EAST LANSING, Mich. — — Kyle Monangai rushed for 129 yards and a touchdown, Antwan Raymond added two scoring runs and Jai Patel kicked four field goals on Saturday to help Rutgers to a 34-14 victory over Michigan State in the wintry regular-season finale for both teams.
Rutgers scored on eight of its nine possessions in the game that was played in blowing snow and wind chills in the teens.
It is the first time since 2014 that the Scarlet Knights (7-5, 4-5 Big Ten) have registered seven wins in the regular season and the first time that Rutgers has won four Big Ten games.
“I’ll tell you, 7-5 isn’t what we set out to do before the season,” Monangai said. “It’s the first time it’s been done. So it’s history. It’s special. And you know, for guys that came into my class, like we always talked about leaving the place better than we found it. So I’m glad that we can say that our last year we’re able to make a step in the right direction, in a sense, and then leave a mark as a first team to do something.”
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The Spartans (5-7, 3-6 Big Ten) lost four of their last five games and failed to earn bowl eligibility for the third consecutive year.
Michigan State opened the scoring on its first possession with Nate Carter’s 25-yard touchdown run. Rutgers responded in five plays with Monangai running for a 7-yard score.
The Scarlett Knights took the lead for good when Patel connected on a 25-yard field goal with 7:29 left in the first quarter. His kick was set up when a snap went through Michigan State punter Ryan Eckley’s hands and was recovered at the 1-yard line.
In the second quarter, Rutgers added a 13-yard touchdown run by Antwan Raymond and a pair of field goals by Patel to go up 23-7.
The Scarlett Knights’ Athan Kaliakmanis tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Ian Strong and a two-point conversion pass to KJ Duff in the third quarter and Patel made a 29-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to build the margin to 34-7. The Spartans last touchdown came on Aidan Chiles’ 5-yard throw to Jack Velling. Raymond closed the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run.
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“We didn’t play well enough to earn a win or the chance to continue to play on,” first-year Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith said. “It is going to take work to get this to a better place. We’ve had definite ups and downs. We got to get it going. We got to get better; that starts with the coaches.”
The game was slightly delayed with 3:38 remaining in the first half when Spartan defensive back Jaylen Thompson was carted off the field after his head appeared to hit the ground while tackling Monangai along the sidelines. Smith said after the game that Thompson was evaluated and is in concussion protocol.
The takeaway
Rutgers: After the Spartans took a brief lead, the Scarlett Knights controlled all phases of the game. The defense prevented Michigan State from moving the ball, the offense was able to convert seven of 13 third downs and special teams hit all four of its field goal attempts.
““I think we’re getting better and better, and to close out the regular season, the way we did as a team, not just offensively, as a team, was awesome,” said Kaliakmanis, who completed 13 of 22 passes for 137 yards. “And I think it’s only going to keep improving.”
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Michigan State: The Spartans continued to struggle on defense. They failed to put pressure on the quarterback and could not get off the field. Michigan State totaled only one sack and Rutgers ran 70 plays.
Up next
Rutgers: Rutgers awaits its bowl destination.
Michigan State: Michigan State waits to learn whether there are any bowl spots remaining for 5-7 teams.
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A 58-year-old woman is accused of driving a vehicle at the bottom of a ski hill near skiers and snowboarders in White Lake Township, Michigan, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office said Saturday.
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Prosecutors allege the Bingham Farms, Michigan, woman drove near guests of Alpine Valley Ski Area, including children, on Tuesday.
According to the prosecutor’s office, witnesses said they saw the woman smoking what appeared to be marijuana before the incident and wearing ski boots while driving. Officers attempting to perform sobriety tests reported that she “exhibited poor balance, slurred speech, and open hostility.”
Online court records show the woman is charged with operating while impaired for the third time. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison, a maximum fine of $5,000 and “mandatory vehicle immobilization” for one to three years, the prosecutor’s office said.
“This defendant endangered children with her irresponsible actions,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said in a written statement. “There is no excuse to drive impaired, even once. If you’ve had too much to drink or are under the influence of marijuana or other drugs, call a friend, call an Uber, just don’t drive.”
The woman is scheduled to appear at a probable cause conference on March 12.
A long-lost silent film that’s believed to be the first depiction of a robot in motion pictures was rediscovered in Michigan. And it’s a great reminder for film history fans that you shouldn’t give up hope just because a film has been deemed lost.
