BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Connor Cook threw three touchdown passes, Jeremy Langford ran for three more scores and No. 8 Michigan State scored the final 35 points Saturday in a 56-17 rout at Indiana.
Cook finished with 332 yards, Langford and Nick Hill each topped 100 yards on the ground and Tony Lippett had 123 yards receiving as coach Mark Dantonio moved into a tie for second on the school’s all-time victory list with No. 70.
The Spartans (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) have won five straight overall, 13 consecutive games over conference foes and tied the school record with an eighth straight road win in league play.
The Hoosiers (3-4, 0-3) also had a scary moment when left tackle Jason Spriggs was carted off the field with 4:54 to play and taken away in an ambulance. Team officials didn’t have an immediate update on the injury.
Indiana lost its second straight as Tevin Coleman extended the nation’s longest active streak of consecutive 100-yard games to nine.
The Spartans trailed 17-14 with 5:25 left in the first half but scored twice before halftime and quickly closed it out in the second half.
It was a huge day for the Spartans’ offense, which had 19 plays of 10 or more yards and had series of circus catches including Lippett’s sliding 41-yard over-the-shoulder reception.
At times, though, the defending Rose Bowl champs struggled. They gave up a season-high 213 yards rushing, allowed runs of 75, 65 and 30 yards, and Coleman became the first 100-yard runner against Michigan State this season.
He ran 15 times for 132 yards though his school-record streak of 15 consecutive games with a rushing score ended. True freshman Zander Diamont finished 5 of 15 for 11 yards in his first college start. Indiana lost its top two quarterbacks, Nate Sudfeld (separated shoulder and Chris Covington (torn ACL), during a three-day span earlier this week.
Langford got things started with a 32-yard TD run. After Coleman’s 65-yard burst set up Griffin Oakes for a 27-yard field goal, Josiah Price snared a 10-yard TD pass from Cook to make it 14-3.
Indiana’s Shane Wynn answered by taking a reverse and running through three Spartans defenders near midfield for a 75-yard TD that cut the gap to 14-10. When Tegray Scales’ picked off Cook, Diamont scooted around the right side for an easy 9-yard TD run and 17-14 lead with 5:25 left in the first half.
Michigan State had had enough.
Langford capped a three-play, 75-yard drive with an 8-yard TD run, and Cook closed out the first half with 14-yard TD pass to Macgarrett Kings Jr. to make it 28-17. The Spartans sealed it with a 4-yard shovel pass for a TD from Cook to R.J. Shelton and Langford’s 12-yard scoring early in the fourth.
Langford finished with 21 carries for 109 yards, while Hill added 178 yards on 16 carries.
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