State Sparties on after OT victory; Ohio State whips Illini

The redshirt freshman tried to play on, but his Indiana teammates saw it was a mistake. Their quarterback couldn't remember the plays.

Indiana coach Cam Cameron had to take Randle El out of the game and Michigan State pulled out a 38-31 win over the Hoosiers in double overtime Saturday.

''Tyrone Browning came off the field and told me that basically Tyrone had to call the plays in the huddle,'' Cameron said.

Still, it was clear that Indiana will be a force to be reckoned with as long as Randle El is around. As he has been in every game this season, Randle El was a man of many talents.

AP PHOTO Wisconsin pointed out that turnovers like the one Donte King recovered for Wisconsin in the first quarter can make the difference in a Big Ten game. Wisconsin won, 31-24.

He was the Hoosiers' leading rusher with 134 yards on 21 carries. Randle El also completed 10 of 16 passes for 147 yards, including a 43-yarder to Levron Williams that got Indiana untracked late in the second quarter.

''Did he play as good as I thought he did?'' Cameron asked rhetorically. ''Antwaan goes down, a play here, a play there ...

''Everybody around the country is going to say, 'Look, Indiana got beat again.' But we're not going to measure ourselves like that. We're a young team and as long as we stick together, we'll be fine.''

Bill Burke and Sedrick Irvin pulled the game out for the Spartans, who went from a 16-0 lead to a 24-16 deficit while Randle El was doing his magic.

Burke threw for a career-high 324 yards and two touchdowns, including a 25-yard strike to Plaxico Burress in the first overtime. Irvin rushed for 130 yards and won the game with a 25-yard scoring run in the second overtime.

''There was nothing anyone could tell us,'' Burke said. ''We knew what we needed to do, we just had to go out and make the plays. I just told myself not to try to create something out of nothing - I had to just execute the plays that were called, and stay in the system.''

Jay Rodgers, who lost the starting job to Randle El in the first week of the season, hit tight end Craig Osika for a 15-yard touchdown in the first overtime.

''We're this close to being 5-0,'' Rodgers said, holding his thumb and index finger inches apart. ''We're this close to being a great team.''

Paul Edinger kicked field goals of 48, 47 and 22 yards for Michigan State (1-1 Big Ten, 3-3).

Frankie Franklin, Chris Gall and Randle El ran for Indiana touchdowns and Andy Payne kicked a 32-yarder for the Hoosiers (0-2, 2-3).

No. 1 Ohio State 41, Illinois 0

Joe Germaine threw for 307 yards and three touchdowns as No. 1 Ohio State defeated Illinois Saturday.

Ohio State (2-0, 5-0) racked up 24 points and 326 yards in the first half as Germaine spread his passes among Dee Miller, David Boston, Reggie Germany and John Lumpkin - with the latter three scoring touchdowns.

Germaine was 17-of-28 for the game, and Miller had 99 receiving yards and Boston 96.

The defense scored a touchdown, kept constant pressure on Illinois quarterback Kurt Kittner and his receivers, and limited Illinois (1-2, 2-4) to 57 yards rushing.

Ohio State got the only points it needed on its first possession of the game, a 40-yard field goal by Dan Stultz at the end of a nine-play, 59-yard drive.

Kittner, who was 19-of-36 for 156 yards, had a number of passes batted down or tipped. Rocky Harvey, third in the Big Ten with 99 rushing yards a game, was limited to 29.

No. 9 Wisconsin 31, Purdue 24

Mike Echols had an interception in the end zone and Jamar Fletcher had a 52-yard interception return for a touchdown as Wisconsin (3-0, 6-0) overcame a record-setting effort by Drew Brees.

Brees tied an NCAA record with 55 completions - 18 to Randall Lane - and set an NCAA record with 83 attempts. He threw for 494 yards but had four passes intercepted.

Iowa 26, Northwestern 24

Randy Reiners, making his first start since the season opener, threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns to lift Iowa to a 26-24 victory over Northwestern.

Reiners, a junior who hasn't played since Iowa beat Central Michigan on Sept. 5, started in place of freshman Kyle McCann, who was out with an ankle injury.

The Hawkeyes (2-1, 3-3) ended a three-game losing streak against Northwestern (0-3, 2-4), a team they had beaten 21 consecutive times before those losses.

Reiners, who started four of Iowa's last five games last season before losing his job to McCann, completed 17-of-30 passes and had an interception.

No. 13 Penn St. 27, Minnesota 17

Minnesota made things tough for No. 13 Penn State again this year, just not tough enough.

The Nittany Lions, who rallied for a one-point victory at home last season, broke open a close game with Corey Jones' 65-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter of a sloppy victory.

Penn State had three lost fumbles, including two on botched snaps by Kevin Thompson, two missed field goals by Travis Forney and a dropped touchdown pass by Bruce Branch.

But the Nittany Lions (1-1, 4-1) also got a career-best four field goals from Forney, an awesome performance from their defense and Jones' game-breaking catch after the Golden Gophers (0-2, 3-2) closed to 16-10.

10-12-98