Penn State’s Fall Continues

It took Penn State only three weeks to go from No. 2 in the country to No. 4 in the Big Ten.

The No. 13 Nittany Lions lost their third game in a row Saturday, falling to No. 15 Michigan State, 35-28, at East Lansing, Mich.

It marked the first time Penn State, 9-3 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten, has lost three in a row since 1988, and the first time since 1914 that it has lost its final three regular-season games.

T.J. Duckett ran for 159 yards four touchdowns in 22 carries for the Spartans (9-2, 6-2).

Penn State trailed, 28-7, at halftime but rallied and tied the score, 28-28, before Duckett scored on an incredible 11-yard run with 2:30 left to play.

“I think that was probably as fine an effort as we had all year, in terms of dogged determination to score a touchdown,” Michigan State Coach Nick Saban said.

No. 19 Purdue 30, Indiana 24--Quarterback Drew Brees had a below-par game passing, but the Boilermakers (4-7, 3-4) hung on to beat the Hoosiers (4-7, 3-4) at Bloomington, Ind.

Vinny Sutherland returned a punt 66 yards for the go-ahead touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter, and the Boilermakers twice stopped the Hoosiers on downs in the fourth quarter.

Brees, despite a modest 197 yards, moved past Scott Campbell into second place in Purdue career passing, behind Mark Herrmann, with 7,746 yards.

Indiana’s Antwaan Randle El ran for one touchdown and passed for 329 yards and another touchdown, finishing the season with an Indiana-record 3,065 yards total offense.

No. 17 Minnesota 25, Iowa 21--Arland Bruce raced 73 yards for a touchdown and linebacker Sean Hoffman knocked down a pass in the end zone with eight seconds left as the Golden Gophers (8-3, 5-3) defeated the Hawkeyes (1-10, 0-8) at Iowa City.

Iowa, dropping its 13th consecutive conference game, finished with its worst record since the 1973 team went 0-11.

Illinois 29, Northwestern 7--Freshman Brandon Lloyd set up two first-half touchdowns with a punt return and a long reception, and the Illini (7-4, 4-4) used strong defense and beat the Wildcats (1-7, 3-8) at Champaign, Ill.

The Illini, who went 0-11 and 3-8 in Coach Ron Turner’s first two seasons, became bowl-eligible last week because of a victory at Ohio State.