COLUMBUS, Ohio — Derek Ross intercepted two passes and Ohio State forced turnovers on five consecutive second-half possessions as the Buckeyes came back to beat San Diego State 27-12 on Saturday.
Lydell Ross, no relation to Derek, scored two touchdowns for Ohio State (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten).
The game was rescheduled from Sept. 15 in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
Ohio State's offense continued to struggle — and quarterback Steve Bellisari was loudly booed by many in a crowd of 102,432 every time the Buckeyes faltered.
The defense, however, more than compensated.
The Aztecs (2-5, 1-2 Mountain West) led 12-6 midway through the third period when the defense abruptly put the clamps on quarterback Lon Sheriff.
On second and 2 near midfield, Sheriff's pass in the right flat was picked off by Ohio State linebacker Joe Cooper. Four plays later, however, Bellisari threw deep and was intercepted by Garret Pavelko — prompting the loudest boos of the day.
Sheriff fumbled the very next snap, and Ohio State's Fred Pagac Jr. recovered at the Aztecs 18. Staying entirely on the ground, the Buckeyes moved to a third-and-goal at the 4. Bellisari dropped, looked right, didn't find an open receiver and scrambled around left end, diving into the end zone. Mike Nugent added the go-ahead extra point.
Bellisari finished 15-of-28 for 198 yards with the one interception.
San Diego State ran three plays before Sheriff's pass was intercepted by Ross — with no receiver nearby. Ross returned it 30 yards to the Aztec 5, where it took the Buckeyes just Wells' three runs, including the 1-yard scoring plunge, to make it 20-12.
Robert Reynolds and Ross then picked off Sheriff's next two passes. Lydell Ross went 52 yards after the latter, bursting up the middle and breaking free from the grasp of the Aztecs' Seth Santoro to make it 27-12.
Sheriff, who matched his season total with four interceptions, ended up 11-of-25 passing for 152 yards.
COLORADO ST. 26, UNLV 24: At Las Vegas, Henri Childs ran for 84 yards and passed for 83, including a touchdown strike to quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt, as Colorado State beat UNLV 26-24 on Saturday.
Childs had 21 carries and completed both of his pass attempts, the first a 56-yarder to Van Pelt that put Colorado State up 16-7 with 3:25 left in the first half.
Childs took the handoff on a sweep before tossing a short pass to the wide-open quarterback, who rushed up the left side and was tackled just inside the end zone.
Van Pelt completed 7 of 19 passes with one interception for Colorado State (2-1, 3-4).
Joe Haro led UNLV (1-2, 2-5) with 146 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries. It was his fourth 100-yard game of the season.
The Rams took advantage of five UNLV fumbles, recovering four. UNLV punter Gary Cook fumbled 2:12 into the game and Ameer Lowe picked it up and ran 4 yards for a TD.
Another fumble early in the third led to Kent Naughton's 31-yard field goal that put the Rams up to stay at 19-17.
The Rebels other two fumbles were in Colorado State territory.
UNLV's first touchdown came on the first play of the second quarter. Jason Thomas hit Michael Johnson at the Colorado State 10 and after Johnson fumbled, teammate Troy Mason picked up the ball and ran into the end zone.
Dillon Pieffer hit a 25-yard field goal to pull the Rebels to within 16-10 at the half.
The Rebels took a 17-16 lead early in the third quarter on Haro's 13-yard touchdown run.
But after Naughton's 31-yard field goal, Chris Pittman took a reverse 7 yards for a touchdown to put the Rams up 26-17 with 11:29 to play. Childs set up the touchdown with a halfback pass to Joel Dreessen.
Haro's 5-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter brought UNLV to 26-24.