J.J. McCarthy, Donovan Edwards & Will Johnson lead Michigan to Big Ten Championship

AP

Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) is congratulated by Trevor Keegan (77) after throwing a touchdown pass during the first half of the Big Ten championship NCAA college football game against Purdue, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

The Michigan Wolverines are Big Ten Champions. The Wolverines beat the Purdue Boilermakers in the Big Ten Championship Saturday night, finishing the season 13-0 and heading to the College Football Playoff.

It’s not clear who the No. 2 Wolverines will play in the College Football Playoff, but they’ll likely keep the No. 2 ranking with Georgia winning the SEC Championship as well. The playoff semifinals are on New Year’s Eve.

J.J. McCarthy, Donovan Edwards and Will Johnson led the Wolverines to the win. McCarthy threw for three touchdowns, Edwards had a touchdown and Johnson had two interceptions.

Michigan started off the game strong, stopping Purdue on their first drive with a 3-and-out and a loss of 10 yards.

The Wolverines got the ball back and went 55 yards on seven plays, ending with a 25-yard touchdown pass from McCarthy to Colston Loveland to take a 7-0 lead.

Related: Photo gallery: Michigan takes on Purdue in the Big Ten Championship

Purdue came back quickly, going 92 yards down the field in less than five minutes, tying the game on a 1-yard touchdown run from Devin Mockobee.

Michigan was stopped quickly and then Purdue kicked a field goal to take a 10-0 lead, but Michigan went 13 plays and 75 yards to take a 14-10 lead, ending with a McCarthy pass to Luke Schoonmaker for a touchdown.

Purdue kicked another field goal to cut the lead to 14-13, and both teams weren’t able to convert going to halftime.

At the half, McCarthy had 90 passing yards with two touchdowns, but Michigan only had 135 total yards of offense compared to 202 yards for Purdue.

Michigan came out strong in the second half thanks to a 60-yard run from Donovan Edwards, reminiscent of the game against Ohio State, putting the Wolverines in the red zone.

The drive was capped off with a 1-yard touchdown run from Kalel Mullings to take a 21-13 lead.

After stopping Purdue on three plays, Michigan had two huge plays going 67 yards for another touchdown, this time an Edwards run for 27 yards giving them a 28-13 lead.

Purdue took over and started driving down the field with a fake flea flicker, but on the next play, but O’Connell’s pass was intercepted by Will Johnson at the Purdue 1-yard line to give the Wolverines the ball back.

Purdue took over after a Michigan punt and went 33 yards on eight plays but ended with a field goal. Michigan took over, but a McCarty pass was intercepted by Jamari Brown, only the third interception thrown by McCarthy this year.

Purdue drove down the field once again but Michigan held them in the red zone to another field goal, with the Boilermakers cutting the lead to 28-19.

Johnson had his second interception of the night at the Purdue 12, and then McCarthy threw a 17-yard laser touchdown pass to Ronnie Bell. It was followed up by a successful two-point conversion to give Michigan a 36-19 lead with just over 9 minutes left.

Purdue had had another field goal, and then Michigan drove down the field on 8 plays for 44 yards and a touchdown from Mullings, giving them a 43-22 lead.

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