MI State ends Ohio State’s 23-game win streak

MI State gave little information about Cook leading up to the game.

“I call a lot of plays anyways, so the finger (of blame) will be pointed right here”, he said. Many times this season he has been a forgotten man until the second half when a light goes on and everybody remembers, oh yeah, we’ve got a horse we can ride.

The Spartans certainly do.

First was Cardale Jones, the Buckeyes starting quarterback for most of the 2015 season and the player who led the team to a Big Ten Championship, Sugar Bowl Championship and National Championship in the postseason past year.

In fact, the only other teams in the nation’s bottom 10 in total offense with a tally worse than what Ohio State mustered Saturday are Tulane, which had 110 at stingy Temple, Louisiana-Monroe, which had 92 at Alabama, and Fresno State, which put up just 89 at San Diego State.

Ohio State had its 23-game winning streak snapped on a last-second field goal by MI State, putting the Spartans on the road to the Big Ten championship game and leaving the Buckeyes with only pride to play for next week at MI.

The Buckeyes lost their first regular-season Big Ten game under fourth-year coach Urban Meyer.

Notre Dame turned the ball over five times but still pulled off a 19-16 win against Boston College in a game played at baseball’s famous Fenway Park. They had more quarterbacks then they knew what to do with, one of the best running backs in the country and a defense with potential All-Americans at every level.

It turns out MI State hasn’t run out of Hollywood endings this season, even after its spell-binding 27-23 win at MI and tear-jerking 39-38 defeat at Nebraska. At least not like this. Arguably the greatest quarterback in school annals, Cook dressed and tried to play … but couldn’t. He was replaced by the tandem of junior Tyler O’Connor and sophomore Damion Terry.

Baylor quarterback Jarrett Stidham took several hard hits in the first half and did not play after the break but the Bears still gained 700 yards.

Elliott was limited to 33 yards on 12 carries on a day when Ohio State had only five first downs and produced only 132 yards total offense. The Buckeyes still covered more than a full field less ground in Saturday’s debacle.

UCLA 17, Utah 9 – At Salt Lake City, Josh Rosen passed for 220 yards and a touchdown as the Bruins (8-3, 5-3 Pac-12) beat the No. 18 Utes (8-3, 5-3). MI State kicker Michael Geiger and the entire offensive line can join safety Jalen Watts-Jackson of MI victory fame as Spartan football legends. It rolled to the MSU 6, where OSU’s Terry McLaurin recovered it. Then he trashed Ohio State’s coaches for their play-calling.

“When we came out in the second half”, noted Spartans center Jack Allen, the Hinsdale Central product, “our whole team was jumping around in the rain”. They leaned on an offensive line that was supposed to be a strength this season, but has endured numerous injuries and started six different lineups.

The fragile chemistry of Ohio State imploded for the world to see.

Houston (10-1, 6-1) hosts Navy next Saturday for a spot in the December 5 conference championship game.

LeShun Daniels Jr. ran for two TDs for the Hawkeyes (11-0, 7-0 Big Ten).

“One drive when we had momentum after the strip sack, we ran a lot of gap scheme and were gashing them”, Elliott said. Paul James rushed for 116 yards and three touchdowns, and Rutgers beat Army 31-21 to snap a four-game losing streak.

Austin Appleby had 259 yards passing for Purdue (2-9, 1-6). In all honesty, no plays were really attempted.

Not much separated Florida and Florida Atlantic, besides this …

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Quinshad Davis caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Marquise Williams on overtime’s last play and North Carolina spoiled coach Frank Beamer’s final home game at Virginia Tech. And the Tar Heels did it after blowing a 14-point lead in the last three minutes of regulation.

And we could very well have a situation where both MSU and MI beat Ohio State in the same year. LSU (7-3, 4-3) entered the month undefeated behind a Heisman Trophy frontrunner in Leonard Fournette.