BIG TEN ROUNDUP : Michigan Has a Surprise for Iowa, 43-24

Michigan opponents have enough to worry about without Coach Gary Moeller coming up with a secret weapon.

Elvis Grbac threw three touchdown passes, two to Desmond Howard, and little-used reserve Jesse Johnson ran for 168 yards and two scores as the seventh-ranked Wolverines rallied past ninth-ranked Iowa, 43-24, Saturday at Iowa City, Iowa, to open the Big Ten season.

“Jesse Johnson came in and it was a good change of pace for us,” Moeller said. “He’s a quick back. He hit the holes a little quicker. He’s not an easy guy to find behind that line.”

Johnson came into the game with seven yards in two carries but carried the ball 22 times against Iowa (3-1).

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry was impressed with the entire Michigan running game, which had 371 yards, 173 more than its average.

“I think their backs ran extremely tough and hard,” said Fry, whose team ran for only 77 yards after averaging 231 the first three games.

“They caused us to make some mistakes, and they made a lot of big plays. We missed more tackles than any Iowa team I can recall.”

The 43 points were the most an Iowa team has given up to Michigan since Fry took over the program in 1979.

“Obviously, I’m very disappointed with the loss, but I still think we have a fine football team,” Fry said.

The Wolverines overcame an 18-7 deficit for a 19-18 halftime lead and Grbac widened the margin to 26-18 in the third quarter when he connected with Howard on a 20-yard touchdown pass to cap a 64-yard drive.

Howard caught a two-yard scoring pass from Grbac at the end of a 97-yard drive to make it 33-18 early in the final quarter after Johnson’s 56-yard run that put the ball at the Iowa 21.

J.D. Carlson, who missed two field-goal attempts and had one blocked, finally connected on a 25-yarder on Michigan’s next possession to give his team a 36-18 lead.

Iowa quarterback Matt Rodgers cut the lead to 36-24 by running eight yards for a score, but the Hawkeyes failed on one of three two-point conversions they missed.

Johnson, who scored on a 28-yard screen pass 31 seconds before halftime, ran 17 yards for Michigan’s last score with 34 seconds left.

Iowa trailed, 7-0, in the first quarter after Michigan’s Deon Johnson blocked a punt and David Ritter ran it 21 yards for the score. It was the first touchdown scored against the Hawkeyes in the opening quarter this season.

The Hawkeyes took the lead with three touchdowns in the second quarter.

No. 14 Ohio State 31, Wisconsin 16--Raymont Harris ran for two touchdowns and the Buckeyes shut down the Badgers’ rushing game before 94,221 at Columbus, Ohio, the largest crowd in the history of Ohio Stadium.

Harris opened and closed the scoring for the Buckeyes (4-0), who have won their first four games for the first time since 1984, on touchdown runs of one and six yards.

Terrell Fletcher ran for 29 yards on Wisconsin’s second play of the game, but the Badgers (3-1) had minus one yard in 17 rushes the rest of the day.

Kent Graham threw a touchdown pass and directed Ohio State to a 17-2 lead midway through the fourth quarter, but he threw an interception and lost a fumble on the Buckeyes’ first two possessions of the second half.

Graham was relieved by Kirk Herbstreit and then Joe Pickens, who each led the Buckeyes to touchdowns in the closing minutes.

Jay Macias came off the bench to complete six of 11 passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns in the final quarter for Wisconsin after the game was decided.

No. 22 Illinois 24, Minnesota 3--Fullback Kameno Bell ran for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and the Illini wore down the Gophers at Champaign, Ill.

Bell, who carried 16 times for 85 yards, scored on runs of one and nine yards to break open a 10-3 defensive struggle.

Illinois (3-1) built a 10-0 lead on Chris Richardson’s 28-yard field goal in the first quarter and Steve Feagin’s five-yard touchdown run at the end of a 98-yard drive in the second quarter.

The Illini (3-1) held the Gophers to 70 yards in 33 carries.

Minnesota (1-3) trimmed the deficit to 10-3 with a 38-yard field goal by Aaron Piepkorn in the second quarter, but the Gophers seldom threatened and managed just 70 yards rushing in 31 carries.

Purdue 17, Northwestern 14--Joe O’Leary’s 26-yard field goal with 30 seconds left lifted the Boilermakers over the Wildcats at Evanston, Ill.

The Boilermakers (2-2) drove 72 yards to the winning score, with Eric Hunter completing passes of 27 yards to Ernest Calloway and 16 and 31 yards to Rodney Dennis.

Earlier in the quarter, Brian Leahy attempted a 52-yard field goal for Northwestern (1-3), but it fell short.

Trailing, 7-0, at halftime, Northwestern scored two touchdowns within 35 seconds to take the lead. Dennis Lundy ran one yard for a touchdown to tie the score, and after Jason Green recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, Lenn Williams scored on a three-yard run to make it 14-7.

Earl Coleman scored on a two-yard run on the third play of the fourth quarter to get the Boilermakers even following a 31-yard run by Corey Rogers to Northwestern 12.

Rogers scored on a seven-yard run to give Purdue the lead with 1:04 left in the first half.

Indiana 31, Michigan State 0--Trent Green passed for 265 yards and a touchdown, and ran for another score as the Hoosiers trounced the winless Spartans at Bloomington, Ind.

Scott McGowan returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown and Vaughn Dunbar scored on a one-yard run for the Hoosiers (2-1-1), who had lost four consecutive games to the Spartans (0-4).

Green, who completed 20 of 29 passes, rushed for 43 yards, including 15 for a touchdown on Indiana’s first possession of the game.

Green later connected with Thomas Lewis on a 31-yard touchdown pass play to make it 24-0.

Dunbar, who came into the game as the nation’s second-leading rusher at 191 yards a game, finished with only 89.

The shutout left Michigan State with its lowest four-game scoring total (20 points) since 1917, when the Spartans had only 10 points.

Michigan State’s start matched a school record set in 1917 and tied in 1982.