SOCCER
Spartans' Big Ten repeat quest begins
In Saturday’s exhibition game against IPFW, the MSU men’s soccer team faced an unfamiliar situation. They were scored on.
SOCCER
Spartans' weapons wear down opponents
Tom Saxton knows opposing coaches don’t have to be rocket scientists to prepare for the MSU women’s soccer team.
FOOTBALL
Second half: Tail end of schedule challenging
Five of MSU’s final six opponents went to a bowl game and four of them won at least nine games. But this season, the schedule actually sets up pretty favorably for the Spartans. Four of the final six games are at home and the two road games typically aren’t at hostile environments.
FOOTBALL
First half: Spartans must open season on strong note
With a talented recruiting class and young players getting better, the MSU football team has a chance to have a great season and make its third consecutive bowl appearance.
FOOTBALL
Dantonio names Cousins starting quarterback; Nichol to play in first half
MSU head football coach Mark Dantonio has named sophomore Kirk Cousins as the starting quarterback for Saturday’s season-opening game against Montana State at Spartan Stadium.
FOOTBALL
Spartans enter into football series with other state schools
The MSU football team will play 12 games in 10 seasons against Central Michigan, Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan, including a return trip for MSU to each campus, beginning in 2011, MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis announced today.
FOOTBALL
Players vie for starting quarterback
The next few weeks could dictate the course of the MSU football team’s season.
FOOTBALL
MSU football begins fall camp, Dantonio returns to basic skills
At the beginning of the MSU football team’s fall camp, everybody wears a name tag — even Mark Dantonio. With a “Coach Dantonio” written on tape across his stomach, Dantonio kicked off his third season as MSU head coach with the team’s first practice Monday and noted not much has changed from his first two fall camps in East Lansing.
FOOTBALL
Ringer reflects on career so far
NFL rookies around the country have been working on their game, and Tennessee Titans running back Javon Ringer is no different. The former MSU workhorse, Ringer was selected in the fifth round by the Titans in April’s NFL Draft. The State News caught up with Ringer during Titans-organized team activities to ask him about adjusting to the NFL, his time at MSU and being a professional football player.
FOOTBALL
Spartans voice their choice on student section T-shirt designs
There’s no place for Democrats or Republicans with an important vote facing MSU students — it’s time to decide the 2009 football student section T-shirt. Voting for the upcoming season’s student section T-shirt can be done at http://www.msuspartans.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/062209aaa.html, and the voting period ends July 17.
SPORTS
Advancing Athletics
By now, you’ve seen the Pure Michigan advertisements on TV. In the commercials, there usually are images of Michigan’s Great Lakes, lighthouses and fresh harvests coming in. It shows all the openness, the nature of the state, the beauty that shines through the mere landscape and topography. But all the nature, as beautifully mesmerizing as it is, cannot hold the attention of the most freewheeling minds.
BASEBALL
Roof only Spartan MLB draft pick, joins father in Detroit
Eric Roof has never played baseball for his father, but he’ll get his first chance in the next couple months. Roof, who played catcher for the Spartans, was the only MSU player taken in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He’ll be playing for the organization where his father, Gene, has spent more than two decades — the Detroit Tigers.
ICE HOCKEY
Michigan made
The Michigan-made man is dying as we know it. As the state’s auto companies file for bankruptcy and merge with foreign manufacturers, the Michigan-made man is disappearing from the nation’s architecture. The car dealers offering low prices and zero money down will become less diverse on TV and radio airwaves during the coming months.
SPORTS
Abdelkader scores again as Red Wings take 2-0 series lead
It’s just a little bit of déjà vu for the Detroit Red Wings — in more ways than one. One year after facing off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final, the two are playing each other again this year.
SPORTS
Web exclusive: Women’s rowing team finish 6th in national championship
Although the No. 7-ranked MSU women’s rowing team didn’t win the national championship in the NCAA National Regatta on Sunday in Cherry Hill, N.J., tying the university’s top finish of sixth place with 54 points wasn’t a bad way to spend the weekend.
BASEBALL
Despite slow startup, MSU ends season in high spirits
The regular season didn’t end the way the MSU baseball team wanted it to, as the Spartans were eliminated from the Big Ten Conference Tournament on Thursday. But then again, not a lot of things happened as expected this year for the Spartans, who finished fifth in the conference with a 13-11 conference record and 23-31 overall record.
BASEBALL
MSU defeated 16-5
The saying goes, “When it rains, it pours.” That was the case Wednesday as the No. 4-seed Illinois baseball team smacked No. 5-seed MSU in a 16-5 trouncing in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio.
SPORTS
Women's golf ties for 12th place in Division I championship
The No. 21-ranked MSU women’s golf team shot a plus-19 in the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.
BASEBALL
Conference title up for grabs
The Big Ten Baseball Tournament w ill be held starting today at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio. Here is a preview of each team in the tournament.
SPORTS
Spartans lose 6-4 to Indiana
The Spartans lost the first of a three game series 6-4 against Indiana on Thursday in Bloomington, Ind., in what is a potential first round Big Ten Tournament matchup. Indiana’s first baseman Jerrud Sabourin hit a two out, two-run walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning for the win. MSU is slated as the No.