State College, Pa. —- Playing on the program’s biggest stage in 18 years, the No. 17 MSU football team stumbled and came to a crashing fall under the bright lights of Beaver Stadium, losing in convincing fashion to No. 7 Penn State 49-18.
It started out as a vision. Perhaps the idea could be called a pipe dream. But when George Perles, then-MSU’s football coach and Athletics Director, emerged from the Spartan Stadium tunnel for MSU’s regular season finale against Illinois in 1991 and saw a mere 61,721 fans in the crowd, he decided the MSU football program needed a change.
The MSU football team had little to play for against Penn State on Nov. 18, 2006. The Spartans were the bottom of program valley, 4-7 with one game remaining, with head coach John L. Smith orchestrating his final game at MSU.
Williams is one of the premiere return men in the conference, ranking first with 28.6 yards per kick return and sixth in punt returns with an average of 9.4 yards.
Some students go out and party on Thursday nights. Others stay in to refresh the sports page over and over and over again so that they can be first ones to read Prognosticators. Well, it’s go time, sports fans. Prognosticators is here.
Not even two big handfuls of mistakes could knock the MSU women’s basketball team off its path. Despite 24 turnovers and 49 missed shots from the floor and free-throw line, the Spartans still rolled over Detroit Mercy 85-48 on Wednesday at Breslin Center — remaining unbeaten this season.
Cross country senior Nicole Bush has broken individual MSU records, won high school state titles and earned conference awards in her illustrious running career. Yet the crowning achievement in an already overflowing trophy case — an NCAA national championship — has alluded the Wyoming, Mich., native. Bush and the 10th-ranked Spartans women’s team will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday for the NCAA Championships, where Bush will look to best her fifth-place finish in 2007.
It’s not over ‘til it’s over. That’s the attitude the MSU volleyball team is taking into the last two weeks of the regular season. The team (14-13 overall, 6-10 Big Ten) still holds an outside chance of making the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid and is looking to take every opportunity to slip into the Big Dance.
For the first time in the history of the men’s soccer program, a Spartan has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American First Team. Senior forward Doug DeMartin earned the award Wednesday after being selected to the Academic All-District IV first team, which made him eligible for All-American recognition.
For the first time since 1990, the MSU football team will be playing its final game with a Big Ten championship on the line. The differences between 18 years ago and Saturday’s game, though, will be dramatic.
For Travis Walton, basketball is nothing without consistency. A team can slam the ball through the hoop 100 times, make 16 3-pointers or even destroy an opponent by 50 points in a single game.
When the puck isn’t bouncing your way, it’s easy to get bummed out. And that’s exactly what is happening to the MSU hockey team as it still struggles to find a good bounce or two to lift its spirits.
If it were basketball, the MSU men’s soccer team would be a No. 1 seed going into the NCAA Tournament. But because only 48 teams are selected for the tournament, the Spartans earned a No. 4 seed, which guarantees MSU home field advantage until the semifinals.
It was an eerie start to the game and an even weirder way for the season to end. The NCAA quarterfinal game between the MSU field hockey team and Iowa, postponed for weather reasons and finished Monday, started right where the game left off Sunday. No national anthem. No player introductions. They just started playing.
If it were basketball, the MSU men’s soccer team would be a No. 1 seed going into the NCAA Tournament.
After weeks of wondering who would play where and in what capacity, MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo unveiled the first official edition of the MSU starting lineup Sunday night. In the Spartans’ 100-62 season-opening win against Idaho at Breslin Center, Izzo started sophomore guards Kalin Lucas and Chris Allen in the backcourt, senior guard Travis Walton at the three and junior forward Raymar Morgan and senior center Goran Suton in the frontcourt.
Although the 2008 MSU field hockey team might have been only inches away from the NCAA Final Four, the team looks like it could be miles ahead of the competition for 2009. This year’s team, which made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, was just a missed penalty corner short of heading to the third Final Four in school history.
Linebackers get the tackles and defensive ends rack up the sacks, but the two most important players to the MSU rush defense might be the ones who don’t put up gaudy numbers. Defensive tackle Justin Kershaw, a 6-foot-5, 273-pound senior, and nose tackle Oren Wilson, a 6-foot-3, 288-pound sophomore, rarely show up on the stats sheet, but it’s beyond the numbers where their contributions shine.
An amazing season is over for the No. 10 MSU field hockey team, ending with a crushing 1-0 loss in the NCAA quarterfinals to Iowa on Monday morning.
As if the two teams hadn’t seen each other enough this season, the NCAA quarterfinal match between MSU and Iowa was postponed Sunday because of heavy snowfall and is scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. today. The snow began falling heavily during halftime, limiting visibility and prompting officials to begin using orange balls instead of the standard white.