Indiana's 6-foot, 188-pound wide receiver Courtney Roby was very close to donning the green-and-white before he decided to become a Hoosier.
"If I didn't come to Indiana, MSU was where I would have ended up," Roby said. "I talked to (former MSU head) coach Bobby Williams. But my heart was here in Indiana."
Roby's heart is so stuck in Indiana, where basketball is king, that he lists Indianapolis Colts receiver Marvin Harrison as his favorite player and a receiver he emulates his game after.
Did intuition tell Roby that Harrison would play professional ball in his home city of Indianapolis? Probably not, but he said he could see the 6-foot, 175-pound receiver's potential during his days on the upstate New York campus of Syracuse University.
"He's the best player in the (NFL)," Roby said. "I knew a little bit about him when he was at Syracuse. But I've been watching him close ever since he came to Indianapolis. I went down to their mini-camp just to watch him. We're both not too big of people, but for the most part, we have the same quickness. I think there's a little bit of me in him."
But it's doubtful Roby will be able to show the Spartans his best Harrison impression, as he went down with an MCL sprain in his right knee in a 34-17 loss to Kentucky two weeks ago. Last week in Indiana's loss at Michigan, 31-17, Roby stayed in Bloomington flipping between his team's game and the Spartans' win over Iowa. As of Tuesday, he was uncertain if he'd make the trip to Spartan Stadium.
"I had a chance to see a little bit of the (MSU vs.) Iowa game," Roby said. "Michigan State is coming in with a lot of momentum after beating Iowa, a top-10 team, and Notre Dame in South Bend."
Even if Roby doesn't play Saturday, the MSU defense knows it can't take a day off. Running the West Coast offense, the Hoosiers aren't often set at the line of scrimmage. Instead they opt to set and shift formations before the ball is snapped, leading to a variety of problems for opposing defenses that aren't prepared.
"It's just crazy, it really is," MSU junior defensive end Clifford Dukes said. "You got to see it for yourself. It's a razzle-dazzle type of
