That’s because Nebraska wide receiver Brandon Reilly was not forced out of bounds by MI State cornerback Jermaine Edmondson.
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Clemson was named the new No. 1 team in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, knocking Ohio State from the top spot for the first time this season.
“As I told them, if they thought that was a bad situation and tough deal, they should have been here in 2011 at the Big Ten championship game”, Dantonio said. “They can obviously do it right back to us”.
It sounds as if Harbaugh’s players are well aware of what needs to happen for them to end the school’s 11-year conference title drought.
“Rooting for Ohio State?”.
“It’s pretty obvious where we sit that we have to win out if we want to keep playing”, Riley said.
Linebacker Joe Bolden and Charlton were quick to say they’re more focused on beating IN (5-5, 0-5) this Saturday on the road than allowing Big Ten championship scenarios to occupy too much of their time.
“We’re anxious about IN”, Bolden insisted.
MI fans’ worries about quarterback Jake Rudock have faded and they will probably find it easier to support him the rest of the season because Harbaugh is now raving about him. The Indiana Hoosiers ground game is averaging 185.7 yards per contest, and Jordan Howard leads the way with 961 yards and seven touchdowns. Blough completed 29 mostly underneath passes in gaining just 174 yards and throwing two interceptions. “I think back to like Minnesota week, when we won that game, and the next week, against Northwestern, we kind of came out flat”.
Next big obstacle: Ohio State must play this Saturday on the road against a better-than-expected IL team. There was the explosive start to the season with the first top ten battle and victory, their last moment miracle win over rival MI, and last Saturday, their own gut-wrenching loss to an unranked Nebraska on one of the most controversial calls this season. Sudfeld has eight touchdown passes in his last three games.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Johns said Monday it’s not enough for this program to simply be competitive anymore. MI State already was living on the edge with its insane, last-second win against MI.
“We need to do it this week and it’s critical”, Johns said. “Our guys are working hard out there but you’ve heard that”. Copeland played two games before he was lost for the season because of a fractured vertebra, and Williamson played five games before having surgery on a torn bicep. “That’s what it is coming down to”.
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Fresh off of last season’s Final Four appearance, No. 13 MI State opens the 2015-16 campaign with high hopes when it hosts Florida Atlantic on Friday. Everybody has to raise their level of play to get back to where we were accustomed to being. MI State’s defense isn’t as good as it has been in previous seasons, and Nebraska took advantage. “I think this sort of brought everybody down to Earth a little bit on, ‘Hey, it can’t be one person stepping up, it’s got to be the whole team figuring it out the and finishing it out the right way.’ So we don’t have to get that scared feeling in our gut …” While the preseason triple-double was great, only three MI State players (Magic Johnson, Draymond Green and Charlie Bell) have ever achieved the feat in a regular-season game and Valentine has made it a goal for the upcoming season. 15 Iowa on October 14, 2006.
