Hoosiers and Spartans Clash for Spittoon

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

The Michigan State Spartans ended up having a miserable 2016 season but the fact that they ultimately wound up 3-9 is far from IU fans minds as they think back to the high point of last season. The Hoosiers knocked off Michigan State with a physical defensive effort to win the Old Brass Spittoon and it felt like a real step forward to the Cream and Crimson football program. The defensive performance was one of many good ones from first year defensive coordinator Tom Allen and his crew and it helped instill a belief in the Hoosiers that things were finally different on the defensive side of the ball. IU is 3-3 this season and they are yet to win in the Big Ten but the schedule has been as difficult as can be. The good news is that the schedule lightens up a bit soon. The bad news is the Hoosiers have yet another ranked opponent this Saturday and this one wants a rivalry trophy they possessed for a long time back in their possession. The Michigan State Spartans are a surprising 5-1 and 3-0 in the Big Ten and they have risen to #18 in the country. At the midpoint of the season, first year head coach Tom Allen spoke about where his team stands moving into the back half of the 2017 campaign.

“We are at a point in the season that you take what you learned in the first six games, and now we’ve got to strap it up and finish strong. That’s what I expect us to do,” Allen told the media on Monday. “When you look at our schedule and saw how front loaded it was, you wanted to get one of these. Playing that caliber of team, you want to knock one of them off, you do. I’m never going to say we’re right where we want to be because we’re not, but I do think we’re growing. I do think we’re progressing and learning to play as a group that understands what our strengths are. We’ve battled a lot of injuries, way more injuries than I would have anticipated at this stage of the season. As the season progresses, you draw on the strength of the things you’ve learned, and you hope that makes you a better player, a better coach, a better team.”

The Spartans enter the game looking very similar to what IU saw just last week against Michigan. They are second in the league in total defense and fifth in points allowed while their offense relies heavily on the running game, controlling the tempo and physically overwhelming their opponent. They have done that extremely well so far in 2017, losing only to Notre Dame. Brian Lewerke is far from spectacular but he’s been mostly mistake-free at quarterback and has added some nice plays with his legs. LJ Scott is one of the Big Ten’s better running backs and he’s gained 408 yards (including a career-high total last week against Minnesota) and the defense is led by a breakout player in linebacker Joe Bachie.

“I think they’re more fundamentally sound and playing good football,” Allen said of the improvement MSU has made. “There are not a lot of superstar guys, they play well together. You play really good defense, you’re really good on special teams and you have an efficient offense able to score points to win games, that’s what they’re able to do.”

IU beat the Spartans in overtime a season ago in Bloomington, winning the Old Brass Spittoon for the first time since 2006. IU has not won back-to-back games against Michigan State since the 1960s so this will be yet another stern test for the Hoosiers. IU is likely to continue to play without starters Donavan Hale, A’Shon Riggins and Marcelino Ball and key rotation linemen like Juan Harris and Simon Stepaniak. They hope that tight end Ian Thomas is able to be more effective after being hobbled and not 100 percent against Michigan. This figures to be another tightly played defensive battle. Will IU have another chance to pull off a “breakthrough” upset? If so, will they be able to make the couple of plays that are necessary to get over the hump and turn a close loss into a close victory? Tom Allen firmly believes a “breakthrough” is coming and it’s just a matter of “when”. While it feels very close to happening, it will continue to feel far away until it actually happens.