After throwing his second touchdown pass Saturday against Indiana, Drew Stanton exited the game to the ovation that he was accustomed to hearing when the Spartans started the season so sharply.
"It's really nice to get back in the win column," Stanton said. "I think we prepared real well this week and today we played with a lot of emotion."
Coming off a sub-par performance last weekend in a losing effort to Northwestern, the junior quarterback threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's 46-15 victory. The Spartans retained the Old Brass Spittoon trophy for the fourth consecutive year.
The Spartans need one more win in the next three weeks to be eligible for a bowl game.
"We executed extremely well," senior offensive lineman Gordon Niebylski said. "We executed on all three phases: Our offense was clicking, our defense played phenomenal. It's great to bounce back from a loss like we had (last week) to a win like we have now."
The Spartans (5-3 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) got the emotional jump-start they were lacking in previous weeks on the opening kickoff when junior cornerback Demond Williams returned it 98 yards for an instant 7-0 lead.
The return marked the first time this season the Spartans have scored on a kickoff and the first time in recorded history MSU took the opening kick back for a score.
"If that didn't wake you up, you're not a football player," sophomore bandit Sir Darean Adams said. "Right after it everybody said, 'OK, we're ready.'"
Indiana (4-4, 1-4) crawled to within five points when it backed up the MSU offense on the Spartans' first possession of the game, forcing Stanton to take a safety after an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone.
A pair of Stanton touchdowns, one in the air and one on the ground, followed by consecutive two-point conversions put the Spartans at 23-2 in the second quarter.
Indiana quarterback Blake Powers threw a touchdown pass on fourth down near the end of the half, but any attempt at a momentum shift was halted when Williams blocked the extra point.
Senior cornerback Ashton Watson returned the blocked kick for two points, giving MSU a 25-8 edge at the break.
The second half took a less exciting tone until freshman running back Javon Ringer ripped off a 45-yard touchdown run to put the Spartans up 39-8. Ringer ran 11 times for 109 yards, marking his third 100-yard rushing game of the season.
"The little crapper did pretty good too, didn't he?" Smith said of Ringer. "I'm proud of the kids, proud of the coaches."
Aside from the offense putting up 493 total yards on the Hoosiers, it was the Spartans defense that kept it a blowout.
"Defensively, I'm pleased, we got some turnovers," Smith said. "The defense played pretty darn good. We turned it up a little bit on that side of the ball, we felt like we could cover for the most part."
Besides recording two sacks, the defense put a sufficient amount of pressure on Powers, accounting for hurried throws and four forced turnovers.
"We had a more aggressive mindset," junior defensive lineman Clifton Ryan said. "I'm proud of our defense and we have to build on this.
"We had a lot of fun. We haven't won for a month or so, so it was fun to tackle on the defensive side of the ball and watch the offense put points on the board."
Eric Fish can be reached at fisheric@msu.edu.
