Maybe that’s why Ferentz and Dantonio repeated those values on the Big Ten teleconference Sunday. Michigan State and Iowa will square off for the 46th time on Saturday, with the Hawkeyes leading all-time by a 23-20-2 count. How did these teams get here?
Advertisement
“I do think that there is an advantage having gone through this before”, Dantonio said.
Cook was named Big Ten Quarterback of the Year and is MSU’s first quarterback to be named All-Big Ten first team since Steve Juday – leader of the 1965 national champs. “They have done a great job this season in all facets of the game and obviously, they have been really successful, and at the end of the day, both teams are playing for a shot to go to the playoffs, so I’m expecting a hard-fought battle”.
Michigan State has a rivalry with Michigan and has played big games against Ohio State and Wisconsin. In that game, Connor Cook would complete 25 passes on 44 attempts, two of those completions for two scores.
Dantonio says Michigan State got to this point by patterning itself after Iowa when he arrived in East Lansing in 2007.
The coaching continuity is much of the reasons Iowa has been so consistent.
“We’ve got a big challenge on our hands”, Kirk Ferentz said.
Standing between the No. 5 Spartans and their goals is No. 4 Iowa (12-0 overall, 8-0 overall). The Hawkeyes are for seventh in the nation with 35 rushing TDs and rank seventh in the nation with nine rushing TDs allowed.
“Two things that really stood out are his toughness and his poise”, Ferentz said of Beathard, and those are traits that have been associated often with Cook.
He also was first Spartans player to receive the Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the top defensive back in college football and an award that King is one of three finalists for this season. “I feel as if we bounce back each and every loss and each and every win, and we try to compete on a higher level each and every game”.
Dantonio insists that even in 2007 he never had any doubts that the program would get to where it is now.
Iowa comes into the game with a ideal 12-0 record and the Hawkeyes are ranked as the #4 team in the country.
“At winning time, he rose up and that’s what makes him special”, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. Three weeks later, Cook’s 332 yards and 2 TDs helped Michigan State knock off Stanford in Pasadena.
A senior from Farmington Hills, Michigan, Aaron Burbridge was named the Big Ten receiver of the year on Tuesday. “There’s a history of what we do and what they do”. There will be a wrinkle here and there, but we have a pretty good idea of what they’re gonna do.
Michigan State football and stories like this always seem to find each other – a high school football player is overlooked, isn’t offered by the high-profile schools in his area, shows up on campus with little fanfare and develops into a great one in college. MSU reaches the Elite 8 with regularity in basketball, but this will be their first elite 8 game in football.
He said Iowa is “blessed” to have the opportunity to make its first-ever appearance in the five-year-old Big Ten title game. That’s how it’s been. Boston College does not notoriously travel well, and due to their location far away from both Jacksonville and Atlanta, both bowl games made a decision to invite teams who were both closer in proximity to the bowl sites, and would bring more fans.
Advertisement
6 News will have a team in Indianapolis this weekend to keep you posted on what happens.
