EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Hoosiers may have been outplayed by the Spartans in the 31-3 loss Saturday, but the team wasn't helped by a slew of loose balls that rarely seemed to bounce in the Hoosiers' favor. MSU had four fumbles and lost none of them. The Spartans caught a pair of passes on balls knocked straight up in the air by Hoosier defenders.\n"It's more or less discouraging because we pride ourselves on turnovers ... I know I caused one of the fumbles, and I just knew somebody was going to jump on it and get it," sophomore cornerback Leonard Bryant said. "When the other team got it, I was just like, 'Oh come on, can we get a break.' Yeah it's discouraging, but it's not going to rain forever. The sun's going to shine soon."\nBryant was also involved in one of the jump balls. On a first and 10 on the third quarter, Bryant went up to intercept a Jeff Smoker pass. But it bounced off his hands, straight into the air. Intended receiver Kyle Brown caught it for a 20-yard gain.\nIt also happened earlier, on the second play of the second quarter. Smoker threw a pass to sophomore wideout Matt Trannon that bounced off his hands and into the air. With four Hoosiers on all sides of Trannon, the ball came straight back down into his hands. \nJunior strong safety Herana-Daze Jones was critical of IU's performance and disappointed in the way the balls seemed to bounce.\n"(We were) not good. No (positives), I don't see any positives in there; they had 31 points. We need to improve everywhere," he said. "None of the balls bounced our way; we had five balls on the ground but we didn't get (any) of them. That's something we look for; we didn't get turnovers, and our goal is three."
'A step backward'\nIU coach Gerry DiNardo and junior quarterback Matt LoVecchio each described the MSU loss in the same way: a "step backward" for the team. DiNardo said earlier in the week the team needed to focus on pass offense and pass defense to improve from the loss at Michigan. \nSaturday, both areas struggled.\n"We're just breaking down offensively -- whether it's myself or the receivers, we have to get together and play as a unit," LoVecchio said. "We have to finish drives. We moved the ball down, we had the ball inside the 4-yard line twice, and we can't put it into the end zone. That's something we obviously have to correct."
Clemons stars in return\nSaturday's game was homecoming for MSU, as well as a homecoming for IU junior Jodie Clemons. The defensive lineman, who hails from East Lansing, Mich., didn't disappoint in front of the home crowd.\nClemons registered a pair of sacks in the first half, marking his fourth and fifth of the season. \n"That's my job to get out there and put pressure on the quarterback."
Running game solid\nMSU entered Saturday's game ranked second in the Big Ten in rushing defense, giving up only 54.4 yards rushing a game. At the end of the first quarter, IU had 35 yards rushing from running backs.\nSophomore running back Chris Taylor said rushing the ball was the team's focus.\n"We wanted to emphasize on the run," Taylor said. "The linemen, they opened up the holes pretty good and we just ran through them. We knew they had a good run defense coming into the game, so we wanted to push it down their throat. We just came up short today."\nTrue freshman BenJarvus Green-Ellis led IU in rushing with 94 yards, and Taylor added 54 more. The team, which normally plays out of a three-running back rotation, was without senior Brian Lewis, who injured his hamstring.\n"We missed Brian (Lewis)'s leadership, so that's a major setback when one of your major offensive leaders is not here," Green-Ellis said. "But we've got to be able to fight through those things. It's nice -- every running back, everyone, wants to get the ball more."\n-- Contact staff writer Gavin Lesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.
