Smoker's performance efficient against IU

EAST LANSING, Mich -- IU coach Gerry DiNardo entered Saturday's game hoping for a vast improvement in the team's passing defense.\nWhat he got was a record-setting performance from MSU senior quarterback Jeff Smoker in a 31-3 blowout loss.\nThe efficient Smoker went 32 of 40 to set a single game team mark for completions in a game. He also extended his team records for career completions, attempts, touchdowns and yards. He finished the day with 351 yards passing and a pair of touchdowns. \nMSU coach John Smith said without Smoker, it might have been a different story.\n"(He means) a lot (to this team), just as all of our kids do," Smith said. "In what we do, the one building block that we really need is that quarterback. He is starting to understand the offense and let it work for him."\nSmoker was able to pick apart the IU defense throughout the game. He led the Spartans on a nine-play drive to open the game, converting a third down with a 20-yard pass and throwing a touchdown to junior tight end Jason Randall on a third and 10 play.\nHe threw his second touchdown of the day on a blown coverage play early in the second period, when running back Jarvis Hayes slipped out of the backfield uncovered for a wide-open 31-yard touchdown catch.\nStill, what made Smoker so difficult to cover wasn't the big plays. Smoker often took the short, open passes to running backs and tight ends and didn't try to force any long passes. That led to his 80 percent completion, as well as MSU's ability to sustain long drives.\n"They were hitting a lot of underroutes on us," junior IU linebacker Josh Moore said. "They executed very well. He hit 32 out of 40. There's nothing bad I can say about him, he played a hell of a game."\nSmoker showed his versatility in the fourth quarter. The Spartans marched downfield on long runs as well as a pair of 9-yard passes from Smoker. At the 2-yard line, the quarterback ran the ball to the left on an option play and barreled between linemen for the touchdown and MSU's final score.\nSophomore cornerback Leonard Bryant said he wasn't impressed with Smoker, but disappointed in IU's inability to stop him.\n"In my position, once you've seen one quarterback, you've seen them all," Bryant said. "A fade is a fade, a route is a route, three steps is three steps, five steps is five steps. It always boils down to fundamentals and techniques and who's playing a better mental game."\nDespite not stopping Smoker, the IU defense did manage to contain the MSU ground attack for most of the game. Although the team finished with 131 yards rushing, all but 39 of those came in the fourth quarter when the game had already been decided.\nIn a game dominated by Smoker, the run defense was one area IU could take some positives from, said junior defensive linemen Jodie Clemons.\n"As a team, that's what we take our pride in, stopping the run," said Clemons, who finished the day with four tackles, including a pair of sacks. "We did a pretty good job of that. But, we've got to work on our pass defense and that starts (Sunday) in practice."\nImproving the pass defense is key, Bryant said, because the team needs to make sure no one IU faces this year will have a game like Smoker did Saturday.\n"I can't really say (Smoker's) the best quarterback that I've gone against, or the worst," Bryant said. "I can say he's the quarterback that beat us. Take it for what it's worth."\n-- Contact staff writer Gavin Lesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.