As MSU's season moves downhill with three consecutive losses, injuries continue to plague the team.
One of the downfalls of the past week occurred on Thursday, when sophomore safety Eric Smith came down wrong, twisting his knee when defending a pass thrown to senior wide receiver Ziehl Kavanaght.
On Saturday, head coach John L. Smith confirmed that Eric Smith "blew out a knee" during the week.
Eric Smith's season is over and he will undergo reconstructive knee surgery next week along with shoulder surgery. He injured the shoulder during the Michigan game on Nov. 1.
"You see things like that if a quarterback went down," John L. Smith said. "And I guess he's kind of the quarterback of the defense."
With Eric Smith out, the team has had to scramble to fill the vacancy. At this point, freshman Greg Cooper is listed as the replacement starter, but sophomore Derron Ware also has filled in.
The move also has forced junior Jason Harmon to play as the strong safety.
"You're trying to incorporate (Harmon) in the run and in the pass," John L. Smith said. "Now you're asking him to do both things that he's done, to a degree, and all at the same time in the same game, and it's really unfair."
The Spartans also used sophomore cornerback Ashton Watson en route to allowing 385 passing yards in the loss at Wisconsin. It was the first time since the Rutgers game on Sept. 6 that Watson saw significant playing time.
"At that point I was very upset with a different individual and threw him in there," John L. Smith said. "And he did OK - he only got burned one time."
Smith and several of his players were concerned with some teammates that quit during MSU's (7-4 overall, 4-3 Big Ten) 56-21 loss to Wisconsin.
"Any time guys quit, it says a lot about a person," senior linebacker Mike Labinjo said. "You've got to be able to fight through things like that, especially with what happened last year."
Offensive hurts
On the offensive line, sophomore tackle Stefon Wheeler is "50-50 at best" for Saturday's final regular-season game at noon on ESPN against Penn State (3-8, 1-6).
His replacement for a brief time against Wisconsin, sophomore Gordon Niebylski, also is questionable with a sprained knee. Junior tackle Sean Poole also saw significant time at the tackle position.
At running back, junior DeAndra Cobb started the game Saturday and ran for 88 yards on 16 carries. Sophomore Jason Teague shared the load along with sophomore Jaren Hayes and junior Tyrell Dortch, but the Spartans only could manage 95 yards on 34 carries in the game.
Dortch is playing while awaiting a possible surgery on his ankle, while Hayes is battling an ankle injury.
"(Hayes) couldn't even hardly walk this morning," Smith said.
The bowls
While the bowl-game selection is right around the corner with MSU likely out of consideration for a New Year's Day game, John L. Smith denies that he has even looked at the different scenarios.
"I'm not talking about the bowl issue," he said. "It will take care of itself."
The coach is more concerned with the Nittany Lions.
"They're playing hard, and they look every bit as good on paper and on film as Ohio State and Michigan," Smith said.
Senior quarterback Jeff Smoker, a native of Manheim, Pa., also has some extra motivation to beat the Nittany Lions.
"I definitely want to win," Smoker said. "I haven't beaten these guys yet and I know a lot of them and know coach (Joe) Paterno and a lot of their coaches."
Senior awards
John L. Smith announced Monday that the team will be changing the format for the team's award banquet, changing it to a senior banquet where all 16 seniors will say goodbye.
This will change the tradition and eliminate many awards, which clutter six pages of MSU's media guide this season.
"I've read the script of that thing, and there's no way you can have that many awards," John L. Smith said. "You can't award that many guys."
