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The Michigan State Spartans defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes to break their three-game losing streak

Posted on by Kennedy
The Michigan State Spartans defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes to break their three-game losing streak

East Lansing – Michigan State found itself at a fork in the road, and it lasted – right in Iowa, all night.

The Spartans were largely strong on defense, quarterback Aidan Chiles got his groove back and they rode the strong leg of kicker Jonathan Kim to a 32-20 victory over Iowa before a big and loud homecoming weekend at the Spartan on Saturday night. There was a stadium crowd.

The win ended Michigan State's three-game losing streak heading into next weekend's game at rival Michigan. The Spartans, winning for the first time in nearly a month, improved to 4-3, 2-2 in the Big Ten.

Iowa fell to 4-3, 2-2.

Chiles led Michigan State to scores on eight of 10 drives, including the final one when Nate Carter rushed in from a yard out to seal the ball after Nick Marsh's nifty spin move made a tackle for an 11-0 lead -Yard Drive prevented. Courtyard reception. Early in that drive, Chiles found Marsh for 24 yards and Kay'ron Lynch-Adams had a big 15-yard tackle break down for a first down.

Marsh finished the game with 108 receiving yards, while Montorie Foster Jr. finished with 100 receiving yards. It was the first 100-yard receiving game of his career for Foster, who also had a touchdown catch.

This final drive was the answer to Iowa's touchdown by Kaleb Johnson, who had a 75-yard touchdown run to cut MSU's lead to 25-20. It was the sixth 100-yard game of the season for Johnson, who only had 15 yards at halftime.

Meanwhile, Kim set a Michigan State single-game record with six field goals, including a 46-yarder, to make it a two-point game in the fourth quarter (25-14). That score was achieved by Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara's interception by Nikai Martinez, who had led the Hawkeyes in scoring drives on the previous two possessions after Iowa managed just 58 yards of total offense in the first half.

Kim also made field goals from 42, 43, 36, 29 and 55 yards. At the end of the half he missed the ball from 55 meters. Kim's six made field goals are the most by a Big Ten kicker this season.

He accounted for all of the goals in the first half as Michigan State led 12-0.

Iowa had made it 22-14 with a 2-yard run by red zone quarterback Brendan Sullivan, who caught a high snap and ducked into the corner of the end zone for an easy touchdown.

Chiles found the end zone himself in the third quarter and led the Spartans with an impressive 75-yard touchdown drive, capping it off with an 18-yard strike to Forster in the corner of the end zone for a 19-7 lead. Chiles had kept that drive going with a nifty third-down run, breaking a tackle and driving 26 yards deep into Iowa territory.

The touchdown drive, which lasted more than five minutes midway through the third quarter, was the answer to Iowa's first score when Cade McNamara threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Reece Vander Zee.

That Iowa drive covered 58 yards. Iowa had 58 total yards of offense in the first half.

Kim made 150 yards on field goals in the first half and missed from 55 yards to left as time expired in the second quarter. Up to that point he had won 13 of 13 this season.

Michigan State scored on four of its six drives in the first half, with Chiles moving the ball well except for an interception by Iowa's Koen Entringer in the first quarter. It was the Chileans' ninth interception this season. The Hawkeyes missed a golden opportunity to shut him down early in the first quarter.

Still, Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith allowed Chiles to remain aggressive, and he finished the first quarter 22 of 30 for 256 yards and a touchdown and an interception.

Chiles also rushed for 51 yards; Lynch-Adams stormed to 86.

The Spartans' defense was outstanding against the Hawkeyes' offense, which improved in the first half of the season under new offensive coordinator Tim Lester, former Western Michigan head coach.

Iowa's offense had just 58 total yards in the first half, and McNamara, the former Michigan Wolverine playing in his first game at Spartan Stadium since 2020, had thrown for just 30 yards. Iowa had just two first downs in the first half and none in the first quarter. On five drives in the first half, Iowa punted four times and missed a 58-yard field goal attempt by Drew Stevens, which had plenty of leg but missed just wide to the right.

McNamara finished the game 12-for-25 for 181 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

Michigan State outrebounded Iowa 470-283 and recorded 27 first downs to Iowa's 12, improving to 71-34-3 all-time in homecoming games.

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