IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa emphatically knocked Michigan State off the pile of unbeaten teams.
Ricky Stanzi threw three touchdown passes and the 18th-ranked Hawkeyes handed the fifth-ranked Spartans their first loss, stomping the Spartans 37-6 on Saturday.
Adam Robinson added two touchdowns for the chargedup Hawkeyes, who rolled out to a 30-0 halftime lead and dealt a crushing blow to the Spartans’ national title hopes.
Iowa (6-2, 3-1) jumped ahead 17-0 when Micah Hyde went 66 yards after taking a pitch from safety Tyler Sash, who had picked off a pass.
Stanzi then found Robinson for a 32-yard touchdown pass, and Robinson’s 2-yard touchdown run put the Hawkeyes ahead by 30 with 1:01 left in the first half.
Kirk Cousins threw three interceptions for the Spartans (8-1, 4-1), who were trying to move to 9-0 for the first time since winning a share of the national title in 1966.
Michigan State can likely forget about that this year, but the Big Ten title is still up for grabs and Iowa is in the middle of the race, too.
It was the second time in three years the Hawkeyes ended a rival’s unbeaten season at Kinnick Stadium. Iowa stunned then-No. 3 Penn State 24-23 in 2008 to keep the Nittany Lions out of the national title picture.
The victory over Penn State was an upset that went down to the final seconds, though. This one was a blowout from the beginning.
Iowa opened with an 80-yard drive capped by a 3-yard touchdown pass from Stanzi to Colin Sandeman. Mike Meyer added a 37-yard field goal that put the Hawkeyes ahead 10-0 before the Spartans had a first down.
Sash and Hyde then teamed up for the play of the season for Iowa.
Sash jumped a route and picked off Cousins’ pass at the Iowa 28. Sash immediately chucked the ball back to Hyde, who cut across the length of the field and stretched for the pylon at the end to put Michigan State behind 17-0 for the second week in a row.
The Spartans kept their unbeaten season alive by rallying to beat Northwestern 35-27.
Stanzi’s third touchdown pass of the day, a 22-yarder to Marvin McNutt midway through the third quarter, made it 37-0. Cousins finally got the Spartans some points with a 6-yard touchdown pass to B.J. Cunningham to start the fourth quarter.
Stanzi finished with 190 yards passing as Iowa shook off a heartbreaking 31-30 loss to Wisconsin with by far its best performance of the season.
In other games involving Big Ten teams, Nathan Scheelhaase won a matchup of freshman quarterbacks, rushing for 118 yards and throwing for 195 and four touchdowns to lead Illinois (5-3, 3-2) past Purdue (4-4, 2-2) 44-10 in Champaign, Ill. ... Dan Persa threw two touchdown passes before leaving with an apparent concussion, giving Northwestern (6-2, 2-2) a 20-17 victory at Indiana (4-4, 0-4).
MID-AMERICAN
Keith lifts Kent State
KENT, Ohio - Spencer Keith (Pulaski Academy) threw for one touchdown and 252 yards to lead Kent State over Ball State 33-14 on Saturday.
Freddy Cortez kicked two field goals for the Golden Flashes (4-4, 3-2), including a 43-yarder to bring them within 7-6 with 1:11 left in the first quarter.
Kent State then scored two unanswered touchdowns in its second consecutive victory.
Dri Archer’s 16-yard run put the Golden Flashes ahead 13-7 and Dorian Wood returned an interception 61 yards for a 13-point Kent State lead with 10:33 left in the third quarter.
Wood had 10 tackles, including one for a loss, to lead the Golden Flashes defense as it held Ball State (2-7, 1-4) to 272 yards of total offense, including 72 on the ground. Kent State finished with 452 yards of offense.
In other games involving Mid-American teams, a 1-yard touchdown run by Jordan Hopgood with 21 seconds remaining lifted Bowling Green (2-7, 1-4)to a 17-14 victory against Central Michigan (2-7, 1-5) in Mount Pleasant, Mich. ... Redshirt freshman Alex Jackson caught his first career touchdown pass to help Temple beat Akron 30-0 in Philadelphia. Temple (7-2, 4-1) won its 10th consecutive home game to tie a school record and posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1971. The Zips fell to 0-9 under firstyear coach Rob Ianello, 0-4 in the MAC. ... Chandler Harnish threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third score to lead Northern Illinois (7-2, 5-0) past Western Michigan 28-21 in Kalamazoo, Mich. Alex Carder was 31 of 53 for 360 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Broncos (3-5, 2-2).
Sports, Pages 38 on 10/31/2010