursday night loss at Green Bay.Howard had a 69-yard run, the longest for the Bears in seven years. Zach Miller added 88 yards receiving as the Bears stopped a three-game losing streak.Bradford, playing behind a porous line, had another rough game after getting sacked six times the previous week against Philadelphia. He was 23 of 37 for 228 yards.Matt Asiata ran for 42 yards with Jerick McKinnon sidelined by an ankle injury.With a sparse and quiet crowd looking on, the Bears led 13-3 at halftime. It was almost a bigger advantage, but Chicago settled for field goals on its first two trips inside the 20.Howard, a fifth-round draft pick, broke off a 69-yard run to the 13 on Chicago’s first possession. It was the longest rushing play for the Bears since Kahlil Bell’s 72-yarder against Philadelphia on Nov. 22, 2009. But instead of a touchdown, the Bears got a field goal from Connor Barth.Fox denied a report of discord between the coaching staff and front office and that the organization has brought in an outside consultant to examine the football operation.

”There’s no truth to that. This is as unified of an organization and football te

BROOKLYN—Jimmy Butler scored 22 points, Dwyane Wade had 12 in the first road game of his career not played for Miami, and the Bulls improved to 3-0 b routing the Brooklyn Nets 118-88 on Monday night.The Bulls had seven players in double figures, with Wade becoming the last of them when he left Bojan Bogdanovic behind with a crossover and was fouled on a drive to the basket in the fourth quarter.Nikola Mirotic had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Taj Gibson added 14 points and 11 boards for the Bulls.After home victories against Eastern Conference playoff teams Boston and Indiana to open the season, the Bulls easily handled their road opener, leading by as many as 33 points.