With roughly two minutes remaining in the game and his team trailing by three points, Ferentz trusted his offense to convert on fourth-and-inches instead of attempting what would have been a game-tying 38-yard field goal.

Ferentz aligned his team in a power-I formation and handed the ball to his bruising running back, junior Shonn Greene. Greene ran to his left in search of daylight, but he was stopped cold in the backfield by MSU linebacker Adam Decker.

“It’s a little bit like going for a punt block at the end of the game,” Ferentz said. “They stole it and stacked the box pretty well. They had one more guy than we had and it’s a tough deal.”

In the running

In a matchup between two of the nation’s premier running backs, Greene got the best of MSU senior Javon Ringer … at least on paper.

Greene, who played despite suffering a head injury the week before against Northwestern, rushed for 157 yards Saturday, bringing his season total to 822 yards. Ringer rushed for 91 yards.

“We went in at halftime and we were screaming at them because we didn’t feel like we had stopped the run in the first half as well as we would have liked to,” MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi said. “We did a solid job in the second half. Shonn Greene is a good running back and that guy is physical.”

Ringer and Greene are the nation’s second and third leading rushers, respectively. Connecticut’s Donald Brown, who brought his total to 1,067 yards last week, rests on top of the list.

Close calls

After slaughtering their first three opponents by an average of 32.3 points, the Hawkeyes (3-3 overall, 0-2 Big Ten) dropped their third straight game Saturday.

Much like MSU last season, close games have spelled trouble for Iowa, which has lost each game by five points or less.