BIG TEN ROUNDUP : He Isn’t Hayden Tie; Iowa Gets a 10-6 Win

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry go for the tie? Against Wisconsin? No way.

“We told everybody we were not going to kick a damn field goal, we’re going for the whole ball of wax,” Fry said. “That seemed to liven everyone up.”

It also produced a 10-6 victory for the 17th-ranked Hawkeyes when Matt Rodgers--who had four passes intercepted--threw a fourth-down, 14-yard touchdown pass to Mike Saunders with 44 seconds left Saturday at Madison, Wis.

Iowa’s victory extended its domination of the Badgers another year. Iowa, 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten, hasn’t lost to Wisconsin (3-2, 0-2) since 1976, winning 14 and tying one over the last 15 games.

Iowa’s Jason Olenjiczak intercepted a pass by Wisconsin’s third-string quarterback, Jay Simala, with 4:30 left and the Hawkeyes went 43 yards in 11 plays for the winning score.

Rodgers completed a fourth-down pass of 11 yards to Jon Filloon and a third-down pass of nine yards to Alan Cross and the Hawkeyes had a first down at the Badgers’ 19 with 1:40 left.

Iowa gained only five yards in three plays and called a timeout with 50 seconds left. Instead of trying for the tying field goal, the Hawkeyes--figuring a tie would do them no good in the Rose Bowl race--went for the victory. They got it when Rodgers passed to Saunders in the left flat and he ran in for the touchdown. Saunders hadn’t practiced all week because of sore ribs.

The Badgers, playing before 75,053, their largest home crowd in five years, drove past midfield in the closing seconds but Simala was sacked and then threw an incomplete pass on the game’s final play.

Michigan 45, Michigan State 28--With this victory at East Lansing, Mich., the Wolverines (4-1, 2-0) have now beaten the three teams that upset them last season by a total of six points--Notre Dame, Iowa and Michigan State.

Michigan’s lone loss this season was to Florida State, 51-31.

The Spartans (0-5, 0-2) scored more points Saturday than they had in four previous games combined, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

Elvis Grbac threw three touchdown passes, two to Desmond Howard, as the Wolverines defeated the Spartans before 80,157 fans, the third-largest crowd in the history of Spartan Stadium.

Jesse Johnson scored on runs of 17 and 29 yards, Tyrone Wheatley had a three-yard touchdown run and J.D. Carlson kicked a 26-yard field goal for the Wolverines.

Minnesota 6, Purdue 3--Marquel Fleetwood ran nine yards for a touchdown on the first drive of the game and the Gophers (2-3, 1-1) held on to beat the Boilermakers (2-3, 1-1) at Minneapolis.

The touchdown was only the fourth for Minnesota’s offense in five games and only its second in its last 54 drives. The Gophers have scored just 22 points in their last four games, including three consecutive losses to nationally ranked teams.

Purdue, which beat Northwestern last week, hasn’t won consecutive Big Ten games since 1984.

Indiana 44, Northwestern 6--Trent Green passed for a career-high 265 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 68 yards and two scores as the Hoosiers (3-1-1, 2-0 ) won at Bloomington, Ind., to hand the Wildcats (1-4, 0-1) their 15th consecutive road loss.

Green, who passed for 241 yards in a 31-0 victory over Michigan State last week, completed nine of 16 attempts.