Michigan's defense dominated the second half while Michigan State's offense struggled, and the Wolverines beat the Spartans 29-7 at Michigan Stadium on Saturday night.
The Wolverines were powered by Blake Corum's 177 rushing yards and Jake Moody's five field goals in the win.
Both teams had tough first drives, with Michigan State getting a couple of penalties and ending up with a 3rd and 29, forcing them to punt.
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Michigan took over and started moving down the field, but a pass from J.J. McCarthy to Cornelius Johnson ended up with Johnson fumbling and the Spartans recovering.
MSU then went 3 and out and Michigan took over, getting into the red zone quickly but unable to convert, ending with a field goal to take a 3-0 lead.
Michigan State came back strong and fast, going six plays for 75 yards and ending with a touchdown. Payton Thorne had two big passes, one for 29 yards to Keon Coleman and another 26-yard pass to Coleman for a touchdown, giving the Spartans the lead and the first touchdown of the game.
The Wolverines responded quickly on their ensuing drive, with McCarthy and Blake Corum leading the team down the field. The drive ended with a 2-yard touchdown pass from McCarthy to Croum for Michigan to take the lead back 10-7.
Midway through the second, Michigan drove down the field for a long drive – 15 plays and 86 yards over the course of more than six minutes – but wasn't able to get a touchdown and had to settle for a field goal.
Michigan got the ball to start the second half and drove down the field to Michigan State's 21-yard line, but couldn't score a touchdown and settled for a field goal to take a 16-7 lead.
After stopping the Spartans, Michigan got the ball back and went down the field, but was unable to score a touchdown again, settling for another Blake Corum field goal from 33 yards.
Just after the start of the fourth quarter, Moody made his fifth field goal – this time from 54 yards – for Michigan to take a 22-7 lead.
The Michigan defense held Michigan State again, and for the second straight drive, Michigan State's punter had trouble with the snap and was taken down at the MSU 8-yard line.
The Wolverines responded quickly with Corum running for 8 yards on two plays ending with a touchdown and a 29-7 lead.
Michigan State struggled in the second half. With less than six minutes left in the game, the Spartans got the ball back but had -1 yard of offense to that point in the second half, but Thorne had a 51-yard pass to Coleman that got them in the positive on offense.
As the Spartans got near the endzone, Thorne threw an interception to Rod Moore which gave Michigan back the ball.
