COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Big Ten Roundup : Brown and Michigan Bounce Back and Beat Iowa at the Pass, 37-10

Demetrius Brown is over his worst performance of the Michigan season.

Brown threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score Saturday to lead Michigan to a 37-10 Big Ten victory over Iowa at Ann Arbor, Mich. Last week, Brown set a conference record by throwing seven interceptions against Michigan State.

Brown threw touchdown passes of 35 yards to John Kolesar and 12 and 50 yards to Greg McMurtry as Michigan, which led, 30-10, at halftime, improved to 4-2 overall, 2-1 in the conference, before a crowd of 105,406. Iowa fell to 4-3 overall, 1-2 in the Big Ten.

The 50-yard pass came on the final play of the first half after Michigan recovered an Iowa onside kickoff with two seconds to play.

Brown completed 14 for 19 passes for 190 yards against an Iowa team that was leading the nation in pass defense (99.3 yards per game).

“I was nervous, yes,” Brown said. “I’m always nervous before a game. But depressed after last week? No.

“It’s all a matter of doing what’s expected.”

Said Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler: “He’s an amazingly resilient kid. I asked him after last week if he had ever been booed. I thought he might be booed today. But he just laughed.”

Jamie Morris scored Michigan’s final touchdown on a three-yard run in the final minute.

Iowa quarterback Chuck Hartlieb completed 27 of 43 passes for 362 yards but produced only one touchdown, a 6-yard throw to Chris Clark.

Hartlieb also was sacked five times for 44 yards as Michigan held the Hawkeyes to minus-13 yards rushing. Kevin Harmon, Iowa’s top runner this season, didn’t start because of an ankle injury but entered the game in the second quarter and caught five passes. As a runner, he lost two yards in two carries. Rick Bayless, Iowa’s top runner last year, did not play.

Ohio State 20, Purdue 17--At West Lafayette, Ind., Matt Frantz kicked a 50-yard field goal with 3:10 remaining as the 17th-ranked Buckeyes survived a fierce second-half rally to beat the Boilermakers.

Ohio State, coming off a surprise loss to Indiana, raised its record to 4-1-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten. Purdue fell to 1-4-1, 1-2.

The Buckeyes led, 17-0, at halftime but gave up a 25-yard field goal by Jonathan Briggs and two touchdown passes from Doug Downing to Calvin Williams in the second half.

The victory was costly, however, as Ohio State lost receiver Everett Ross with a concussion early in the second period. He was hospitalized, although doctors said there did not appear to be any neck damage.

Michigan State 38, Northwestern 0--At Evanston, Ill., Lorenzo White rushed for 187 yards in 33 carries and scored 3 touchdowns to lead the 19th-ranked Spartans over the winless Wildcats.

White, who scored on runs of 1, 6 and 1 yards, became the second player in Big Ten history to rush for more than 4,000 career yards as he raised his total to 4,099, including bowl games. White trails only Archie Griffin, who ran for 5,589 yards at Ohio State.

It was the third straight victory for the Spartans, 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten, who retained their share of first place in the Big Ten with Indiana. Northwestern fell to 0-5-1 and 0-3.

Illinois 16, Wisconsin 14--At Champaign, Ill., freshman Doug Higgins kicked a 34-yard field goal in the final minute as the Illini edged the Badgers.

Wisconsin, 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the Big Ten, broke a 7-7 tie on Marvin Artley’s one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Illinois (2-4 and 1-2) pulled to 14-13 with 3:20 left on a 38-yard pass from Scott Mohr to Darryl Usher. But the Illini failed on a two-point conversion attempt.