Spartans put up a fight but come up short against the Buckeyes

Either way, an Ohio State defender came up with the pass from Tyler O’Connor, and that was all that mattered for the Buckeyes’ playoff hopes.

Ohio State won back-to-back games by the score of 62-3, so it seemed as if it was riding high entering the final two weeks of the regular season.

Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett (16) carries the ball as Michigan State Spartans linebacker Ed Davis (43) defends during the first quarter of a game at Spartan Stadium. Until this year. They aren’t a good football team, and if Ohio State plays well they will win. So that felt like what we wanted to do.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Backup running back Bradrick Shaw and backup fullback Alec Ingold each scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns and Wisconsin moved a step closer to the Big Ten West championship with a victory against Purdue. Both the Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes are playing at home, both teams likely favored by a slim margin. The snow flurries and wind would probably have made passing hard for any quarterback, but this wasn’t the first time Barrett has had accuracy issues when the weather wasn’t in his favor, and there’s certainly no guarantee of help from Mother Nature next Saturday in the Horseshoe against MI.

John O’Korn made his first start for MI (10-1, 7-1, No. 3 CFP), replacing the injured Wilton Speight, and struggled to lead an offence that was averaging 45 points and 232 yards passing.

Of 25 possessions in the game, 17 ended with a punt or turnover. The Spartan defense finished the game with three sacks.

“We wanted to throw it”.

“At the end of the day, no matter the competition, we made shots”, Winston said. “Then you start watching the clock and if a ball’s tipped, you lose that game”.

Michigan State got the stop it needed, but took over on its own 20-yard-line after a touchback. Buckeye back Mike Weber added 111 yards rushing with a TD, joining Robert Smith and Maurice Clarett as the only Ohio State freshmen to run for over 1,000 yards.

“I’ve been around men who are complete buffoons about that kind of stuff”, Meyer said.

“It will be tough to win if we’re not (balanced)”, he said.

The 2-point conversion may be second-guessed in the days to come, but O’Connor said the team was on board with it. Worley had an official interception and an unofficial one, the latter being on the failed two-point conversion attempt.

OREGON 30, (11) UTAH 28: Justin Herbert hit Darren Carrington for a 17-yard touchdown pass with two seconds remaining to give OR (4-7, 2-6 Pac-12) an upset victory over Utah (8-3, 5-3) at Salt Lake City, putting the Utes’ hopes of a league championship in jeopardy. Ohio State will be at home next weekend, where it has not lost to MI since 2000.

“I knew Michigan State was going to come and play [well] because they’re a great football team”, Buckeyes defensive end Jalyn Holmes said.

“That first-half performance was as good as any as I’ve seen here in a long time”, Spartans coach Tom Izzo said.

The Buckeyes returned the favor later in the quarter by burning the Spartans on a play-action pass.

Later in the first quarter, J.T. Barrett evened things up by capping a short-field drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass lofted into the hands of Curtis Samuel. Eight of the last nine Michigan State opponents have scored 28 points or more against them, which should put the Buckeyes in the 35-40 range. Gareon Conley snuffed Michigan State’s last chance with a leaping interception with 1:30 left.