Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Michigan is hanging on at number 25 in the Coach's and comes in at number 22 in the AP polls this week.

Eighteen former Big Ten players and coaches helped the New York Giants win Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday, February 5, at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Big Ten Football Championship Game. The Big Ten was well represented in the Super Bowl with 22 former student-athletes and eight coaches with conference connections on the rosters of the Giants and New England Patriots.

The Big Ten and the SEC (23 players) were the only conferences with 20 or more players on the two Super Bowl squads, followed by the ACC (17), Pac-12 (13) and Big East (11). Ten of the 12 Big Ten schools were represented on the Super Bowl rosters, while five were represented by an assistant coach. Michigan tied for second among all schools with four players, followed by Michigan State, Penn State and Purdue with three each. Three assistant coaches have ties to Penn State, while two spent time at Iowa and Michigan.

The 14 former Big Ten standouts to earn Super Bowl rings with the Giants were Illinois tackle David Diehl and punter Steve Weatherford, Indiana tackle James Brewer, Iowa safety Tyler Sash, Michigan center David Baas and wide receiver Mario Manningham, Michigan State linebacker Greg Jones and wide receiver Devin Thomas, Nebraska defensive back Prince Amukamara, Ohio State tight end Jake Ballard and center Jim Cordle, Penn State defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy and offensive tackle Kareem McKenzie and Wisconsin tight end Travis Beckum. Manningham hauled in five catches for 73 yards, including a 38-yard grab on the game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. Weatherford averaged 40.8 yards on four punts, placing three inside the 10-yard line.

Eight former Big Ten players appeared on the Patriots roster in Iowa linebacker Jeff Tarpinian, Michigan quarterback Tom Brady and punter Zoltan Mesko, Michigan State quarterback Brian Hoyer, Penn State offensive guard Rich Ohrnberger and Purdue linebacker Niko Koutouvides, offensive tackle Matt Light and linebacker Rob Ninkovich. Brady set a Super Bowl record with 16 consecutive completions during the game and totaled 276 passing yards and two touchdowns while connecting on 27 of 41 throws. Ninkovich posted four tackles and a half sack while Mesko averaged 41.0 yards per punt with one inside the 20-yard line.

Eight of the Giants’ and Patriots’ assistant coaches have ties to Big Ten schools, including incoming Penn State head coach and New England offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien. Patriots’ tight ends coach Brian Ferentz (played at Iowa, son of current Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz), defensive line coach Pepper Johnson (played at Ohio State) and offensive assistant Josh McDaniels (graduate assistant at Michigan State) have also spent time with Big Ten teams. Giants offensive line coach Pat Flaherty (assistant at Iowa and Penn State), secondary and cornerbacks coach Peter Giunta (assistant at Penn State), linebackers coach Jim Herrmann (played and served as an assistant at Michigan) and running backs coach Jerald Ingram (played and served as a graduate assistant at Michigan) also have Big Ten ties.

The Spartans (18-5, 7-3 Big Ten) moved into sole possession of second place in the conference behind third-ranked Ohio State.

“It was more about the rivalry than it was the Big Ten,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.

For Green, it was really personal.

He hadn’t played particularly well in the past against the Wolverines and this was the last scheduled shot for the Saginaw native to beat a team he acknowledges hating.

“I don’t care where you’re from, it never means as much as it does for the players in state and that’s one of the reasons I believe in recruiting in-state guys,” Izzo said. “Draymond didn’t want to go out losing four in a row.”

Green was the center of attention before the game, promising to play after spraining his left knee in a loss Tuesday night at Illinois and saying only death could have kept him off the court.

“It wasn’t hurting,” he said. “I felt great.”

The do-it-all forward vowed Michigan State would win Sunday’s game after his floating 10-footer and tip-in attempt in the final seconds of last month’s setback in Ann Arbor. Michigan had won three straight times in the rivalry for the first time since winning five in a row from 1996 to 1998.

“The world is back into place,” Green said.

Green, whose previous high against Michigan was 10 points, made a fadeaway jumper and left-handed layup to restore 10-point leads on ensuing possessions after the Wolverines cut their deficit to single digits midway through the second half.

He soared for a defensive rebound in the final minute for his 16th rebound and became just the fourth Big Ten player to at least equal his opponent’s total in a conference game since the 1996-97 season, according to STATS, LLC.

“He’s got a great spirit and he had a great game,” Wolverines coach John Beilein said. “He’s always been a tough matchup for us, but he played his best today.”

Michigan’s best players, meanwhile, played poorly.

Tim Hardaway Jr. missed his first six shots and had a season-low four points on 1-for-10 shooting. Teammate Trey Burke had made only one shot before his 3-pointer just before halftime pulled the Wolverines within eight points. Burke finished 4 of 11 and scored 11 points.

“What we did was shut down Burke’s penetration and that’s how Hardaway gets his shots,” Izzo said.

The Spartans took control with a 17-7 run early in the first half and pulled away with eight straight points to take a 57-40 lead with just under 3 minutes left after Brandon Wood tracked down an offensive rebound and made a 3-pointer.

Michigan State outrebounded the Wolverines 40-16, including getting nine more on the offensive glass.

“They only missed 22 shots and they ended up getting 12 of those back—and that’s not good,” Beilein said.

Keith Appling and Branden Dawson each scored 10 points and Wood added nine for the Spartans, who made 52 percent of their shots and held the Wolverines to sub-40-percent shooting.

Michigan’s Zach Novak scored 14 points and Jordan Morgan had 11.

The Spartans held Michigan scoreless for 5-plus minutes, but they were tied at 2 after making only one shot and turning the ball over four times.

Michigan State started clicking on offense while the Wolverines continued to struggle, leading 19-9 midway through the first half.

The Spartans made 59 percent of their shots in the first half with eight players making a shot.

Michigan, meanwhile, had eight turnovers by halftime—three fewer than it averages in a game—and shot 39 percent.

The Wolverines tried to get Hardaway going early in the second half, but he missed four shots in the opening minutes before finally making a shot with 15:26 left in the game.

“We were trying to do everything we can,” Beilein said.

Michigan State built a 16-point lead with just under 13 minutes left soon after the usually composed Beilein was called for a technical foul for arguing a call. A few minutes later, the Spartans’ bench was called for a technical and it wasn’t clear if an assistant coach or the frequently fiery Izzo drew the whistle.

Michigan State improved to 14-0 at the Breslin Center, which seemed louder than it has been in years, and the Wolverines still have only one win on an opponent’s home court this season.

“I thought the building had some energy,” Izzo said. “I thought it was off the charts.”

The Wolverines spent Thursday celebrating their top notch recruiting class but came up one offensive lineman short. Chicago area prized recruit Jordan Diamond figuerd to be the final piece to Brady Hoke's 2012 recruiting class but Diamond turned down Michigan to sign with Auburn. Now Michigan has its last hopes of signing a top rated OL hinging on the decision Alex Kozan makes.

Kozan turned down Iowa after verbally comitting and lists Auburn & Michigan as his top two choices. Read more about it here complements of Mlive.

-DK-