Iowa City, Iowa — Through eight games, the No. 5 MSU football team made all the right plays and executed to perfection.
Facing a road setting where it hadn’t won since 1989 on Saturday, it’s magic ran out.
Spartans suffer first loss, 37-6, at hands of Iowa
Head coach Mark Dantonio and the Spartan sideline reacts to another interception thrown by junior quarterback Kirk Cousins on Saturday evening in Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. Cousins threw three interceptions during Saturday’s game against Iowa.
Against a mean and dominant Iowa defense the Spartans (8-1 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) didn’t have a dominant passing attack and line play that helped it to an 8-0 start in an ugly 37-6 loss.
MSU struggled offensively and missed tackles on defense, watching No. 18 Iowa (6-2, 3-1) compound nearly every mistake with quick scoring. The lost for the first time this season after getting off to their best start since 1966.
Two costly first-half interceptions and the inability to generate anything on offense took the Spartans out of the game early, and moved the Spartans out of sole possession of the Big Ten lead.
“No, I did not see this coming,” MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said. “Our guys prepared mentally and emotionally. We came like we always have, but when things start to snowball on you, it’s hard to stop it and that’s what I think we ran into.”
After leading the Spartans back from a 17-point first-half deficit last week against Northwestern, junior quarterback Kirk Cousins could provide no such magic Saturday after getting little time to throw.
The Spartans’ failure to generate anything on the ground forced them to rely on Cousins, who made some poor decisions in finishing 21-for-29 with 198 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.
Cousins’ first interception came with the Spartans trailing 10-0 with 10 seconds left in the first quarter and MSU driving.
Iowa safety Tyler Sash intercepted a pass at the MSU 28 yard-line and flipped it to cornerback Micah Hyde, the brother of MSU senior safety Marcus Hyde, who reversed the field and went 66 yards to make it 17-0.
On their next drive, Cousins was intercepted at the Hawkeyes’ 15, and after a long return to MSU’s 43-yard line, the Hawkeyes scored on a 32-yard run by running back Adam Robinson.
Iowa scored again with 1:01 left in the second quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run by Robinson to take a 30-0 lead at halftime.
Cousins threw a third interception on the first drive of the second half at the MSU 25-yard line, before eventually giving way to redshirt freshman quarterback Andrew Maxwell in the fourth quarter.
“The Iowa defense makes you impatient and you get greedy,” Cousins said. “The one in the second half was just trying to do too much.”
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For the third straight week, the Spartans struggled to generate a running game. When MSU tried to run the ball, six or seven Iowa defenders would come up and make a play against MSU.
MSU’s longest run of the game was an 11-yard run by redshirt freshman wide receiver Bennie Fowler.
MSU had a total of 31 yards, while Iowa rushed 42 times for 162 yards and was able to dictate tempo.
“We had a good week of practice and a good week of prepartion,” Sash said after the game. “We made less mistakes than they did and I think the scoreboard showed that.”
Iowa took a 37-0 lead midway through the third quarter on a pass from Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi to wide receiver Marvin McNutt, while MSU responded with a Cousins’ 6-yard pass to junior B.J. Cunningham on the first play of the fourth quarter to make the score 37-6.
Iowa scored on its first possesion and kicked a field goal on its second possession to set up Sash’s interception.
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Iowa moves to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten and bounced back impressively after last week’s close loss against No. 9 Wisconsin.
“You’ve got two ways to respond, when you lose a game,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Certainly we are all disappointed, you get in the fetal position; you come out and you start playing again.”
They’re certain to drop in the polls and hear some negative talk from people outside of the program, however, the Spartans will need to have a short memory prepare for next week’s game against Minnesota.
At 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten, the Spartans are in a tie atop the conference and will hope to win their three remaining games, which are at home against Minnesota next week, against Purdue on Nov. 20 and at Penn State on Nov. 27.
It’s ability to come from behind ran out Saturday, but based on the way they’ve played this season, there’s still plenty of reason to believe the Spartans can compete near the top of the Big Ten and perhaps win the conference.
“We’ve been down before and we’ve tried to battle back,” sophomore defensive tackle Jerel Worthy said. “We have to regroup and we’ll be ready for next week.”
