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Michigan State Football: Spartan defense dominant vs. Iowa

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MI - SEPTEMBER 23: Former Michigan State Spartans Kirk Gibson was the honorary captain during the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Spartan Stadium on September 23, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - SEPTEMBER 23: Former Michigan State Spartans Kirk Gibson was the honorary captain during the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Spartan Stadium on September 23, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images) /
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Michigan State football finished with a big win over Iowa on Saturday evening in East Lansing, thanks to the Spartans’ defense.

Is Michigan State football’s defense back to its days of dominance in East Lansing? It sure looked that way on Saturday evening as the Spartans allowed next-to-nothing offensively to Nathan Stanley, Akrum Wadley and the rest of the Hawkeyes.

Must Read: MSU Football: Game-by-game predictions for Big Ten play

The performance gave Michigan State fans flashbacks to the good old days with Shilique Calhoun, Darqueze Dennard, Max Bullough and countless others who made the defense one of the best in college football for years.

Stanley, who was leading the Big Ten in touchdown passes heading into the Week 5 matchup, isn’t pass for a single touchdown and finished with 197 yards through the air. The secondary bottled him and the Iowa receivers up, for the most part. In fact, the longest pass play of the day went for 33 yards.

Michigan State’s front also got to him for three sacks, pushing its total to nine on the season in just four games.

As for the run defense, it was back to being what it was for years under Pat Narduzzi. There was no lane for Wadley to run through, finishing with 30 yards and a touchdown as the entire offense had just 19 rushing yards. It’s safe to say this run defense has been tested, and it passed.

The Spartans will head into a Week 6 matchup against Michigan with a little more defensive confidence, facing off against an ailing offense.

Next: MSU Football: 5 bold predictions for September

Will Mark Dantonio have his Spartans ready for an absolute battle in Ann Arbor?

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