Spartans lose 2nd straight, 42-34 to Minnesota

Minneapolis — It was a frightful night for the MSU football team at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday.

In a Halloween matchup with Minnesota, the Spartans allowed more than 500 yards of total offense and allowed Minnesota to overcome a school-record 17 penalties in a 42-34 loss to the Golden Gophers.

“We didn’t play well enough to win and that starts with me,” MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said. “(We were) outcoached. They had their guys ready to play. I thought we were ready but obviously we were not.”

The game could not have gotten off to a worse possible start for the Spartans, as Minnesota was up 14-0 before MSU (4-5 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) even ran an offensive play.

On the first play from scrimmage, Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber found running back Duane Bennett wide open down the left sideline for a 66-yard touchdown.

On the ensuing kickoff, freshman running back Edwin Baker was stripped, setting the Golden Gophers up at the MSU 28-yard line.

After a holding penalty pushed them back, Weber threw a perfect ball on third-and-19 to receiver Brandon Green for a 37-yard touchdown to put Minnesota (5-4, 3-3) up 14-0 less than two minutes into the game.

A fumbled snap gave Minnesota prime field position again, but the Spartans defense was able to force Minnesota to punt.

On the next drive, MSU drove 87 yards in 13 plays but had to settle for a 20-yard field goal by senior kicker Brett Swenson after gaining only one yard in three tries from the 4-yard line.

Minnesota started a drive down the field but it ended abruptly as Weber was intercepted by senior linebacker Brandon Denson near midfield after his receiver ran into the umpire.

Denson’s return plus a 15-yard facemask penalty put the Spartans in prime position at the Minnesota 26-yard line. On third-and-10, Cousins scrambled, ran in a circle while barely avoiding crossing the line of scrimmage, turned and found sophomore tight end Brian Linthicum wide open for a 26-yard touchdown to bring the Spartans within four, 14-10.

“I didn’t feel like my receiver was open to get us a first down, so I just tried to reverse field and didn’t feel anybody there and when I looked back around, Brian had gotten behind the defense and was open,” Cousins said.

The Spartans got the ball back after a Minnesota punt and Dantonio decided to go to sophomore quarterback Keith Nichol with the ball inside the MSU 10. The Spartans quickly went three-and-out and with good field position, the Gophers went ahead 21-10 on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Weber to tight end Nick Tow-Arnett.

MSU appeared to grab the momentum to start the second half as sophomore receiver Keshawn Martin returned the opening kick 93 yards to bring MSU within four, 21-17. It was MSU’s first kick return touchdown since Demond Williams took one back against Indiana in 2005.

But it only took the Gophers five plays to retake their 11-point lead as Bennett plunged in from 1-yard out.

Minnesota appeared to be knocking on the door step again after quarterback MarQueis Gray went out inside the 5-yard line, but a holding penalty brought the play back. After two false start penalties dropped the Gophers back further, Minnesota punted.

On the first play of the next drive, Martin struck again, taking an end-around 84 yards for a touchdown, bringing MSU back with four, 28-24.

Minnesota appeared to be ready to score again after a 71-yard kick return, but MSU’s defense stood firm, dropping the Gophers back 13 yards in the first two plays. An illegal shift penalty sent them back five more yards and after an incompletion, kicker Eric Ellestad’s 48-yard field goal was wide right.

After Minnesota fumbled deep in its own territory on its next drive, Cousins found freshman tight end Dion Sims in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown as time expired on the third quarter. Swenson’s extra point gave the Spartans their first lead of the game 31-28.

But it was short lived as Minnesota charged right back, going 73 yards in six plays, capped by a 2-yard touchdown toss from Weber to Tow-Arnett. Tow-Arnett set career highs in receptions, yards and touchdowns in the game.

“They had a measured response every time we got back in it and I think that’s good coaching and good execution,” Dantonio said. “We stopped the run but we couldn’t stop the pass.”

On the next drive, MSU was aided by two 15-yard Minnesota personal fouls. A 19-yard pass from Cousins to sophomore receiver B.J. Cunningham got the Spartans down to the 1-yard line. Senior fullback Andrew Hawken was stopped for a loss of one on first down, Baker for no gain on second down and Cunningham was just out of bounds on a fade from Cousins, setting up a 20-yard field goal by Swenson to make it 35-34 Gophers with 8:10 remaining.

On the ensuing drive, Denson appeared to force Tow-Arnett to fumble, but upon further review, the play was reversed and called incomplete. On the next play, Weber threw to Tow-Arnett and Tow-Arnett fell back-first to the ground after being hit by junior cornerback Chris L. Rucker, but he never officially had possession of the ball and it popped out right into the arms of Bennett, who finished the 59-yard play for a touchdown, putting Minnesota up eight with less than six minutes to go.

“I was right there, (Tow-Arnett) was down,” junior lineback Greg Jones said. “That’s how I feel about it. They made the call and that’s it.”

MSU got the ball back and drove down. MSU had fourth-and-14 from the 39-yard line, but Cousins’ pass to Linthicum down the seam was broken up with 3:18 to go.

“We had our chances on that drive and a couple miscues, a couple missed assignments and that’ll happen,” Cousins said. “That was a reflection of the day. We did some good things but we didn’t play disciplined football enough to win.”

The Spartans forced Minnesota to punt on fourth-and-1 with less than 2:30 to go, but senior Kendell Davis-Clark was whistled for running into the kicker, giving the Gophers a first down with 2:13 to go and MSU with no timeouts.

The Gophers picked up the win despite picking up a school-record 17 penalties for 157 yards, also a school record.

Weber finished the day with 416 yards and five touchdowns for Minnesota. Cousins finished with 236 yards and two touchdowns.

“We never got the pressure that we’d been getting in previous games, consistent pressure,” Dantonio said. “We did not play the deep ball well enough.”

Dantonio cited his team’s lack of consistency on both sides of the ball as a major reason for the loss.

“We got hurt in every phase of the game,” he said.

The Spartans return to action next week at noon Saturday in a nonconference game against Western Michigan.