Michigan nips Michigan State in OT 34-31

By Darrell Laurant  |   Saturday, October 01, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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Remember all the people who were talking last week about how the records
and numbers don't mean anything when the Michigan Wolverines meet the Michigan State Spartans? They were right.

And those Michigan Wolverine fans who kept saying: "Just wait until we get Mike Hart
back in the lineup?" They were right, too.

High-profile quarterbacks Chad Henne (Michigan) and Drew Stanton (MSU) both
kept the chains moving briskly Saturday, Stanton throwing for 279 yards and
Henne for 254. But it was Wolverine RB Hart, who had missed the last three
games with a hamstring pull, who tipped the balance, rushing for 220 yards
and a touchdown in Michigan's 34-31 overtime victory.

In the end, however, the epic struggle in East Lansing was decided not by
passes or runs, but by the feet of place kickers John Goss and Garrett Rivas.
Michigan State's Goss missed a 38-yard field in overtime. Rivas, kicking on third down,
nailed a 38-yarder that muddled the Big Ten race even more.

Chad Henne threw three early TD passes to Jason Avant, Mario Manningham and Brian
Thompson, while Stanton rushed for one score and connected with Kerry Reed
on a 61-yard bomb. Yet Henne almost wound up as the goat when the Wolverine
sophomore was sacked in the end zone by Clifton Ryan with 6:43 left in the
game and upchucked the football. The Spartans' Domata Peko fell on it for a
touchdown, and Goss extra point tied the score and forced overtime.

The Michigan State Spartans got the ball first in the extra period, but two incomplete
passes by Stanton forced Goss to try the long field goal. After Henne
completed a short toss to Avant and Hart was stopped for a yard gain,
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr made the decision to send Rivas onto the field for what proved to be the winning field goal.

11th-ranked MSU is now 4-1 and Michigan is 3-2. Both are now 1-1 now in league play.
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