Call it a home-field disadvantage.
MSU dodged another fourth-quarter scare to defeat Iowa 31-28 Saturday in Homecoming, its second home game of the season.
And in similar fashion to the Sept. 8 debacle-filled win against Central Michigan, the Spartans were a little too hospitable, giving the Hawkeyes many opportunities to make a comeback.
“Well, if there’s one thing I can say, it’s that we never make it easy,” MSU head coach Bobby Williams said. “We always find a way to make it an interesting ball game around here.”
Iowa (3-2 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) quarterback Kyle McCann’s 1-yard touchdown run with six seconds remaining in the game put the Hawkeyes on the board for the first time in the second half and gave them a chance to recover an onside kick.
But sophomore running back-turned cornerback Tyrell Dortch recovered the kick and called for a fair catch moments before colliding with senior wide receiver Herb Haygood.
The bumbled play sealed the victory - MSU’s (3-1, 1-1) first conference win.
But the Spartans still have plenty to work on before they visit Minnesota on Saturday.
Three key MSU mistakes led to Iowa touchdowns Saturday - a fumble by sophomore quarterback Jeff Smoker deep in Spartan territory, a blown goal-line assignment that left wide receiver Chris Oliver wide open and a blocked punt that put the Hawkeyes inside the MSU 10-yard line.
All three plays happened in the second quarter.
“We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times,” said senior linebacker Josh Thornhill, who had a game high 12 tackles. “No disrespect to Iowa, but we should have been up a lot more. We have to correct some things, but we’ll get it done.”
Defensively, the Spartans forced four interceptions in the game and held Iowa to one touchdown in the second half.
Senior defensive tackle Josh Shaw and junior cornerback Broderick Nelson had two interceptions apiece.
Shaw scampered 15 yards on his interception in the first quarter, a play that surprised even him.
“I felt like a running back out there,” he said. “I was moving and wanted to make sure some of their smaller guys on offense didn’t catch me. We ran a blitz and I was just at the right place at the right time.”
For the first 24 minutes of play, MSU’s offense was rolling, scoring the second highest amount of first-half points for the season.
Smoker had the hot hand in the first half, completing 9-of-11 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns.
He played most of the game, finishing with 179 yards and two touchdowns, and was briefly substituted with senior Ryan Van Dyke in the second quarter.
“His balls had a lot of zip on them, and he was making the right reads when he was hitting Herb,” said Van Dyke of Smoker’s performance. “Jeff did a great job. I really don’t care that I didn’t play that much, we got the ‘W.’”
Haygood was Smoker’s primary target, and he had a career-high nine catches for 116 yards and a touchdown.
He also had a record-tying 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the third quarter.
“After I made a few catches I kept getting into a rhythm,” Haygood said. “There was openings out there, and I saw times in Iowa’s defense where I could take advantage of them. I had just one of those games where everything was going well.”
MSU’s passing game looked improved against Iowa, but the running game struggled.
Junior running back T.J. Duckett was held to 77 yards rushing on 25 carries.
With a week to prepare for Minnesota, Williams said the team will focus on eliminating crucial mistakes, especially those that lead to scores for opponents.
A normal game schedule should help the team’s preparation, he said.
MSU has its final seven games of the season in as many weeks.
“That’s something you run into when you play,” Williams said. “Here it is the second week in October, and we have only played four games. Now hopefully we’ll get in the flow of playing every week, and we’ll become a more disciplined team.”
Eric Lacy can be reached at lacyeric@msu.edu.
