Old Town catches a major case of the blues Mike Wheeler of The Mike Wheeler Band
statenews.com | 9/23/13 | @thesnews
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Michigan State Universityâs independent voice
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Michigan Flyer bus services to ramp up in-state routes
Football players take to Twitter after tough road loss
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Penalties, late mistakes doom MSU in 17-13 road loss to ND
By Stephen Brooks sbrooks@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
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t was difficult to tell what was more troubling for the Spartans early Saturday evening. There was the fact that a disappointed MSU team could walk away from its 17-13 loss to No. 22 Notre Dame MSU 13 and probably feel it outplayed ND 17 the Fighting Irish. Or was it the haunting reminiscence of last season as the Spartans faltered once again with a shot at victory late in the game? MSU (3-1 overall) held the advantage in total yards (254 to 224), first downs (19 to 14), time of possession and also punted one fewer time than Notre Dame (3-1). The Spartans also were physical at the point of attack and commanded the line of scrimmage for much of the game. In the final quarter, the Spartan offense had three opportunities to engineer potentially gamewinning drives, but squandered each possession. The frustration surely will hit each coach and player differently. The rivalry bout was billed as MSUâs first real test, an early-season measuring stick after pulverizing FCS opponent Youngstown State. For now, theyâre left with the familiar feeling of going back to the drawing board. â(Notre Dame) did the things they had to at the end of the game to win the football game,â head coach Mark Dantonio said. âVery proud of our football
spartan football
DILLON DAVIS ddavis@statenews.com
Blame for QB decision falls on Dantonio Nine days ago, Mark Dantonio officially named Connor Cook MSUâs starting quarterback. Following a 55-17 thrash-
courts
E.L. police: Man accused of assaults confesses By Katie Abdilla kabdilla@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
Photos by Julia Nagy/The State News
Notre Dame defensive lineman Louis Nix III rips off junior running back Nick Hillâs helmet during the game on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. A flag was later called on the play.
team in how we came out and played. (I) wish we had some plays back and some situations back obviously, but proud of our football team. Obviously, Notre Dame won the football game, so you have to say they outplayed us.â Missed opportunities The Fighting Irish won the coin toss and elected to receive the See SPARTANS on page 2 u
ing of Youngstown State, it was an admission by football head coach Dantonio and the MSU staff the sophomore quarterback Cook gives the Spartans the best chance to win games, thus ending weeks of quarterback uncertainty. Yet, when the Spartans ran into their first true pressure situation of the season Saturday against No. 22 Notre Dame, Dantonio fumbled the decision unlike any other time during his seven-year tenure at MSU. With the Spartans trailing 17-13 with 2:11 remaining and 67 yards to get into the end zone, Dantonio elected to replace Cook with senior quarterback Andrew Maxwell, who had not taken a snap with the teamâs first-team offense in nearly two weeks.
Head coach Mark Dantonio, left, and linebackers/special teams coach Mike Tressel shout during the game against Notre Dame on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. The Fighting Irish defeated the Spartans, 17-13.
As expected for any quarterback whoâs spent the past several weeks with an entirely different unit, Maxwell looked out of rhythm and out of touch, turning the ball over after three incomplete passes and a desperation rush well short of the marker on 4th down. But you canât blame Maxwell for the way the game ended, nor can you blame
Cook for being replaced at that point of the game. Dantonio and the coaches absolutely screwed it up. After the game, Dantonio said putting in Maxwell was a ploy to see what the senior quarterback could do. âWe put him in there just to try to change the pace,â he said. âFelt like he needed an opportunity, should give him an opportunity. Tough
situation to put him in at.â It was not fair to throw Maxwell into that situation after being inactive for 134 minutes dating back to the third quarter against South Florida on Sept. 7. It also shafted Cook out of a chance to lead the team to victory â a chance usually afforded to a teamâs starting quarterback. See COLUMN on page 2 u
To view a video recap and analysis of MSUâs road loss to Notre Dame, visit statenews.com/multimedia.
The man accused of committing a string of sexual assaults near campus early this summer has confessed to all the incidents, according to East Lansing police. Oswald Scott Wilder, 26, reportedWilder ly told law enforcement he committed three sexual assaults in locations throughout East Lansing between April 20 and May 16, as well as an additional assault that reportedly took place March 30, East Lansing police Capt. Jeff Murphy said. Police investigation resulted across the ensuing months. The Vernon, Mich., resident is scheduled for a Sept. 24 pretrial conference in East Lansingâs 54-B District Court. Wilder stalked his victims in an East Lansing Meijer at 1350 W. Lake Lansing Road before assaulting them, according to a report last week from MLive. Surveillance footage from the Meijer store shows the 26-year-old Vernon, Mich. resident following women, including the sexual assault victims, throughout the aisles. W i l de r o r i g i n a l l y w a s charged with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of assault with intent to commit sexual penetration and one count of gross indecency between male and female by a sexually delinquent person and is considered a habitual offender. Cou r t doc u ment s show Wilder will face an additional count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and a count of unlawful imprisonment for the March attack that reportedly took place on the 1100 block of Grand River Avenue. Murphy said police did not initially believe the first incident was connected to the other assaults. âWe knew about it, it was reported right away to us,â Murphy said. âWe did not realize until after (Wilder) confessed to it that it was one that he had done.â Wilder currently is lodged in the Ingham County Jail. If he is found guilty of the charges, he could face life in prison.
volleyball
Senior passes volleyball milestone Friday By Omari Sankofa II osankofa@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS
Eastern Michigan. âThe support that was here tonight to support me was just awesome.â
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In addition to winning MVP honors in MSUâs 3-0 sweep of the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational, senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski reached a major milestone. In front of a roaring home crowd Friday, Wicinski hammered in kill No. 2,000 for her career. Before then, only eight players in Big Ten volleyball history had reached 2,000 career kills. Itâs exclusive company. âIt feels amazing,â Wicinski said after the sweep over
To read more about MSUâs tournament success, see page 6. Wicinski is the third MSU player to accomplish the feat, joining Veronica Morales and Jenna Wrobel, who recently was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame. Wicinski passed Morales' career kill total of 2,006 on Saturday. She now has the sec-
ond-highest number of career kills of any MSU volleyball player â 2,042. âLauren has the kind of attitude that you need as an attacker,â head coach Cathy George said. âYou need to have that aggressive, stay in the moment, looking to just score whenever we can. Sheâs that type of player, and therefore, sheâs put herself in the position to achieve these types of goals.â Wicinski has been a focal point on offense for the No. 14 Spartans. Her 173 season kills are second in the Big Ten. Her .41 service aces perset rank third.
âWe all know that (Wicinski is) someone thatâs going for a kill every time, and more times than not, sheâs going to get it, just because of her aggressive attitude and her will to get a kill," junior libero Kori Moster said. âThatâs something thatâs really cool about her and something that she definitely helps set our team apart and helps us get to that higher level that we want to be at.â With 20 games remaining in the season, itâs possible that Wicinski will finish with one of the highest kill totals in NCAA history. See VOLLEYBALL on page 2 u
Khoa Nguyen/ The State News
Eastern Michigan head coach Kim Berrington personally congratulates senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski on surpassing 2,000 careers kills Friday at Jenison Field House.