SPORTS
Heisman watch
The Heisman race is starting to take form as the conference schedules separate the pretenders from the contenders. The season started with everyone thinking a quarterback would take home the hardware, but Marshall’s Byron Leftwich hasn’t been enough to keep the Thundering Herd in the national spotlight and Florida’s Rex Grossman has played himself and the once-mighty Gators out of just about everything. Only one signal caller remains, Iowa State’s Seneca Wallace, who nobody considered a candidate in the preseason. Joining Wallace in pulling away from the rest of the field is a pair of tailbacks, Ohio State’s Maurice Clarett and Miami’s Willis McGahee. Front-runners:Seneca Wallacesenior quarterback, Iowa StateFollowing a bye week that allowed his hype to cool, Wallace led the Cyclones to a 31-17 victory over Texas Tech. Iowa State entered the third quarter tied 3-3, but a 12-yard TD run by the senior signal caller ignited a 21 point third quarter for the Cyclones.
SPORTS
WEB ONLY:Sports briefs
Women tee off in tourneyMSU women’s golf team ends its fall season at the 2002 Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championships this weekend at the Gettysvue Country Club in Knoxville, Tenn. Five of the 15 teams competing in the tournament are ranked in the Top 25 by Golfweek magazine. The Spartans, who have been off since their sixth-place finish at the New Mexico State Give’Em Five Intercollegiate, held Oct.
SPORTS
Spartans look to rebound with some changes to lineup
Homecoming weekend is a time for celebration and remembrance. But Spartan fans don’t have much to celebrate.MSU (3-3 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) was embarrassed last Saturday in Iowa City, Iowa, to the tune of a 44-16 loss.
SPORTS
Ohio State looks to extend perfect season
No. 4 Ohio State at Wisconsin The Buckeyes tote an unscathed record to Camp Randall Stadium this weekend, flying high after punishing San Jose State, 50-7, Saturday. In three and a half quarters of action, signal caller Craig Krenzel set career highs in both passing yards (241) and touchdowns (3). Tailback Maurice Clarett added another eye-popping performance against the Spartans with 132 yards and 18 carries to head the Buckeyes’ offense, along with two rushing and one receiving touchdowns.
VOLLEYBALL
WEB ONLY: Volleyball team sets itself for Wisconsin, Northwestern
Slowly, the No. 23 Spartans have been trying to figure out what has gone wrong this season. They started out the season as the 15th-ranked volleyball team in the nation and were ranked as high as 12th.
SPORTS
Saginaw native impresses Big Ten with legs
It’ll be a homecoming for more than just MSU alumni this weekend. Minnesota’s running back Terry Jackson will have about 50 friends and family coming to watch him play at Spartan Stadium on Saturday. The Saginaw native returns to the Great Lakes State to play about 80 miles from the high school where he won a state championship.
ICE HOCKEY
Comley keeps emotions in check for homecoming
Rick Comley has been through this before. “When we went down to Lake Superior - I can still remember to this day - they did the introductions, the teams were lined up, they introduced me as Northern’s head coach and everybody in the building booed,” Comley said.
SPORTS
Football polls select perennial powers as well as a few surprises
Take a glance at The Associated Press Top 25 poll. Notice anything interesting? Year after year, the Top 25 is sprinkled with the perennial powerhouses such as Florida State, Texas and Tennessee.
SPORTS
Under the scope
MSU football fans aren’t happy. Alumni are grumbling, fan mail has soured and administrators are quick to defend head coach Bobby Williams and to chide frustrated fans.
SPORTS
Spartans need to stand behind coach in time of crisis
Tell that roommate, you know, the one who eats your Fritos and drinks your Labatt’s, to clean off your dishes - the ones your mother gave you from your home.
SOCCER
WEB ONLY: Spartans fall to Note Dame, battle Penn State this weekend
The road has not been kind to the men’s soccer team. After compiling a 7-2 overall record, MSU has dropped three out of four games on its month-long road trip, the most recent a 2-0 loss at No.
SPORTS
Pigskin Prognosticators
Basically, your favorite Pigskin Prognosticators took a page from the Spartans and tanked last weekend. McSkinny (18-15) finished 2-3 and gained a game on Death Ro (20-13), whose 1-4 mark was his worst of the season. Both let their Green-and-White blood cloud their thinking, but only McSkinny was able to quell his hatred for the Wolverines. But as the conference schedules heat up and more top 25 teams face off, the race for No.
SPORTS
Lovett steps up as a No. 2
There are many unanswered questions surrounding the Spartan football team. But the question as to who is MSU’s No.
ICE HOCKEY
Coach urges team to turn up the volume
Rarely does a 55-year-old man want a bunch of college kids to play their music louder.But that’s one of the things head coach Rick Comley still is trying to get his 10th-ranked hockey team (1-1-0) to do in his first year at the helm.Comley wants noise.
VOLLEYBALL
Injury bug depletes Spartans
A rash of injuries have left the No. 23 Spartans dealing with more physical pains then they’d like to this season. For the second straight weekend and fifth straight game, junior outside hitter Sara Villwock was sidelined nursing an injured left foot. Prior to Villwock’s injury, she led the team with 113 kills total, she also was the team’s biggest defensive threat, digging 3.29 balls per game. Her presence has been felt on the bench, but it has lacked on the floor - where the Spartans have been hurting.
SPORTS
A grueling goal pays off with lifetime of memories
It was my dream. A dream that I told people about just so they would tell me I was crazy. So, for the last two years, I’d prepared for one of the most grueling, but fulfilling events ever created.
FOOTBALL
Spartans look forward to second half of season
The season for the MSU football team has not developed the way anyone could have imagined. The Spartans (3-3 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) have dropped three of their last four games - two of which have been blowout losses. “We’re not anywhere near where we should be or where I expected this team to be,” head coach Bobby Williams said at a Tuesday press conference.
BASEBALL
Team scrimmages for last time, prepares for upcoming season
The San Francisco Giants and the Anaheim Angels aren’t the only teams playing baseball this deep into October.The MSU baseball team took the field Wednesday afternoon for the last time this year in the final game of the three game Green/Gray World Series.In the contest, the Gray team came out victorious with some last inning heroics.
BASKETBALL
Healthy Spartans work better
Last season, the MSU men’s basketball team lacked enough healthy bodies for intense practices. The Spartans had just eight scholarship athletes on the roster and various injuries - including redshirt junior forward Adam Wolfe’s season-ending injury - forcing walk-ons and others to play minutes they had not earned. Head coach Tom Izzo said practices were played “safe.” This fall, the first three days of practices have been more to Izzo’s liking.