Big Ten Roundup (Nov. 26): Michigan, Purdue Win, Earn Division Titles
Michigan erased two decades of misery at Ohio State on Saturday, winning the battle of unbeatens 45-23 thanks to a stunningly impressive second half.
The third-ranked Wolverines (12-0) beat Ohio State for the second straight season, but won at Ohio Stadium for the first time in 22 years. They did it with five touchdowns of 45 yards or longer and four of 69 yards or longer to stun the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes, who lost for the first time all year.
With the win, Michigan advances to the Big Ten Championship Game next Saturday, where they will take on Purdue at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Purdue beat Indiana 30-16 to clinch their first Big Ten West title.
Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy threw three long touchdown passes and also had a scoring run early in the fourth quarter. Running back Donovan Edwards broke off two long touchdown runs and rushed for 316 yards subbing for injured star running back Blake Corum.
McCarthy, the first first-year quarterback at Michigan to win 12 straight games in a season, was 12-of-24 passing for 263 yards with three touchdown passes.
Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, who was probably the Heisman Trophy leader coming into the game, was 31-of-48 passing for 349 yards and two touchdowns, but he also had two interceptions and the Buckeyes only scored three points in the second half.
Purdue 30, Indiana 16
Purdue beat Indiana 30-16 on Saturday in Bloomington, and got a ton of prizes for their efforts. Aside from winning the Old Oaken Bucket, they also clinched their first Big Ten West title and a first appearance in the Big Ten Championship Game Saturday in Indianapolis.
Purdue roared back in the second half after trailing 7-3 at halftime. Purdue quarterback Aiden O'Connell was 18-for-29 passing for 290 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman running back Devin Mockobee had 99 rushing yards on 15 carries. To read the complete game story, CLICK HERE
Indiana lost quarterback Dexter Williams to a knee injury in the first half. Connor Bazelak, who was benched three weeks ago for ineffectiveness, played the rest of the game, but didn't score a touchdown until the final play of the game when the outcome was no longer in doubt.
Purdue rallied in the second half to knock off Indiana 30-16 on Saturday in Bloomington.
© Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
Minnesota 23, Wisconsin 16
Minnesota rallied with 10 fourth-quarter points to knock off rival Wisconsin 23-16 on Saturday in Madison, Wis. The Gophers broke a 16-all tie when Le'Meke Brockington caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Athan Kaliakmanis with 3:40 to go. Kaliakmanis threw for 319 yards on the day.
It was the eighth win of the season for the Gophers and the second straight against their arch-rivals, putting together a winning streak for the first time since 1994 and retaining Pau Bunyon's Axe. Wisconsin had won 14 straight in the rivalry from 2004-17 before Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck was hired.
The Badgers and interim coach Jim Leonhard finished 6-6. They had a chance to tie in the closing seconds, but messed up a first-and-goal situation. A pass interference penalty in the end zone gave Wisconsin first-and-goal from the 5 with 26 seconds left. But a holding penalty and a false start pushed Wisconsin back to the 20. After Wolf threw an incompletion, two more false starts created second-and-goal from the 30. The game ended with Wolf throwing an incompletion on fourth-and-goal from the 25, a fitting ending to a disappointing season that included the mid-season firing of coach Paul Chryst.
Penn State 35, Michigan State 16
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford threw four touchdown passes and helped the Nittany Lions get to 10 wins in a 35-16 victory over Michigan State on Saturday in State College, Pa.
Clifford, a sixth-year player in his last home game at Beaver Stadium and was 19-for-24 for 202 yards as the Nittany Lions led from start to finish, and he sealed the deal with two fourth-quarter touchdown passes once Michigan State had gotten to within five points early in the final period.
"For me, it's the culmination of everything this year has been," Clifford said. "It's been little moments here and there that nobody even sees that I won't even tell anybody because It's special to me, it's special to the guys that I've shared it with and it's part of the journey."
Penn State finished the season with a 10-2 record and a likely top-10 finish, with the only losses to Michigan and Ohio State. Michigan State is 5-7, losing its final two games to Indiana and Penn State to miss out on becoming bowl eligible.
