Wolverines Have Plenty of Hart

Michael Hart ran for 151 yards and a season-high three touchdowns and No. 9 Michigan clinched at least a share of the Big Ten Conference championship with a 42-20 thumping of Northwestern on Saturday at Ann Arbor, Mich.

The Wolverines, 9-1 and 7-0 in the conference, led 7-6 at halftime, then scored touchdowns on their first five possessions of the second half.

Hart, a freshman, has run for 975 yards in his last five games and 1,311 for the season with a game at Ohio State remaining.

“I told him after the game, ‘Mike, after next week, we’ll know whether or not you’re a Big Ten back,’ ” Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr said. “I like to challenge him. What he’s been able to do, he’s had a lot of help. But Michael Hart has certainly done his part.”

The Wolverines have won 15 consecutive games at home and 13 conference games in a row.

“We came out flat,” Hart said. “But in the second half, we picked it up and put some points on the board.”

If Michigan wins at Ohio State, the defending Big Ten champions will win the conference championship outright because Michigan State handed Wisconsin its first conference loss, leaving the Badgers a game behind the Wolverines. Wisconsin has a game remaining at Iowa.

“This is for our season. We want another ring on our finger,” Michigan’s LaMarr Woodley said. “Ohio State doesn’t really have much to lose -- and we have a lot to lose.”

Northwestern (5-5, 4-3) has to beat Illinois and win at Hawaii for a second consecutive bowl bid and fifth in 10 years. Most teams need six wins to be eligible for a bowl, but Northwestern needs seven because it plays 12 games.

“That’s the way it is. There’s no alternative,” said Noah Herron, who ran for 156 yards and a score in 23 carries. “If we want to play postseason ball, we have to get two.”

The Wolverines set an NCAA record by averaging 111,025 fans a game at Michigan Stadium.

Iowa 29, Minneapolis 27 -- The Golden Gophers’ Rhys Lloyd missed a 51-yard field-goal attempt with 28 seconds remaining at Minneapolis, and the Hawkeyes (8-2, 6-1), who finished with only six rushing yards, won their sixth in a row. The last four have been by a total of 16 points.

Laurence Maroney rushed 19 times for 156 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, and Marion Barber III carried 29 times for 167 yards for the Gophers (6-5, 3-5). Barber surpassed 1,000 yards for the second consecutive season, joining Maroney as the first pair of teammates to accomplish that in NCAA history.

Purdue 24, Ohio State 17 -- Kyle Orton, in a relief role, threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Keller with 2:17 to play to lift the Boilermakers (6-4, 3-4) to victory at West Lafayette, Ind.

It was career victory No. 100 for Coach Joe Tiller. Taylor Stubblefield had 10 catches for Purdue and will need six in the regular-season finale against Indiana to break the NCAA career record of 300 set by Arnold Jackson of Louisville.

Ohio State (6-4, 3-4) had four turnovers, including three in the fourth quarter.

Penn State 22, Indiana 18 -- The Nittany Lions (3-7, 1-6) stopped the Hoosiers (3-7, 1-6) four times from the one-yard line in the final two minutes at Bloomington, Ind., to end a six-game losing streak. Penn State has not lost seven in a row since 1931. The victory ended a 10-game skid on the road.