Blog Ten Gameday: Penn State Recovers, Spartans Bowl Eligible

Well considering how close all five of the early games were at halftime, we didn’t really have all that much in terms of exciting finishes across the Big Ten this morning.  Penn State finally showed up to play in the second half and took care of the Hoosiers, the Badgers steamrolled the Wolverines, and Northwestern held on against Illinois.

The best finishes took place in West Lafayette and Minneapolis where the Spartans came back to beat Purdue and become bowl eligible, and the Gophers barely got by the mighty Jackrabbits of South Dakota State.

Penn State 31  Indiana 20 Final

The Nittany Lions scored 24 unanswered points after the Hoosiers took a 10-0 lead early in Happy Valley on Saturday morning, and then pretty much coasted from there.  The key turning point of the game came early in the third quarter when Navorro Bowman picked off a Ben Chappell pass and took it back 73-yards for a touchdown to make it 17-10.

The Nittany Lions never looked back.

Daryll Clark finished with 195 yards and a touchdown through the air along with a rushing touchdown in his final home game as starting quarterback for Penn State, while Evan Royster rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown on his Senior Day as well.

Michigan State 40  Purdue 37 Final

Keshawn Martin will haunt Purdue’s dreams tonight.  Whether it was his 45 yard run on a double reverse to set up a Michigan State touchdown to take the lead in the fourth quarter, or his 85 yard kick return that set up what served to be the game-winning field goal, Martin made his presence felt on Saturday in West Lafayette.

Kirk Cousins didn’t have the most efficient game of his season completing only 11 of 25 passes, but three of those connections were for touchdowns — including a 73-yard hook up with B.J. Cunningham — and he finished with 208 yards.

For Purdue, Joey Elliott’s final start at home saw him throw for 373 yards and two touchdowns, but it also ended when he was sacked as Purdue was trying to set up a game-tying field goal.

Minnesota 16  South Dakota State 13 Final

Congratulations, Gophers.  You needed a field goal in the closing minutes to beat the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.  At home.  You’re now  bowl eligibile, which means, we’ll get to see you destroyed by a MAC team in the Little Caesars Bowl or something.  It’ll be a good time.

You should be so proud.  Just try not to go swing any boards, get drunk and challenge some guys to a fight, or kick some women tonight, boys.

Wisconsin 45  Michigan 24 Final

Make it six consecutive conference losses and counting for the Wolverines and Rich Rodriguez.  You know, I’ve said many times that firing Rodriguez this soon would be a mistake, but I wouldn’t blame Michigan at all if they got rid of Greg Robinson.  This Wolverines defense is absolutely terrible.

Well, except for Brandon Graham anyway.

The Badgers moved down the field at will all day on Saturday, scoring six touchdowns, four of which came via Scott Tolzien’s arm and since that wasn’t enough, Tolzien ran one in as well.  The Badgers finished with 469 yards of total offense on the day, and they’re going to be playing on New Year’s Day.

Northwestern 21  Illinois 16 Final

Some controversy at the end of this game as Illinois was attempting to drive downfield for the go-ahead score in the final minute.  Jacob Charest was intercepted by Sherrick McManus, but the replay showed that it looked like the Illinois receiver caught the ball, was down, and then was stripped by McManus.

Whether it was because there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn it, or if the Big Ten was just trying to protect their bowl eligible teams as Stewart Mandel suggested, the play stood and Northwestern won.

It wasn’t the greatest game to watch by any means, but if you’re an Illinois fan you have to have at least some confidence for next season as Charest looked pretty good today.