Wrap Up: MSU @ Iowa

Apologies from yours truly for being absent this week.  I've been battling a virus that's been going around campus recently and this fell by the wayside a bit.  Didn't make it any easier with what happened on Saturday...

In case you missed the second half because you were blackout drunk, final score was 37-6.  There's something about big games that plays mind games with the Spartans.  After coming out flat in the first half against Illinois and Northwestern, it seemed like the team would recognize and respond knowing that the same couldn't be done against one of the best defenses in the country.  The problem, it seems, is that after 9 weeks of football, the team is emotionally and physically drained.  Although it may not seem like it due to the lack of players sitting out, the only logical conclusion is that there was not enough left in the tank to play the best game of the season on Saturday.

Kirk Cousins had arguably his worst game in a Spartans uniform.  It happens.  It's easy to see that he takes the team's performance very personally and puts a lot of pressure on himself to perform.  A little factoid that many didn't know going into the game is that he grew up a die-hard Iowa fan - his grandfather and great uncle played football for the Hawkeyes and his mom was a member of the dance team.  It's understandable that he'd put additional pressure on himself to play better for his family.  He made some very odd mistakes - fundamental errors that he hasn't made (to that degree) before in his career.  His ankle (which he broke in HS) has been taped up for the last few weeks, but it's unclear if that had any effect on his game play.  In any case, he'll bounce back and be fine.

As for the rest of the team, bright spots were few and far between.  The offensive line got dominated in the trenches by Iowa's D-Line.  In all fairness, there are at least 2 NFL players on that line in Adrian Clayborn and Christian Ballard, but I did expect some better play from the line. The running game hardly put up any numbers, mainly because it was virtually abandoned because of the early deficit.  Even Greg Jones looked mediocre, as he uncharacteristically missed a couple tackles and made a few bad reads.

As for the positives?  The future looks to be in good hands.  Freshman William Gholston keeps getting better - he tallied 5 tackles including a half tackle-for-loss and he's only had 8 tackles in the previous 8 games.  Jerel Worthy, who has been double-teamed most of the season, did significantly better when he was one-on-one (thank you to the 360-lb Antonio Jeremiah for freeing him up).  RS Freshman Bennie Fowler, who caught the "Mouse Trap" pass, played for the injured Keshawn Martin and played like an upperclassman.  The defensive line as a whole is getting better at pressuring the QB, as well.

Anyone want to take a guess about what was said here???

Was the game a giant ass-whooping? You bet.  Should the team (and fans) be discouraged at all? No way.  The team's performance wasn't indicative of how they normally play.  There's 3 regular season games to go and the Spartans will still be favored in all of them.  There's numerous Rose Bowl tie-breakers to discuss, and I'll cover that in Football 101 tomorrow.  Next week's game is vs. Minnesota, Noon on the BTN.  Go Green!