Harlon Barnett explains why Katin Houser is ready to start against Michigan

Michigan State quarterback Katin Houser earned his first career start this past weekend versus Rutgers. His second start will come this upcoming weekend in what will likely be the biggest game of the year for the Spartans, a night game at home versus Michigan.

Interim head coach Harlon Barnett explained during his Monday press conference why Houser is ready and prepared for such a big start this week.

“He’s a college football player,” Barnett said. “He understands what he was signing up for when he signed his scholarship. One of the reasons why he chose to come to Michigan State is to play in games like this. He came from a big-time high school program out there in California at Bosco. Not that Bosco is playing this type of game but he’s used to big-time atmospheres and high expectations. So expecting him to do and have a great game.”

Houser was 18 of 29 for 133 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions against the Scarlet Knights. He also had eight carries for 27 yards and one touchdown.

However, Rutgers came back from 18 points down in the fourth quarter to pull out a 27-24 victory. The win moved the Scarlet Knights to 5-2 while the Spartans dropped to 2-4.

Noah Kim had started the first five games of the season for Michigan State. He was 91 of 160 for 1,060 yards with six touchdowns and six interceptions. However, over the last three games of September versus Washington, Maryland and Iowa, Kim completed 51% of his passes with six picks and just one passing touchdown.

“The reason to go to Katin? We just thought it was an opportunity for him,” Barnett said after the game. “We just thought it was a chance to change it up a little bit – not that it was all Noah’s fault or anything like that. But we thought it was an opportunity to change it up and give him an opportunity to show what he could do.”