Joe Rexrode

Gannett Michigan

Take a lawn rake to a field of grass seed and put the results on the Internet, and you never know what might happen.

Michigan State alum Brian Aust of Silverton, Ore., got a call from MSU athletic director Mark Hollis and a busy day on Twitter for his trouble. Hollis gave Aust a ring today after seeing the picture of a Spartan head carved into Aust's field – about 78 miles northeast of Eugene, where the MSU and Oregon football teams will meet in a top-10 battle Saturday.

Hollis then tweeted the picture – which was actually taken by Aust's nephew in a helicopter – and wrote: "Flying into Oregon? Hope your flight pattern takes you over Brian's property. #GoState"

"I had a Spartan head on a piece of paper as a template, and I just went out there with my hand lawn rake and started scratching away," Aust said. "We did the same thing (in the sand) at Huntington Beach (Calif.) before the Rose Bowl, but it didn't get nearly as much attention as this."

Aust created the Spartan head last week and sent the picture of it to Hondo Carpenter of spartannation.com, and it spread from there.

"Then Mr. Hollis called me," Aust said, "so I know him now."

Aust is a 1983 graduate of Williamston High, and he got an animal science degree from MSU in 1988. He is a meat commodities trader and the grass-seed field is part of a "hobby farm," he said. And yes, he'll be at the MSU-Oregon game Saturday – and Hollis has been invited to his tailgate.