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MSU's defensive struggles led to team's demise
Any way you cut it, the 2009 MSU football season was a disappointment.
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Jones mulling early jump to NFL
San Antonio — Greg Jones has a big decision to make. The NFL could be calling for MSU’s consensus All-America junior linebacker and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year — and he’s going to listen. Jones told the media following Saturday’s Valero Alamo Bowl that he will sit down with his family and consider declaring for April’s NFL Draft. “We’re going to look at a lot of pros and cons,” Jones said.
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Backup QB Nichol shows versatility in loss
San Antonio — The biggest story in terms of something that would happen on the field heading into the Valero Alamo Bowl turned out to be sophomore quarterback Keith Nichol moving to receiver for the game.
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Texas Tech heartache
San Antonio — A costly interception, combined with two critical fourth-down conversions late by the Red Raiders, were too much for MSU to overcome, as Texas Tech came back to hand the Spartans a 41-31 loss Saturday night at the Alamodome.
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Spartan tailgaters preparing for the Alamo
San Antonio — Despite being outnumbered by the home Texas Tech fans, upbeat Spartan fans stick out at the Alamo Bowl hours before kickoff.
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Nichol to play wide receiver, punt returner in bowl
San Antonio — Usually tight to the vest with everything, MSU head coach Mark Dantonio surprised many people Friday by announcing that backup quarterback Keith Nichol will line up as a wide receiver and return punts in Saturday’s Valero Alamo Bowl against Texas Tech.
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Coaches put distractions aside before bowl game
San Antonio — Adversity, and specifically overcoming it, has been the buzz word all week leading up to Saturday’s Valero Alamo Bowl.
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MSU defense out to prove naysayers wrong
Everywhere he goes, senior safety Danny Fortener has been hearing that the MSU football team’s defense has no shot of stopping Texas Tech’s potent passing offense.
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Dantonio confident Spartans will be focused despite incident
As much as MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio may want to move past it, the fact that 12 players have been suspended from the Valero Alamo Bowl and two others have been removed from the team is something that will follow the Spartans to San Antonio, Texas.
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White, suspension-riddled wide receiver corps ready for bowl game
Of the four wide receivers listed on the MSU football team’s depth chart for the Valero Alamo Bowl, only one came to campus on scholarship — sophomore Keshawn Martin.
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Talented players dot squad
Even though the football team was up and down this decade, there were plenty of talented players to wear the Green and White.
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Notre Dame game of 2006 unforgettable
I couldn’t speak. My eyes were sprung open wide as a garage door, my legs seemingly bolted to the ground beneath me and my breathing heavy and panicked.
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Football players highlight long list of choices
The most difficult thing about picking MSU’s male player of the decade is that there are many different ways to approach the question.
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9 MSU football players charged with assault, 3 more suspended
Nine MSU football players have been charged with assault for their actions in the Nov. 22 altercation at Rather Hall.
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On paper, this year's Spartans better than last
This year’s MSU football team would have beaten last year’s team. Now, obviously, you can look at the records and see that last year’s team won nine games, compared to six this season — but this year’s team was better in almost every statistic, and if a few breaks had gone the other way, the teams’ records could have flip-flopped.
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Players ready to forget past, look to future
As Sunday’s bowl game news conference commenced, there was one big elephant in the room that made its presence known from time to time.
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Transition coming quickly in South Bend
Notre Dame already has been looking for a new football coach, and now the Fighting Irish also are looking for a new quarterback and wide receiver.
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University officials supportive of Dantonio's choice on suspensions
Despite recent struggles on and off the field for the MSU football team, university officials have said their support for head coach Mark Dantonio never has been stronger.
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Spartans head to Alamo Bowl
The feeling MSU head coach Mark Dantonio gets when he receives the call that his team is going to a bowl game never fades. Dantonio received that call for the third straight season Sunday as he learned the Spartans will play Texas Tech in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Jan. 2, 2010 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
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Spartans to face Texas Tech in Alamo Bowl
The MSU football team will meet Texas Tech in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Jan. 2, 2010, Athletics Director Mark Hollis announced Sunday night.