Coaches Urban Meyer of No. 14 Ohio State and Mark Dantonio of No. 20 Michigan State coached their squads to an instant classic today, as the Buckeyes defeated the Spartans 31-27 in a game that came down to the wire.
Buckeyes' sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller completed 15 of 25 passes for 173 yards and rushed for 67 yards on 9 carries. Senior running back Jordan Hall added 125 yards on the ground while carrying the ball 19 times.
The Buckeyes were down by seven points 10-3 at the start of the second quarter, when Miller broke out of the pocket and rushed downfield for a 15-yard touchdown to knotting up the game at 10-10 with nine minutes remaining in the half.
On the next Michigan State drive, Spartan's quarterback Andrew Maxwell led Michigan State 78-yards down the field to regain the lead 17-10. He tossed a 28-yard pass to receiver Bennie Fowler in the corner of the endzone.
Maxwell had a solid game throwing for 281 yards and three touchdowns for the Spartans. But the Spartans' defense had trouble containing the rushing attack of the Buckeyes, as Ohio State rushed for 203 yards.
Michigan also had trouble running the ball on offense as Le'Veon Bell had only 59 yards on 22 carries with no touchdowns. The Spartans also gave up 5 sacks to the Buckeyes defense.
Miller led the Buckeyes downfield for touchdowns on three consecutive drives of 80, 67, 78 yards, to give Ohio State a 31-17 lead going into the fourth quarter. The Buckeyes held on to win the game despite giving up 10 points to the Spartans in the fourth quarter.
The victory was Meyer's first Big Ten conference game at Ohio State. The Buckeyes are not eligible for the Big Ten title. Do you think NCAA Football '13 got today's game right? Comment in the section below. Check out our Madden NFL simulations of Sunday, Monday and Thursday night football games here. Read our review of NCAA Footbal '13 here.