Wolverines beat rival, end road jinx
Michigan had plenty of reasons to be motivated to beat Michigan State, barely defeating its in-state rival over the last decade and losing to every top-25 opponent on the road for a dozen years.
The Wolverines, though, were even more fired up to win after a pregame spat with the Spartans.
Shea Patterson threw two touchdown passes as No. 6 Michigan earned a desperately needed 21-7 win over No. 24 Michigan State on Saturday in East Lansing, snapping a streak of 17 consecutive losses to ranked teams on the road.
The Wolverines (7-1, 5-0 Big Ten) had lost eight of 10 against coach Mark Dantonio’s Spartans, and those setbacks have led to them not winning a Big Ten title since 2004.
The matchup is always highly charged, but it was kicked up a notch well before kickoff, and emotions didn’t subside even after a 75-minute weather delay during the first quarter.
Michigan State’s players walked from one end zone to the other with their arms locked, and a few Wolverines were stretching out in the middle of the field when contact was made and words were exchanged .
“Total bush league,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Apparently Coach Dantonio was 5 yards behind, smiling.”
Dantonio disagreed with Harbaugh’s assessment.
“That’s B.S.,” Dantonio said. Michigan linebacker Devin Bush, one of the players involved in what Harbaugh called “shenanigans,” later dragged and kicked his cleats to rip up some of the grass under the Spartans’ white logo at midfield.
“I just got caught up in the moment with my emotions,” Bush said.
Tua Tagovailoa threw touchdown passes to four receivers and No. 1 Alabama started fast again in a 58-21 victory over Tennessee on Saturday. Alabama had touchdowns on its first four possessions while outscoring Tennessee 28-0 and outgaining the Volunteers 217-6 in the opening period. Kyler Murray threw four touchdown passes, Kennedy Brooks and Trey Sermon had 100-yard rushing games with scores, and Oklahoma rebounded from its loss to Texas to beat TCU for the third time in 11 months.
The Sooners (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) won their 18th consecutive true road game. Brooks ran for 168 yards on 18 carries with an early 21-yard TD.
Jake Browning threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Fuller on fourth down with less than four minutes left, and No. 15 Washington held off Colorado 27-13 on Saturday. Colorado was shut out and held to 86 total yards
of offense in the second half.
Trace McSorley passed for 220 yards, ran for 107 and had a hand in three touchdowns in No. 18 Penn State’s 33-28 victory over Indiana on Saturday.
Penn State (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten) rallied to snap a two-game losing streak after Indiana (4-4, 1-4) took a 21-20 lead in the third quarter on Steve Scott’s 3-yard touchdown run. Johnathan Thomas took the ensuing kickoff to the Indiana 5, setting up the go-ahead touchdown on the next play.
Nate Stanley threw for 86 yards and a touchdown, and Anthony Nelson added a TD on a fumble recovery for the host Hawkeyes (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten). They held the Terrapins (4-3, 2-2) to 115 yards and seven first downs on a day when wind gusts topped 40 mph.
Anthony Russo threw a tying 20-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Mack with 49 seconds left, and then a 25-yarder to Isaiah Wright in overtime for Temple.
Russo was 20 for 41 for 237 yards and three touchdowns for the Owls (5-3, 4-0 American).
Cincinnati (6-1, 2-1) got a first down on its first play of overtime, but an errant snap behind quarterback Desmond Ridder left the Bearcats with second-and-21 and a personal foul pushed them even farther back. Ridder’s pass was intercepted by Shaun Bradley on third-and-36 to end the game.
Wisconsin bounced back from a devastating loss to maintain its hopes of a West Division title and a return to the Big Ten title game.
Jonathan Taylor rushed for 159 yards and Taiwan Deal ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns as the Badgers took advantage of five first-half turnovers to rout Illinois 49-20 on Saturday. Wisconsin (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) was coming off a 38-13 loss at Michigan that buried its national championship hopes. The Badgers next face a division matchup at Northwestern.