Column: Gritty win restores life, optimism to MSU's season
When Andrew Maxwell took the field with just over six minutes remaining and Wisconsin leading 10-3, the feeling of déjà vu was unmistakable.
When Andrew Maxwell took the field with just over six minutes remaining and Wisconsin leading 10-3, the feeling of déjà vu was unmistakable.
The last time MSU beat Wisconsin on the final play of a regular season game, then-sophomore defensive end William Gholston found himself on the outside looking in as his teammates celebrated a 37-31 victory over the Badgers in East Lansing.
The MSU football team stole a win at Camp Randall Stadium, topping the Badgers 16-13 in overtime on a 12-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Bennie Fowler.
Even in a year of transition, this wasn’t the season the MSU women’s soccer team expected. It wasn’t the one they would have hoped for. And by any stretch of the imagination, it certainly wasn’t the one head coach Tom Saxton would have liked.
Once again, missed opportunities haunt the Spartans (4-4 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) as they enter the locker room at halftime trailing Wisconsin (6-2, 3-1), 7-3.
Coming into a weekend game with No. 5 Penn State, the MSU field hockey team understood the tactical challenge it was up against. However, the execution against one of the nation’s top teams was another story.
MSU’s conduct and sportsmanship was yet again the topic of discussion by MSU’s undergraduate student government Thursday night.
Two-thirds of the way through a season filled with adversity, the MSU football team finds itself staring another challenge in the face this weekend. The Spartans (4-4 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) travel to Madison, Wis., to face the Wisconsin Badgers (6-2, 3-1) in Camp Randall Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Since Le’Veon Bell stepped onto MSU’s campus three years ago, he’s only ever known one thing: winning. The running back is part of a junior class that was a part of MSU’s only back-to-back 11-win seasons in the program history, yet in the past six weeks, the MSU football team (4-4 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) almost has lost as many games as the team had in the previous two years combined, something Bell said has been difficult to deal with.
This weekend marks the last time seven Spartans take the field as members of the MSU women’s soccer team. But not to be lost in the shuffle, head coach Tom Saxton said to beat Northwestern, the biggest thing that the Spartans need to improve on is attitude.
When the Spartans men’s hockey team (1-2-1) kicked off CCHA play last season, Lake Superior State (2-2-0) handed them a winless series.
The senior class of the MSU field hockey team will take their final steps on Ralph Young Field this Saturday as they play their last home game of the season.
With an NCAA Tournament bid lingering ahead of them, members of the MSU men’s soccer team (7-7-1, 2-2-0 Big Ten) are gearing up for the tail end of the season and determined to turn the season into a winning one.
The MSU volleyball got to enjoy its last four games in the state of Michigan, but this weekend it hit the road as it travels to Indiana for a pair of games.
After a strong fall campaign, the No. 12 MSU women’s golf team finishes off the fall season as they travel to the Landfall Tradition in Wilmington, N.C., this weekend.
There isn’t a trophy, or a name for it. It isn’t rooted in history, nor has it been named one of college football’s premier matchups. However, over the past few years a new rivalry has taken shape between the MSU football team (4-4 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) and Wisconsin (6-2, 3-1).
Sports are bittersweet, no doubt about that. There are triumphant victories and devastating losses, but one of the hardest feelings athletes ever will feel is saying goodbye to their team.
When the Spartans’ defense harassed opponents to an 11-win season, a bowl victory and an appearance in the inaugural Big Ten championship game last season, two areas made the group especially potent: sacks and forcing turnovers.
Lately, Tom Anastos has been taking a line-shuffling note from Scotty Bowman’s book. Anastos, the MSU men’s hockey (1-2-1) head coach, has been mixing and matching linemates this season to see which players can click together. With 12 new players this year, it’s going to take a couple of tries until the MSU coaching staff can get it right.
As the season winds down on many fall sport seasons, the MSU men’s cross country team and women’s cross country team both prepare for the Big Ten championships, beginning at 10:45 a.m. this Sunday at Forest Akers East Golf Course in East Lansing.