Michigan State looks to push on towards the Big Ten Championship game when they take on the Iowa Hawkeyes at 12PM ET from Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

Kinnick Stadium has proved to be a very difficult place to play for the Spartans given a win for Michigan State hasn’t come since 1989. Furthermore, the Spartans’ only regular season loss in 2010 came at the hand of the Hawkeyes in a 37-6 blowout.

Michigan State truly controls their own destiny in the legends division and a win today would mark another huge step towards becoming the first legends division representative in the Big Ten Championship Game. A win for the Hawkeyes would propel them into the driver’s seat of the legends division.

Iowa Player to Watch: RB, Marcus Coker
Marcus Coker has been absolutely phenomenal this year for the Hawkeyes. He leads the Big Ten in rushing (122.3 yards) which also includes a 252-yard, two-TD performance two weeks ago against Minnesota.

Michigan State’s defense has been very good this year however when stacked up against a physical runner like Coker, there have been some flaws in the Michigan State run defense. Nebraska’s Rex Burkhead exposed some of those flaws a couple of weeks ago when he ran for 130 yards and 2 TDs against the Spartans.

MSU Player to Watch: QB, Kirk Cousins

In front of friends and family last season Cousins had an extremely bad and emotional game against a team that he cheered for during his childhood in the Hawkeyes. At halftime in 2010 Iowa already led the game 30-0 and Cousins had thrown 3 interceptions.
Coming into 2011 and his senior season, Cousins was thought to be one of the premier QBs not only in the Big Ten but in the entire nation. Cousins’ 2011 break out has yet to happen but today would be just as good as any for Cousins to come out and be the QB that many know he can be.

Avoid the slow start
Slow starts seem to be the theme of the 2011 Spartan season, so far. We saw last week against Minnesota which almost spelled doom for Michigan State. Unfortunately if the Spartans gets off to another slow start this week against Iowa, their chances of recovering from it are very slim, especially on the road. We all remember what happens when you get off to a slow start against a good team last year against Iowa and this year against Nebraska.

Defense will be the key for the offense
If the Michigan State offense get’s pinned deep within their own zone they’re going to have a very tough time putting points up on the board… obviously. But with that said the Michigan State defense is going to have to put the offense in a very good position to score points.

The Spartans have the No. 1 overall defense in the Big Ten (249.4 yards) and the No. 2 rushing defense which is definitely going to come into play when containing Iowa RB Marcus Coker.

Run the ball, run the ball, RUN THE BALL!
Michigan State has one of if not thee deepest set of running backs in the Big Ten. Offensive coordinator Dan Roushar needs to get back to running the ball and taking advantage of that strong set of running backs that Michigan State possesses. Also, why not get a little creative with it and set up some two back backfields? Roushar needs to take some pressure off of Cousins, wear down that the Iowa defensive line and open up the passing game.

Prediction
The strong Michigan State defense was almost non-existent last weekend against Minnesota. This week we see a rebound of sorts as Michigan State gets their first victory in Iowa City in over 20 years.

Michigan State 24, Iowa 17

Ref: Detroit News, Lansing State Journal, Zimbio (image)

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