Last week, Iowa’s front seven shut down running back Javon Ringer and kept quarterback Brian Hoyer in check. MSU’s offensive line will need a better performance this week against a strong Northwestern front seven.
For a defensive-minded leader with roots in the secondary, last season’s double-overtime loss to Northwestern couldn’t have sat well with MSU head coach Mark Dantonio. Northwestern’s then-junior gunslinger, quarterback C.J.
Football junior kicker Brett Swenson was named co-Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week last week after he was a perfect 3-for-3 in field goal attempts in MSU’s 16-13 win over Iowa.
The struggles of last year’s MSU football team are well documented. The Spartans went 7-6, with all six losses coming by seven points or less. That trend continued in the 2008 season opener against California, where the Spartans once again found themselves staring at another loss by seven points, with a 38-31 outcome.
Be it rushing or protecting the quarterback, MSU’s offensive and defensive lines were pass-happy against Iowa. With the ball in their hands, the Spartans’ offensive line has given up two sacks through six games, one of which came Saturday when Iowa defensive tackle Mitch King brought MSU senior quarterback Brian Hoyer down in the third quarter.
The hot seat just got a little warmer for Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. Ferentz, whose contract runs through 2012, made one of those questionable coaching decisions Saturday that leaves fans at home thinking they’d do a better job making the calls.
After nearly 58 minutes of grind-it-out, pound-it-home football Saturday, Iowa turned the game against MSU into a game of inches. Trailing the Spartans 16-13 with 2:13 remaining, the Hawkeyes faced a fourth-and-inches situation at MSU’s 20-yard line. Instead of attempting a 37-yard field goal for the tie, Iowa opted to keep its offense on the field and go for the first down. Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi handed the ball to 5-foot-11, 235 bruising running back Shonn Greene, who ran to his left in search of an opening.
Feb. 7, 2007, was supposed to be the opening sentence in the next chapter of Arthur Ray Jr.‘s life. Not only was the 17-year-old set to graduate from Chicago’s Mount Carmel High in a few months, but he was about to announce his intentions to play football at MSU.
A breakdown of Saturday’s football game against Iowa.
Wherever coaches have wanted Dwayne Holmes to play in his five years at MSU, he’s been more than willing to make the position audible.
The weather outside is frightful; but these prognosticators are so delightful. And since we don’t actually want to endure the rain and watch the games, let them prog, let them prog, let them prog!
Thanks in large part to the success of senior running back Javon Ringer, the Spartans’ passing game has been almost nonexistent this season.
In what has become a season-long trend, the MSU football team went into Saturday’s game convinced that special teams would make or break the game. Although MSU’s special teams saw its fair share of dropped punts and missed blocking assignments against Indiana, junior kicker Brett Swenson and sophomore punter Aaron Bates did their share to ensure MSU’s 42-29 win.
Bloomington, Ind. — It could have been the back breaker that brought out those dreaded words: Same Old Spartans. MSU had pinned the Indiana Hoosiers inside their own five. The down was third-and-seven. The Spartan defense was hungry for a safety, already leading 34-29 late in the third quarter.
It’s not the way any athlete wants to get on the field. But when a teammate goes down with an injury and is unable to perform, it provides an opportunity for someone else to step in and prove to teammates, coaches and fans that all is not lost.
With the conference schedule set to begin, State News football reporters Jacob Carpenter and Cash Kruth evaluate and predict how each team will fare.
Bailiff: All rise for the Honorable Jacob Carpenter, chief judge of the Football Supreme Court. (Everyone stands, some bow down)
MSU isn’t the only team over the decades who’s looked forward to playing the Hoosiers. Read on to learn more about Indiana’s futile history in conference play.
From recording the program’s first shutout in nine years against Eastern Michigan to shutting down Notre Dame’s running game, MSU’s defense has made significant strides with each passing week.