The film, titled “Gugusse and the Automaton,” is just 45 seconds long and was created in 1897 by French film pioneer Georges Méliès. It shows a magician named Gugusse turning a large crank to control Pierrot Automate, a child-sized robot. The robot grows bigger and bigger until it’s an adult.
Once full size, the robot does a little dance before hitting Gugusse over the head with a stick. Gugusse brings the robot down from his pedestal and then shows him what’s what.
Gugusse hits the robot over the head with a gigantic mallet, each swing making the mechanical man a little smaller until he’s back to his child-like size. Another swing makes the robot a small doll and then it’s just one more mallet slap before the robot disappears completely.
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With that, the film is over.
It’s a short film with a goofy, slapstick premise. But it’s also an artifact that can be interpreted similarly to so much robot-focused media that would come later in the 20th century. The robot harms a human, the human needs to destroy the robot.
We see anti-robot stories pop up especially during difficult economic times, like the 1930s and 1970s, something I’ve written about before at length. And if you’re wondering whether there were hard economic times in France during the 1890s, there certainly were—in the form of a double dip recession, no less.
But putting aside the potential message of the film (and the risk of taking it too seriously as a sign of broader social frustrations), the story of how this film was rediscovered is fascinating.
Bill McFarland of Grand Rapids, Michigan, drove a box of films that belonged to his great-grandfather to the Library of Congress’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia so that experts could take a look at what he had.
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McFarland’s great-grandfather was a man named William Delisle Frisbee who had worked jobs as a school teacher and a potato farmer in Pennsylvania, according to a blog post from the Library of Congress. But he also worked nights as a “traveling showman,” according to the Library.
“He drove his horse and buggy from town to town to dazzle the locals with a projector and some of the world’s first moving pictures,” the Library explains. “He set up shop in a local schoolroom, church, lodge or civic auditorium and showed magic lantern slides and short films with music from a newfangled phonograph. It was shocking.”
Frisbee died in 1937 and two trunks of his possessions were passed on through generations until they made their way to McFarland, who was unable to screen the movies from himself because of their condition.
The Library posted a video to Instagram talking about their acquisition of the film and how remarkable it is that such an old film was found. It’s estimated that as much as 90% of films made before 1930 are lost to history.
Other films in the trunks included another Méliès film from 1900 titled “The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match,” fragments of a Thomas Edison movie called “The Burning Stable.” Library technicians scanned the films in 4K to preserve them for future generations.
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The word “robot” wasn’t coined until 1920 for the Czech play R.U.R. by Karel Capek. But visions of artificial men date back centuries. And it’s incredible to see a robot from the 1890s depicted on film for the first time. Even if it’s just 45 seconds long.
Don’t give up hope if you’re longing to watch some movie that’s believed to be completely lost. You never know what someone may have in a dusty old trunk in Michigan.
Kylan Boswell (4) scored 15 points for the Illini but Yaxel Lendeborg (23) scored 16 in Michigan’s win. Geoff Stellfox / Getty Images
Michigan has left no doubt about Big Ten superiority — the No. 3 Wolverines’ 84-70 romp Friday at No. 10 Illinois gives them an outright conference championship with two regular-season games remaining.
The win gives Michigan its first outright title since 2021, and it’s another top-shelf win that gives Michigan (27-2, 17-1 Big Ten) a boost in its pursuit of the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seed. This matters for the Wolverines because they would be lined up for a potential Final Four matchup with the No. 4 seed rather than either of the two teams that are also in contention for No. 1 — Duke, which beat Michigan last week to gain the inside track, and Arizona.
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Friday’s lone meeting of the regular season between two purported national contenders left Michigan looking much the part, and Illinois looking a tier lower. This was domination, a comfortable second half for a Michigan team that led by as many as 21.
Michigan sophomore big man Morez Johnson Jr., who transferred from Illinois in the offseason, heard a lot of jeers from fans at State Farm Center and responded with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Big man Aday Mara also scored 19. Yaxel Lendeborg, the star of Michigan’s jumbo frontcourt, had 16 points and seven rebounds.
That interior helped the Wolverines to a 42-32 edge in points in the paint and 22 second-chance points. Keaton Wagler had 23 points to lead Illinois (22-7, 13-5), which projected as a No. 2 seed in Tuesday’s Bracket Watch but has lost two straight games and four of six. The Illini are trending in the wrong direction and potentially heading to the three-line.
The No. 1 seed also gets to choose its tournament path, and Michigan has requested Philadelphia as its first-weekend site. Otherwise, the Wolverines will likely be placed in Buffalo, which is closer to Ann Arbor.
