MSU - Cal Game Notes - Michigan State University Athletics

Sept. 14, 2002

ATTENDANCE - 72,634 - The game marks MSU's 21st straight sellout. MSU has played before a sellout crowd in 28of its last 34 home games.

SERIES - Today's game marked the third meeting between Michigan State and Cal. The Spartans had won the first two meetings prior to today's Golden Bears' 46-22 victory.

SMOKER MOVES ON UP - Junior quarterback Jeff Smoker set a new Spartan record with his seventh-straight 200-yard passing game against Cal. Smoker broke the previous mark of six, set by Ed Smith in 1978.

Smoker finished the day 16 of 33 for 206 yards and two touchdowns.

MR. ROGERS NEIGHBORHOOD - Junior split end Charles Rogers posted his ninth-career 100-yard receiving game, including his Spartan record seventh in a row vs. Cal. Rogers finished the day with nine catches for 166 yards and one touchdown.

He caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Smoker early in the third quarter. With the TD catch, Rogers has now caught a touchdown pass in 12 straight games. He is one game shy of the Big Ten career record of 13, held by Michigan's Desmond Howard (1990-91). That mark includes post-season games.

Rogers is one touchdown catch away from tying the NCAA record of 12, which is held by three different players. Randy Moss was the most recent player to set the mark with 12 straights games in 1997. The NCAA record doesn't include bowl games.

With 206 receiving yards, Rogers moved into eighth place on MSU's career receiving yards chart with 1,929 yards. He surpassed Derrick Mason (1993-96), who previously held down the eighth spot with 1,914 yards.

In addition with his touchdown catch, he moved into tie with Gari Scott (1996-99) for fourth place on MSU's career TD receptions list with 18.

SPARTAN NOTEBOOK -

* Sophomore tight end Jason Randall caught his first career pass - a 15-yard toss from Jeff Smoker in the first quarter. He also had his first career touchdown catch - a 2-yard catch from Jeff Smoker.

* California's 90-yard punt return by Jemeel Powell (first quarter) marked the first time since 1998 that an opponent has returned a punt for a touchdown against MSU. Prior to today's game, the last time an opponent returned a punt for a touchdown was Oct. 24, 1998 - Minnesota's Luke Leverson returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown. The punt return for a TD was the second longest by an opponent in MSU history. The longest punt return was Lynn Swann (Southern Cal), who returned a punt for 92 yards and touchdown in 1972.

* Sophomore cornerback Jason Harmon picked off his second pass of the season against Cal.

* Cal's 46 points are the most points that MSU has allowed since giving up 52 to Purdue in 1999. MSU lost that game, 52-28.