COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Even though he's just a freshman and in his first autumn on a college campus, Braxton Miller played like a grizzled upperclassman.
Miller tossed two touchdown passes to Devin Smith, as Ohio State rebounded from a lopsided loss for a 37-17 victory over error-prone Colorado on Saturday, extending the Buffaloes' school-record road losing skid to 19.
"I slept pretty good," Miller said. "I really didn't have any jitters at all."
Declared the Buckeyes' starter Thursday after Joe Bauserman's lackluster play failed to energize the offense, Miller's numbers weren't sparkling. But his direction of the offense was.
"Braxton did a good job," said Jeannette's Jordan Hall, who rushed for 84 yards and a TD and also had a 90-yard kickoff return to set up another score for the Buckeyes. "He was calm. He's going to be special."
The Buckeyes made the switch after one of the worst passing days in school history in a 24-6 loss at Miami last week. Bauserman was 2 of 14 for 13 yards and Miller hit on only 2 of 4 for 22 yards with an interception.
Against Colorado, Miller was 5 of 13 for 83 yards, but he threw scoring strikes covering 32 and 17 yards to Smith and also ran for 83 yards on 17 carries.
"He gave us a lift," Ohio State interim coach Luke Fickell said. "He gave us some things we needed."
Toney Clemons (Valley) caught an 11-yard TD pass for Colorado.
-- No. 6 Wisconsin 59, South Dakota 10 -- In Madison, Wis., Nick Toon had a career-high 155 receiving yards and two touchdowns in Wisconsin's final tune-up for Nebraska at Camp Randall next week.
-- No. 22 Michigan 28, San Diego State 7 -- In Ann Arbor, Mich., Denard Robinson ran for a season-high 200 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Wolverines past coach Brady Hoke's former team. Robinson ran 21 times and reached 200 rushing yards for the third time in his career.
-- No. 24 Illinois 23, Western Michigan 20 -- In Champaign, Ill., Troy Pollard ran for a career-high 133 yards, and Derek Dimke kicked three field goals as Illinois survived.
The score was tied at 20 with less than nine minutes to play. Pollard's 49-yard burst midway through the fourth set up a 21-yard Dimke field goal that gave the Illini a three-point lead they wouldn't give up.
-- Iowa 45, Louisiana-Monroe 17 -- In Iowa City, James Vandenberg threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns for Iowa. Marcus Coker added 113 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns.
-- Michigan State 45, Central Michigan 7 -- In East Lansing, Mich., Le'Veon Bell ran for 81 yards and three touchdowns -- all in the first half -- to lead Michigan State.
