EVANSTON, Ill. — The Penn State Nittany Lions began the difficult finishing stretch of their season. They came nine seconds from a victory and couldn’t hold on without one of their stars.

Jack Mitchell’s 35-yard field goal with nine seconds left gave the Wildcats a 23-21 win Saturday over the Nittany Lions.

Saquon Barkley ran for 120 yards and had two scores, and the second with 12:22 left gave the Nittany Lions a 21-20 lead after trailing 20-7 at halftime. They had a chance to take more time off the clock but Barkley was stopped short on a third and one at his own 15 with 2:25 to go, giving Northwestern the ball back.

Christian Hackenberg and the Nittany Lions offense struggled, which led to the end of their two-game winning streak. Hackenberg was under pressure for much of the day and went 21 of 40 for 205 yards with an interception.

[naviga:h3]No. 8 Notre Dame 42, Pittsburgh 30[/naviga:h3]

PITTSBURGH — DeShone Kizer threw five touchdown passes and ran for another scored to help Notre Dame bolster its College Football Playoff resume with a victory over Pittsburgh.

Kizer completed 19 of 26 passes for 262 yards with no turnovers for the Irish (8-1) in their fourth straight. Will Fuller caught seven passes for 157 yards and three scores and Josh Adams ran for 147 yards and hauled in Kizer’s final touchdown pass.

Notre Dame never trailed and rolled up 435 total yards in its first game since being ranked fifth in the initial CFP poll. Nate Peterman passed for 223 yards and a touchdown for Pitt (6-3).