Turnovers once again haunt the Spartans, suffer first home shutout loss since 1985

Turnovers once again haunt the Spartans, suffer first home shutout loss since 1985

This one had a big-game feel to it long before Michigan State and Indiana ever kicked off Saturday in East Lansing, but it had nothing to do with the Spartans.  In another twist of irony that has become the calling card of 2020, these days all eyes are on Tom Allen's 10th ranked Hoosiers, who have cracked the top ten for the first time in 55 years. As football fans around the great state of Michigan learned all too well last week, the hype surrounding Michael Penix Jr. (25-38, 320 yds. 2 TD, 2 Int) and his teammates is well deserved, and Mel Tucker's team wore the legitimacy of that as 7.5 point home dogs against a team they've won four in a row against.

MSU fails to build on Michigan victory, loses big to Iowa

MSU fails to build on Michigan victory, loses big to Iowa

Playing upon a recent theme, this one was over long before all the votes were even counted.  All week long the Spartans talked about putting the win over Michigan in the rearview mirror and making sure to keep the focus forward heading into Iowa City. But from the Hawkeyes opening drive, it was obvious that this was not the same team that went into Michigan Stadium last weekend and physically dominated the Wolverines in the trenches on both sides of the ball. On Saturday, the defense looked more like wet cardboard as the Hawkeyes plowed over the Spartans with 405 yards of total offense including a methodical ground attack that generated 226 yards rushing.  Conversely, MSU failed to win the battles upfront as the offense sputtered with just 1.9 yards per rush and was forced to throw the ball after falling behind 35-0 at the half.