At this time three weeks ago, Michigan State sat at 1-3 overall. The Spartans had lost three-straight contests by a combined 13 total points, falling to the likes of Central Michigan, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin.
Now, as Michigan State prepares this week to entertain No. 7 Iowa at home, the Spartans face the Hawkeyes on a real high note, winning three straight to climb back above .500 with a 4-3 mark.
It isn’t so much the 4-3 overall record that should make people take notice, but that Michigan State is 3-1 in conference play and has a chance to be in first place in the Big Ten with a win over the Hawkeyes this weekend.
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio knows his team is up for a major challenge, especially because the first two times the Spartans and Hawkeyes have met under Dantonio, both games have gone down to the wire.
Being the defensive mastermind he is, it’s the play of the Iowa defense through seven contests that really caught the attention of the Spartan coach.
“What you see is what you get,” Dantonio said during the Big Ten football teleconference on Tuesday. “They’re not going to do an overabundance of things to try and confuse you. You have to beat them, and usually when you have to beat somebody, it means you have to go through them. And they’re making the plays.”
Purdue
Danny Hope called his team’s win over then-No. 7 Ohio State a “magical moment” that occurred inside Ross-Ade Stadium last weekend. And the first-year Purdue head coach might be onto something.
Prior to the Boilermakers’ 26-18 victory on Oct. 17 over the Buckeyes, the last time Purdue had beaten a top-10 team was in 2000, when a squad led by quarterback Drew Brees defeated Michigan en route to a Big Ten title, as well as a trip to the 2001 Rose Bowl against Washington.
Hope and his Boilermakers (2-5) will look to make it two-straight wins when they host Illinois this weekend. The Fighting Illini come into West Lafayette, Ind., as quite possibly the worst team in the Big Ten with a 1-5 overall mark.
“We’ve only won two ball games. It won’t take us real long to get grounded again,” Hope said during the Big Ten football teleconference on Tuesday. “We need to continue to improve. Obviously, coming off a huge win like that is a lot of fun and it was very important for our football team, but we need to get back to work and continue to improve as a football team.”
Ohio State
While Purdue fans celebrated, Ohio State fans could only shake their heads in disbelief.
The Buckeyes remain in control of their Rose Bowl destiny despite the loss last weekend, and Ohio State possesses the luxury of hosting its next two contests at the Horseshoe — starting with this weekend’s tilt against Minnesota.
Aside from those two things, the mood in Columbus, Ohio, is tense. In the 26-18 loss to Purdue, sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor struggled, completing 17-of-31 passes, throwing two interceptions and losing two fumbles.
His performance against the Boilermakers came a week after completing 5-of-13 passes in a 31-13 win over Wisconsin on Oct. 10.
“I don’t think he has a conscious conflict going on of any kind of, you know, ‘Boy, I would really rather pass than I would run.’ Terrelle’s most interested in winning,” Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel said during the Big Ten football teleconference on Tuesday. “I wouldn’t call him a guy that’s in any philosophical conflict.”
