When senior wide receiver Keshawn Martin stepped out onto the field Saturday at Spartan Stadium, he was on a mission and not about to lose on Senior Day.
Martin played like it was his last time with home-field advantage, finishing with eight receptions for 99 yards and one touchdown — while adding a rushing touchdown — toward No. 12 MSU’s 55-3 victory over Indiana.
“Keshawn definitely ran hard today,” sophomore running back Le’Veon Bell said. “You could tell it was definitely Senior Day out there for him. He put it all on the field today, and I’m glad for him and all of our seniors out there making plays.”
When the Spartans (9-2 overall, 6-1 Big Ten) were up, 10-0, in the second quarter, Martin caught a quick pass from senior quarterback Kirk Cousins and bolted up the sidelines — dodging and rolling around Hoosiers (1-10, 0-7) — for a 47-yard touchdown.
Martin appeared to be off his game early on in the season, but since MSU’s 28-14 victory over Michigan, he’s said he feels back to normal and on top of his game.
“The one big catch on the sidelines — he accelerated and went down the sidelines and there was no doubt (he would score), and you could see it,” offensive coordinator Dan Roushar said.
“Most of those are run-pass checks for us, and (Cousins) did a good job of getting the ball out to him, and (Martin) just took over and played.”
Roushar said Martin played like he had an extra gear on him, taking what could have been average plays and turning them into something “spectacular.”
Even when Martin wasn’t racking up the yards — as he also ran once for a 19-yard touchdown — every inch he picked up was done with impressive style.
He was set up deep waiting for an Indiana punt, caught it on the 45-yard line and returned it for five yards. Despite not being his longest return — compared to his 30-yard punt return in the third — Martin managed to dodge and break away from multiple Hoosiers trying to cling to him.
“I’m not sure how many (players) I missed, but I was just trying to make guys miss and get up the field,” Martin said. “I was successful with that, and I got tackled, but it’s great to hear the fans ‘Ooh’ and ‘Ah’ when I run like that.”
Jump started
With a few exceptions, MSU has opened most of its games in powerful fashion — taking big leads over Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa in the first halves. With the chance to clinch the Legends Division on Senior Day, it was clear Indiana was going to be one of those games.
The Spartans jumped out to a 17-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and only allowed the Hoosiers to complete a field goal attempt — their single score for the game.
“We knew from the start we couldn’t let these guys get up on us or give them confidence,” said senior wide receiver B.J. Cunningham — who finished with six catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
“We had to come out fast and just get points on the board … and we could just get rolling and get guys in, and that’s what I felt like we did.”
In MSU’s last two games against Iowa and Indiana, the Spartans have out-scored their opponents in the first halves, 65-10.
In just the first quarter, Cunningham earned his sixth 100-yard receiving game with two grabs for exactly 100 yards after 15 minutes. He said MSU had to get its passing game going to get a comfortable lead in the seniors’ final game at Spartan Stadium.
Cunningham sparked the Spartans with the team’s first touchdown — which came from a play action fake for 63 yards.
“They executed it extremely well,” Roushar said. “(Cunningham) came down, the safety drove down on him as we expected, and he just slipped through it. … That was a big play, and it certainly got us going.”
Foreman goes for it
As MSU was subbing in second- and third-string players in the second half, senior offensive guard Joel Foreman had a unique role in one of the third quarter plays.
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Prior to the game on Thursday, head coach Mark Dantonio said he came up with a play idea to run Foreman on a sweep for fun — and kept Roushar out of the loop while both Foreman and Cousins thought it was a joke.
“This is a dream come true, and we have other dreams that we want to come true,” Dantonio said. “But for an offensive lineman to be able to run a football — that’s a dream come true.”
Upon execution, Foreman ran for three yards on a first-and-10 play and broke a tackle.
“That was for every big guy out there, obviously, who’s ever wanted to run the ball,” Foreman said. “I’m averaging three yards a carry, one broken tackle, (and) I think that’s more than (Cousins).”
