Late Saturday afternoon and into the evening, the Big Ten's East Division race began to come into clearer focus. Not at the top, where Ohio State staved off the Gophers' upset bid, but just below, where some surprising shifts were taking place.
In State College, Pa., Penn State — which had a week off to recover from its come-from-ahead, 27-26 loss to Ohio State — found a way to let Michigan State hang around just enough for the Spartans to escape with a 21-17 victory on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Brian Lewerke to Felton Davis with 19 seconds left in the game.
Fast forward to later that night in Ann Arbor, where Michigan faced West-leading Wisconsin in basically an elimination game when it came to College Football Playoff hopes.
Both teams carried one loss into the game, and after the Wolverines dismantled the Badgers 38-13, Wisconsin limped home with a promising season in tatters.
That left us with No. 2 Ohio State (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten), No. 6 Michigan (6-1, 4-0), No. 24 Michigan State (4-1, 2-1) and Maryland (4-2, 2-1) as contenders for the East title. And on Saturday, all eyes will be on the East again with this matchup:
Michigan at Michigan State.
"The way it always has been, the way it is, the way it always will be," Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh said, using his usual economy of words. "Big game."
It's especially big for Michigan and Harbaugh, who has posted 10-3, 10-3 and 8-5 records in his three previous seasons at his alma mater, not exactly a big return on his annual $7.5 million salary. Since the Big Ten split into divisions in 2011 and implemented a championship game, the Wolverines have yet to play in it.
