Ranked Big Ten schools march on

No one doubted Minnesota's offense.\nAgainst Northwestern, the Gophers finally showed they can play some defense, too.\nLaurence Maroney had a 50-yard touchdown run and finished with 145 yards rushing, and freshman Justin Valentine had three short touchdowns to lead No. 19 Minnesota over visiting Northwestern 43-17 Saturday night.\nIn other Big Ten play Saturday: Wisconsin defeated visiting Penn State 16-3; Purdue had a 38-30 win at Illinois; Michigan rebuffed invading Iowa 30-17.\nAs usual, Minnesota's high-powered offense was clicking. But coach Glen Mason was quick to praise his defenders for holding Northwestern and quarterback Brett Basanez to one offensive touchdown.\nMinnesota's defense allowed an average of 436.7 yards per game in its first three wins and was ranked next-to-last in the Big Ten. Northwestern finished with 267 total yards.\nBryan Cupito, who completed passes to eight different receivers, threw for 155 yards and two touchdowns for Minnesota (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) a week after leaving in the third quarter against Colorado State with an injury.\nThe Wildcats (1-3, 0-1) opened the scoring with Brian Huffman's 29-yard field goal. But the lead didn't last long. On Minnesota's ensuing drive, Maroney took a handoff up the middle, spun away from safety Bryan Heinz and ran up the left side for a 50-yard score.\nAt Madison, Matt Bernstein bailed the Badgers out of trouble.\nThe 264-pound fullback bullied his way to a career-best 123 yards after replacing an ineffective and injured Booker Stanley to help No. 20 Wisconsin hold off Penn State.\nBernstein hadn't eaten for 24 hours because of Yom Kippur, so he wolfed down oranges and turkey on the sideline after kickoff, along with several chugs of water.\n"It's been a tough day," he said. "I was happy (kickoff) was at 5 o'clock so I could play."\nThe Badgers (1-0 Big Ten) held their opponents out of the end zone for the third time in four games and ended the month 4-0 despite the absence of star tailback Anthony Davis (eye) for the last 3 1/2 games.\nThe loss was costly for the Nittany Lions (2-2, 0-1), who lost their top two offensive weapons in the first quarter when quarterback Zack Mills injured his right shoulder on Penn State's first series and his replacement, Michael Robinson, suffered a concussion and was taken off the field by ambulance.\nIn Purdue's win over Illinois, Kyle Orton passed for 366 yards and four touchdowns, and Taylor Stubblefield caught 11 passes for 115 yards.\nOrton completed 35 of 50 passes and was not intercepted for the third straight game. He had scoring passes of two, five and 34 yards to Stubblefield and 49 yards to Brandon Jones as the Boilermakers (3-0) rolled up 515 yards.\nOrton was particularly effective on third down, completing 12 passes for first down yardage, as the Boilermakers (3-0, 1-0) won their eighth straight Big Ten opener.\nJon Beutjer threw three touchdown passes for the Illini (2-2, 0-1), who put themselves in a hole early by fumbling a reverse on the game's first play. Receiver Ade Adeyamo bobbled the handoff from Beutjer and Bobby Iwuchukwu recovered at the five-yard line, leading to Orton's first touchdown toss to Stubblefield.\nAdeyamo broke his left leg on the fumble and did not return.\nMeanwhile, at Ann Arbor, Braylon Edwards caught six passes for 150 yards and a touchdown and No. 18 Michigan turned four turnovers into 27 points to beat Iowa.\nThe Wolverines (3-1, 1-0) won their 23rd consecutive Big Ten opener. They have won 12 straight at home since Iowa handed them their worst loss at Michigan Stadium since 1967.\nEd Hinkel's one-handed, diving touchdown catch on the opening drive gave the Hawkeyes (2-2, 0-1) their only lead. Hinkel's 10-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter pulled them to 30-17.\nChad Henne was 16-of-26 for 236 yards with a touchdown and, most importantly for Michigan, no turnovers.\nIowa first-year starter Drew Tate was 24-of-32 for 270 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and a botched handoff that led to a fumble.