Iowa football Game Report: Michigan State 17, Hawkeyes 10

PLAY OF THE GAME

The Setup — Iowa had a seriously up-and-down first half and fell behind 17-7. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz has had the Hawkeyes deferring this year if they win the toss. That happened Saturday and so, down 10 points at halftime, the Hawkeyes were going to have first say on where the second half was going to go.

Quarterback Nate Stanley looked to have flushed the first half and had the Hawkeyes moving. He hit wide receiver Nick Easley for a 32-yard gain on a third-and-8.

Iowa even ran a fake field goal. On fourth-and-8 from Michigan State's 23, punter Colten Rastetter threw a pass to defensive end A.J. Epenesa for a 15-yard gain.

What Happened — After the fake field goal, the Hawkeyes went incomplete, Akrum Wadley rush for 3 yards and faced a third-and-goal from MSU's 5.

Senior defensive end Demetrius Cooper beat freshman offensive tackle Alaric Jackson's block and got an arm on Stanley and forced him to advance in the pocket.

He saw WR Matt VandeBerg breaking open to his left. Cooper tracked Stanley from behind. Three MSU defenders were in his face.

He drew his arm back and the ball slipped out of his hands.

The Result — Linebacker Joe Bachie jumped on the ball. First down, Michigan State.

Odd scoring on this play. For about two hours, it was officially listed as an interception for Bachie. The ball clearly hit the ground. By the time the game was over, Bachie was credited with a fumble recovery.

You see these plays all of the time. You hope they never happen to a QB who's wearing the laundry of your favorite team. — Marc Morehouse

EMPTY POSSESSIONS

Iowa had a 72-yard touchdown drive to tie the game at 7 with 12:15 left in the second quarter. After that, the Hawkeyes had six three-and-outs and two lost fumbles in eight of those nine possessions, and a field goal in the other. That was the story of this September day in East Lansing.

FIRST DOWN, WORST DOWN

The tale of Iowa's first-half offensive play was what it did on first down.

The Hawkeyes had nine first-down plays in the half. Six were rushes, two were passes, and we'll call the ninth a pass play since quarterback Nate Stanley took a sack for a 7-yard loss.

The rushes produced 0, minus-2, 3, 1, minus-1 and minus-2 yards. The two pass attempts were incompletions.

You aren't winning many games doing that, especially when three of Iowa's first-half possessions began inside the Hawkeyes' 10-yard line.

BASKETBALL TALK

On the Iowa radio pregame show, Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta said he phoned Hawkeyes men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery immediately after he heard the news last week about the FBI investigation that uncovered bribery and wire fraud involving some of that sports' most-prominent programs.

'(McCaffery) assured me we're in good shape,' Barta said.

A month ago, CBSsports.com published results of a poll in which over 100 men's basketball coaches were asked this: Who is the high-major coach you genuinely believe does everything by the book and operates completely within the NCAA's rule book?

Eight coaches received at least five votes. Michigan's John Beilein got the most votes. Wisconsin's Greg Gard tied for third, and Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Ohio State's Chris Holtman tied for sixth. The other four were Notre Dame's Mike Brey, Gonzaga's Mark Few, Virginia's Tony Bennett and Kansas State's Bruce Weber.

INJURY REPORT

Iowa didn't appear to suffer any injuries of note during the game. Hawkeye cornerback Manny Rugamba was hurt in practice last week and didn't play. Rugamba had started the Hawkeyes' previous three games. He was replaced by Michael Ojemudia, who got burned a few times early in the game but played much better as the game progressed.

Hawkeye safety Brandon Snyder, who hasn't played this season because of a torn ACL this spring, was in uniform, but didn't play.

BY THE NUMBERS

— Michigan State lost six fumbles over its first three games. It played turnover-free ball in this game. Iowa, on the other hand, lost fumbles on two consecutive second-half possessions, and has lost eight fumbles over its five games.

4 —

Spartans punter Jake Hartbarger placed four kicks inside the Iowa 10. Iowa had to fair-catch each of them.

5 —

Iowa has trailed in all five games this season.

6 —

This was the sixth game decided by one score in the last nine Iowa-Michigan State meetings.

9 —

Michigan State receiver Felton Davis III had a career-high nine catches for 114 yards.

19 —

Iowa had 19 rushing yards on 25 carries. The Hawkeyes' yards-per-carry average this season dropped to 3.4.

60 —

Hawkeye linebacker Josey Jewell matched his career-high in tackles with 16, and has 60 this season. He has 8.5 tackles for losses, three of which came Saturday.

226

— Iowa punter Colten Rastetter had a passing efficiency rating of 226.0 for his one pass, a 15-yarder to freshman defensive end A.J. Epenesa in what had begun as an apparent field goal attempt. Rastetter is the holder for place-kicker Miguel Recinos.

300 —

The Spartans were held to 300 yards, 172.7 under their average entering the game. So, it was a good defensive day for the Hawkeyes, a defensive day that's usually good enough for a win.

2008 —

The last previous time Iowa began a Big Ten season 0-2 was 2008. It went 5-3 in the conference that year.

INJURY REPORT

Iowa didn't appear to suffer any injuries of note during the game. Hawkeye cornerback Manny Rugamba was hurt in practice last week and didn't play. Rugamba had started the Hawkeyes' previous three games. He was replaced by Michael Ojemudia, who got burned a few times early in the game but played much better as the game progressed.

Hawkeye safety Brandon Snyder, who hasn't played this season because of a torn ACL this spring, was in uniform, but didn't play.

GRADES

D: The Hawkeyes are 0-2 in the Big Ten. They probably won't win the NFC North. — Marc Morehouse

D: Am I wrong not to be excited about Saturday's Illinois-Iowa game? — Mike Hlas

UP NEXT

Illinois (2-2 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) plays at Iowa Saturday at 11:01 a.m. (BTN) in the Hawkeyes' Homecoming game. The Fighting Illini were flattened 28-6 by Nebraska Friday night in Champaign in their conference-opener. 'Nothing went well,' Illinois Coach Lovie Smith said after the game.