Maryland 37, Rutgers 0
Maryland's defense held Rutgers to just 145 yards of total offense and allowed just seven first downs all day in a 37-0 rout on Saturday in College Park, Md. The Terrapins finished the season at 7-5 and earned their first Big Ten shutout since joining the league in 2014.
Rutgers finished 4-8, and just 1-8 in the Big Ten, losing five straight games after a win against Indiana.
Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa finished 25-of-37 passing for 342 yards. Dontay Demus became the seventh player in Terrapins history to reach 2,000 yards receiving in his career. The announced attendance was 21,974, the lowest for Maryland since 1998.
Illinois 41, Northwestern 3
Illinois forced five turnovers and wrapped up its eighth win of the season with a convincing 41-3 win over in-state rival Northwestern on Saturday in Evanston, Ill. Northwestern finished 1-11, losing its last 11 games after opening the season with a win over Nebraska in Ireland.
"This year we were a game shy of making it to Indy, and a lot of positive steps for our program," said Bielema, who led Illinois to an 8-4 record, and a winning record (5-4) in the Big Ten for the first time since 2007. "I couldn't be more excited about this team and where we're at, but more importantly where we're going.
"We lost four (conference) games that were one-score games. That will motivate and galvanize, whatever, you want to say to myself and the coaching staff during the offseason as much as anything — those four that got away from us."
Friday: Nebraska 24, Iowa 17
Iowa blew its chance to win the Big Ten West outright, losing at home to Nebraska 24-17 on Friday. The Hawkeyes (7-5, 5-4 in Big Ten) fell behind 24-0 and their late rally came up short.
Nebraska finished the season with a 4-8 record, and 3-6 in the Big Ten, snapping a five-game losing streak with the win. The season including the firing of coach Scott Frost, some good moments under interim coach Mickey Joseph and the announcement that Matt Rhule, who had great success at Temple and Baylor, was signing an eight-year deal to take over the Cornhuskers program.
Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson completed 20 of 30 passes for 278 yards. Trey Palmer had nine catches for 165 yards.
"I didn't feel like they could guard any of our receivers," Thompson said. "I definitely didn't think they could run with Trey. And obviously that showed."
Saturday's basketball results
- TCU 79, No. 25 IOWA 66: No. 25 Iowa lost its first game of the season on Friday, falling to TCU 79-66 in the championship game of the Emerald Classic in Niceville, Fla. The Hawkeyes are now 5-1 on the season. TCU held Iowa's Patrick McCaffery scoreless a day after he led the Hawkeyes with 21 points in their semifinal win over Clemson. Tony Perkins and Ahron Ulis led Iowa with 15 points each and star Kris Murray was held to just 11 points. He was averaging 21.0 points per game entering the game.
- RUTGERS 83, CENTRAL CONNECTICUT 49: Cam Spencer scored 18 points and four starters were in double figures in Rutgers' 83-49 win over Central Connecticut in Piscataway, N.J. Rutgers (5-1) plays at Miami on Wednesday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and then opens the Big Ten season at home on Saturday against No. 11 Indiana.
Sunday's basketball schedule
- NO. 24 PURDUE vs. NO. 8 DUKE, 3:30 p.m. ET: Fresh off wins over West Virginia and No. 6 Gonzaga, No. 24 Purdue looks to win the Phil Knight Legacy tournament on Sunday in Portland, Ore. with a championship game matchup against No. 8. Purdue is 5-0, Duke is 6-1. The game is on ABC, and Duke is a 1.5-point favorite, according to SISportsbook.com
- NO. 12 MICHIGAN STATE vs. PORTLAND, 5:30 p.m. ET: Michigan State takes on a surprising Portland team in the fifth-place game of the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland. The Spartans lost their first-round game to Alabama on Thursday, but beat Oregon on Friday. Portland barely lost to No. 1 North Carolina but then beat Villanova. Michigan State is 4-2 on the season, Portland is 5-3. The game is on ESPN.
- NEBRASKA vs. FLORIDA STATE, 7:30 p.m. ET: Nebraska (3-3) plays Florida State (1-6) in the seventh-place game of the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Fla. The Cornhuskers have lost their first two games in the tournament by double-digits to Oklahoma and Memphis. Florida State has lost to Siena and Stanford, both by double-digits as well.
