Dead set on destruction

IOWA CITY -- Michigan State wanted to destroy Iowa. It took about a quarter to figure that one out.

Iowa tore the Spartans' heart out with a last-play TD in 2009 and gave them their one smudge last season, one that sent an 11-1 MSU team to the Capital One door prize as opposed to a BCS bowl.

You play a team enough and eventually it's payback time. That time came in Saturday's first half when the Spartans (8-2, 5-1 Big Ten) bolted to a 24-point lead en route to a 37-21 victory before 70,585 fans at Kinnick Stadium. It was Iowa's worst loss at Kinnick since a 38-20 defeat to Indiana in 2007.

Iowa wide receiver Marvin McNutt caught eight passes for 130 yards and a TD. He set Iowa's season (1,089) and career receiving records (2,635) and became the fourth receiver in school history to gain more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season.

After the first half in which Iowa failed to show, McNutt's efforts were footnotes in an otherwise bitter day.

Saturday started with two teams ostensibly playing for the Big Ten's Legend Division lead. You knew pretty quickly which one was the contender and which one was Ticket City Bowl material.

The Spartans cashed in a James Vandenberg interception for a 14-0 lead. And then, after Iowa pulled to 14-7, the thunder really came.

After a 22-yard field goal gave MSU a 17-7 lead midway through the second quarter, the Spartans downed a punt at Iowa's 2. Following a three-and-out, Keshawn Martin returned Iowa's punt to the Hawkeyes' 35. Three plays later, running back Le'Veon Bell trotted nearly untouched 25 yards for a 24-7 lead.

Iowa kick returner Jordan Bernstine fumbled the ensuing kick. Two plays later, MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins hit wide receiver B.J. Cunningham for a 22-yard TD and a 31-7 lead 1:21 before halftime.

The Spartans turned a pair of Iowa turnovers into TDs and scored twice in the last two minutes of the first half. It was like Michigan State wanted to destroy Iowa (6-4, 3-3).

"We wanted it to be worse," MSU safety Trenton Robinson said. "We came into this game like they took from us … you know, we were right there, we would have been in the Rose Bowl.

"We came here and got destroyed. So we wanted to destroy them, we wanted them to feel what we felt last year.”

Sure, the Hawkeyes fired back. They pulled within 34-21 on running back Marcus Coker's 2-yard TD run with 49 seconds left in the third quarter.

Too little, too late.

Anytime Iowa built up any sort of rhythm on offense, a Michigan State defender ended up on the turf with an injury. Defensive tackle Jerel Worthy was the prime example. He spent about five minutes on the field and walking to the sideline. He was back in late picking up where he left off, absolutely dominating the line of scrimmage.

Maybe a half dozen Spartans went down with injuries when Iowa's offense started to get cranked up late in the second half.

"I can address that they were severe," MSU coach Mark Dantonio said. "I saw pain when I walked out there."

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz noticed.

"Seemed like a high number, but I wasn't counting," he said. "Don't know if it disrupts us or not. No way to measure that one."

For anymore evidence of the destroy attitude, you just need to go to the double-reverse wide receiver pass from Martin to tight end Brian Linthicum for 28 yards. If you needed more, then just look at the fake field goal on that third-quarter drive.

The score was 31-7, by the way. Almost identical to the 37-6 score when Iowa tried a wide receiver pass against the Spartans last year.

"We felt the time was right," Dantonio said. "It's a long field goal (42 yards). Time was right. We just sort of said, 'why not?' "

Michigan State players going down by the bucketful, the fake field goal, the whole destroy/revenge thing, it all was cosmetic. The course of this game was dictated by the better team, the one with several NFL-caliber defensive players, the one with the running back who rushed for 100 yards (Bell ended with 20 carries for 112 yards) and the one that made big plays and cashed in two turnovers.

Iowa didn't match Michigan State's heat in the first half.

"I guess you'd have to say we weren't ready," Ferentz said. "We didn't look ready."

That's not going to go over well. And then in the second half, the Spartans were too far ahead for an offense that averaged just 4.5 yards a play, its second lowest of the season and lowest since 3.95 at Penn State, a similarly stout defense.

"The big thing was we weren't going to lay down," said Vandenberg, who completed 22 of 47 for two TDs and an interception (103.4 pass efficiency). "I'm proud of our whole team for really sticking with it and maybe giving them a little scare."

Against the Big Ten's No. 2 rush defense, running back Marcus Coker was held in check, going for 57 tough yards on 21 carries (2.7 yards a carry was his lowest this season).

McNutt tried to single-handedly pump life into this team with eight catches for 130 yards and a TD, but a wide receiver wasn't going to win this one, not by himself, not with the Spartans owning both lines of scrimmage.

"It was different, it was something we've never seen at Kinnick," McNutt said of the 31-7 halftime deficit. "You just have to know that you have to keep fighting and continue to grind."

The grind will continue next week at Purdue (5-5, 3-3), a 26-23 overtime winner over Ohio State.

The grind will continue with Iowa's championship season in someone else's hands. The reality of Saturday is the grind will continue toward something Ticket City-ish.