Michigan State 28, Michigan 14: Michigan State Beats Michigan for Fourth Straight Time

The unbeaten Wolverines entered their game against Michigan State with the shine still on the new coach Brady Hoke, a revamped defense that showed signs of cohesion and a No. 11 ranking.

All that optimism might have been premature.

Faced with their most formidable test of the season on Saturday, Michigan fizzled. The Michigan State defense stifled the Wolverines and their elusive quarterback, Denard Robinson, for almost the entire game. Behind a running game that produced 213 yards, No. 23 Michigan State won, 28-14.

It was the fourth consecutive victory in the annual rivalry for Michigan State, the first time that has happened since a four-year run from 1959 to 1962.

For Michigan (6,1, 2-1 Big Ten), the loss marked another false start.

In 2009, the Wolverines started their season with a 4-0 record before losing at Michigan State, 26-20. In 2010, Michigan opened 5-0 before bowing at home to the Spartans, 34-17. Both losses kicked off precipitous declines for the Wolverines.

Through his first six games, Hoke had given the Wolverines’ hungry fan base every reason to believe this year’s 6-0 start was not another fluke. But after the Spartans (5-1, 2-0) bullied Michigan’s defensive line in the decisive third quarter, those concerns emerged anew.

“They were definitely more physical,” Michigan safety Jordan Kovacs said. “They pounded us.”

The Spartans emerged from halftime and methodically drove the field for two third-quarter touchdowns. Running back Edwin Baker did the bulk of the damage, finishing with 26 carries for 167 yards and a score.

For Michigan, the pounding was even worse on the other side of the football. Michigan State’s defense harassed Robinson all afternoon. He was often prevented from scrambling outside the pocket and rarely looked comfortable in it. The Spartans registered seven sacks.

When it was over, Robinson had completed 9 of 24 passes for 123 yards while rushing 18 times for 42 yards and the game’s first touchdown.

Michigan State reserved additional insults for Robinson until the end of the game.

Trailing by 7 points, the Wolverines took possession with 4 minutes 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter. On the first play of the possession, Michigan State flushed Robinson from the pocket. Safety Isaiah Lewis intercepted his pass and returned it 39 yards for the touchdown that secured the Spartans’ victory.

About 8 yards from the end zone, Lewis taunted the downtrodden quarterback with the ball on his way in for the score.

“I thought maybe I shouldn’t have did it,” Lewis said later. “I was hoping they didn’t throw a flag on it. I didn’t mean anything bad. I was just celebrating.”

Officials overlooked the taunt, but not much else. They flagged Michigan State 13 times for 124 yards. Six of those were for personal fouls, unnecessary roughness or roughing the quarterback. On Michigan’s final, frantic possession, Spartans defensive end Marcus Rush slung Robinson to the ground and drew the last of the flags.

Robinson struggled to rise from the field and did not return to the game. Asked if he thought the Spartans had played dirty, Robinson said: “They were playing football. It’s a dirty game.”

Earlier in the game, Michigan State’s William Gholston punched left tackle Taylor Lewan in the face mask.

Although the matchup is not on the same level as Michigan’s rivalry with Ohio State, the rough play reflected the harsher tone that has developed between the Spartans and the Wolverines.

After a Michigan win in 2007 (Michigan’s last win in the series), Wolverines running back Mike Hart said: “Sometimes, you get your little brother excited when you’re playing basketball, let them get the lead. And then you come back.” That comment still reverberates.

And even though they’ve won four straight games, the Spartans still seem to feel disrespected.

“They just think we’re always the lower team, like they’re going to dominate, this and that,” Lewis said. “No matter how many times we beat them, it’s probably going to be like that. Even though we have this fourth win, they’re probably still going to act like they’re better than us.”

He continued: “You see how they didn’t shake our hands after the game? They walked off the field on us. It’s a lack of respect.”

Right now, that is the least of the Spartans’ concerns. Michigan State has notched wins against Ohio State and Michigan already this year, with Wisconsin on deck next Saturday. In East Lansing, there is talk of a Big Ten title.

In Ann Arbor, the loss serves as a reality check. Michigan has a bye next weekend, so any critique of the team’s resilience must wait two weeks.

“It’s easy to say that this is the same Michigan team from the last two years,” Kovacs said, “but I have no doubt in my mind that we’re not. We’re going to improve, learn from this game, and win.”

