Michigan State revived its season with a crucial homecoming victory over Iowa. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Spartans and secured their most significant win in nearly two years.
MSU, appearing lifeless after a string of defeats, utilized the bye week to regroup and reignite its campaign. Head coach Jonathan Smith's squad delivered a spirited performance, upsetting a solid 4-2 Iowa team.
The Hawkeyes arrived in East Lansing coming off a week where they took down a strong Washington team, 40-16, in Iowa City in Week Seven. Their only losses this season were a close game against undefeated Big 12 rival Iowa State, where the Hawleyes fell by just one point, and a tough battle against one of the best teams in the country, Ohio State. Victories over Minnesota, Illinois State, and Troy further solidified Iowa's strong start to the season.
In the 2024 season, the Hawkeyes' offense finally looked alive for the first time in years with a new coordinator, Tim Lester. Running back Kaleb Johnson was just short of 1,000 rushing yards on the season entering the game, and the team was averaging almost twice the points per game it put up the year before.
The Hawkeyes entered Spartan Stadium Saturday night as the favorite, but the Spartans took them down, 32-20.
The victory in Week Eight was the perfect time to get a signature win for Smith as the Spartans take on in-state rival Michigan in Ann Arbor for their Week Nine matchup.
The Wolverines have been struggling this season after losing their head coach, Jim Harbaugh, to the NFL along with more than a few key players to early exits for the pros or to graduation. While UM secured victories against USC, Minnesota, Fresno State, and Arkansas State, the losses to Texas, at Washington, and at then No. 22 Illinois have crushed Michigan's preseason College Football Playoff aspirations.
MSU has been playing great recently, while the Wolverines have been struggling. Aidan Chiles is looked markedly improved in his performance against Iowa, and his potential is getting teased more and more with his deep throws and athletic runs the farther into the season we get.
Nate Carter and Kay’ron Lynch-Adams seem like one of the better rushing duos in the Big Ten, both performing well against Iowa. Nick Marsh had a strong performance against the Hawkeyes as well, gathering over 100 yards for the second time this season alongside Montorie Foster Jr. picking up his first 100-yard game as well.
With Michigan’s quarterback play struggling mightily all season, the Wolverines are going to need to run the ball effectively. If Johnson was not able to gain yards on the ground successfully against this Michigan State defense, it is hard to believe Michigan will. The UM defense will also need to force Chiles to make poor decisions that lead to interceptions. That's something the Wolverines have not done as successfully as expected this season with just five on the year to date.
UM has been struggling on both sides of the ball while MSU has seem to find its rhythm and appear ready to exploit Michigan’s weaknesses after facing down a similar opponent in Iowa. All signs point to a Spartan victory that would further solidify Smith's impressive early tenure in East Lansing. Not only that, an MSU win would solidify Smith in rare company as just the third-ever head coach in East Lansing to beat Michigan in his first go at the rivalry, and the second-ever to do that in Ann Arbor. Previously, Nick Saban downed the Wolverines 28-25 at Spartan Stadium in 1995 and Mel Tucker defeated then No. 13 Michigan 27-24 in Ann Arbor in 2020.
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