COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Big Ten Roundup : Michigan St. Moves Into First, 13-7

With the game 15 seconds old, Michigan State was already down, 7-0, to Ohio State and a crowd of 89,915 at Columbus, Ohio, might have smelled a rout.

But three hours later, Michigan State was in first place in Big Ten after a 13-7 victory in which the Spartan defense held the Buckeyes to 2 yards rushing.

Michigan State improved to 5-2-1 overall and 4-0-1 in the Big Ten, a half-game ahead of Indiana, which dropped to 4-1 in the Big Ten after losing to Iowa. Ohio State fell to 5-2-1 and 3-2.

The defense set the tone with Bobby McAllister’s first-quarter touchdown run and a pair of field goals by John Langeloh spelling the difference as the 20th-ranked Spartans beat the 15th-ranked Buckeyes.

Ohio State scored on the game’s first play from scrimmage, a 79-yard pass play from Tom Tupa to Everett Ross. But the Buckeyes were held to 68 yards offensively for the rest of the game.

McAllister, who scored on a 15-yard run, wound up with 83 yards in 22 carries, and tailback Lorenzo White added 80 yards in 23 attempts as Michigan State won for the first time at Ohio Stadium in 16 years.

The Spartans picked off two of Tupa passes in the first half, and the interceptions led to field goals of 40 and 20 yards by Langeloh.

Michigan 29, Northwestern 6--At Ann Arbor, Mich., backup quarterback Michael Taylor rushed for 144 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 65-yard run in the fourth quarter, as the Wolverines beat the Wildcats.

Taylor, a third-year sophomore, was making his first collegiate start in place of Demetrius Brown, sidelined by a broken thumb. Taylor completed just one of five passes, a three-yarder to Jamie Morris.

“The option was working good,” Taylor said. “When you think about it, there wasn’t the need to throw much. We were getting 4 and 5 yards a crack running the ball.”

The low-water mark in Coach Bo Schembechler’s 19 years at Michigan came in 1975 when Rick Leach attempted only one pass, incomplete, against Illinois.

“The game was tight and I didn’t want to put too much heat on Mike,” Schembechler said.

Morris, who gained 163 yards in 19 carries, had a 74-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Morris has 1,054 yards rushing, the third successive season he has run for more than 1,000 yards.

The victory, before a crowd of 104,101, improved the Wolverines record to 5-3, 3-2 in the Big Ten. Northwestern fell to 1-6-1 and 1-4.

Purdue 49, Wisconsin 14--Sophomore Shawn McCarthy, normally used only as a punter, completed 11 of his first 16 passes for 201 yards during three first-half touchdown drives as the Boilermakers defeated the Badgers at West Lafayette, Ind.

Making his second start in place of injured Doug Downing, McCarthy completed 20 of 31 passes for 333 yards and 3 touchdowns.

McCarthy had help from Darren Myles, who rushed for touchdowns of 4, 2 and 4 yards.

“McCarthy handled his receivers well. There were a couple of times when he should have been intercepted,” said Wisconsin Coach Don Morton. “Sometimes it doesn’t pay to get out of bed in the morning.”

Purdue improved to 2-5-1 and 2-3, and Wisconsin dropped to 2-6 and 0-5.

Illinois 27, Minnesota 17--Peter Freund threw touchdown passes of nine and three yards, and freshman Doug Higgins recovered his own onside kick, giving the Illini a victory over the Golden Gophers at Champaign, Ill.

Illinois, which alternated Freund and Scott Mohr at quarterback, scored 20 points in the second quarter.

The victory, before a homecoming crowd of 60,143, improved Illinois’ record to 3-4-1 overall, 2-2-1 in the Big Ten.

Minnesota, suffering its third straight loss, dropped to 5-3, 2-3.