BIG TEN ROUNDUP : Iowa Gets It Half Right, 31-21

No. 11 Iowa got a wake-up call at halftime and that ended Purdue’s hopes for an upset Saturday at West Lafayette, Ind.

“They turned it up a notch and we just couldn’t match it,” Purdue Coach Jim Colletto said after the Hawkeyes rallied from a 15-7 halftime deficit to defeat the Boilermakers, 31-21, in a Big Ten game.

“You saw two different football teams, in regards to our defense,” said Iowa Coach Hayden Fry, whose club had seven sacks in the second half, when it limited Purdue to 57 yards.

The seven sacks, plus one in the first half, accounted for a minus 93 yards for Purdue.

Iowa’s Mike Saunders rushed for a career-high 151 yards in 22 carries and scored on runs of 73 and 26 yards in the second half.

The Hawkeyes accumulated 430 yards, with Matt Rodgers completing 20 of 27 passes for 229 yards, in defeating the Boilermakers for the ninth consecutive year and the 10th time in 11 games.

Saunders, a senior whose previous high was 123 yards as a freshman, powered through the middle for 73 yards on the second play of the third quarter and added his 26-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Iowa, 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten, held Purdue (3-4, 2-2) to minus yardage in the second half until freshman Matt Pike threw to Ernest Calloway on a 65-yard touchdown pass play with two minutes to play.

Pike entered the game after starter Eric Hunter, who passed for only 60 yards and lost 81 on sacks, was pulled.

Purdue’s Jeff Hill, who had 107 yards in nine carries, ran 53 yards on the game’s first play to set up Earl Coleman’s eight-yard touchdown run.

No. 14 Ohio State 27, Michigan State 17--Carlos Snow rushed for 169 yards and a touchdown as the Buckeyes took advantage of a muffed squib kick to pull away in the second half at Columbus, Ohio.

The Buckeyes (6-1, 3-1) led, 10-6, at halftime, but controlled the ball on the ground in the second half.

The Buckeyes gained 193 of their 265 rushing yards in the second half.

The Spartans (1-6, 1-3) were held to 105 yards rushing.

Ohio State stretched its lead to 13-9 on Jim DelVerne’s third field goal of the game, a 48-yarder with 6:35 left in the third quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, DelVerne’s attempted squib kick instead turned out to be a line drive that struck Michigan State’s Alex Rodriguez as he stood at the Buckeye 45.

Brent Johnson recovered at the 46 and seven plays later Scottie Graham scored from the one for a 20-9 lead.