Hoosiers Host Spartans in Primetime Brass Spittoon Battle

Written By: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

The Indiana Hoosiers (2-1) and Michigan State Spartans (2-1) certainly hoped this was going to be a battle of unbeaten teams when the two squads match up this Saturday night under the lights at Memorial Stadium. However, both teams suffered disappointing and frustrating defeats last weekend as IU fell to Wake Forest and Michigan State was humbled by Wisconsin. After the losses, the pair of 2-1 squads will battle for the Old Brass Spittoon in a rivalry game that dates back to 1920 (the Old Brass Spittoon was first presented in 1950). Michigan State fans can be forgiven for not acknowledging this as a rivalry as the Green and White have dominated the series of late, winning seven straight and 16 of the past 18 meetings since 1994. 

The Indiana Hoosiers enter this contest after falling to Wake Forest 33-28. It was an odd game, one in which they dominated total yardage and threw for nearly 500 yards, but threw five interceptions and committed too many costly penalties. Head coach Kevin Wilson exonerated quarterback Richard Lagow of much of the blame at his press conference Monday but he acknowledged that his quarterback was guilty of at least one throw that he just shouldn’t have made. “Laws of physics says a football cannot travel through a person. You know? The quarterback always wants to stick it through there. It don’t work. We gotta do a better job with the hands and with our receivers there. We gotta be a lot tougher, a lot more physical, find some run game, take care of the ball, do things that it takes to win.”

IU struggled to run the ball against a very strong Wake Forest run defense and they clearly missed starting offensive linemen Dan Feeney (concussion) and Dimitric Camiel (back). The Hoosiers are hoping to have both players back this week but there is no update on their availability. Whoever is starting along the line or carrying the ball, they’ll be dealing with an MSU front that presents quite a challenge. 

“They will get tested with Malik McDowell, who is a three technique inside guy,” Wilson said. “But sometimes that position is not on an island a lot. Brandon Knight is healthy and his play at tackle is probably no different than what Dimitric would have done. I would like to get those guys back.”

Michigan State defeated Furman in their opener and then knocked off Notre Dame in South Bend in week three. Expectations were high as they hosted Wisconsin for their Big Ten opener but the Badgers hammered the Spartans 30-6 as MSU coughed up the ball four times and ran for only 2.8 yards per carry. Tyler O’Connor struggled mightily against the stingy Wisconsin defense, going only 18-38 and throwing three interceptions. He was relieved by redshirt freshman Brian Lewerke but Mark Dantonio insisted on Monday that there was no quarterback controversy. 

“At this point in time, there is no quarterback controversy. Now, there may become one at some point. It’s about production. But there were a lot of things that entered into this one (the Wisconsin game).”
The Spartans may be without starting linebacker and defensive leader Riley Bullough after he missed the Wisconsin game with what is believed to be a shoulder injury. Fellow starting linebacker Jon Reschke injured his ankle in the second half of last Saturday’s game and the status of both players is unknown. With or without those two players, the Hoosiers will need to do a much better job of taking care of the ball and finding a way to balance the attack against a defense that, despite the final score, held Wisconsin’s offense to 317 yards and only three yards per carry.

History is on the Spartans side. IU has only held MSU under 42 points once in the past seven meetings and Michigan State has not lost back-to-back games since the 2012 season. History won’t mean much though when the game kicks off at 8:00 on the Big Ten Network as both teams strive to get their season back on track after week four defeats.