Purdue comeback pushes Spartans further back of the pack

WEST LAFAYETTE (AP) - Purdue coach Joe Tiller was amazed. Imagine how Michigan State's Nick Saban felt.

Purdue, seemingly beaten with two minutes to go, scored two late touchdowns to overtake the Spartans for an improbable, 22-21, victory on Saturday.

"This is about as disappointed as I've ever been as a coach. That's as disappointed as I've ever been for a team," Saban said.

"Divine intervention may have been on our side," Tiller said. "This game also shows why I don't get concerned about statistics except for the points."

Ed Watson had season highs of 115 yards and 24 carries, including a three-yard run for the winning touchdown with 40 seconds to play.

AP PHOTO Tailback Leroy McFadden and Michigan State coughed up their fourth consecutive loss, 22-21, to Purdue after starting the season with five straight victories.

"I went to coach and asked for the play to be called for me. I wanted the opportunity to make the play," said Watson, whose previous high this year was 82 yards. He moved into sixth place past Leroy Keyes on Purdue's career rushing list with 2,183 yards.

Michigan State's Chris Gardner had a field goal attempt blocked and returned for a touchdown with two minutes to play, then missed a 43-yarder with three seconds to play.

"I know exactly what I did. I hit it on the inside of my foot," Gardner said of the latter kick. "Horrible form. I totally choked on the kick."

Purdue (5-1 Big Ten, 7-1 overall) has won seven games in a season for the first time since 1984, and takes on Penn State next week.

Purdue trailed, 21-10, with two minutes to play and appeared doomed as the Spartans (2-4, 5-4) lined up for a field goal that would have padded the margin to 14 points. But Gardner's 39-yard attempt was blocked by Leo Perez and Rosevelt Colvin returned it 62 yards. Adrian Beasley's block cleared the final obstacle to the end zone.

"We called a time out and coach Brock Spack told us that we were going to block the kick and score," Colvin said.

Chris Daniels recovered an on-side kick for Purdue at the Boilermakers 45-yard line after the ball bounced off a Michigan State defender.

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.

"I went from a dumb to an OK game in about two minutes. This is definitely a big highlight of my career," Dicken said.

"I wasn't happy (over being pulled). But he's the coach and I'm the quarterback. I've just been struggling. I don't know why he took me out, but I guess he thought it was time for a switch."

The Spartans, who lost their fourth straight game, helped Purdue by having 12 players on the field for the next play to move the ball to the 2. Dicken lost a yard on a quarterback sneak and Watson then carried two tacklers into the end zone for the score.

Michigan State wasn't finished. The Spartans returned Purdue's squib kick to its 33. Todd Schultz completed passes to Marc Renaud and Gari Scott, moving the ball to Purdue's 33, and an offside penalty gave Michigan State five more yards. Renaud, who had 114 yards on 22 carries, picked up one to set the stage for Gardner's final kick.

After each team took a timeout, Gardner's attempt missed badly short and left.

The Spartans were set back when leading rusher Sedrick Irvin hurt his toe in the first half. Irvin carried only twice for eight yards in the second half with Renaud making up for his absence.

"We're feeling pretty low right now. We've lost four in a row and we're just not used to that,'' he said. ''They made some big plays on special teams, but as a team, we made some critical mistakes."

Wisconsin 13, Iowa 10

Wisconsin snapped an 18-game winless streak against No. 12 Iowa on Saturday, beating the Hawkeyes, 13-10, despite losing their star tailback to 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 (5-1 Big Ten, 8-2 overall) beat a team with a winning record for the first time all year.

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

The Hawkeyes (3-3, 6-3) pulled to 13-10 on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Randy Reiners to wing back 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, misfired from 43 yards out with 3:50 remaining, wasting a 73-yard run by Tavian Banks, who rushed 20 times for 145 yards.

Ohio State 31, Minnesota 3

As No. 7 Ohio State watched one Big Ten blowout unfold on the Metrodome scoreboard, it took care of one of its own.

While Michigan drubbed Penn State, Joe Germaine threw two of his three touchdown passes to David Boston, leading the Buckeyes to a 31-3 win over Minnesota.

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

The victory, coupled with the Wolverines' win, kept Ohio State (5-1, 9-1) in the race for the conference title. The Buckeyes, co-champions with Northwestern last year, visit host 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.

Northwestern 34, Illinois 21

Chris Hamdorf passed for 183 yards and three touchdowns in his first start this season as Northwestern beat Illinois 34-21 and extended the Fighting Illini's losing streak to 15 games.

Hamdorf completed 15 of 19 passes with no interceptions for the Wildcats (2-5, 4-7). Adrian Autry rushed for 111 yards and one touchdown on 26 carries in his sixth 100-yard game this season.

The Wildcats scored 10 of their 20 first-half points after Illinois (0-6, 0-9) mishandled one punt return and fumbled another.

Illinois has lost a school-record tying 15 consecutive games, dating back to Oct. 5, 1996, when the Illini beat Indiana 46-43 in double overtime.

Northwestern led 34-7 in the third quarter on passes of 31 yards and 25 yards from Hamdorf to John Burden, who finished with three receptions for 71 yards.

11-10-97