The unranked Michigan State Spartans took on the number six Michigan Wolverines in East Lansing this weekend, finishing in a nail-biting victory in the final seconds with a touchdown pass from quarterback Jeff Smoker to T.J. Ducket for the 26-24 upset.
This rivalry, one of the best in college football history, pits instate and conference rivals against one another. Typically, the Wolverines step onto the field as the favorites, but MSU plays a close game every year no matter how much higher Michigan is ranked. This year was no different.
MSU played close with the Wolverines as the two sides traded leads six times throughout the game. The hosts had a chance to run the game clock down, when they had the ball with five minutes to play on their own 30 and a 20-17 lead but Smoker fumbled the snap. With the team's first turnover of the game, Michigan took over on the Spartan 38.
Michigan promptly took advantage of the only Spartan error of the game to score a go-ahead touchdown. Two series later, however, Michigan was forced to punt from deep in their territory.
The bad punt set up a Spartans drive at midfield, where a poised Smoker began the game's winning drive. He led his team 43 yards downfield in just over two minutes - converting two forth downs to keep the drive alive - he lofted a two yard touchdown pass as time expired.
Though the Spartans (5-2, 3-2 Big Ten) do not have a likely shot at wining their conference, they greatly enjoyed hurting the Wolverine's hopes for that title. Now Michigan drops to 4-1 in the Big Ten, tied with Illinois and will definitely drop out of the top ten in the polls.
Speaking of Illinois, the 21st-ranked Illini beat the number 20 Purdue Boilermakers 38-13. This win, coupled with the Michigan loss, brought the Illini into a tie with Michigan in the Big Ten.
Going into the game, both the Boilermakers and Illini knew that the loser would drop out of contention for the conference title. But in reality, neither team played well enough to deserve that satisfaction of being a spoiler.
Illinois committed six turnovers, including four interceptions by quarterback Kurt Kittner, leading passer in the Big Ten. Purdue quarterbacks gave up two interceptions and two fumbles.
In the end, Purdue's inability to score off of turnovers led to their defeat. Illinois capitalized in this deficiency, returning two second-half interceptions for touchdowns. Their defense sparked the second half route by keeping the Boilermakers out of the endzone and contributing 14 points.
In Other Action...
Two 4-1 teams in the Pacific Ten Conference squared off on Saturday with the expectation of staying tied for the conference lead. The 11-ranked Washington Huskies met that expectation, beating the 10-ranked StanfordCardinal at home, 42-28.
Though the score appears lopsided, it was tied at 28 with four minutes to go. That is when Washington tailback Willie Hurst broke the tie with a two-yard touchdown run. He would score again with under a minute left to assure the victory. Hurst carried his team to victory after the Huskies running game struggled in the early part of the year. He had 108 yards on 22 rushes and three touchdowns.
In Washington's next three games they face conference rivals Oregon and Washington State, each of which has only one loss in the Pac-10.
The Virginia Tech Hokies, number 12 in the nation, continued to slide, getting blown out by unranked Pittsburgh Panthers in Pittsburgh, 38-7. The Hokies were ranked fifth just one week ago with a 6-0 record. Now, two consecutive losses will drop them deep into the rankings and leave head coach Frank Beamer to wonder what has happened to his squad.
The loss was easily Virginia Tech's worst outing of the season as it committed four turnovers, one of which was an interception returned for a touchdown.
The Panthers played with seven in the box to control Virginia's running game because they felt the Hokie's passing game was overrated. The gamble paid off as Pitt out gained the Hokies with almost 400 total yards to Tech's 151.
BYU remained one of the three undefeated teams in the country as it beat Colorado 56-34 on Thursday in Provo. BYU entered the weekend ranked 13th in the country.
Despite its 9-0 record, the Cougars have received little national attention because of their soft schedule. They have not played a ranked team yet this year, and it is unlikely that any of their remaining opponents will creep into the top 25.
Even if BYU finishes the season with a perfect record they will most likely be left out of the big bowl games. The rankings are determined by wins, national respect, and strength of schedule. BYU has earned only one of these distinctions. And fair or not, that is college football.
