The Boilermakers almost gave away the Rose Bowl last week, but they certainly didn’t make that mistake twice.
No. 17 Purdue (8-3, 6-2 Big Ten) clinched a Rose Bowl date with the Washington Huskies by beating Indiana (3-8, 2-6) 41-13 Saturday at a raucous Ross-Ade Stadium.
Drew Brees threw for one touchdown and ran for another to lead Purdue, becoming the first quarterback to take the Boilermakers to Pasadena, Calif., since Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Bob Griese did 34 years ago.
“Boilermaker fans, had you ever thought we could go to the Rose Bowl?” Brees shouted to fans as he accepted the Big Ten trophy in an end-zone presentation. “This is, by far, the greatest moment of my life so far.”
Montrell Lowe ran for 208 yards and four touchdowns, helping keep Antwaan Randle El and the Hoosiers’ explosive offense off the field for much of the evening.
“They just pounded us,” Hoosiers coach Cam Cameron said. “They ran three plays at us in the second half, that was it. In my mind, that’s been one of the better offensive lines in this league the last two or three years.”
MICHIGAN 38, OHIO STATE 26: John Cooper’s nightmares probably all look similar: Maize and Blue, over and over.
No. 19 Michigan continued its stunning domination of its archrival, winning at Ohio State (8-3, 5-3) and denying the No. 12 Buckeyes a share of the Big Ten title.
Ohio State coach John Cooper is now 2-10-1 in his career against the Wolverines (8-3, 6-2), who claimed a share of the Big Ten championship with the win.
“My record against Michigan speaks for itself. Obviously, it’s awful,” Cooper said. “To play here at home and to have a chance to beat Michigan one time, obviously I’m disappointed.”
Michigan overcame its trend of blowing large leads by protecting a 19-point advantage, allowing the Buckeyes back into the game but never relinquishing the lead after going up early.
“We never get comfortable,” tailback Anthony Thomas said. “We’ve seen things happen.”
MINNESOTA 27, IOWA 24: For a while, it looked as if no Big Ten team wanted the conference’s sixth bowl bid.
But with Illinois and Michigan State both losing their games, Minnesota stormed back against the suddenly red-hot Hawkeyes (3-9, 3-5) to earn a probable bid to the Micronpc.com Bowl in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
With the win, Minnesota (6-5, 4-4) joined Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin as the Big Ten teams expecting bowl bids.
The two quarterbacks in the game had vastly different afternoons, with the Golden Gophers’ Travis Cole throwing for 299 yards and Iowa’s Kyle McCann being sacked eight times.
PENN STATE 42, MICHIGAN STATE 23: Nittany Lions fans can breathe a sigh of relief — the 2000 season is finally over. And amazingly, it ended on a positive note for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions (5-7, 4-4) won’t go to a bowl for the first time since 1983, but they did control their last game against Michigan State.
Penn State quarterback Rashard Casey threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more in the win.
The Spartans (5-6, 2-6) had a shot to qualify for a bowl game but failed to play as well as they did the week before in topping Big Ten co-champions Purdue.
Penn State coach Joe Paterno recorded his 322nd career victory to finish the year just one win shy of Bear Bryant’s major-college record.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
