Blog Ten Gameday: Northwestern Pulls Out A Close One and Penn State Demolishes Sparta

And with that the final Saturday of Big Ten conference football comes to an end.

Northwestern 33  Wisconsin 31  Final

This was the best game of the day in the conference by far.  Northwestern jumped out to a lead early, and had a 27-14 advantage going into halftime, but the Badgers answered quickly in the third quarter.  A field goal on their first drive cut the lead to ten, and then a few minutes later David Gilreath returned a punt 68 yards to cut the lead to 27-24.

Not to be denied, Northwestern was able to put two more field goals on the board to extend the lead to 33-24, but when Scott Tolzien found Garrett Graham for their second touchdown connection of the game we had a two-point game and the momentum seemed to be turning.

That is until John Clay fumbled with under two minutes to go to give Northwestern the ball back.  The Wildcats had to punt the ball back to Wisconsin, but Tolzien was picked off on the Badgers first play which effectively ended the game.

Mike Kafka finished his final game in front of the home fans with 325 yards and two touchdowns, both of whom were to fellow senior Andrew Brewer (6 receptions 102 yards).

Penn State 42  Michigan State 14  Final

This game was very much a defensive struggle for the first thirty minutes as the two teams went to halftime tied at 7-7 — both touchdowns scored in the final 2:10 of the half — but then the third quarter started.  And it was not a pretty quarter if you’re a Michigan State fan.

The Nittany Lions exploded for four touchdowns in the quarter, all courtesy of the passing game as the Lions attacked a weak Spartans secondary.  Kevin Newsome would add a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 42-7 but the Spartans would get another big play — what new — out of Keshawn Martin as he caught a 71-yard touchdown from Kirk Cousins.

It was a nice day for Penn State senior quarterback Daryll Clark as he threw for 310 yards and 4 touchdowns while senior running back Evan Royster rushed for 114 yards to get over the 1,000-yard mark on the season.

Purdue 38  Indiana 21  Final

This game was never really in doubt as the Boilermakers jumped out to an early 21-0 lead on the Hoosiers, and kind of just coasted from there.  Joey Elliott finished his career at Purdue with 205 yards passing and four touchdowns, while Jaycen Taylor ran for 110 yards.

For Indiana, the Hoosiers were led by Darius Willis’ 142 rushing  yards and Mitchell Evans’ 112 receiving yards.

It wasn’t enough, obviously, as the Old Oaken Bucket remains in West Lafayette for one more year.