The Wolverine Now

Nov. 3, 2013 T By John Borton he rain poured down on Spartan Stadium on a miserably gloomy afternoon. The cloudburst didn't come close to representing the toughest washout for the visiting team. The flood took the form of the Michigan State defense, which battered and sacked Devin Gardner seven times, drowned UM's running game in a program-recordlow minus-48 yards, and generally sucked the Wolverines to the depths in a 29-6 win. The Spartans out-gained the Wolverines 394-168, out-rushed them 148-negative 48, out-passed them 252-216, and simply out-muscled them in a win that all but takes Michigan (6-2, 2-2) out of the Legends Division race. Michigan State (8-1, 5-0) took clear control of a race that has it on a collision course with Nebraska in Lincoln in two weeks. The Spartans warmed up with collisions aplenty. They played the Wolverines to a 6-6 standoff through the first 27 minutes of action, both defenses containing Gardner (14-of-27, 210 yards) and Spartans signalcaller Connor Cook (18-of-33, 252 yards, one touchdown) with some help from the elements. From that point on, it was all MSU, much to the delight of 76,306 fans in the stadium. The Spartans reeled off 23 straight points for the final margin, their biggest in the series since 1967. Gardner didn't finish the game, giving way to freshman Shane Morris in the closing moments. "He got pounded a little bit," U-M head coach Brady Hoke said. "He was a warrior WashedWolverines In A Soaker, 29-6 Away Spartans Overwhelm "It's holding the rope, on both sides of the ball," linebacker Desmond Morgan insisted. "It's a team sport for a reason. I can speak more on behalf of the defense. I know we had opportunities to hold up our end, and capitalize, and stop them on some key third downs. We didn't do it, and obviously, that's going to hurt you." This one hurt more and more, as the game went on. Michigan came out aggressively, Gardner connecting with fifth-year se- 29 Redshirt junior quarterback Devin Gardner was sacked seven times for a loss of 49 yards, and overall he totaled 18 rushing attempts for minus-46 yards in the loss to Michigan State. photo by lon horwedel out there that last drive before the interception at the end, did a nice job getting us down the field, had taken a lot of shots earlier in the game. He was just a little bit worn out." The Spartans wore Michigan out on both sides of the ball, consistently thwarting U-M's offensive opportunities with pressure, while banging away until the Wolverines reeled on defense. 6 nior wideout Jeremy Gallon on a 35-yard play-action pass on the very first play of the game. He hit Gallon (five catches, 67 yards) twice more on the drive, setting up junior Matt Wile's 49-yard field goal in a pouring rain, putting U-M up, 3-0, less than five minutes in. MSU answered with a big play of its own, Cook firing a throwback pass to uncovered fullback Trevon Pendleton, who rumbled 49 yards. That set up Michael Geiger's 40-yard field goal at the 9:10 mark of the first quarter. Both teams then settled into a defensive drama in the drizzle, unable to cash in until Geiger banged through a 44-yard field goal at the 11:19 mark of the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Spartans kept thwarting U-M drives by swarming Gardner under a sea of green, with four sacks in the opening quarter alone. The Wolverines moved into MSU ter-

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