No. 2 Ohio St. hangs on to beat Michigan St.

Michigan State’s Miles Bridges dunks on a alley-oop against Mississippi Valley State’s Ronald Strother (2) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Friday, Nov. 18, 2016, in East Lansing, Mich. Only one of these guys will be on a winning team Saturday.

Mike Weber ran for 111 yards and a touchdown, and No. 2 Ohio State (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten, No. 2 CFP) held off Michigan State 17-16 on Saturday after the upset-minded Spartans missed a 2-point conversion with 4:41 remaining.

MSU (3-8, 1-7 Big Ten) will travel to No. 8 Penn State for its finale on Saturday (3:30 p.m./ESPN).

“It was personal”, Weber said. Among them are No. 8 Penn State and No. 5 Wisconsin, who are in position to face each other in the Big Ten Championship. “I definitely don’t think that’s out of reach because if you break them down, we had chances to win every game this year”. “I don’t know if everybody was just trying to make a play instead of playing defense”.

The last Michigan team to beat the Buckeyes was in 2011, at Michigan Stadium, the year between legendary coaches Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer.

Royce Freeman led the Ducks’ ground game with 129 yards. Seeking a big upset, Dantonio decided against the (almost) guaranteed extra point and made a decision to go for two and take the lead.

The stop capped a defensive struggle in which LSU converted a fourth-and-10 play on its final drive, only to get stopped on back-to-back runs from the 1 to end the game. Their victories Saturday should not be underestimated. Even going up against Michigan’s backup quarterback, the Hoosiers will have to wait until next week to lock up a bowl bid. Their defensive backfield could easily yield three first-round picks in the 2017 National Football League draft, and one of them came up with a huge takeaway so seal a victory over Michigan State on Saturday. O’Connor might have forgotten the down and distance when he checked into the sneak, but no matter – Michigan State left points on the board in a game when it was hard to find them. J.T Barrett was not much to brag about in the passing department. The ball was blowing everywhere. So why did he touch the ball on offense only eight times? Barrett said he threw a pass that “took a nosedive” at one point. Bad weather conditions to disrupt a normally explosive offense.

The freshman running back’s career-best 52-yard scamper on Ohio State’s third possession post-intermission was not only the Buckeyes’ only meaningful offensive play of the second half, the sprint set up the visitors’ lone score of the second half.

OHIO STATE OR MICHIGAN – The Big Ten behemoths won’t have any trouble this weekend.

“You won’t hear it from us”, Meyer said about discussing all of the possible scenarios and ramifications. So, we’ll get ready. Maybe the tension of waiting will result in a few looks online before the game finally begins.

Hubbard is a sophomore from Cincinnati. But with Michigan State’s season already over, Mark Dantonio went for the two-point conversion to take the lead. “That’s a good football team – they have good players”, Barrett said. “It’s just something I always focus on”.

Ohio State was obviously not ideal on Saturday. Michigan State beat Ohio State in the 2013 Big Ten title game and again late in the regular season previous year. Except to the latter, it seemed.

The Michigan-Ohio State victor gets an inside track on a College Football Playoff berth.

The College Football Playoff selection committee has had it easy in its first two seasons, with by-the-chalk conference champs and four easily-slotted teams. “But now it’s here”.