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Big 10 Football Roundup
From Yahoo Sports...
Michigan State hands OSU first Conference Loss
Ohio State football’s defeat to Michigan State on Saturday was more
than a setback in the Big Ten standings. It was nearly a loss of
historic proportions.
A 33-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Kirk Cousins to senior
receiver B.J. Cunningham midway through the first quarter put the
Spartans up early, 7-0. A field goal in the fourth quarter by Dan
Conroy proved to be enough for the Spartans.
With 10 seconds to go in the game red shirt senior quarterback Joe
Bauserman found Evan Spencer for a 33-yard touchdown pass to cut the
lead to 10-7.
But it was too little, too late for the Buckeyes.
OSU was only able to accumulate 178 yards of offense. MSU had 324 yards
of total offense and all the scoring it would need to win, 10-7.
The Buckeyes were a mere 10 seconds from being shutout for the first
time since a 1993 blanking at the hands of Michigan. It would have been
the first shutout at the ‘Shoe since October 1982, against Wisconsin.
With freshman quarterback Braxton Miller making his second career
start, the Buckeyes started the game slowly, accumulating only 42 yards
of total offense in the first quarter.
In the mean time, Cousins found Cunningham in the back of OSU’s end
zone to open the scoring. Cousins rolled out to the right of his pocket
and found the streaking Cunningham, who made the catch despite double
coverage from OSU.
In the second quarter, Miller completed a 33-yard pass on third-and-13
to push OSU into Spartans’ territory for the first time. The drive
ended with 7:39 remaining in the first half after Miller’s next pass
was thrown into double coverage and intercepted by MSU sophomore corner
Darqueze Dennard.
By the end of the first half, the Buckeyes’ offense had been out-gained
by the Spartans, 170-87. OSU’s defense stopped MSU scoring threats
twice in the second quarter, however.
A fumble recovery by sophomore defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins with under one minute remaining preserved the 7-0 deficit.
The Buckeyes attempted to salvage a score from the remaining 50 seconds
of the half, but Miller took a sack and the clock then ran out.
Michigan State jumped and celebrated as it headed for its locker room
with the lead still intact — the Buckeyes exited the field to a chorus
of boos.
After the intermission, OSU’s defense held the Spartans again. MSU
drove 52 yards from its own 14-yard line to set up a long field goal
attempt. Conroy pushed his 51-yard try wide right of the uprights and
OSU’s deficit remained at 7-0.
OSU’s offense continued to sputter — Miller led the team to only 16
total yards of offense in the third quarter asredshirt senior
quarterback Joe Bauserman began to throw a ball behind the Buckeyes’
bench.
MSU moved into scoring position again late in the quarter when Cousins
completed a 52-yard pass to Cunningham. The Spartans eventually moved
to the Buckeyes’ 5-yard line, but Cousins’ pass on third-and-goal was
intercepted in the end zone by sophomore safety C.J. Barnett.
Then Bauserman went under center for the Buckeyes, though he didn’t
fare much better, going 0 of 1 passing on his first drive before being
sacked on third down.
The Buckeyes’ never found their footing with either Bauserman or Miller
leading the offense. Conroy’s 50-yard field goal by Conroy with 10:35
remaining proved to be the game-winning score .
OSU (3-2) will continue conference play next Saturday when it makes its first-ever trip to Nebraska.
Scores from the big 10:
Illinois 38, Northwestern 35
Penn State 16, Indiana 10
Michigan 58, Minnesota 0
Norte Dame 38, Purdue 10
Wisconsin 48, Nebraska 17
Leaders Division - Conference Overall
Wisconsin (7) 1-0 5-0
Illinois (24) 1-0 5-0
Penn State 1-0 4-1
Purdue 0-0 2-2
Ohio State 0-1 3-2
Indiana 0-1 1-4
Legends Division - Conference Overall
Michigan (19) 1-0 5-0
Michigan State 1-0 4-1
Iowa 0-0 3-1
Nebraska (8) 0-1 4-1
Northwestern 0-1 2-2
Minnesota 0-1 1-4
Complete Sports coverage available at yahoo.com
http://sports.yahoo.com/
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