EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Kirk Cousins has no problem being the “other” quarterback this week.
The Heisman Trophy voters won’t be tuning in to watch the Michigan State junior, and he’s not likely to break free for any 70-yard runs, but when the 17th-ranked Spartans face 18th-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Cousins will be judged not on his highlights but on the end result.
So can Cousins and his teammates keep pace with Denard Robinson and the Wolverines?
“We win the football game, I did my job. We lose the football game, I didn’t do my job,” Cousins said. “Denard’s a great player, he’s had a great season so far. I just want to beat him.”
That’s a more realistic goal than matching Robinson’s statistical exploits. The speedy Michigan quarterback leads the nation in rushing and is completing 70 percent of his passes. He’s a threat to score any time he has the ball and has almost single-handedly turned the Wolverines’ offense into one of the nation’s best.
As for Cousins, his longest run of the season is 8 yards – but his team is undefeated, just like Robinson’s.
“They can throw it,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said. “I think Cousins is an outstanding player. He can throw. He makes all the throws. They have got some really good receivers. They have got great backs. They have got great balance.”
The Spartans relied largely on their running game at the beginning of the season, but Cousins has come on strong lately. He threw for 245 yards and two touchdowns against Notre Dame, then went 16 of 20 for 290 yards and two TDs in an easy victory over Northern Colorado.
Last weekend against Wisconsin, Cousins threw two first-half interceptions, but he bounced back with three touchdown passes in a 34-24 win.
“I’ve played a lot of football games here, so one game isn’t going to suddenly change my confidence – either completely wreck it or completely make me overconfident,” Cousins said.
Cousins started 12 games last season, so by now he has enough experience to lead the Spartans through adversity – and there’s been plenty of that this season with coach Mark Dantonio’s heart problems.
“When you come together as a football program, that’s what makes it special,” said Dantonio, who had a heart attack Sept. 19 but expects to coach at this weekend’s game. “I think that’s what’s happening right now at Michigan State.”
And Cousins is a big part of it, whether he wants to take credit or not. He’s handled last weekend’s game with modesty.
“Obviously, we made some plays when we had to, but I’ve said it all along, as a quarterback, I’m completely dependent on everyone else,” Cousins said. “People say that last drive we put together that was almost eight minutes was engineered by me. I mean, we ran the ball basically the whole drive.”
Cousins might rely more on his teammates than, say, Robinson, but he needn’t sell himself short. The drive Cousins was referring to was a 15-play, 84-yard march that used up 8:03 and gave the Spartans a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin.
Cousins completed two passes on third-and-long. Then, on fourth-and-goal from the 1, he lofted a pass to B.J. Cunningham for a touchdown that helped the Spartans seal another win. Cousins’ other two touchdown passes in the game came on third down.
“Last year, we had a lot of young guys at key positions … and I was a first-year starter,” Cousins said. “We had a lot of guys who were brand new at moving the football. It took some time to learn how to win.”
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