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ANN ARBOR, Michigan (Ticker) -- No. 13 Michigan, still smarting from a controversial last-second loss at Michigan State, hopes to rebound Saturday when it hosts Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference contest. Jeff Smoker's lofted an off-balanced two-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Duckett on the final play of the game to lift the Spartans to a 26-24 victory over the Wolverines. While Michigan coach Lloyd Carr has been tight-lipped about the officiating, the Wolverines may have been victimized by a slow clock on the play before the touchdown. With no timeouts remaining, it appeared the Spartans were going to run out of time, but the clocked stopped with one second left after Smoker spiked the ball. As painful as the setback was for Michigan, the Wolverines are still in good shape in the Big Ten race. While the loss dropped Michigan (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten) into a first-place tie with Illinois, the Wolverines own the tiebreaker edge against the Fighting Illini and still can claim the conference title by winning their final three games. The Wolverines visit Wisconsin next week before hosting Ohio State on November 24. Michigan has dominated "The Little Brown Jug" series, winning 12 straight and 29 of the last 31 games against Minnesota. The Wolverines held on for a 15-10 victory over the Golden Gophers last season in Minneapolis. Michigan had led the nation in rushing defense until last week when Duckett carried 27 times for 211 yards, the highest total ever for a Michigan State back against the Wolverines. Michigan dropped to fourth in Division I-A (68.8 ypg). But the Wolverines sacked Smoker 12 times and will try to apply the same pressure against Minnesota's Asad Abdul-Khaliq, who is a dual threat. Marquise Walker had nine receptions against Michigan State to climb two spots to third on the school's all-time list with 148. He is four away from passing David Terrell and needs 14 to surpass Anthony Carter's school-record of 161. Minnesota (3-5, 1-4) is coming off a 31-28 loss to Ohio State last week and needs to win its final three games to become bowl eligible for the third straight year under coach Glen Mason. Minnesota never has made three straight bowl appearances. Ron Johnson became Minnesota's all-time leading receiver last week. He caught four passes for 59 yards against the Buckeyes, increasing his career total to 2,661 yards. Michigan leads the all-time series, 63-23-3. Since 1903, the schools have been competing for "The Little Brown Jug," the oldest and most famous trophy in college football.
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