BIG TEN Michigan routs Northwestern

John Navarre passed for 288 yards and two touchdowns in the 41-10 win.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
EVANSTON, Ill. -- John Navarre passed for 288 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 5 Michigan forced three turnovers in a 41-10 win over Northwestern on Saturday.
Navarre led the Wolverines (9-2, 6-1 Big Ten) to a 24-point second quarter with TD passes to Braylon Edwards and Jason Avant, who made a spectacular, one-handed grab to give Michigan a 31-3 lead at halftime.
Navarre completed his first eight passes and led the Wolverines into scoring position on every possession of the first half except for the final series -- when Michigan let the clock run down before halftime.
Navarre completed 22-of-31 passes before leaving with the rest of the starters in the third quarter. The senior quarterback needs three touchdown passes to become Michigan's career leader. Elvis Grbac owns the record with 71.
Michigan put its starters back in for a series with about nine minutes left after Brandon Horn scored Northwestern's first touchdown to make it 34-10.
Wolverines running back Chris Perry had touchdown runs of 2 and 1 yards and rushed for 122 yards. He also had five catches for 50 yards.
Northwestern (5-6, 3-4) was held to just 261 yards on offense and needed more than a quarter to get its second first down.
Iowa 40, Minnesota 22
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Iowa forced five turnovers and Nate Kaeding tied his own school record with four field goals.
Thanks to the turnovers, No. 20 Iowa (8-3, 4-3) won easily despite giving up 563 yards. No. 19 Minnesota (9-3, 5-3), playing its regular season finale, lost three fumbles after driving deep into Iowa territory -- one when Laurence Maroney was about to score.
Nathan Chandler threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Ramon Ochoa and scored on a 2-yard run for Iowa, while Jermelle Lewis ran 34 yards for a touchdown with the help of a downfield block from Ochoa.
Kaeding kicked a 55-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in the first half, tying the longest of his career, and added kicks of 27, 33 and 38 yards. It was the fourth time he has kicked four in a game.
Minnesota's Asad Abdul-Khaliq, returning after hurting his left shoulder against Wisconsin a week ago, became the school's career leader in total offense but lost three fumbles and threw an interception. He threw for 388 yards but had no touchdown passes.
Adding to the Gophers' difficulties, they played most of the game without leading rusher Marion Barber III, who came in with 1,134 yards. Barber left with a groin injury after gaining 25 yards on the Gophers' first two plays and did not return.
Wisconsin 56, Michigan St. 21
MADISON, Wis. -- Lee Evans tied the Big Ten record with five touchdown catches in Wisconsin's rout of 21st-ranked Michigan State.
Evans, whose five TD receptions tied the Big Ten mark set in 1993 by Minnesota's Omar Douglas, caught 10 passes for a school-record 258 yards. He teamed with Jim Sorgi on TD plays of 9, 75, 18, 70 and 18 yards.
Sorgi, who completed 16-of-24 passes for 380 yards, became the first Wisconsin quarterback to throw for four or more touchdowns in consecutive weeks. Both he and Evans were out of the game by early in the fourth quarter.
Their big performances helped the Badgers snap a three-game losing streak and send the Spartans to their third straight loss. Both teams are 7-4 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten.
Dwayne Smith, who replaced Booker Stanley (knee) on the first series, ran 21 times for 207 yards and three touchdowns, giving the Badgers a 200-yard receiver and 200-yard runner in the same game for just the second time in school history.
Evans' 258 yards receiving topped Al Toon's record of 252 set against Purdue in 1983. His 12 TDs this season and 26 for his career are both school records, too.