MSU: The Week In Review

So um, kind of a lot happened this week in MSU football. In case you have forgotten, MSU won it's first bowl game under Mark Dantonio. It helps when MSU isn't playing the top QB in the NFL draft, with a lost WR corps or four first round defensive draft picks from Alabama. Still, the Spartans needed a monster defensive game, some excellent special teams play and even a bit of luck to cut the cake against Georgia. