The MSU football team's season was low-lighted by lackluster efforts, humiliating losses, several suspensions and the dismissal of the head coach before the end of the year. There were five losses by 21 points or more, five players who voluntarily left the team and six players suspended for one game or more. "It was a disaster," ESPN college football analyst Beano Cook said.
State College, Pa. - Not only did Penn State's Larry Johnson single-handedly embarrass the Spartans on Saturday, he solidified his place among the NCAA's best all-time tailbacks.With 279 rushing yards on 19 carries (14.7 per carry), Johnson became just the ninth running back - and the first in Big Ten history - to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark in a single season.
State College, Pa. - Just when Spartan fans thought it couldn't get any worse, Penn State trounced MSU 61-7 Saturday night in Happy Valley.The 61 points is the most any MSU squad has yielded since a 63-0 loss to Michigan in 1922.
Say aloha to the Spartans. MSU and University of Hawaii athletics officials signed a contract Monday to play three football games against each other starting in 2004. The Spartans will play at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu on Dec.
Although the MSU football team had a familiar result when it lost to Purdue 45-42 at Spartan Stadium, interim head coach Morris Watts said there was a difference in the way the team played. "One of the things I felt very good about was how hard our young men competed through the four quarters," he said.
MSU has been on the wrong end of many big plays this season, but Saturday the defense retaliated with game-breaking plays of its own. Although Purdue scored 45 points and gained 555 yards of total offense, the Spartans forced a season-high five turnovers - four interceptions and a fumble - which led to 23 of the team's 42 points. On a day that recognized the last game at Spartan Stadium for the senior class, it was a day of firsts for many of the Spartan defenders in MSU's 45-42 loss to the Boilermakers.
For just the second time all season, Spartan fans witnessed a game decided in the fourth quarter.
Lansing Mayor David Hollister is an MSU alumnus and a football season-ticket holder. And now he's living a fan's dream come true. Hollister has the "honor" of sitting in with MSU Athletics Director Ron Mason, 19 other football fans and one professional hiring consultant to brainstorm a list of qualities and characteristics the perfect Spartan head football coach would have. The panelists don't get to hire the coach to replace Bobby Williams.
In front of national media in the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center, MSU junior quarterback Jeff Smoker spoke publicly about his substance abuse problems for the first time since being indefinitely suspended Oct.
With plenty of dark clouds looming above the Spartans, a win was just what they needed to help brighten things up around East Lansing. And winning by the score of 56-21 made it that much better. "I think our team feels much better," junior wide receiver Charles Rogers said.
With senior tailback Dawan Moss serving an indefinite suspension, the MSU football team was forced to call on the future of its running attack - and the call was answered. In the Spartans' 56-21 thrashing of Indiana, freshmen tailbacks David Richard and Jaren Hayes showcased their version of "thunder and lightning" as they combined for 224 yards and three touchdowns.
Bloomington, Ind. - After four straight blowout losses, the indefinite suspensions of two team captains and the firing of former head coach Bobby Williams, 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 on Saturday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
With Bobby Williams out the door and Morris Watts destined to make his exit in December, MSU should garner plenty of interest from talented coordinators and coaches across the country.
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.
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.