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QBs Beathard, Cook clash in Big Ten title game

For Michigan State, that means jumping Iowa with the head-to-head victory and adding a quality win to their resume to stave off any late charging teams behind them.

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CITY, Iowa (AP) — Michigan State senior quarterback Connor Cook has been a star for years, pegged by many as an National Football League draft pick. It’s that simple. Those are the stakes for Michigan State and Iowa on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

“Going back from 2013, weve won a lot of games. “We’ll do what we do”.

Because that’s how we all drew it up back in July when we were too busy dialing up algorithms on how the Buckeyes wouldn’t burst onto the scene with Urban Meyer FatHeads draped all over our notes, right?

This season of “firsts” for Iowa continues on Saturday.

Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and Iowa occupy the top 4 spots at the moment, but that could change by the end of Saturday night’s conference championship games.

Ohio State appears to be a strong candidate for the Rose Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl.

Iowa and Michigan State have waged some epic battles the past few years.

“I think that’s huge, absolutely huge”, Michigan State co-defensive coordinator Mike Tressel said. “That can only help us”. “That’s what we’re getting ready for, taking on the best opponent that we’ve seen this season and making certain that we are ready to go”. Michigan State has wins this season over Western Michigan, Oregon, Air Force, Central Michigan, Purdue, Rutgers, Michigan, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio State and Penn State.

One reason – probably safe to say the main reason – the Spartans are so good while playing as the underdogs is their head coach. “We’re gonna have a wrinkle here or there but they’re gonna have a pretty good idea of what we’re gonna do, so it’s about execution and it’s about good, old-fashioned toughness”.

When healthy, Cook is one of two or three elite quarterbacks in the conference, when he’s not, he’s still a great player. “All we’re trying to do is play”.

“I think about it every day”. The Spartans come out on top against a Louisville team that hasn’t gone on the road yet. He’ll be one of key players in the trench warfare that’s expected between Iowa and Michigan State physical offensive and defensive lines. The Big Ten title game loser face-planting and Stanford falling to USC in the Pac-12 Championship Game are musts for Carolina’s chances. Each team that participates in the playoffs gets an expense allowance, which is typically a couple million dollars for the players, families, and donors to get to and from their destination.MSU senior center Jack Allen and junior left tackle Jack Conklin both were named All-Big Ten first team on Tuesday.

The spread offense craze never really caught on at Michigan State and Iowa.

Blythe, a native of Williamsburg, has started 47 games for the Hawkeyes over the past four seasons, including 43 consecutive games.

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While Long told of vigorous debates in the committee room over Clemson or Alabama for No. 1 – Clemson has held it for all five weeks of the rankings – and over Iowa or Michigan State for No. 4, he did not note the same doubt around Oklahoma at No. 3 and cited the Sooners’ four victories over current Top 25 teams.

Ferentz