East Lansing — You'd never know by the attendance, which was never announced. A typically raucous atmosphere at Spartan Stadium on Saturday for a noon showdown with Rutgers was considerably lacking. Even the sun forgot to show.
But make no mistake: For a program trying to pick itself out of the mud, get back to .500 and inch toward bowl eligibility, Saturday's 27-21 win for Michigan State football was a big one — as ugly as it may have been.
Without top offensive linemen Matt Carrick, Jarrett Horst and Geno VanDeMark, a trio of rushers gave Michigan State (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten) its second-highest team rushing total (199 yards) of the season.