Scouting the Spartans

Offense
Leading the offense is junior Brian Hoyer at quarterback. He saw some action last year, going in for veteran Drew Stanton. So far this season he is 61% for 1476 yards, 11 touchdowns and three interceptions. One stat that sticks out for Hoyer is the fact that he has been sacked 17 times. The Spartans have a great running game (9th in the nation), with junior Javon Ringer with 932 yards and senior Jenuu Caulcrick has 499 yards. The Spartans split their yards evenly on average with approximately 240 yards in passing and 240 yards in rushing. The leading receiver is Devin Thomas, and running back Ringer is second in receiving.

This Season
The Spartans started out well, going 4-0 with wins over UAB, Bowling Green, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame. Then they had loses at Wisconsin and at home with Northwestern. They won last week at Indiana and have gone 5-2 this season.

Coach
The familiar face walking on the sidelines for Michigan State is Mark Dantonio, the former defensive coordinator at Ohio State. He was at Ohio State until 2004, and before that coached with Tressel at Youngstown State. They first met at Ohio State when Tressel was an assistant in charge of graduate assistants, and Dantonio was one of those assistants under Coach Earle Bruce. From the beginning they have been close friends. Dantonio's first stop as a head coach was at Cincinnati from 2004-2006 where he went 18-17 in three seasons. Dantonio played OSU twice at Cincinnati and lost in 2004 and 2006. This is Dantonio's first year at Michigan State.