STAT WATCH: Air Force on pace for 3rd rushing title in row

Ohio State is averaging 48.8 points per game and has scored at least 45 in five straight. The Buckeyes’ degree of difficulty increases with Iowa and Penn State up next.

Texas Tech moved from fourth to first in passing yards per game (365.2) after throwing for 379 in a loss to Oklahoma State.

Tennessee is in its third straight week as the total offense leader. The Volunteers had 502 yards against LSU, their second-lowest total of the season, but are still averaging 547.8 per game.

On the defensive side, Illinois’s 9-6 win over Iowa marked the third time in six games it’s held an opponent to six or fewer points. That lowered its average to a nation-best 8.0 per game.

Minnesota, idle Saturday, moved past James Madison to lead the nation in total defense at 222 yards per game. James Madison is first in rushing defense at 42 yards per game and Boise State is giving up a nation-low 134.3 passing yards per game.

Illinois’ Chase Brown remains the leader in rushing yards with 879 following his seventh straight 100-yard game, but UAB’s DeWayne McBride crossed the NCAA threshold of having played in 75% of his team’s games and has the top average of 160.3 yards per game. Brown is second at 146.5.

Mississippi State’s Will Rogers is first in passing yards at 351.7 per game. Old Dominion’s Ali Jennings III and SMU’s Rashee Rice are neck-and-neck for most receiving yards per game, with Jennings averaging 137.6 and Rice 137.4.

Israel Abanikanda of Pittsburgh became the first 300-yard rusher since 2020 when he went for a school-record 320 on 36 carries against Virginia Tech.

Abanikanda beat the previous Pitt record of 303 yards by Tony Dorsett in 1975 against Notre Dame. Abanikanda’s six touchdowns tied the school and Atlantic Coast Conference records.

His big outing came a week after he left the game against Georgia Tech in the second quarter because of a shoulder injury.

The previous Bowl Subdivision player to go over 300 was Ohio State’s Trey Sermon, who had 331 on 29 carries against Northwestern in 2020.

Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell became the first FBS player since 2006 to intercept four passes in a game, according to Sportradar. He ran back two of them for touchdowns in the Rockets’ 52-32 win at Northern Illinois.

Mitchell entered the game with no interceptions in 24 career games. All four occurred within NIU’s first seven possessions.

He had three in the first half, returning the first one 20 yards for a touchdown and the second one 25 for a score. His third interception was in the end zone as NIU threatened to score late in the half, and he picked off…