Michigan State 35, Purdue 31
When: 12:00 PM ET, Saturday, November 20, 2010
Where: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, Michigan
Temperature:
39°
Head Official:
Scott McElwee
Attendance:
71111
By SportsDirect Inc.
Kirk Cousins threw three touchdowns and ran for the game-winning score with 4:32 left as No. 11 Michigan State kept its Big Ten title dream afloat by rallying for a 35-31 victory over Purdue on Saturday.
Chris Norman’s interception of Rob Henry set up Cousins’ 3-yard score that put the Spartans ahead for good. Michigan State outscored Purdue 22-3 in the final quarter.
Mark Dell caught a pair of touchdowns for the Spartans (10-1, 6-1 Big Ten), who kept their hopes of winning the Big Ten outright for the first time since 1988 by overcoming a 15-point second-half deficit.
Michigan State trailed 28-13 after three quarters, but Cousins began the comeback by hitting B.J. Cunningham for a 5-yard score with 10:55 left in the fourth. He then capped a 7-play, 69-yard drive with a 9-yard score to Dell that made it 31-28 with 6:54 left.
Cousins finished 28 of 37 for 276 yards and an interception.
Henry was 16 of 26 for 189 yards and two touchdown and two interceptions for the Boilermakers (4-7, 2-5), who have lost five straight.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
Purdue |
|
Michigan State |
Keith Carlos
|
Player |
Edwin Baker
|
6 |
Attempts |
16 |
103 |
Yards |
90 |
17.2 |
Avg Yards |
5.6 |
1 |
Touchdowns |
1 |
0 |
Long |
0 |
Receiving
Purdue |
|
Michigan State |
Cortez Smith
| Player |
Mark Dell
|
3 |
Receptions |
8 |
83 |
Yards |
108 |
27.7 |
Avg Yards |
13.5 |
1 |
Touchdowns |
2 |
0 |
Long |
0 |
Team Stats Summary
|
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
Purdue
|
378 |
189 |
189 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1.0 |
0 |
Michigan State
|
381 |
95 |
286 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0.0 |
0 |