No. 7 Michigan St. looks to topple No. 4 Ohio St.
When Mel Tucker took the coaching job at Michigan State, he promised his players they would play for championships.
The second-year coach has the Spartans knocking at the door already.
“I meant that,” Tucker said of his pronouncement in February 2020 when he replaced the retiring Mark Dantonio. “We’re in November, and we’re in the hunt.”
The hunt is about to get a good deal more rugged for surprising No. 7 Michigan State (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten). The Spartans are a big underdog against No. 4 Ohio State (9-1, 7-0) today in Columbus, where 100,000 fans in Ohio Stadium will make the visitors’ expedition even more difficult.
“Certainly turned that roster, quickly, over to a championshiplevel roster,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said of his Michigan State counterpart.
This game is huge. The winner stays in the race for the Big
Ten East and the College Football Playoff. The loser likely will be left on the outside looking in.
Michigan State dealt No. 8 Michigan its only loss of the season, but then the Spartans were upset by unranked Purdue, a team torched by the Buckeyes last week.
Ohio State and Michigan clash in “The Game” next week at Ann Arbor to finish the regular season.
“I feel we’re in the best conference in college football right now. It shows,” Ohio State defensive end Zach Harrison said. “We got three teams in the top 10. That’s not by accident.”
The Buckeyes, winners of eight straight since being upset by Oregon in Week 2, aren’t worried about anybody else right now.
“We always say it’s always been about us,” Day said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing.”
Tucker appreciates that teams only get so many opportunities to be where the Spartans are this late in the season. Michigan State finished a dismal 2-5 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Tucker’s first in East Lansing after a year at Colorado.
“It’s November, we’re coming down the stretch,” he said. “The most important game is the next game. We’re going on the road against a great football team, and we need to prepare that way all week. We have to dig deeper into the details.”
With two explosive offensives on the field, and the Spartans’ shaky pass defense, there could be a lot of points scored. The thought of that doesn’t sit well with Tucker.
“A shootout, to me, when I hear something like that it makes me want to vomit,” he said.
Michigan State running back Kenneth Walker leads major college football with 1,473 yards rushing. The Wake Forest transfer has scored 18 touchdowns, trailing only Marshall running back Rasheen Ali. Even though Walker has an opportunity to boost his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy with a good performance against Ohio State, he insisted he’s not thinking about that.
His main competition for the award may be across the field in Buckeyes quarterback and Rancho Cucamonga High graduate C.J. Stroud.
Stroud’s average of 337.3 passing yards per game is best in the Big Ten and sixth in the country.
The Buckeyes have a couple of pretty good running backs of their own. Freshman TreVeyon Henderson, whose 7.34 yardsper-carry average is second in the FBS, has been splitting time with fellow freshman Miyan Williams. Henderson had 13 carries for 98 yards and two touchdowns in the Purdue win. Williams came on late and rolled up 117 more. Day plans to keep using both. PETRINO OUT AS IDAHO COACH >> Paul Petrino will coach his final game with Idaho today after agreeing to part ways with the school.
Athletic director Terry Gawlik said the school will begin an immediate search to find a replacement for Petrino, who has gone 33-66 during his nine seasons at Idaho.
“We are committed to competing at the top of the Big Sky Conference and the FCS,” Gawlik said. “We will work tirelessly to find a dynamic coach that will lead the Vandals back to the playoffs. Our goals are lofty, and our expectations are high, but we know the Vandal family expects nothing less than championship-caliber football in the Kibbie Dome.”
Petrino’s best season came in 2016, when the Vandals went 9-4 and won the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl over Colorado State. Petrino was the Sun Belt Conference coach of the year that season, but the Vandals have struggled badly since reclassifying to the FCS level and rejoining the Big Sky.
Idaho is just 14-25 and 10-19 in conference play since dropping down a division. The Vandals are 3-7 overall and 2-5 in conference play this season heading into Saturday’s finale against Idaho State.