No. 4 Michigan holds off No. 8 Wisconsin, 14-7

Reporting from ANN ARBOR, Mich.  —  Wilton Speight threw a tiebreaking, 46-yard touchdown pass to Amara Darboh midway through the fourth quarter and Jourdan Lewis had a spectacular, one-handed interception as No. 4 Michigan held on to beat No. 8 Wisconsin 14-7 on Saturday.

“I’ve seen Odell Beckham do that,” Wolverines Coach Jim Harbaugh said. “The most impressive thing about it was he jumped a little early.

Harbaugh helped the Wolverines (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) beat a top-10 team for the first time since their Rich Rodriguez-led team rallied to beat the ninth-ranked Badgers in 2008.

“I think it says a lot about our team,” Darboh said. “Us beating this team says a lot about our chances. We need to focus on the games away because this win doesn’t define our season.”

Wisconsin (4-1, 1-1) had the ball at its 8 with 2:59 and no timeouts left with a chance to beat a third team ranked in the top 10.

The Badgers went for it on fourth and 10 from their eight-yard line, with no timeouts left, and Alex Hornibrook’s deep pass was picked off by Lewis.

Lewis leaped to snatch the ball out of the air with his right hand and pinned it against his hip for an interception near midfield with 2:15 left to play.

“We’ve seen him make him a lot of plays, but that was on another level,” Speight said. “That’s a guy who is going to be playing on Sunday for a long time

Hornibrook, in his second start, threw three interceptions.

The freshman quarterback did throw a game-tying, 17-yard TD pass to Dare Ogunbowale midway through the third quarter.

Wisconsin, though, was one of six on third-down conversions in the fourth quarter and earned a first down on just three of 15 third downs.

“Offensively, it comes down to third down,” Wisconsin Coach Paul Chryst said. “We didn’t convert. We didn’t get anything consistently going in the run game.”

Michigan had chances to have a bigger cushion, but Kenny Allen missed two field goals and his replacement, Ryan Tice missed a field goal.

“We lost a lot of opportunities where we could’ve gotten the ball in the end zone, or could’ve gotten three,” Speight said.