The Michigan State Spartans have a 9-2 record this year and are playing pretty good football. Everyone seems to notice that the Spartans haven't had their annual Fall collapse and seem to be heading to Florida for a Bowl Game. MSU is currently ranked #18 by the BCS and AP and #17 by the Coaches. Not a bad year and Michigan State should feel pretty good about their record and where the program is heading.
- A road loss to a pretty good Cal team (Cal's current record 6-3)
- A blowout win against a very bad Eastern Michigan (currently 2-8)
- 17-0 win against a poor Florida Atlantic team (currently 4-5)
- A 23-7 win against a re-building Notre Dame Team (currently 5-4)
- A 42-29 win against a poor Indiana Team (currently 3-7)
- Struggled at home against Iowa but won 16-13 (currently 6-4)
- Nice road win against Northwestern 37-20 (currently 7-3)
- Blowout loss to the 8-2 OSU Buckeyes in East Lansing 45-7
- Struggled but won against the re-building Wolverines 35-21 (currently 3-7)
- Got out played but stole a win against the struggling Wisconsin Badgers 25-24 (5-5)
- Scored 21 points in a home win against a Purdue team that gave up 42 to the league's worst offense the week before. (3-7)
- Playing Penn State in two week at Happy Valley.
So is Michigan State really good this year or just an example of how down the Big Ten is? I would have to go with the level of poor play in the Big Ten.
Michigan State's 9 wins come against teams with a combined record of: 38 - 50
Michigan State's losses came against the two best teams they have played this year: CAL and Ohio State.
I expect we will see Michigan State lose it next two games vs Penn State and any SEC school they get matched up with in a Florida Bowl. Believe me, MSU doesn't want anything to do with an SEC or Big 12 team in their bowl game.
There is still more work to be done in East Lansing. We will see if Dantonio will be around for it. He is rumored for the some of the openings at Clemson and Tennessee. Also look for his name to be thrown around for the Syracuse and other openings as well.
Last point to ponder: Has the way MSU used Javon Ringer this year limited his NFL career? He has had 353 rushing attempts this year and 806 over his career as a Spartan. This year he is averaging 35 rushing attempts per game. His carries are up 108 attempts over last year and he still has two more games to play!
1 comment:
Wow, way to take an unbiased and logical approach to attack your rival for having a good season. In lieu of bashing your entire analysis, I’ll just stick to the last three week…
Let’s start with your “struggled but one against the re-building Wolverines”. Yes, MSU played poorly that day… but anyone who actually saw the game knew it was MSU’s game to lose as soon as they reached the 4th quarter. If it weren’t for one call by a replay official that was so bad that it received national coverage and the Big Ten had to apologize for the mistake, MSU would have led by 14 for most of the game and it would have been over by halftime.
As for Wisconsin, they layed an egg that game... but walked out with a W. Being able to win a game on a bad day is part of what makes a great team.
Now on to Purdue last week. Your “scored 21 points in a home win against a Purdue team that gave up 42 to the league's worst offense the week before” take is an incredibly hypocritical statement, but with the knowledge you expressed in the rest of this article I don’t expect anything less. You discredit the Spartan’s win because Purdue allowed 42 point (in a win) against Michigan’s awful offense, but ignore that fact that MSU defense shutout the Purdue offense until a junk TD against the second string with 42 seconds left. How many points did Purdue score against Michigan? (Answer:48) This was the first time in his 12 years of coaching that Joe Tiller’s offense was held under 200 yards- including the game against great ’98 Michigan defense.
Try watching a game before sharing your expert analysis.
And lastly, the only “rumors” of Dantonio leaving for Tennessee, Clemson and Syracuse (Syracuse? Are you kidding?) are from message boards idiots. Dantonio has made it clear that he is committed to MSU (please reference his interview after the 2007 UofM game) and there has not been one credible news source that has led anyone to think otherwise. He’s been nothing but a success since the day he walked onto campus and has no reason to leave. I’m sure these schools will go attempt to go after him, but unfortunately for Michigan… “It’s not over. It will never be over… I’m going to be a coach here for a long time. It’s just starting.”
Seeing that he has defeated and out recruited Michigan this year I could see why you may want to see him go, so feel free to spread all the rumors you want. Whatever helps you cope with the Rodriguez’s success so far.
Keep up the insightful and well-written articles. It’s people like you who make sure the arrogant UofM fan stereotype is alive and well- even when their program is in the gutter.
But hey… at least there’s always basketball season.
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