Michigan State Spartans vs Ohio State Buckeyes Match Player Stats On Oct 01, 2011

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Oct 1, 2011

No. 25 Michigan State’s top-ranked defense held Ohio State scoreless until the final seconds en route to a 10-7 victory on Saturday at Ohio Stadium.

Kirk Cousins threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to BJ Cunningham in the first quarter to give the Spartans a 7-0 halftime lead, and Dan Conroy made a 50-yard field goal late in the third.

It wasn’t much, but it was all the Spartans (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) needed against an Ohio State (3-2, 0-1 Big Ten) offense that struggled to move the football throughout the afternoon. The Buckeyes, who again started freshman Braxton Miller at quarterback, finished with 178 total yards and drove into Michigan State territory just three times all afternoon.

Ohio State was forced to punt on 10 of its 14 possessions, including five of its six in the first half. Joe Bauserman replaced Miller on the Buckeyes’ first possession of the fourth quarter, but was mostly ineffective until the final drive.

But by that point, it was too little, too late.

Bauserman completed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Evan Spencer with 10 seconds left to bring Ohio State within three, but the Buckeyes couldn’t recover the onside kick.

Cousins threw for 250 yards for the Spartans, who won in Columbus for the first time since a 28-24 victory in 1998. Cunningham, the Big Ten leader in receptions, finished with a game-high nine catches for 154 yards.

Ohio State, which lost for the first time in the last eight games against Michigan State, fell to 3-2 on the season after scoring its lowest point total since a 13-6 loss to then-No. 3 Penn State in 2008.