Michigan State, IU to compete for spitoon

NCAA rules prohibit any game from ending in a tie. Therefore, Saturday's game between Michigan State (3-6, 1-4 Big Ten), losers of four straight, and IU (3-6, 1-4 Big Ten), losers of three straight, must produce a winner.\nFor the Spartans, the game will come on the heels of a week that could be considered one of the lowest points in the history of the program. \nOn Saturday, they lost to archrival Michigan by a score of 49-3, which is the largest margin of defeat for the Spartans in 55 years. On Saturday night, senior tailback Dawan Moss was kicked off the team after being charged with drunken driving and fleeing a police officer. Moss was one of the team's captains.\nOn Sunday, the family of junior quarterback Jeff Smoker announced that he had checked into rehab for a substance abuse problem. Smoker had already been suspended for violating team rules.\nMonday, Coach Bobby Williams was fired. Williams was one of four African American head coaches in Division I-A. The Spartans had entered the season ranked No. 15 in the nation.\nOffensive coordinator Morris Watts will take helm of the Spartans ship as the interim head coach. While Watts has no head coaching experience, he is a very familiar face for IU coach Gerry DiNardo. Watts was DiNardo's offensive coordinator at LSU from 1995-98.\n"Morris and I worked together for four years," DiNardo said. "He's a terrific guy, a fabulous guy and a terrific coach."\nWatts may be missing a few weapons from his arsenal, but he still has his biggest gun -- junior wide receiver Charles Rogers. Rogers leads the Big Ten with 1,025 receiving yards and nine touchdown catches. Earlier this year, he set an NCAA record when he caught a touchdown pass for the 13th consecutive game. \nAfter a two game drought, Rogers got back on track with two touchdowns in a loss to Wisconsin two weeks ago. Rogers is a frontrunner for the Fred Biletnikoff Award, which is presented to the top wide receiver in the nation. \nDiNardo plans on slowing Rogers down with double coverage.\nOne of the players that will try to stick to Rogers is senior cornerback Antonio Watson. \n"He's better than anyone I've faced, so I have to take a different approach in containing him," Watson said. \nFor the Spartans, sophomore quarterback Damon Dowdell has taken over for Smoker, and has thrown two touchdowns and one interception in two starts.\nDefensively, IU has been torched on the ground in its past two games, surrendering 248 rushing yards against Illinois and 240 rushing yards against Northwestern. With the loss of Moss, Michigan State will be challenged to do the same. The Spartans will be starting freshman running back David Richard, who has 416 yards on 94 carries this season.\nOffensively, senior quarterback Gibran Hamdan faces a defense that has given up 93 points in its last two games. He said he doesn't expect the Spartans to just give up, though.\n"It is obviously a difficult time over there," Hamdan said. "But I am sure that they are going to get prepared just like they would if Coach Williams was still their coach."\nSaturday's game will mark the 50th game in the series between IU and Michigan State, and is the 46th battle for the Old Brass Spittoon, which was first awarded in 1950. Michigan State leads the series 34-13-2, but IU is looking to hold onto the Spittoon in consecutive seasons for the first time since a three-year stretch from 1967-69.