Michigan State will face Iowa in Big 10 Championship

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio wouldn’t disagree, remembering that Cook had a shaky outing the previous week against Notre Dame but then rewarded his coach’s loyalty by rallying the Spartans in the second half against the Hawkeyes. I couldn’t tell during the game, and Cook went 19-for-26 with three scores. I don’t know if he should win. “But I’m sure they have similar thoughts that go through their head that we’ve had”.

The combatants for Saturday’s Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis are not only mirror images of each other, but they are both throwbacks to those physical, blue-collar, four-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust teams from the days of Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler.

The offense moved the ball on the Spartans in the first half, more so than Ohio State could do the entire game last week against them. The selection committee protocol emphasizes conference championships and Ohio State can’t win one.

Jim Harbaugh has revived Michigan’s football program. Iowa beat Wisconsin and Nebraska, the brand names of the West Division.

And don’t expect the Hawkeyes to make excuses for the perception that Iowa’s schedule lacked opposing firepower.

Center Austin Blythe said the Hawkeyes will take the field with the same aspirations. Against opponents that outmatch the Lions in a variety of areas, Penn State has been outscored 104-53 by Northwestern, Michigan, and Michigan State.

That said, and as odd as it might sound, Michigan State enters this big-stage showdown with more momentum. “We got to the conference championship game”. Iowa’s 2015 recruiting class was ranked 51st in the nation by Scout.com, right between Syracuse and Rutgers. The Hawkeyes are matching up with Michigan State’s defense at an inopportune time.

The Michigan State football staff tweeted out a public service announcement to recruits asking the recruits to excuse the Spartans staff’s absence since they’ll be preparing for No. 4 Iowa. “But for them they preach toughness and hard work and discipline”. “They really were just not catching the ball very consistently. That’s who we wanted to be”.

In the Big 12, one-loss champion Oklahoma is pretty much locked in, too.

Coming off a school-record-tying fifth 200-yard rushing game, Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott today was named the Big Ten offensive co-player of the week with IN quarterback Nate Sudfeld.

A week after seeing a 23-game regular season winning end after a 17-14 loss to Michigan State at Ohio Stadium, the Buckeyes started strong against Michigan and didn’t let up. The Spartans don’t have much of a reason to dislike Iowa – although that could always change once this weekend’s clash kicks off.

“We couldn’t make tackles, especially on No. 15”, MI defensive tackle Chris Wormley said. “We’ve competed against those guys and they’ve been great competitors, but at the end of the day you have to understand that this is another goal that we’re trying to obtain as a team, and Iowa is another team that we have to face that’s in the way”.