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Michigan Is Carried by Perry

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From Associated Press

Chris Perry’s chest heaved as he put his hands on his knees. Then, he rested an arm on an official.

He had good reason to be tired.

Perry had a school-record 51 carries for 219 yards and John Navarre threw three touchdown passes Saturday to lead No. 11 Michigan past No. 9 Michigan State, 27-20, at East Lansing, Mich.

“I need a hot tub,” Perry said. “And we’ve got one in our apartment.”

The Wolverines (8-2, 5-1 Big Ten) moved into first place in the conference. It was only the second road victory in the rivalry game for either team in the last 12 years.

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Michigan, which has a bye this week, has games left against Northwestern in two weeks and against Ohio State on Nov. 22. Michigan State, Purdue and Ohio State are 4-1 in conference, but the Wolverines would have the necessary tiebreakers to earn their first trip to the Rose Bowl since winning the 1997 national championship.

“We have to finish this off,” Navarre said.

The Spartans (7-2, 4-1) had won five in a row and were off to their best start since 1966. If Michigan State wins on the road against Ohio State and Wisconsin and at home against Penn State, it will have at least a share of its first Big Ten title since 1990.

“It’s far from over,” Michigan State quarterback Jeff Smoker said.

Just when it appeared Michigan would add to its 14-point lead and secure the victory, Robert Flagg sacked Navarre and forced a fumble that Clifford Dukes returned 65 yards for a touchdown with 6:03 left.

Michigan drove into Michigan State territory but punted into the end zone with 1:06 left.

With no timeouts, Michigan State drove to midfield. The game ended on Smoker’s desperation heave that was intercepted by Scott McClintock in the end zone after it hit receiver Aaron Alexander’s hands.

“We dominated that game,” Michigan’s Ernest Shazor said. “Don’t let the final score fool you.”

Perry surpassed the Michigan rushing-attempt record of 42 set by Ron Johnson in 1967 and matched by Anthony Thomas in 1999.

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Navarre was 17 of 31 for 223 yards with one interception. Smoker was 21 of 40 for 254 yards with a touchdown and an interception, his first in more than 200 passes.

No. 13 Iowa 41, Illinois 10 -- Fred Russell scored two touchdowns and ran his season rushing total to 1,010 and Nathan Chandler threw for a season-high 243 yards and a score as the Hawkeyes rolled to victory at Iowa City, Iowa.

Bob Sanders added a touchdown on a fumble return for Iowa (7-2, 3-2). Illinois (1-9, 0-6) lost for the eighth consecutive time.

The Fighting Illini scored twice in the fourth quarter to avoid being shut out by Iowa for the first time since 1985.

Russell, who ran for 1,264 yards last season, became only the third Iowa back to top 1,000 twice, following Sedrick Shaw (1994 to ‘96) and Ladell Betts (2000-01).

No. 18 Purdue 34, Northwestern 14 -- John Standeford had four catches for 88 yards at West Lafayette, Ind., to break the Big Ten record for career receiving yards as the Boilermakers rebounded from a 31-3 loss last week to Michigan.

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Jerod Void ran for 87 yards and two touchdowns and Purdue (7-2, 4-1) took advantage of four fumbles by Northwestern (4-5, 2-3).

Standeford broke the record with a 31-yard catch in the fourth quarter. He has 3,418 yards for his career, surpassing Illinois’ David Williams, who had 3,392 yards from 1983 to ’85.

No. 24 Minnesota 55, Indiana 7 -- Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber III each gained more than 100 yards for the second consecutive game and both scored a touchdown to lead the Golden Gophers to victory at Minneapolis.

It was the most lopsided Big Ten win for Minnesota (8-2, 4-2) since a 55-7 victory over Iowa on Nov. 5, 1949.

Maroney led the way with 164 yards and Barber had 107 to give him 995 for the season.

Indiana (1-8, 0-5) suffered its 11th consecutive league loss.

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