FACTS & STATS: Site: Spartan Stadium (72,027) -- East Lansing, Michigan. Television: ESPNU. Home Record: Minnesota 3-2, MSU 2-4. Away Record: Minnesota 1-4, MSU 2-2. Neutral Record: Minnesota 0-0, MSU 0-0. Conference Record: Minnesota 1-5, MSU 1-5. Series Record: Michigan State leads, 25-15.

GAME NOTES: Two of the schools tied for last place in the Big Ten Conference try to settle their differences this weekend in East Lansing, as the Michigan State Spartans play host to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Both squads are a mere 1-5 in conference play and are tied with Northwestern and Illinois for the worst league mark so far this year. After winning three straight games to open the 2006 campaign the Spartans have gone on to drop six of the last seven outings, including two in a row. Last Saturday the program was upended by Purdue at home by a score of 17-15. MSU will have to win this game and its season finale versus Penn State on the road just to finish with a .500 record overall. As for the Gophers, they picked up their second win in the last three games with a 63-26 blowout victory over the Indiana Hoosiers at home on Saturday. The 35 first-half points by Minnesota were the most for the team against a Big Ten opponent since putting up 38 in the second half versus Purdue back in 1993. While Minnesota won the most recent meeting a year ago by a score of 41-18 at home, it is the Spartans who hold the overall advantage in the series by a count of 25-15. Minnesota has won four of the last six encounters, but between the years 1977-1997 every single game went in favor of MSU.

Bryan Cupito threw for 378 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday versus Indiana, easily leading the home team to the victory in the Metrodome. Cupito converted 22-of-33 passes and was helped along the way by Jay Thomas who carried the ball six times for 79 yards and a pair of scores, as the Gophers produced 541 yards of total offense and scored on all four of their red zone opportunities. Thanks to some earlier lopsided wins against Kent State (44-0) and Temple (62-0) the Gophers have managed to boost their offensive stats a bit to rank fifth in the conference in both passing offense (210.1 ypg) and scoring (27 ppg). Cupito has connected on almost 60 percent of his pass attempts, en route to 204.6 ypg and a total of 15 touchdowns, although he failed to record a single passing score in the three games heading into the Indiana date. Having seen action in all 10 games thus far, Amir Pinnix ranks fifth in the Big Ten in rushing with an average of 86.1 ypg and has accounted for seven of the unit's 19 rushing scores to this point.

Minnesota's defense looked a bit shaky at times against the Hoosiers, allowing the visitors to come up with an even 500 yards of total offense, but in the end all of that activity failed to translate into significant points. Dom Barber put an exclamation point on the festivities for Minnesota when he picked off a pass late in the fourth quarter and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. Barber, who also recorded a forced fumble and a blocked kick, finished with only three tackles but made his presence felt for sure. Barber now has two of the team's three blocks this season and is also fifth in tackles with 54 stops. The Gophers allowed Indiana to produce 165 yards on the ground, and while that number is still below the 176.8 ypg permitted by Minnesota this season, the squad ranks last in the Big Ten and 102nd in the country in that department coming into this week's action. In terms of total defense, the Gophers are giving up 410.5 ypg and with regard to tackles for loss the squad is 110th in the nation with an average of only 4.3 per outing.

Brett Swenson may have been making a play for player of the week honors as a specialist in the Big Ten, thanks to his three field goals versus Purdue, but surely the Michigan State offense would have preferred getting into the end zone more frequently than using Swenson's leg. Drew Stanton, who finished as the top rusher for MSU with 83 yards on 13 carries, converted 16-of-29 passes for 161 yards and a score, but he was sacked once and picked off one time in the setback. Kerry Reed led the way in receiving with five catches for 97 yards. Through the first four games of the season, Stanton had produced a total of eight touchdown passes, but since then the well has dried up and he's posted just four TDs in the last six contests. Stanton is now one of three players on the unit to have rushed for at least 400 yards (450) and has five rushing scores to his credit, but this team wins when he remains in the pocket and uses the tools that he has down field. Reed, who is fourth in the conference with an average of 4.6 catches per game, paces the group with 578 yards and four TDs through the air.

The Spartans limited Purdue to only 77 yards rushing on 27 attempts, which figured out to less than three yards per play, but the pass defense let Michigan State down far too many times. The Boilermakers averaged close to 14 yards per completion and finished with 286 yards through the air even though the visitors converted a mere 3-of-12 on third down. Travis Key led the way with nine tackles for the Spartans, while both Clifton Ryan and Jonal Saint- Dic made their only stops of the day against the quarterback. Ryan is now tied with Ervin Baldwin for the team lead in sacks with four, while no other player has more than a single sack for the Spartans. As a result, Michigan State is 10th in the Big Ten and 104th nationally with an average of only 1.3 sacks per game. The pass efficiency defense has also being taking some major hits this year, now ranked 109th in the country with a mark of 153.4 after 10 games.

Both of these teams are heading nowhere fast and since Ohio State and Michigan have been getting all the press in the Big Ten, it might be better that Minnesota and Michigan State get lost in the mix right about now anyway. Seeing as how Stanton has gone in the opposite direction after having such a strong start, expect Cupito to have a better outing this weekend and bring the Gophers to victory on the road.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Minnesota 28, Michigan State 17

Saturday, November 11th, 12:00 p.m. (et).