Spartans capitalize on coach's firing in victory

Last week, Michigan State junior wide receiver Charles Rogers wondered whether his team could win another game this season.\nSo much for that theory.\nRogers and his teammates took Monday's firing of coach Bobby Williams personally. And rather than using it as an excuse for a poor performance, the Spartans used Williams' dismissal as a motivating tool to stoke their competitive fires.\nThe result was an inspired game featuring one big play after another as Michigan State brutalized the Hoosiers 56-21.\n"What motivated me was the firing of Coach Williams," said freshman running back David Richard. "I was angry about it this week, and I'm still angry about it now."\nRichard's anger translated into a career performance. Richard rushed for 136 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, including a career-long 48-yard gain in the second quarter.\nRichard said the intensity of a rivalry game also added fuel to the fire.\n"Before Coach Williams was fired, he talked about how (Antwaan) Randle El came to the sideline last year and said 'Give me that Spittoon,'" Richard said. "I didn't get a chance to go over to their coach and say that this year, but we just wanted to show everything on the field."\nThe much maligned Spartan running attack, which entered the game last in the Big Ten with 129.7 yards a game and was without the services of dismissed starter senior Dawan Moss, exited Memorial Stadium with 289 yards on the ground.\nRichard's backfield mate and fellow freshman Jaren Hayes also had a career game, with 88 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. Hayes said he was happy to contribute to a breakout performance by the Spartan running attack.\n"Everyone's been putting down our running game," Hayes said. "We have some good running backs. We just had to go out there and show everybody we could play."\nPlaying along with the common theme of career-best performances was sophomore quarterback Damon Dowdell. \nDowdell put the Spartans on the scoreboard in the first quarter on a long and winding eight-yard run in which he ran halfway across the field to his right, and then seeing that his path was blocked, turned around and snuck into the left corner of the end zone.\nFrom that point on, Dowdell and the Michigan State offense could not be stopped -- literally. The Spartans scored seven touchdowns in their next nine possessions. Dowdell passed for four of the scores and 203 yards on the day.\n"I don't know where it was all season, but today everyone just stepped up with their 'A-game,'" Dowdell said.\nRogers was one player who brought his A-plus game, doing a little bit of everything to lead the Spartans to victory. He set the tone early in Michigan State's 35-point second quarter by gaining 41 yards on a reverse play that set up the touchdown that gave the Spartans a 14-7 lead.\nRogers ran another reverse around the other end four possessions later, going 25 yards to set up another touchdown.\n"That was something different," Rogers said. "(Interim coach) Morris Watts thought it would be a good play for us to run this week, and we got it done."\nBut that's not all. \nRogers made a highlight-reel grab that required him to both leap up and lay out for the ball to harness a 36-yard touchdown that tied him with Kirk Gibson for the most touchdown receptions in Michigan State history.\nRogers later broke Gibson's record with a 21-yard catch for his 25th career touchdown reception.\nWith his attention distracted by the issues swirling around the team this week, Rogers did not realize he had broken the record until after the game.\n"Kirk's the man," Rogers said. "I'm pleased. That's something I'll cherish for a lifetime."\nThe offense was not the only unit that played with fire Saturday. Michigan State's run defense, which entered the game ranked 99th in the nation, held IU to 107 yards on the ground.\nWatts, who will be fired along with the rest of Williams' staff at the end of the season, was proud of the performance that his team put together.\n"I'm a happy man to say that I stood on that sideline today and watched a bunch of guys play their fannies off," Watts said.