By starting, Izzo said, Appling will spend more time with the first unit in practice and be more familiar with MSU's offense and defense. MSU was supposed to start Big Ten play Dec. 27 at Northwestern, but Izzo and Northwestern coach Bill Carmody both agreed to move the game to Jan. 3. * Gone from the top 10: MSU dropped from No. 7 to No. 14 in the Associated Press rankings released Monday.