Michigan State Football: Revisiting Week 5 goals vs. Iowa

2. Keep the interception train rolling

I would give an A for MSU here. An A+ would have been Cal Haladay securing that batted ball which would have stopped Iowa from tying the game and potentially securing a win with 5:23 left. No doubt, the defense played great against a team that is awful even with their starting quarterback. Having Iowa’s backup gave them a bit of a reprieve as Deacon Hill went 11-for-27 (with numerous drops by Iowa pass catchers) for 115 yards, one touchdown, and an interception.

Angelo Grose’s interception was big at the time. Iowa had been driving the ball and had just caught a break with Simeon Barrow Jr.’s roughing the passer penalty. With Iowa’s offense already in field goal range, Hill threw an ill-advised pass and Grose made him pay for it.

Unfortunately, the offensive side of the ball threw up all over themselves on the ensuing drive consisting of a run for no gain, an incomplete pass, a delay of game penalty (Spartans still had three timeouts to use), a draw play that got way more yards than it should have, and a quarterback sneak that was executed so poorly, it could only happen to these Spartans. It’s a play that people wanted banned from the NFL because it works too well. It’s literally unstoppable when teams do it correctly. Only the Spartans could run the “tush push” and lose yards.