Notre Dame secured the #1 spot in the Big 10 East with a 34-15 defeat of Ohio State Saturday.

Several Big 10 teams were in action in games that didn't factor into the standings. Michigan impressed with a 55-25 defeat of Illinois in an East-vs-West game. Michigan State lost to McKendree 36-5, while Indiana is at UCLA.

For the Fighting Irish, this is the latest solid showing in what has been a good year for them.

While Ohio State is young, with 13 of the team's gameday 23 being freshmen or sophomores, Notre Dame is a bit more seasoned.

"The OSU rivalry is one of utmost mutual respect and they deserve a ton of credit for a hard-fought match," said Notre Dame Head Coach Justin Hickey. "Our focus has been incremental improvement week to week. Last week vs Michigan State was a huge step forward from Purdue the week prior, and while this week wasn't flawless, it was another step in the right direction."

For Ohio State, this was also an improvement, said DOR Tom Rooney. "Believe it or not we are getting better."

The game was very tight for the first half or so, but in the second half the Fighting Irish pulled away.

Hickey said he was pleased with his team's kick chase and their set piece, and if you can execute both of those aspects of play, you're in good shape.

"Our better teams, as is the case with many, have had a good spine in line, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 15," said Hickey. "We have that this year with some real talent all over the field. It has allowed us to really play varying styles and some enterprising rugby in transition play."