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EAST LANSING, Michigan (Ticker) -- Bill Burke tied his own school record with four touchdown passes -- all in the first 19 minutes -- as No. 14 Michigan State steamrolled Iowa, 49-3, in the Big Ten Conference. Any concerns about the Spartans looking past Iowa to next week's showdown with Michigan were put to rest by Burke. He was nearly perfect, completing 12-of-14 passes for 150 yards. He directed scoring drives on Michigan State's first four possessions, capping all of them with touchdown tosses. "Regardless of the situation, Michigan-Michigan State is a big game, not only because of the rivalry but also a big game in the league in terms of the Big Ten race," Michigan State coach Nick Saban said. "That's the way that I like it to be. I've said all along, why can't we have two great teams in the state like Florida and Florida State? One team doesn't have to be bad for the other one to be good. They can both be good and have one great game a year. This is as good as you can get -- we're both 5-0." "We knew we were going to have to go after them," Burke said. "They were physical up front and that they were going to try to stop the run. So we knew that we were going to have to throw the football. We came out smokin' today." Burke's first two TD passes were of 32 and 10 yards to Plaxico Burress, who caught six passes for 95 yards and three scores, which also tied a school record. Backup Ryan Van Dyke came on midway through the second quarter and threw for a pair of TDS. The defense also was dominant, holding its foe without a rushing touchdown for the fifth straight game. Since joining the Big Ten in 1953, Michigan State had never gone five games without surrendering a score on the ground. Cedric Henry returned a punt 70 yards for a TD for the Spartans (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten), who also won their first five games in 1997. With its first victory in the series since 1993, MSU improved to 15-16-2 all-time against Iowa (1-3, 0-1). "Obviously, they were not guilty of overlooking us today," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "They dominated every aspect of the game and they didn't let us establish anything all game." Iowa punted on its first five possessions and Michigan State scored on its first five. Burke's two TD passes to Burress were the first scores this season for the receiver. "It was a great feeling to get back in the end zone," Burress said. "A couple of my teammates came up to me and said, 'Welcome back. You're back from vacation.' It was an uplifting feeling to have my teammates patting me on the helmet and saying I was doing well." "Everybody knows the kind of ability he has," Burke said. "It was fortunate we got the matchups. He was able to get off to a good start and build his confidence. He's definitely an asset and a great talent and has an advantage over some secondaries we're going to see." On the next possession, Burke found Gari Scott with a 20-yard TD pass, giving MSU a 21-0 lead with 3:31 left in the first period. Just under four minutes into the third quarter, he threw a two-yard TD pass to tight end Chris Baker, tying his own school record set last year. Burke took a seat shortly thereafter but the Van Dyke continued the rout. He made it 35-0 with a 10-yard TD pass to Burress. "We were going to keep throwing him the ball," Saban said. "I knew he would make plays and get his confidence back. He caught the ball better in practice this week and took a better psychological approach to the game in terms of taking away some of his anxiety of trying to do so well." Burress tied the school mark set by Gene Washington in 1965 and matched by Mark Ingram in 1986 and Andre Rison in 1989. Iowa averted the shutout when its first drive of the second half resulted in a 30-yard field goal by Tim Douglas. Van Dyke, who was 8-of-13 for 147 yards, hit Herb Haygood with a 35-yard TD pass before Henry's punt return closing the scoring with 8:15 to play in the third quarter. Shaun Foster had 67 yards on 18 carries for the Spartans, who had 511 yards, including 214 on the ground. Randy Reiners was 9-of-17 for 100 yards for the Hawkeyes, who had just 107 yards, seven on the ground. "We knew from the tapes that they were a good team, but they are even more impressive live," Ferentz said. "Their defense shut us down all game, and they have some big playmakers on offense. Defensively, it was hard to match up to them, and I think that showed today."
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