Big Ten championship live updates (2024)

Michigan running back Blake Corum’s two touchdowns propelled the Wolverines to a 26-0 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, capturing the Big Ten championship on Saturday. It is expected Michigan will secure a spot in the College Football Playoff, with the final rankings unveiled Sunday.

With the win, Michigan improves to 13-0. It is the Wolverines’ third consecutive Big Ten title and 45th as a program.

Michigan opened the scoring with James Turner kicking a 35-yard field goal. Turner went 4-for-4 during the game, his longest being a 50-yard field goal.

Corum’s first touchdown happened with 1:07 remaining in the first quarter, a 2-yard run into the end zone. He added a 6-yard TD run at the 9:09 mark in the third quarter. Corum has 55 career rushing touchdowns, tied for the most in Michigan history. The senior finished the game with 16 carries for 52 rushing yards.

The Michigan defense limited Iowa’s offense to 155 total yards. Iowa also committed three turnovers. With the Hawkeyes’ loss, the West division in the Big Ten conference went 0-10 in the title game.

Michigan has made the College Football Playoff semifinals the last two seasons. It lost 34-11 to Georgia in the 2022 Orange Bowl and 51-45 to TCU in the 2023 Fiesta Bowl.

Michigan has done this celebration three times, and each time was a little different.

The first was the championship nobody expected. The second was a coronation for the Big Ten’s best team. And the third … well, the third was in a category of its own.

Read more here.

Red eyes, fumbled words and a boatload of statistics tell the story of a program close enough to chase excellence but too flawed to greet it.

Meet the No. 16 Iowa Hawkeyes, which lost the Big Ten Championship Game 26-0 to No. 2 Michigan on Saturday night. The game felt both closer and farther than the score indicated. When Iowa had the ball, it seemed like an insurmountable deficit. When the Hawkeyes played defense, the game felt within reach. In the end, the score showed exactly where Iowa is in the pantheon of college football.

Read more here.

Iowa has fallen victim to the Big Ten’s most controversial replay reversals this season and both results were devastating. The first cost the Hawkeyes a game-winning punt return against Minnesota. The second took place against Michigan and it ended any hope of sticking with the Wolverines.

Trailing 10-0, Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill’s arm was hit as he was in a throwing motion. The ball bounced in the air and hit the ground, when Michigan defensive tackle Kris Jenkins recovered at the Iowa 12. An official waved it off as an incomplete pass. After a review, it was determined it was a fumble. The change set off Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, who was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty. Michigan scored a touchdown on the next play to effectively end the competition.

Whether or not they were the right calls, both significantly impacted Iowa’s season

Michigan won this game the way Iowa won most of its games this year: by forcing turnovers, playing great defense and making plays on special teams. The Wolverines stripped the ball from Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill twice and recovered three fumbles in all. They also got an 87-yard punt return from Semaj Morgan to set up their first touchdown. The short fields masked the fact that Michigan’s offense had very little success sustaining drives. That’s not a huge shock against Iowa, but the Wolverines still won’t be happy with giving up four sacks and rushing for less than 2 yards per carry.

It would be hard to replicate the energy of last week’s game against Ohio State, and Michigan clearly didn’t. But the Wolverines did the job and are Big Ten champions for the third year in a row.

Through three quarters, Michigan leads Iowa, 20-0.

Iowa has exactly 100 total yards of offense and four first downs.

No conference needs the coming divisional shakeup more than the Big Ten.

It's been years since it had an interesting championship game. The East is going to finish 0-10 all-time.

Michigan is in control of this game 17-0 because of bad Iowa turnovers and big Wolverines special teams plays.

It's the inverse of Iowa's only chance to compete in this one.

The Hawkeyes’ defense has made life difficult for J.J. McCarthy and company. Iowa already has 3 sacks and has held Michigan to 16 rushing yards. Iowa’s offense has struggled to gain any traction with a fumble inside the Michigan 30 thwarting its only scoring threat.

In the stadium, they're announcing the Wayne Duke Postgraduate Scholarship to Purdue wrestler Thomas Penola and Illinois volleyball player Diana Brown.

I'm partial to Wayne Duke. He's a Btowner. Gave $ to my HS for Burlington's baseball field.