Donovan Edwards rushed for 185 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries to lead No. 2 Michigan to a 43-22 win over Purdue in the Big Ten championship game on Saturday in Indianapolis.
J.J. McCarthy threw for 161 yards and three touchdown passes for Michigan (13-0, 9-0 Big Ten), which won its second straight league title.
"It's beyond culture," Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said during the postgame celebration. "It's a brotherhood amongst the staff and amongst the players. It's love. It's perseverance. It's been great love and we're happy to be back-to-back champs."
Mitchell Fineran kicked five field goals for Purdue.
"Field goals aren't going to be good enough to win those type of games," Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm said.
Purdue quarterback Aidan O'Connell finished 32-of-47 passing for 366 yards and two interceptions.
Leading 14-13 at halftime, Michigan extended its lead to 28-13 on a pair of touchdowns in the first five minutes of the third quarter.
Four plays after Edwards ran for 60 yards to the Purdue 15, Kalel Mullings scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Wolverines a 21-13 lead with 12:25 left in the third quarter.
The Wolverines then went up 28-13 with 10:32 remaining in the third on a 27-yard touchdown run by Edwards.
Purdue cut Michigan's lead to 28-19 on a pair of field goals by Fineran, the second being a 27-yarder with 12:37 remaining.
But following an interception by Will Johnson that gave Michigan the ball at the Purdue 16-yard line, the Wolverines took a 36-19 lead with 9:07 remaining on 17-yard touchdown pass from McCarthy to Ronnie Bell and a two-point conversion pass from McCarthy to Luke Schoonmaker.
Michigan took a 7-0 lead with 9:11 remaining in the first quarter on a 25-yard touchdown pass from McCarthy to Colston Loveland.
Purdue answered, going 92 yards in 10 plays and tying the game at 7-7 with 4:13 to go in the first on a 1-yard touchdown run by Devin Mockobee.
Purdue (8-5, 6-3) took a 10-7 lead with 13:39 left in the second quarter on a 33-yard field goal by Fineran, but Michigan grabbed a 14-10 lead with 7:05 to go in the first half on a 7-yard touchdown pass from McCarthy to Schoonmaker.
The score was set up after Purdue jumped offsides on fourth-and-6 when Michigan lined up for a 48-yard field-goal attempt.
The Wolverines then sent the offense back on the field and converted on fourth-and-1 to keep the drive going.
--Field Level Media
Purdue | Michigan | |
Devin Mockobee | Player | Donovan Edwards |
17 | Attempts | 25 |
71 | Yards | 185 |
4.2 | Avg Yards | 7.4 |
1 | Touchdowns | 1 |
0 | Long | 0 |
Purdue | Michigan | |
Charlie Jones | Player | Ronnie Bell |
13 | Receptions | 5 |
162 | Yards | 67 |
12.5 | Avg Yards | 13.4 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
0 | Long | 0 |