Iowa City, Iowa — Junior wide receiver Devin Thomas saved his team in regulation, streaking down the sideline to catch a 40-yard bomb, but he couldn’t bail out junior quarterback Brian Hoyer in the final play of double overtime. Trailing by seven points on 4th-and-13 on the Iowa 16-yard line, the Spartans needed to move the chains or shoot for the end zone.
Hoyer opted to throw to Thomas on a short flat route, and he was immediately gobbled up by a tackler after the catch, coming up 7 yards short of the first down.
The Hawkeyes won, 34-27, the fans stormed the field and the Spartans walked off dejected on Sat. from their fourth close loss of the season.
“You’ve got (senior tight end Kellen Davis) in the back of the end zone,” offensive coordinator Don Treadwell said. “We just try to instruct the quarterback to put it in the end zone on those types of plays.”
After Thomas’ spectacular catch at the end of the fourth quarter, maybe Hoyer thought he was capable of anything.
He said he thought Thomas could have gotten the first down.
“You didn’t want to force something into Kellen,” Hoyer said.
“Whereas you’ve got your playmaker, your go-to guy out in the flat in one-on-one, so I don’t think it was worth throwing it into a tight coverage.”
Treadwell put the blame for Hoyer’s decision to not throw into the end zone on himself and the coaching staff.
“In fairness to him, that would be just one again that we need to practice more as coaches and say, ‘Hey, in this situation, here’s what we’ve got to do,’” he said.
Looking ahead
Their voices low, heads down and eyes sullen, the Spartans appeared to have the spirit sucked out of them following the game.
Thomas did not even care to talk much about his game-changing catch at the end of regulation. His speech was devoid of any emotion.
“I just knew I had to come up with something,” Thomas said. “Hoyer laid it out there, I just ran out there and got it so, made a play. Whatever.”
But he said the team would shake it.
They have to — they’ve got Michigan at home Saturday.
Thomas, an Ann Arbor native, is especially fired up to face Big Blue.
“It’s going to be serious,” Thomas said. “I’m excited, but it’s a tough loss today. We’ll dwell on this one for a little bit, but I’m most definitely looking forward to next week.”
Update on criminally charged Spartans
Despite head coach Mark Dantonio’s statement that the three Spartans charged with unarmed robbery could still play, senior linebacker SirDarean Adams did not travel with the team.
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Sophomore wide receiver T.J. Williams only played special teams.
Following the game, Dantonio said Adams’ not traveling with the team was “unrelated, completely.”
On Wednesday, Adams, Williams and reserve sophomore cornerback Jeremy Ware were arraigned on charges stemming from an April 21 incident outside L & L Food Center, 6075 N. Hagadorn Road.
Freshman linebacker Eric Gordon said the team missed Adams “pretty badly.”
“He helps a lot in the depth of linebacker,” Gordon said. “He’s fast; he’s a good player.”
Ringer runs for the mark
Early in the first quarter, junior running back Javon Ringer broke 1,000 rushing yards on the season for the first time in his career.
Ringer entered Saturday with 981 yards on the season.
He finished the game with 103 rushing yards on 23 carries.
Looking ahead
Saturday’s annual MSU vs. U-M football game will take place at 3:30 p.m.
The rivalry contest from Spartan Stadium will be televised on ABC.
The Wolverines have won seven games in a row since losing the first two of their season.
Discussion
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