BIG TEN ROUNDUP : Purdue Has Incentive, Still Loses to Indiana

Indiana safety Chris Dyer, whose obscenity-filled comments about Purdue and Coach Jim Colletto earlier in the week were published in the campus newspaper, said he felt a lot of pressure in Saturday’s Old Oaken Bucket game against the Boilermakers at Bloomington, Ind.

“We had to go out and win this game,” Dyer said. “Everybody backed me up and played great.

“I don’t think it’s funny. Something like that has no business being in the sports page, no business leaving the locker room. It was an embarrassment to me and to the university.”

Dyer apologized to Colletto before the game. Then the Boilermakers, angered by Dyer’s comments, outplayed the Hoosiers before redshirt freshman Shane Thomas’ second touchdown gave Indiana a 24-17 victory.

“After we heard those comments, it got us motivated to play them harder,” Purdue quarterback Rick Trefzger said. “I talked to him after the game. He’s a good guy. It’s just a rivalry, that’s all.”

Said Colletto: “Chris Dyer apologized. I said for him to forget it and get on with the game. All that stuff goes out the window after two minutes. After that, you’d better be able to block and tackle.”

The victory kept alive a possible bowl bid for the Hoosiers, 8-3 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten, and gave Purdue (1-10, 0-8) its worst record in 86 years. Purdue was 0-5 overall in 1907 and hasn’t been winless in the Big Ten since 1946.

Thomas, who had carried only 12 times for 13 yards this season, had 13 rushes for 54 yards against the Boilermakers, including six consecutive carries that led to his first collegiate touchdown, a three-yard run early in the third quarter. Thomas scored on a 10-yard run in the fourth quarter.

No. 14 Penn State 43, Northwestern 21--Mike Archie rushed for a career-high 173 yards and two touchdowns and Kerry Collins completed 19 of 30 passes for 278 yards and a touchdown as the Nittany Lions won a Big Ten game at Evanston, Ill.

Archie was a second-stringer until Ki-Jana Carter was injured on Penn State’s second possession of a 28-14 victory over Illinois the previous Saturday. Archie came on and ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns, and then topped that performance against the Wildcats.

Another star for Penn State (8-2, 5-2) was receiver Bobby Engram, who caught eight passes for 132 yards. It was Engram’s fourth 100-yard game, which equals the school record set by O. J. McDuffie last year.

Archie, who had 27 carries, could go back to the bench if Carter’s calf injury has healed and he is able to play next Saturday against Michigan State. Penn State Coach Joe Paterno may face a tough decision.

After Northwestern (2-9, 0-8) took a 14-13 lead in the second quarter, the Nittany Lions scored on five of their next six possessions to take a 43-14 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Iowa 21, Minnesota 3--Cliff King scored two touchdowns and the Hawkeyes had five interceptions in a Big Ten game at Iowa City that provided Coach Hayden Fry his 200th career victory.

The Hawkeyes (6-5, 3-5) kept slim bowl hopes alive. Minnesota (4-7, 3-5), which defeated Iowa three times in the past four games, had six turnovers and eight penalties.

The victory gives Fry a 200-152-9 record in his 32-year career at Southern Methodist, North Texas State and Iowa. Fry, who has coached the Hawkeyes to 111 wins the past 15 years, ranks fourth among active coaches in victories behind Penn State’s Paterno, Florida State’s Bobby Bowden and Nebraska’s Tom Osborne.

The Golden Gophers attempted a Kinnick Stadium record 60 passes.