EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Kirk Cousins is about to experience an emotional bit of irony.
His mother went to Iowa, and his grandfather played football for the Hawkeyes. Cousins himself still has an Iowa jersey from when he was younger, but he’s the Michigan State quarterback now and his fifth-ranked Spartans are about to play the No. 18 Hawkeyes in Iowa City.
“It’s a unique feeling,” Cousins said. “It’ll be somewhat surreal in warmups.”
Cousins played high school football in Holland, Mich., but he makes no secret of his allegiance growing up. His grandfather and great uncle, Ralph and Dick Woodard, played for Iowa in the 1940s. When Cousins came to Michigan State, he had to set aside his loyalty to the Hawkeyes – and his closest relatives are doing the same this week.
“There’s some deep black and gold connections to my mom’s side of the family, but they’ve turned pretty green now,” Cousins said. “My grandparents have season tickets, so they’ll be at the game. They’ve been giving up their season tickets so far this year to stay at home and watch our game on TV.”
Cousins says he still owns an Iowa jersey with his No. 8 on it, but he thinks “it’s buried pretty deep” in his closet back in Holland. He remembers the Hawkeyes’ undefeated Big Ten season in 2002 and will be plenty familiar with the school’s traditions and cheers when he takes the field Saturday.
Naturally, he thought about trying to play for Iowa, but a high school injury limited his recruitment.
“Because I broke my ankle my junior year, there were a lot of schools that had already gotten a quarterback,” Cousins said. “They decided not to offer. At that time, I can’t really fault them. I probably wasn’t the guy they were looking for, and that’s fine.”
Things have certainly worked out for Cousins, who is in his second season as Michigan State’s starter. He’s thrown 14 touchdowns and four interceptions this season and is completing 66.5 percent of his passes. The Spartans haven’t necessarily been dominant, but Cousins’ poise has helped them to an 8-0 start and sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
“He’s a person that is able to rise above challenges,” coach Mark Dantonio said. “You see that on the field. He has confidence in himself, breeds confidence to our football team. He’s a tremendous asset for us. That’s not just on the field. That’s in the locker room. That’s away from football.”
Last weekend, the Spartans fell behind 17-0 at Northwestern and still trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter before Cousins led them to a 35-27 victory. He threw for 331 yards and three touchdowns, and directed an 88-yard drive to take the lead late in the fourth.
“They are a very talented team, a very well-coached team,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “And I think the thing that stands out as much as anything is they are very, very balanced, whether you look at them, how they operate offensively, they can run and throw, defensively they play both well.”
Iowa started 9-0 last season, a run similar to the one Michigan State is on. The Spartans nearly ended Iowa’s 2009 streak earlier when the teams met in East Lansing, but Ricky Stanzi threw a short touchdown pass to Marvin McNutt as time expired to give Iowa a 15-13 win.
At that point, Cousins’ boyhood support of the Hawkeyes didn’t mean much.
“If there was any warm feelings, I think those kind of ended after last year’s tough loss,” he said.
Cousins is looking forward to this weekend and the chance to play at Kinnick Stadium, but there’s too much at stake for him to become overwhelmed by the nostalgia.
“The most important thing is, though, to get the win,” he said.
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