Friday, April 26, 2024

Sports | Football

FOOTBALL

Rogers sets career record for receiving touchdowns

As the Spartans rolled over the Indiana Hoosiers 56-21, junior wide receiver Charles Rogers returned to his early season form that shattered records and had many whispering Heisman. On Saturday, the 6-4, 205-pounder compiled 168 yards of total offense with two touchdowns on just seven touches.

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SPORTS UPDATE: Gridders break losing streak, thrash Indiana

Bloomington, Ind. - After being blownout the past four weeks and seeing its head coach fired Monday, the MSU football team took out its frustrations on Indiana. The Spartans (4-6 overall, 2-4 Big Ten) played like everyone expected them to play all season, beating the Hoosiers (3-7, 1-5) 56-21 at Memorial Stadium.

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Mason speaks out on recent Williams firing

MSU Athletics Director Ron Mason said he never expected such big problems only four months into his five-year term.“It’s really been kind of unfortunate and a sad time for MSU athletics that something like this has to come down,” Mason said concerning the football team.

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MIDDAY UPDATE: Moss back on football team, suspended indefinitely

Junior linebacker Monquiz Wedlow said Dawan Moss has been reinstated on the MSU football team, and MSU Sports Information spokesman John Lewandowski said the senior tailback is now suspended indefinitely.Wedlow said Moss won’t play Saturday at Indiana, but will stay on the team with a suspended status until his court charges are cleared or he is convicted.Moss was arrested Sunday morning for drunken driving, resisting and obstructing a police officer and fleeing and eluding, a felony.

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Williams reacts to firing

Former Spartans football head coach Bobby Williams spoke out Wednesday for the first time since his firing. Williams told ESPN his expectations as coach included the same opportunities extended to his predecessors - former head coaches George Perles and Nick Saban - when they took over the football squad. Williams was fired after a team practice Monday.

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Watts to close out Spartans' season

Less than 18 hours after Bobby Williams was fired Monday evening, Morris Watts fielded questions from the media for the first time as the interim head coach Tuesday afternoon. Watts has been handed the task of trying to motivate a 3-6 team that has been blown out in its last four games.

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Group to discuss firing

Members of Black Student Alliance are hosting a town hall meeting Thursday to discuss possible injustices in Bobby Williams' termination as MSU's head football coach. Marcelle Bryant, the group's programming director, said she personally was angered with the manner in which Williams was fired Monday, but said she wasn't convinced the act had anything to do with race.

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Moss arrest just one of many negative incidents

A day after Dawan Moss was arrested and dismissed from the MSU football, details of the incident have become clearer.Early Sunday, the co-captain was charged with second-offense drunken driving, fourth-degree fleeing and eluding and resisting and obstructing a police officer.

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Players, fans opinions differ over removal

The news of Bobby Williams’ termination swept threw campus like wildfire. After weeks of pleading from fans and alumni for MSU Athletics Director Ron Mason to fire the third-year head coach, some Spartan followers finally were granted their wish. While fans who booed and held signs at recent home games that said “Fire Bobby Williams” were satisfied, players on the team didn’t take the news well. Many members of the football team, who learned about Williams’ firing minutes before Mason’s press conference, were visibly upset by his termination. Junior defensive lineman Luc Mullinder was one of the players who showed frustration over the evening’s news in the lobby of the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athletic Academic Center. “I don’t want to hear this shit, man,” he said while trying to be calmed.

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Watts to become interim coach

In the midst of a season full of disappointment, suspensions and substance abuse, Athletics Director Ron Mason announced Monday the firing of head coach Bobby Williams.“I’ve terminated Bobby Williams as our head football coach, effective immediately,” Mason said at a press conference following Monday’s practice.The Spartans’ 23rd head coach was notified of the decision only moments before the press conference and didn’t speak to the media.Since taking over the football team at the 2000 Citrus Bowl, Williams is 16-17 at the helm of the MSU football team.

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Trustee says race played role in dismissal

An MSU trustee issued a statement Monday alleging officials treated Bobby Williams, the university’s first black head football coach, differently from his white predecessors. Williams, one of only four black coaches in Division I-A football and the first black coach of any MSU revenue sport, was fired Monday night by Athletics Director Ron Mason.

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MIDDAY UPDATE: Campus reacts to firing of Williams

After Monday’s announcement that Bobby Williams will no longer be MSU’s head football coach, students and trustees are making their feelings known.MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson released a statement following the announcement that said he felt Williams was not given a fair opportunity to build a program.Ferguson, who is the only black member of the Board of Trustees, cited the two coaches who preceded Williams, George Perles and Nick Saban, were given at least four years to develop a program.Following the firing of Williams there are now only three black coaches in Division I-A football.The Black Student Alliance will hold a meeting at 6:30 p.m.

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MIDDAY UPDATE: Spartan arrested, dismissed from team

Dawan Moss has been dismissed from the MSU football team after Lansing police arrested the senior tailback early Sunday and charged him with his second drunken driving offense, fourth degree fleeing and eluding, and resisting and obstructing an officer. “Dawan Moss has been dismissed from the team following his arrest this weekend,” MSU head football coach Bobby Williams said in a written statement released this afternoon.

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SPORTS UPDATE: Spartans fall to rival Wolverines

Ann Arbor - The battle between intrastate rivals failed to measure up to last year‘s classic, as the Spartans failed to keep Saturday’s contest close against Michigan, losing 49-3.Last season, Michigan and MSU battled it out until the last play, needing every tick on the clock to decide a winner.

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Welcome to the house the Wolverines built

Ann Arbor - University of Michigan alumni and students pride themselves on its presence.It’s estimated that 880,000 pounds of reinforcing steel was used in its construction.It’s almost impossible to miss the giant block “M” on the back of its scoreboard when driving down Main Street in Ann Arbor.They call it the “Big House.” And for good reason.Michigan Stadium is the largest stadium in college football with a capacity of 107,501.

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Another Spartan suspended

MSU Sports Information announced late Thursday that junior defensive end Greg Taplin is suspended for Saturday’s game against Michigan. Spartan head coach Bobby Williams didn’t address the media or release a statement regarding the suspension.

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Smoker rumors unconfirmed

One week after the indefinite suspension of junior quarterback Jeff Smoker, Spartan fans are still in the dark as to what “team rules violation” actually means. Attempts by The State News to reach Smoker on campus or at his parents’ home in Manheim, Pa., have not been successful.