The #17 ranked Michigan State Spartans boast an Impressive 7-2 record while traveling on the road into a hostile environment at Historic Kinnick Stadium to take on the 6-3 Iowa Hawkeyes who are coming off of a big home win over ranked opponent Michigan Wolverines. Here is the live blog from beautiful The Paul W. Brechler Press Box.
10:40 am: 25 minutes to kick off and the band is the field on this gorgeous day at Kinnick stadium in wonderful Iowa city, IA. The weather is perfect for some B1G November Football
10:51 am: Senior day is always magical at Kinnick. The fans erupt when WR Marvin McNutt is announced as the receivig touchdowns leader in Iowa history run-on the field for the last time at Historical Kinnick Stadium
11:04: Iowa wins the toss and receives the kick, which Bernstein fields in the end zone for a touchback and the game is underway
1st, 12:46 tg: Iowa punts an extremely low punt, giving s
Sparty the ball at the 31 where Kirk cousins takes over
1st, 10:00: MSU looks to be here to play a little offense as they drive up the field and promptly score a TD from Cousins to Cunningham, wide open in the end zone to go up 7-0
1st, 7:37: Tyler Nielsen gets beat on the coverage and Sparty strikes again for Cousins second TD of the day, this time to Baker. The hawks will need to get it together soon if they want to stay in this game that MSU clearly came to play in
1st, 5:46: Iowa punts after McNutt dances around trying to break a big one instead of just falling forward for the first down. Despite his historical troubles against Iowa, Kirk Cousins seems extremely comfortable in the pocket. Iowa will have to get better pressure on him and tighten up on the run throughout this game. They get a jump. That after Binns makes a big stop and Cousins throws it away on 3rd. MSU punts down to the Iowa 17 where it rolls out of bounds. Iowa needs points
End 1st qtr: Iowa is driving and knocking on the door but face a tough 3rd and 2. Michigan State has shown similarities to their upset against Wisconsin. Iowa has got to keep at and not get away from the game plan here to keep the fans in it. They absolutely needs points here even if it is 3
2nd, 14:53: the first play of the second quarter saw star recruit C.J. fiedorowicz with his first career touchdown reception from James Vandenberg to make the score 14-7 MSU. The fans are starting to get in it here at Kinnick as he defense is pumped up, with a big 3 and out for the Spartans. The offense will look to continue their success from he ,sat drive, starting at its 29
2nd, Tanner Miller made a break on the ball for the interception but instead of the ball going the other way the receiver makes the catch and down to the 3 yard line after bigach chases him down. The defense broke down there, but they step up on the goalie and hold the Spartans out of the endzone. 22 yard fg is good and MSU leads 17-7 with 7:37 remaining in the first half. Good news for Iowa there was that without the big play the defense played well. Gotta keep that momentum and use it
2nd, Coker has struggled getting space to work. Lots of credit to the MSU defensive interior. Penalties kill a drive. That was a bad call on the hold. Good pancake block inside but I see where the officialsawq holding. Valiant effort by Coker on The reception but Iowa punts to the MSU 38 where Cousins will take over.
Michigan State has looked far from better than better than Iowa in this game so far. The Hawkeyes need to capitalize on mistakes. Cousins has fumbled 3 snaps with nothing bad coming of them yet. IOWA NEEDS TO CAPITALIZE!!
2nd, 1:57: Iowa allows the Spartans to drive the ball down their throat to go down 24-7. Bernstein returnste kick and the ball ends up on the ground, but he was called down. The officials review and it is ruled that he was not down and the ball goes back to MSU. The hit just keep on coming for Iowa and they are going to need a shove, to dig out of this one.
First half thoughts:
If a team like Iowa wants to beat a team like Michigan State you can not afford to make mistakes and capitalize on theirs. Michian state had some huge plays and at times showed glimpses of an incredible team. If iowa wants to get back in this, Ferentz will have to have one hell of a half-time speech
Half-time score 31-7 after the blocked 50 yard field goal attempt
3rd, 12:57: Iowa defense comes out firing, MSU goes 3 and out. Iowa takes over at its own 34. If they want to win they have to play the cleanest half of football possible. The offense struggles and gives the ball right back
3rd, 8:31 Conroy fakes the field goal and Michigan state converts on 4th down. Not classiest move by Dantonio but a great coaching call. This game seems more and more out of reach by the play. Iowa steps up and stops the offense again, but 31 yarder by Conroy sails through. MSU 34 Iowa 7
3rd, 5:39 Bernstine has a huge return and Iowa gets the offense going on both the ground and the air. James Vandenbergs goes to Marvin McNutt for the 3 yard score after McNutt has a phenomenal second effort to get the ball across he goaline. Michigan state 34 Iowa 14
3rd, after a great kickoff return by sparty, but a great defensive play by prater in the backfield leads to a MSU punt and afte a touchback Iowa takes over at its 20. McNutt with a huge 40 yard catch and another one in which he tip-toed the sideline for 5 more. The big catch makes Marvin McNutt Jr. The all-time receivIng yards leader in Iowa history. Iowa sticks with the pass game to A.J. Derby for the Iowa first down at the 10. The end around to McNutt who cuts it inside goes for 8 down to the 2 and Iowa hands the ball to the big ten leading rusher, Marcus Coker for the 2 yard score. MSU 34 Iowa 21
4th, 10:00: Iowa holds Michigan state to a field goal attempt that misses and Iowa takes over on downs at its own 32 with the momentum and and behind them at Kinnick. Iowa went for it on 4th down and was unable to convert after a close hurry u
Qb sneak that got called back due to a false start on the offense. Michigan state takes over on downs at its own 39 and will look to run the clock to a victory
4th, 7:42 Iowa regains the ball, at it’s own 17 and gets a big pass interference call against Michigan state to ge a first down, but Vandenbergs trips over his own lineman and loses 5 yards. After the sack, Iowa can’t convert and lines up to punt. Guthrie boots it down to the MSU 32 where the Spartans take over. Iowa needs a quick stop here to remain in the game
4th, 5:11 Michigan stae blows up the defense with a crossing route to Bell that gross undefended. Then the defense steps up with kirksey and binns making big plays in the backfield. Michigan state kicks he field goal to go up 16. Score is Michigan state 37 Iowa 21
4th, 2:27: a huge hands to the face penalty called on Michigan state keeps the Iowa drive alive. Another Michigan state player is down on the ground with an injury,I havent been talking about it but this is the Michigan Spartans have been on the ground 6-8 times today with what appear to be minor injuries that are dictating tempo and momentum. Suspicious activity, but I’m not looking into it. Vandenberg completed a pass to Zach Derby who fumbled inside the 10 yard line where he ball was recovered by Michigan state to lock up the victory and end any hopes for Iowa closing the miraculous come back.
Game wrap up:
Michigan state put the ball on the ground 3 times because of botched snaps, but the Iowa Hawkeyes were unable to capitalize and recover any of them. The Spartans got out to an early lead and despite Iowas best efforts to rally and come back in the second half, sparty shut the door and ultimately won the contest by a final score of 37-21. The comeback was denied after TE Zach Derby fumbled on his way to the Endzone to give Michigan state the ball back in the waning moments of the game. Iowa will look to bounce back next week at Purdue after the Boilermakers upset Ohio state this week, and the Spartans, will conclude the season with games at home against Indiana and on the road in Evanston against a tough Northwestern Wildcats team.
