Michigan State Football: Positional report card from Iowa victory

The linebackers played one heck of a game on Saturday night, led by Joe Bachie in the middle. The sophomore middle linebacker has been one of the best at that position in the conference through a few games and he continues to impress.

In fact, he stepped up in the run game multiple times against Iowa’s Akrum Wadley and helped hold the Hawkeyes to their worst run total in 12 years — 19 yards. He finished with a team-high nine tackles, 3.5 for loss and a sack. He was all over the field and disruptive behind the line of scrimmage. He also had the essentially game-clinching diving fumble recovery.

Chris Frey also played well, finishing with five total tackles and 0.5 for loss with a fumble recovery of his own in the second half. Andrew Dowell also have five takedowns, 0.5 for loss and a pass deflection with a QB hurry. This unit is coming together nicely.

The depth was evident, too, as Antjuan Simmons played well, recording three tackles, Brandon Randle had a couple of tackles and Tyric Thompson had a QB hurry. Was this the best unit performance of the evening?