COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Big Ten Roundup : Michigan State Runs Over Illinois, 29-21

With Lorenzo White sidelined, Michigan State running backs Bobby Morse and Craig Johnson picked up the slack and led the Spartans to a 29-21 victory over Illinois Saturday in a Big Ten game at Champaign, Ill.

Morse scored 2 touchdowns and rushed for 72 yards, while Johnson had 1 touchdown and 96 yards. Michigan State finished with 230 rushing yards, compared to 29 for Illinois.

Still, the Illini were within reach of a tie before a number of dropped passes stalled their final drive at the Spartan 25.

White sat out for the second week with a knee injury.

“He warmed up and caught some passes before the game and will be in full pads at practice on Monday,” Michigan State Coach George Perles said.

Michigan State, 3-3 overall, is 1-2 in conference play after beating Illinois for the first time since 1979. Illinois, playing its homecoming game, is 2-4 and 1-2.

Illinois again used two quarterbacks, with Shane Lamb completing 24 of 39 passes for 249 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Brian Menkhausen completing 10 of 14 passes for 99 yards.

Spartan quarterback Dave Yarema completed 12 of 19 passes for 183 yards.

Ohio State 39, Purdue 11--Freshman safety David Brown scored on the longest interception return in Big Ten history, and Jim Karsatos threw two touchdown passes at West Lafayette, Ind., to lead the Buckeyes to their fifth straight victory.

Brown intercepted a pass from Purdue’s Doug Downing in the end zone with 9:11 left in the third quarter, and his return was listed at 100 yards because the NCAA recognizes no interception runbacks at more than 100 yards.

He broke the former Big Ten interception return mark of 99 yards set by Michigan State’s Dan Bass against Wisconsin in 1978.

Karsatos connected on touchdown passes of 3 yards to Cris Carter and 37 yards to Nate Harris.

Downing made his first start of the season, replacing freshman Jeff George, who was suffering lower back spasms.

Ohio State is 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the conference. Purdue, losers of five straight, fell to 1-5 and 0-3.

Wisconsin 35, Northwestern 27--Tailback Larry Emery, returning after missing two games with a hamstring injury, scored two touchdowns, one on a 40-yard run with 42 seconds left, to lead the Badgers at Evanston, Ill.

Emery carried 26 times for 132 yards in a game featuring interim coaches Jim Hilles of Wisconsin and Francis Peay of Northwestern.

After the game, Peay said he is no longer a candidate for the regular job at Northwestern. “I honestly don’t believe I’ve ever been considered for the job,” Peay said.

Peay was defensive coordinator when Dennis Green resigned as coach last spring to take a job with the San Francisco 49ers. Peay was named interim coach during spring practice and retained that position when Athletic Director Doug Single was unable to hire a coach.

Reportedly, Sam Rutigliano, former coach of the Cleveland Browns, and Jim Sochor of UC Davis turned down the job.

Northwestern (2-4, 0-3) has lost 14 of its last 15 games against Wisconsin (2-5, 1-2).

Minnesota 19, Indiana 17--Chip Lohmiller kicked four field goals, including a 21-yarder with two seconds to play, and Darrell Thompson rushed 30 times for 191 yards as the Gophers dug themselves out of a hole and won at Minneapolis.

Lohmiller, who missed most of the last two games with a groin injury, also hit field goals of 55, 45 and 27 yards as Minnesota improved its record to 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten.

Indiana, which got 70 yards and 2 touchdowns from Damon Sweazy, lost its second in a row to fall to 4-2 and 1-2.