Michigan State-Iowa: Spartans' 16-13 Win Could Have Been Easier

This game is what Stringer Bell would call a “40-degree day.”

Stringer is the very shrewd businessman-gangster from the HBO series The Wire. In one defining scene, he is dressing down his hapless musclemen after they boast of a job well done, despite taking out just one of the two targets he has sent them after and getting one of their own killed in the process.

Attempting to convey his displeasure with their mediocrity, he uses a weather analogy. He says that people complain of the cold when it’s 30 degrees outside, start feeling better when it’s 50, and get downright giddy at anything above 60. But of 40 degrees, Stringer thunders that nobody ever remembers 40 and “nobody gives a F-- about FORTY!”

The entire delightful, profane and intelligent scene has been YouTubed right here. [Obviously, NSFW in many places due to language.] To watch it is to understand the appropriate response to the Michigan State offense’s performance against Iowa.

As with last week, the “Extra-Strength Excedrin Key to the Game” was the dropped balls by the Spartans’ best receivers. I counted at least four costly drops (two in the end zone on the same drive.) Third-receiver Blair White, a former walk-on if I recall correctly, and TE Charlie Gantt seemed again to be the surest hands on the field.

If this 40-degree crap doesn’t stop, then it will lose a game that we should otherwise win. Maybe even the next one against Northwestern.

Michigan State hung three field goals on Iowa, but at least one (and probably two) of those should have been touchdowns. Change just one of those, and the Spartans have a reasonable cushion at halftime and remain firmly in control until the final gun.

As it was, they never surrendered the lead once they got it, but an inferior-looking opponent was allowed to stay in the game until almost the very end because the Spartan receivers couldn’t get out of their own way.

While the defense gave up 157 yards to Shonn Greene on 30 carries, I’m willing to concede this as an anomaly caused by the inordinate amount of time Greene was left on the field and still allowed to be a factor in the game.

The defense gave the Spartan offense three turnovers to Iowa’s one. Yet the time of possession was almost even. Good and timely turnovers were squandered.

If the upshot of those turnovers is something more than the 16 points that the “all-thumbs team” on the Spartan offense produced, then the Hawkeyes have the ball a lot less, are down by a lot more, and thus have less opportunity to use Greene and less inclination to do so because they need to pass more.

Forcing three turnovers on the Iowa offense and allowing it to score just one touchdown is what Stringer would call a sunny and 70-degree day by the Spartan defense. Considering some of their lapses last week, this was a great development to see.

Also, in all this kvetching about the blizzard of field goals being inflicted by a too-often clumsy passing attack, I have been remiss in not properly praising the “always money” field goal kicking of Brett Swenson and also the solid and reliable kickoff work by Todd Boleski.

Spartan fans should recall the placekicking horrors of the 2005 season and give thanks. There is NO WAY they win today with the kicking game from that season. Good kicking could be the difference between Michigan State’s actual 5-1 start and what could have been 3-3.  

Javon Ringer got “just” 91 yards, breaking the streak of 100-yard games. It was bound to happen. Iowa clearly wanted to shut him down and did a decent job, though often at the cost of giving up nice passing opportunities.

Again, if half the balls that got dropped didn’t get dropped, then there is a safer lead much sooner, more reason to play field-position football, to burn clock, and to give Ringer more chances to hit home runs.

Again, like the defense giving up yards to Greene, I wouldn’t necessarily assume anything negative about the Spartan rushing game as a result of this. The pass blocking was terrific for nearly the whole game, allowing just one sack and giving Hoyer lots of time to put balls where his receivers could get them.

He threw only one pick, tossed the team’s only touchdown and completed well over half of his passes despite the drops. Iowa was willing to gamble that the Spartan passing game couldn’t beat them, and if Hoyer’s balls were being caught, then he would have made them pay dearly for that bet.

Another positive was the scant number of penalties. Except for the Cal game, this has been a clean season in that regard.

I dwell on the dropped passes because it isn’t a new problem. The guilty parties are capable of cleaning up their act, and the problem seems to be getting worse. But overall, now that I’ve got this rant out of my system, it surprises me how well most other things are developing.

This week, I suspect they will crack the top-25, but they shouldn’t. This hasn’t been a season of 40-degree days, but it hasn’t yet been much more than 50, either.