The UW football team managed to rack up 340 total yards last weekend on Ohio State, a team that boasts one of the country’s most highly touted defenses. However, the Badgers came up one big play shy of a victory, as the No. 4 Buckeyes escaped with a 19-14 victory and preserved their unblemished record, which is now at 8-0.
UW, which currently shares last place in the conference cellar, will travel to Michigan State this weekend in search of its first Big Ten win. Although UW showed signs of improvement on both sides of the ball last week and seemingly rectified the mistakes that had plagued them against Penn State and Indiana, the Badgers will have their work cut out for them this Saturday.
The Michigan State Spartans and their prolific passing game were ranked No. 18 heading into the season and climbed to No. 15 before losing to California in week three, dropping them out of the top 25. The other three defeats they’ve suffered have come at the hands of Notre Dame, Iowa and Minnesota.
The Spartans (3-4, 1-2) and their standout split end Charles Rogers will be looking to make a statement game on their home turf this weekend. Rogers, an odds-on favorite to win the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s best receiver, has already amassed 861 yards receiving and seven touchdowns this season.
Last year as a sophomore, Rogers torched the Badgers secondary for 206 total yards and two touchdowns, averaging 41.2 yards a reception. This was just one big game of many for Rogers last season, however. The future NFL first-round draft pick rewrote the Spartan record book in 2001, setting every single-season Michigan State receiving mark.
Although Rogers’ 6-foot-4, 205-pound frame makes him a big target, the QB still has to, as Keyshawn Johnson would put it, “get him the damn ball.”
Under center, junior Jeff Smoker leads the Spartans. Over the course of the last few seasons, the Spartans’ veteran signal-caller has earned a reputation for coming up big in pressure situations. When the outcome of a big game is on the line, Smoker has displayed an uncanny ability to move the chains and put points on the board.
In last year’s Silicon Valley Classic Bowl, Smoker’s aerial assault, which consisted of 376 yards and three touchdowns, was enough to defeat the Fresno State Bulldogs and No. 1 NFL draft pick David Carr. In the biggest game of the season, Smoker hooked up with Rogers 10 times for 270 yards.
This season, however, the Smoker-to-Rogers connection hasn’t led to as many wins, largely because of the graduation of star tailback T.J. Duckett. Without the durable, bruising running back, the Spartans have struggled to maintain a balanced-enough attack to make their opponents respect the run.
The Spartans’ two-headed running game, which consists of senior Dawan Moss and freshman David Richard, has averaged a meager 2.4 yards a carry against ranked opponents this season.
Consequently, Rogers and the other Spartan receivers have had to work through double coverage on almost every snap. This has led to Smoker attempting to “thread the needle” on more occasions than he’s grown accustomed to in his previous two seasons. As a result, the highly touted QB has already thrown 10 picks this season, three more than he had all of last year.
On the defensive side of the ball, Michigan State is giving up an average of 26 points a game this season and has shown a vulnerability to stopping the run. Last week against Minnesota, the Spartans’ defense allowed a whopping 535 yards, 389 of which came on the ground. The Gopher backs shouldn’t hold their heads up too high, however; in week two, the Spartans let WAC bottom-dweller, Rice rush for 212 yards, with an average of 4.1 yards a carry.
The Badgers should have no problem putting up points in this matchup. Anthony Davis and the other UW backs should pick up huge chunks of yardage on a sorry Spartan defensive front.
Jonathan Orr and the other young Badger receivers have been playing well, but expect Davis and the running game to carry UW’s offense in this one.
The outcome of the game, however, will depend on how well the Badgers’ secondary can keep Rogers and the other Spartan receivers in check. Jim Leonhard and company had better have their game faces on in East Lansing, because this is truly a “must win” game. Another loss would almost assuredly prevent the Badgers from being invited to a prominent bowl game at season’s end, regardless of how successful they are in the final four games of the season.
