EAST LANSING, Mich. — Urban Meyer’s first Big Ten game as Ohio State coach turned out to be a classic welcome to the conference.
His quarterback got shaken up twice, but Braxton Miller kept coming back on the field, and in the end the Buckeyes played just well enough defensively to come away with a bruising 17-16 victory.
“This was a war. This was two sledgehammers going at each other,” Meyer said. “I know the Big Ten has taken some heat. That was a great game. Great atmosphere, a bunch of great players on the field that are going to be playing at the next level, and that was good for college football and good for the Big Ten.”
Miller threw for 179 yards and ran for 136. He put Ohio State ahead 17-13 with a 63-yard touchdown pass to Devin Smith in the third quarter, and the Buckeyes’ maligned defense held Le’Veon Bell and the Michigan State running game in check.
Meyer becomes the third coach to start 5-0 in his first season at Ohio State. Carol Widdoes and Earle Bruce also did it in 1944 and 1979.
Michigan State (3-2, 0-1) has lost four home games in a row against Ohio State.
The Buckeyes (5-0, 1-0) aren’t eligible to win the Big Ten title because of sanctions, but they handed the Spartans an early loss.
Michigan State took a 13-10 advantage in the third on a terrific individual effort by Keith Mumphery. With the ball on the Ohio State 29 after a personal foul call on the Buckeyes, Mumphery took Andrew Maxwell’s short pass and eluded four tacklers before dragging a couple more Buckeyes into the end zone.
The lead didn’t last long. Miller managed to pick up a first down, just barely, with a run on third-and-1, then lofted a deep pass on the next play to Smith, who beat Johnny Adams along the right sideline to put Ohio State ahead to stay.
“We hook up all the time,” Miller said. “That’s one of my favorite receivers, so I’m always going to look for him.”
Miller turned the ball over three times in Michigan State territory, including a fumble early in the fourth - but the Buckeyes actually caught a break on that play. The ball bounced right to Kurtis Drummond of the Spartans, who began running down the right sideline before the play was blown dead and Miller was ruled down.
The call was reversed after a review, giving Michigan State the ball at its 32 - but the Buckeyes were saved from a big return that would almost surely have followed if the call had been correct to begin with.
In other games involving Big Ten teams, Matt McGloin threw for 211 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores to lead Penn State (3-2, 1-0) to a 35-7 victory over Illinois (2-3, 0-1) in Champaign, Ill. ... Caleb TerBush threw four touchdown passes and Purdue (3-1) ran two interceptions back for scores as they held off Marshall (2-3) 51-41 in West Lafayette, Ind. ... Mark Weisman ran for 177 yards, 155 in the first half, to lead Iowa (3-2, 1-0) to a 31-13 victory over Minnesota (4-1, 0-1) in Iowa City, Iowa.
MID-AMERICAN
FG lifts Kent State
KENT, Ohio - Kent State’s Freddy Cortez kicked the winning 25-yard field goal with six seconds left in the game to lift Kent State to 45-43 victory against Ball State.
Spencer Keith passed for 295 yards and three touchdowns for Kent State (3-1, 2-0), two of them to Dri Archer, who also returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.
Keith (Pulaski Academy) was 16 of 31 and threw one interception, and Trayion Durham ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns.
Keith Wenning to Willie Snead was most of the offense for Ball State (3-2, 1-1). Wenning was 32 of 43 for 445 yards and 5 touchdowns, and Snead caught 14 balls for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns.
In other games involving Mid-American Conference teams, Leighton Settle ran for 152 yards and three touchdowns, and Northern Illinois (4-1, 1-0) ran its home winning streak to 18 games with a 55-24 victory over Central Michigan (2-2, 0-1) in DeKalb, Ill. ... Zac Dysert threw 6 touchdown passes and had 624 total yards and the Miami (Ohio) (3-2, 2-0) defense grabbed the only turnover of the game in the final play to seal a 56-49 victory over host Akron (1-4, 0-1).... Anthon Samuel ran for a career-high three touchdowns and Matt Schilz threw for two more, as Bowling Green (2-3) throttled winless Rhode Island 48-8 in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Sports, Pages 35 on 09/30/2012