Michigan State looks to rewrite history

"We're going to talk about one game, just like last week," Saban said yesterday at his weekly news conference. "We've only beaten Iowa once in this decade, and we've only beaten Iowa four times in the last 20 years.

"We have a tremendous amount of respect for the kind of toughness and the kind of competitive spirit that Iowa football players bring to the table. It's been a problem for us and we need to address it and focus on it and get ready to play a good game."

From the history, Michigan State hasn't played a very good game very often lately. Saban had his figures right: Michigan State has won only once against Iowa in the 1990s - in 1993 - while losing four times.

Michigan State looks to rewrite its history this weekend against Iowa. The Spartans have a record of choking against the Hawkeyes.

And the 1980s are no better. Michigan State had three wins while the Hawkeyes triumphed six times and the teams tied once.

The teams play again at 12:10 Saturday at Michigan State's homecoming. And the Spartans have the odds in their favor to improve on the record a little.

Michigan State enters the game 4-0, 1-0 in the Big Ten, and ranked 14th in the nation. The Spartans are coming off a 27-10 win over Illinois.

Iowa, meanwhile, is 1-2. It was idle last week, and its last outing was a 24-0 victory over Northern Illinois.

But Saban has been around long enough not to take any opponent for granted.

"Iowa, I think, has a good football team," he said. "They have a young team that has improved a lot in the first three games."

Nor is Saban completely satisfied with his own team as the Big Ten season gets into high gear.

"We had more mental errors in this game (Illinois) probably than we've had in the previous games," he said. "And I think mental errors probably come from a little lack of concentration and-or a lack of judgment."

"We put ourselves behind the eight ball with four turnovers ... I think we got a little tired in the fourth quarter.

But while Saban sees needed improvement in the passing game, he has warm words for the Michigan State ground attack.

"We need to get everyone tied together, everybody on the same page and everyone trying to get this passing game squared away a little bit better because we are running the ball better," he said.

"If we could run the football the rest of the year as effectively as we have at this point, and put together some of the passing and big plays that we've had in the past, with the kind of skill players that we have, I think our offense would be more consistently productive and more difficult to defend."

AP PHOTO

09-28-99