Ohio State vs. Michigan State final score: Bucks win, but shots still to be fired?

Over the weekend, it was reported that Ohio State might have provided late and allegedly doctored game film to Michigan State. The Spartans filed a Big Ten complaint on the matter, and not much else was said, other than a former Florida staffer saying that Urban Meyer never doctored film while there. On Tuesday, there’s a bit of fallout, as UCF head football coach George O’Leary revealed in a press conference that Nebraska asked them for their Ohio State film.

From Rivals.com:

Based on postgame developments, Ohio State-Michigan State might’ve been the most taxing game of the year. We have Ohio State accusing the Spartans’ Jack Allen of eye-gouging, MSU briefly claiming it had gotten doctored game film from the Buckeyes, and whatever’s coming next.

Gholston went back into the game shortly after, with Heather Cox reporting Michigan State’s assessment: he’d just had his wind knocked out. He was not hit in the lungs. He was hit square in the brain.

Well, it didn’t take long for Ohio St. to fire back at Michigan St. with a complaint of their own, following allegations that Urban Meyer’s team handed over game film late and, on top of that, doctored it beforehand. Now, the Buckeyes have turned in a video to the Big Ten in which a Michigan St. player appears to gouge the eyes of an Ohio St. player, according to the Detroit Free Press.

We’ve got the video embed below, though it looks as though it’s some kind of low quality camera pointed at some kind of low quality TV. Hankins is the player on the bottom of the pile.

Over the weekend, reports surfaced saying Ohio State got its game film to Michigan State late and that the Spartans at one point had found the film to be doctored in some way. Jeremy Fowler of CBS Sports is now reporting that a former Florida staffer has said that he never saw this happen at Florida while Meyer was in charge:

The report goes on to note that such a thing is not unheard of, and that it’s not always something that a head coach has anything to do with.

Ohio St. didn’t come away with the prettiest win on Saturday, scoring in just two of the four quarters, but the Buckeyes still notched the victory.

Buckeyes fans like Matt Brown, over at Land-Grant Holy Land, SB Nation’s Buckeyes blog, give Ohio St.‘s defense a lot of credit for the win:

Ohio State had an early touchdown thanks to Jordan Hall plunging it in from one yard. After the Buckeyes and Spartans traded a few field goals, Michigan State took the lead thanks to an impressive moment from Keith Mumphery, taking a pass and eluding and breaking tackler after tackler on the Buckeye defense. Trailing 13-10, Miller responded minutes later by hitting Devin Smith in stride with a 63 yard score to give Ohio State the lead for good.

Miller hurt himself after a Michigan State fumble that originally incorrectly ruled the Ohio State quarterback down by contact, but he would come back and help the Buckeyes run out the clock in the fourth quarter. Miller finished with 315 total yards, with 179 coming through the air and 136 on the ground.

Ohio State eventually provided the game film on Thursday, and when they did it had reportedly been significantly altered. Narduzzi had the following to say about the state of the footage they received (via the Detroit Free Press):

The matter will likely not be dealt with by the Big Ten, as the Free Press is also reporting that the two universities have already dealt with the matter between themselves. They had no word on any details of the meeting between Gene Smith and Mark Hollis on the matter.

On third down, just inside Michigan State territory, Miller scrambled to his left and ran for a first down, but took a hit in the process and went down clutching his left leg. He appeared to twist his left knee awkwardly as he went down.

On the play, Miller put the ball on the turf, but was originally called down by contact. After an official review, it was determined that Miller fumbled the ball, and that Michigan State recovered. That led to a field goal for Sparty, and Ohio State now leads 17-16.

The football touchdown for Michigan State University is considered a rarity, after the Spartans didn’t score one for three quarters as they struggled to defeat rival* Eastern Michigan (*confirmation pending) last week, and scored 3 points against a private Bible college in Indiana the previous week.

Not to be outdone, Ohio State would also throw the ball for a touchdown pass, and now lead 17-13. Barn burner!

There was no word on the severity of Jackson’s injury.

In an early clash of two of the Big Ten’s top teams, No. 20 Michigan State hosts No. 15 Ohio State Saturday at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. Michigan State and Ohio State are the two highest-ranked Big Ten teams in the most recent AP Poll. The game will be the first in the Big Ten for new OSU head coach Urban Meyer.

Michigan State is 3-1 almost exclusively on the play of its defense. The Spartans are eleventh nationally in scoring defense through four games, and have allowed 20 points only once. The offense has managed to generate over 400 yards per game, but is averaging only 21 points per game and scored nearly half its points in a blowout win over Central Michigan.

The Ohio State Buckeyes cannot win the Big Ten championship this season, but they can have a say in who does. Oddsmakers seem to be saying it doesn’t matter what they do, because they will not beat Michigan State anyway.

They’ll try to their the conference race Saturday when they visit East Lansing to take on the Spartans in the conference opener for both teams Saturday (3:30 pm ET, ABC).

I like the card for Week 5 a whole lot, so let’s get to it.

Stanford at Washington +7: Stanford is overvalued after a win over USC. Washington isn’t anything special, but I am not convinced Stanford will blow out the Huskies, because the Cardinal just don’t score all that much.