The race for the Heisman Trophy continues to keep college football fans on their toes. Any given week, a candidate can come out of nowhere and step into the forefront or stumble back into the middle of the pack.
The fact that MSU sucks at football doesn’t matter this week, as the Spartans prepare to play Michigan on Saturday.
Heading into its inaugural season in the Midwest Alliance Soccer Conferences’ Northern Division, the MSU men’s club soccer team had no idea what to expect.
Versatility has been the name of Jared Nightingale’s game so far this season. The 6-foot-2, 191-pound freshman is a defenseman by trade, but he has played half of MSU’s games as the fourth-line right wing this year. Where Nightingale lines up on a given night seems to depend on whether freshman defenseman Evan Shaw is playing or not.
“Let’s sign a brick you guys.”Field hockey head coach Michele Madison speaks to her team’s Leadership Group in the field hockey locker room with a smile on her face, beaming with pride over a perfect 10-0 season at the MSU Field Hockey Complex.“We have to sign a brick, we just went undefeated at home,” Madison said.Matching last year’s 16-6 overall record, Big Ten Championship and Elite Eight appearance is no small feat, but with the help of four women this year’s No.
Saturday’s game with Michigan marks the 94th intrastate battle and the 49th since the Spartans joined the Big Ten in 1953.The No.
It was three weeks ago, and the Spartans haven’t forgotten. The then-No. 18 Spartans went to Cliff Keen Arena in Ann Arbor for their match with the Wolverines hoping to take down the intrastate rivalry.
With only two fall team meets this year the women’s crew team is feeling good. Last Sunday the team took first place in all five varsity events at The Head of the Elk in Elkhart, Ind.
What would Big Ten football be like with an instant-replay rule?The fumble-filled game between Michigan and Illinois in 2000 wouldn’t have been a Wolverine win; MSU might not have had one last second of glory last year; and Joe Paterno might be at ease with his team’s record.
With the MSU hockey team enjoying a bye this week, it seems like an appropriate time to mention Adam Nightingale. After all, Nightingale is in the midst of an entire bye season with the Spartans.
A year ago, Dora Vastag was defeated in the round of 16 by Northwestern’s Marine Piriou at the Omni Hotels/ITA Women’s Tennis Midwest Regional.
Junior defenseman Joe Markusen’s name usually doesn’t spring to mind when listing the offensive threats on the MSU hockey team. But the light-scoring blueliner made a huge play late for the Spartans in Friday’s game against Lake Superior State at Munn Ice Arena. With the score tied 2-2 and the clock winding down in the third period, Markusen corralled a high pass from sophomore defenseman Duncan Keith at the point and fired a long feed to sophomore forward Brock Radunske at the side of the crease. From there, Radunske simply guided the puck into the mostly open net to lift the Spartans to a 3-2 victory with 2.7 seconds left. “I knew he was in the area,” Markusen said of Radunske.
The top left corner of the Spartan backdrop peels behind MSU head coach Bobby Williams, who stood before the media fielding questions in a press conference after Saturday’s loss, serving as a reminder that even the duct tape has given up on the football program here in the land split by the Red Cedar. No spin could distract from the four pieces of gray tape that couldn’t hold on Saturday - neither could a hundred green-and-white gridders. If duct tape can’t keep the Spartan football program together, don’t expect this team to fix itself, as duct tape can fix anything - so my father once told me. My father, a skilled man, never coached this football team. The green-and-white paper folded and so did the program marred by poor play and scandal. “This is the most disappointed I’ve ever been as a coach,” Williams says. Put up or give up. The fans, the alumni and, seemingly, the players have given up on a season of fumbled football - a few team members have at least given up on team rules. They’d throw in the towel if it wasn’t likely to be intercepted. As Saturday night’s glowing lights illuminated a Spartan Stadium tomb, the last of the 75,507 grains of sand slide out of the bleachers before all time had run out. Standing there in the cool crosswinds, only a few fans remain - clad in MSU mittens, winter caps, hooded sweatshirts and Spartan jackets - in section 13, usually dominated by students. The bleachers here are mostly empty, littered with popcorn boxes and hot-dog wrappers. “This year, I think the fans gave up before the football team,” elementary education sophomore Katie Neddermeyer says.
The No. 25 MSU volleyball team played two different kind of matches this weekend, but in the end, they did just what they expected - pick up two victories.
The MSU volleyball team battled it out with Big Ten opponents en route to picking up two victories this weekend. Led by another red-hot performance from redshirt freshman Megan Wallin, the Spartans (14-6 overall, 6-4 Big Ten) defeated Purdue 30-23, 30-23 and 30-19 on Friday. Senior outside hitter Kyla Smith led the charge Saturday, recording 18 kills in the Spartans’ 38-40, 30-22, 30-21, 25-30 and 16-14 five-game marathon win over Illinois. The contest against the Fighting Illini proved to be the highlight of the weekend.
Though this year’s incoming men’s basketball recruits have a difficult road ahead, the sophomore class has made the path a little smoother. Last year’s trio of Chris Hill, Alan Anderson and Kelvin Torbert exploded in their first full-length game this season, scoring 17, 11 and 10 points respectively to lead the Green team to a 78-52 win in the Green-White scrimmage Saturday at Breslin Center. “I really thought we got some good things out of it,” head coach Tom Izzo said.
It was a different quarterback taking the snaps, but the result was the same for MSU. The Spartans (3-5 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) dropped their third consecutive game 42-24 against the Wisconsin Badgers (6-3, 1-3) in front of a national television audience Saturday night. And Saturday’s spotlight was firmly fixed upon sophomore signal caller Damon Dowdell following Thursday’s announcement that junior quarterback Jeff Smoker was indefinitely suspended for violating unspecified team rules. “I thought he came in and stepped up to the challenge,” senior strong safety Thomas Wright said of Dowdell.
The MSU football team practiced differently, had a new quarterback under center, and preached about showing toughness, but nothing changed. In an attempt to separate itself from the Big Ten’s cellar, the Spartans (3-5 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) turned in another dismal performance in a 42-24 loss to Wisconsin at Spartan Stadium on Saturday night.
As six men’s soccer seniors stepped off of Old College Field after a tough 2-1 loss to Wisconsin on Sunday there were no regrets. “To me it was kind of an honor to go out with everybody playing as hard as they could for the seniors,” senior goalkeeper Tyler Robinson said.
These are some foul times in Spartan Country. The stench of the Red Cedar carries to the far reaches of campus, creating the greatest funk since Nick Saban left office.