Northwestern’s Encore Is a Real Showstopper

Northwestern didn’t need overtime this time.

The Wildcats beat a ranked team on the road for the second consecutive Saturday, routing No. 18 Michigan State, 37-17, at East Lansing, Mich.

The victory follows a 47-44 overtime victory against Wisconsin, then ranked No. 7.

“We are a better football team this week than we were last week,” Northwestern Coach Randy Walker said.

No one was better Saturday than Danien Anderson, who ran for two long touchdowns and 219 yards in 25 carries.

“I have to take my hat off to Northwestern,” Michigan State Coach Bobby Williams said. “I thought they did a tremendous job.”

Northwestern, 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten, used its spread offense to keep Michigan State (3-1, 0-1) off balance early. The Wildcats then shifted to a ground game in the second half to eat up time.

“I think overall we played pretty solid,” Walker said. “It was a nice job by the offense and I knew that it would be because of the optimism we had coming in. We came out of the blocks and got the job done.”

The score was tied at 10-10 after the first quarter, but Tim Long kicked his second and third field goals in the second for the Wildcats and Anderson scored on a 32-yard run. Anderson scored again in the third quarter, breaking loose up the middle for a 41-yard run.

Penn State 22, No. 22 Purdue 20--The Nittany Lions, off to their worst start in 36 years, took advantage of three special teams errors by the Boilermakers and won at State College, Pa.

Travis Dorsch missed a 46-yard field-goal attempt that would have given Purdue the lead with 2:32 to play, allowing Penn State (3-2, 1-1) to beat a higher-ranked opponent for the first time since 1996. Purdue fell to 3-2, 1-1.

Earlier, two botched punts by Dorsch led to two short Penn State touchdown drives as Purdue fell to 3-2, 1-1.

Minnesota 44, No. 24 Illinois 10--Running back Tellis Redmon reestablished himself as the starter in leading the Gophers (3-2, 1-2) over the Illini (3-2, 0-2) at Minneapolis.

Redmon was a backup a week ago, bounced from the starting lineup by a fumble two weeks earlier in a 34-9 victory over Baylor and by the promise shown by 228-pound redshirt freshman Thomas Tapeh.

Tapeh rushed for 183 yards in 32 carries against Baylor. But a foot injury limited Tapeh against Illinois, so Redmon got the call and made the most of it. He rushed for 183 yards in 31 carries and caught three passes for 116 yards. Minnesota gained 364 yards on the ground.

Indiana 45, Iowa 33--Antwaan Randle El rushed for 187 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the sixth player in major college history to run for at least 2,000 yards and pass for 4,000, as the Hoosiers (2-2, 1-0) beat the Hawkeyes (0-5, 0-1) at Bloomington, Ind.

Randle El, who set an Indiana rushing record for a quarterback, also passed for 111 yards and another touchdown.

Iowa freshman Jon Beutjer passed for 380 yards and four touchdowns in his first start.