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Sports | 1117

FOOTBALL

MSU not yet elite

Jacob Carpenter
November 23, 2008

In a few days, when the sting of Saturday’s 49-18 beatdown in Beaver Stadium wears off, the MSU football team will be able to reflect on its 9-3 season. The No. 22 Spartans (9-3 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) can take pride in likely becoming the first MSU team to reach a New Year’s Day bowl game since 2000, when the Spartans stunned Florida with a 37-34 win in the Citrus Bowl (now known as the Capital One Bowl). MSU will either receive a berth in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla., or the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla.

FOOTBALL

Dantonio has many faces as head of team

Cash Kruth
November 23, 2008

Mark Dantonio can be described many ways. He can be called old-school, perhaps a traditionalist. Or he can be defined by any one of his Dantonioisms, such as “Stay the course” and “They all count one.”

SOCCER

Defense wins championships

Alex DiFilippo
November 23, 2008

If you don’t allow goals, you can’t lose. That’s the motto the MSU men’s soccer team has been living by this season. And it’s working perfectly for the Spartans, as they have racked up seven straight shutouts. With an established scorer in Doug DeMartin up top, head coach Joe Baum has been able to focus his attention on molding the defensive unit into a back line that has been impenetrable of late.

FOOTBALL

Spartans routed by Penn State, 49-18

Cash Kruth
November 22, 2008

State College, Pa. —- Playing on the program’s biggest stage in 18 years, the No. 17 MSU football team stumbled and came to a crashing fall under the bright lights of Beaver Stadium, losing in convincing fashion to No. 7 Penn State 49-18.

FOOTBALL

One shot

Cash Kruth
November 20, 2008

It started out as a vision. Perhaps the idea could be called a pipe dream. But when George Perles, then-MSU’s football coach and Athletics Director, emerged from the Spartan Stadium tunnel for MSU’s regular season finale against Illinois in 1991 and saw a mere 61,721 fans in the crowd, he decided the MSU football program needed a change.

FOOTBALL

Prognosticators

Some students go out and party on Thursday nights. Others stay in to refresh the sports page over and over and over again so that they can be first ones to read Prognosticators. Well, it’s go time, sports fans. Prognosticators is here.

BASKETBALL

MSU stomps Detroit Mercy

Sean Ely
November 19, 2008

Not even two big handfuls of mistakes could knock the MSU women’s basketball team off its path. Despite 24 turnovers and 49 missed shots from the floor and free-throw line, the Spartans still rolled over Detroit Mercy 85-48 on Wednesday at Breslin Center — remaining unbeaten this season.

SPORTS

Bush leads Spartans to NCAA Championships

Jacob Carpenter
November 19, 2008

Cross country senior Nicole Bush has broken individual MSU records, won high school state titles and earned conference awards in her illustrious running career. Yet the crowning achievement in an already overflowing trophy case — an NCAA national championship — has alluded the Wyoming, Mich., native. Bush and the 10th-ranked Spartans women’s team will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday for the NCAA Championships, where Bush will look to best her fifth-place finish in 2007.

VOLLEYBALL

MSU volleyball team clings to NCAA Tournament aspirations

It’s not over ‘til it’s over. That’s the attitude the MSU volleyball team is taking into the last two weeks of the regular season. The team (14-13 overall, 6-10 Big Ten) still holds an outside chance of making the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid and is looking to take every opportunity to slip into the Big Dance.

SOCCER

DeMartin earns academic honor

Alex DiFilippo
November 19, 2008

For the first time in the history of the men’s soccer program, a Spartan has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American First Team. Senior forward Doug DeMartin earned the award Wednesday after being selected to the Academic All-District IV first team, which made him eligible for All-American recognition.

SPORTS

Soccer gets bye, No. 4 seed in NCAA

Alex DiFilippo
November 17, 2008

If it were basketball, the MSU men’s soccer team would be a No. 1 seed going into the NCAA Tournament. But because only 48 teams are selected for the tournament, the Spartans earned a No. 4 seed, which guarantees MSU home field advantage until the semifinals.