Oh these night games...I have to sit around waiting anxiously all day. I am watching Iowa State beat Nebraska without their starting QB or running back (though Nebraska's offense has completely imploded at this point) and keeping tabs on Ohio State vs. Minnesota (the Gophers need to stop shooting themselves in the foot and start playing some offense!). Anyway, I am very ready for the game tonight and think it can be a breakout game for Iowa offensively (though I only predicted 27 points I think it could certainly be higher) and it will hopefully give the Hawks some love from the media and voters. I broke down the game by the numbers a couple of days ago and think Iowa should definitely have the advantage.

The need to know:

What: #12 Iowa at Michigan State
Where: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI
When: 6:00 PM October 24, 2009
TV: BTN

Other thoughts on Michigan State:

Injuries
Both Spartan quarterbacks are battling injuries. The two, Cousins and Nichol have been splitting time this year but Nichol was out last week against Northwestern after hurting his arm. Cousins is also not 100% with an ankle injury that happened against Michigan. Still, both are expected to play after practicing this week.

Michigan State is also without running back Glenn Winston who was averaging about 10 carries and 35 yards per game before injuring his knee against Illinois.

Players to Watch
  • WR Blair White -White leads the Spartans in receptions and receiving yards this year and is coming off a huge game against Northwestern in which he had 12 catches for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns. It will be up to Spievey to shut White down.
  • RB Larry Caper - Caper hasn't been a workhorse back like Ringer was last year, but with Winston's injury he has had a bigger roll. In the last 3 games he has 4 touchdowns. So expect his number to be called if Michigan State manages to get down in the red zone.
  • LB Greg Jones - Simply put Jones is a tackling machine. He has 85 tackles on the season including 8.5 for loss. He also has 5 sacks and 5 more QB hurries.
  • DE Trevor Anderson - Iowa's tackles have struggled the past couple weeks with the elite defensive ends in the B10 (Graham and Schofield). This week brings another challenge with Anderson. He has 5 tackles for loss on the year and 2.5 sacks.