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USC Beats Cal for 8th Straight Time, 30-9

The Trojans forced five California turnovers and allowed only one touchdown to bail out the offense on a rare off night as USC won its eighth straight game in the series, 30-9 on Thursday.

"It was huge for us as a confidence booster," said linebacker Dion Bailey, who had two interceptions. "We had to come out and show everybody that we aren't as bad a defense as everybody thinks we are. We held them to only nine points. It was huge today. We picked up our offense. Hopefully next week we're firing on all cylinders and we'll be dangerous."

Matt Barkley threw touchdown passes to Marqise Lee and Brandon Carswell for USC (5-1, 3-1 Pac-12), but was held to a season-low 195 yards against a mostly stout Cal defense.

That didn't matter because of USC's own opportunistic defense. After allowing 84 points and 946 yards the previous two games, the Trojans kept Cal (3-3, 0-3) off the scoreboard until late in the third quarter and doubled their turnovers caused this season with three interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

"We needed that," coach Lane Kiffin said. "It was much more important for this team to win like that and have a game like that for confidence after all the things our defense has been hearing about them, staff, players, everybody involved. To come out here and get five turnovers and harass the quarterback all game long was really good."

The main concern for USC was on the health front as the Trojans lost Lee to a right shoulder injury in the first half and leading rusher Marc Tyler to a shoulder injury in the third quarter. Kiffin did not know the extent of the injuries after the game.

Zach Maynard committed four of Cal's five turnovers — surpassing the team's season total coming into the game — and the Bears dropped their sixth straight conference game since late last season. Cal is off to its worst conference start ever under coach Jeff Tedford.

Maynard threw for 294 yards and ran for a touchdown and his half brother, Keenan Allen, had a career-high 13 catches for 160 yards but it wasn't enough to overcome the litany of mistakes.

"You can't beat a good football team like SC when you turn the football over five times, especially down deep in their territory," Tedford said. "There's no question there is some good things, but there are some things that absolutely need to be improved."

This series has been decidedly one-sided ever since Cal upset USC 34-31 in triple overtime back in 2003. The Trojans have won eight straight and it hasn't even been close of late with USC outscoring Cal 125-29 the last four years.

Cal fell behind 23-0 early in the third quarter before the offense finally got going, with Maynard leading the Bears to a field goal and then scoring on a 3-yard run with 6 seconds left in the third to cut it to 23-9.

But Maynard's third interception midway through the fourth quarter led to Curtis McNeal's 2-yard touchdown run that made it 30-9 with 5:14 remaining.

"They played lights out tonight, no doubt about that," Barkley said of his defense. "They really helped us out on the offensive side of the ball. ... We struggled a little bit on offense, but we protected the ball and they didn't. Ultimately that helped us come out on top."

The Bears turned the ball over four times in the first half, including three alone by Maynard, and failed to convert a fake punt as they fell behind 20-0 at the break.

It wasn't quite as bad for the Bears as the game a year ago in Los Angeles when USC led 42-0 at halftime. Cal's defense actually did a decent job defending Barkley and the Trojans' high-powered offense, but USC took advantage of short fields for its scores.

Allen fumbled on Cal's fourth play from scrimmage to set the tone for the game, but the Bears withstood that miscue thanks to an odd play call by Kiffin.

On fourth-and-goal from the 8, the Trojans lined up in an off formation and snapped the ball diagonally to Rhett Ellison, who dropped it for a turnover. Kiffin tried the trick play instead of opting for the easy field goal.

"That's no fun," Kiffin said. "You're on ESPN. You have to do something fun."

The Trojans capitalized on the next turnover as Nick Perry forced a fumble by Maynard that led to Andre Heidari's first field goal.

USC then broke the game open with 17 points in the second quarter, getting a 39-yard TD catch from Lee over fellow freshman Stefan McClure, a field goal after Chris Galippo intercepted Maynard's pass deep in Cal territory and a 7-yard TD pass from Barkley to Carswell after punter Bryan Anger was stopped on a fake that made it 20-0.

Cal's only sustained drive of the half ended in the final minute when Maynard threw into triple coverage and was intercepted in the end zone by Bailey.

"I tried to force the ball on a couple plays," Maynard said. "There's a lot of mental errors. We've got to get better on our check downs and make a better play."

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