No Dayne, but Badgers a Pain to Hawkeyes

The streak is over, no thanks to Ron Dayne.

Wisconsin ended an 18-game winless streak against No. 12 Iowa on Saturday by defeating the Hawkeyes, 13-10, at Madison, Wis., despite losing their standout tailback because of a sprained ankle on the game’s first drive.

Freshman Eddie Faulkner had career highs of 26 carries and 119 yards in emergency duty and scored the Badgers’ only touchdown as Wisconsin, 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the 5-1 Big Ten, defeated a team with a winning record for the first time this season.

Amazingly, the Badgers find themselves with an outside shot at winning the Big Ten title, although it would take upset victories over Michigan on Saturday and at Penn State the following week.

“We might as well play for the brass ring,” Faulkner said. “We’ve put in the work and the opportunity’s there. We just have to go seize it.”

Despite losing the nation’s second-leading rusher, the Badgers built a 13-0 halftime lead on Faulkner’s four-yard touchdown run, the first of his career, and field goals of 37 and 43 yards by Matt Davenport.

The Hawkeyes (6-3, 3-3) pulled to 13-10 on a 19-yard scoring pass from Randy Reiners to Tim Dwight in the third quarter and Zach Bromert’s career-best 41-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter.

But Bromert, whose 29-yard attempt in the third quarter was blocked, missed from 43 yards out with 3:50 remaining, wasting a 73-yard run by Tavian Banks, who rushed 20 times for 145 yards.

The Hawkeyes got one more chance, but on fourth-and-10 from the Iowa 46, Reiners completed a pass to Dwight a yard short of the first down.

The homecoming crowd of 79,864, the third-largest in school history and the biggest since 1978, rocked Camp Randall Stadium as Mike Samuel took a knee three times.

The Badgers hadn’t beaten Iowa since 1976 and Hawkeye Coach Hayden Fry in 15 tries, only a 10-10 tie in 1984.

NO. 23 PURDUE 22, MICHIGAN STATE 21

Purdue, seemingly beaten with two minutes to go, scored two late touchdowns to overtake Michigan State for an improbable victory at West Lafayette, Ind.

The Boilermakers (7-2, 5-2) trailed, 21-10, with two minutes to play and appeared doomed as the Spartans (5-4, 2-4) lined up for a field goal that would have padded the margin to 14 points. But Chris Gardner’s 39-yard attempt was blocked by Leo Perez and Rosevelt Colvin returned it 62 yards for a touchdown.

Chris Daniels recovered an on-side kick for Purdue at the Boilermaker 45 after the ball bounced off a Michigan State player. Billy Dicken, who had been pulled for ineffectiveness on the previous Purdue possession, completed four consecutive passes to move the ball to Michigan State’s four.

The Spartans, who lost their fourth consecutive game, helped Purdue by having 12 players on the field for the next play, putting the ball to the two. Dicken lost a yard on a quarterback sneak and Ed Watson then carried two tacklers into the end zone for the winning score with 40 seconds to play.

Michigan State took the kickoff and moved into position for a 43-yard field goal try by Gardner, who missed with three seconds to play.

NO. 7 OHIO STATE 31, MINNESOTA 3

Joe Germaine threw two of his three touchdown passes to David Boston, leading the Buckeyes to victory at Minneapolis.

The victory, coupled with the No. 4 Wolverines’ victory over Penn State, kept Ohio State (9-1, 5-1) in the race for the conference title. The Buckeyes visit Michigan on Nov. 22 after hosting winless Illinois next weekend.

Ohio State, which lost its only game at Penn State, could be playing for the title outright at Michigan if Wisconsin upsets the Wolverines next weekend and Penn State loses one of its three remaining games.

Germaine, who rotates with starter Stanley Jackson, came off the bench to break open a close game in the second quarter with two touchdown passes as the Buckeyes took a 24-3 halftime lead.

Germaine finished 17 for 21 for 211 yards, and Boston had eight catches for 94 yards.

Minnesota (2-8, 0-6) lost its 14th consecutive game against Ohio State and the 27th in its last 30 conference games overall.

NORTHWESTERN 34, ILLINOIS 21

Chris Hamdorf passed for 183 yards and three touchdowns in his first start as the Wildcats’victory at Champaign, Ill., extended the Fighting Illini’s losing streak to 15 games.

Hamdorf completed 15 of 19 passes with no interceptions. Adrian Autry rushed for 111 yards and one touchdown in 26 carries for his sixth 100-yard game.

Northwestern (4-7, 2-5) scored 10 of its 20 first-half points after Illinois (0-9, 0-6) mishandled one punt return and fumbled another.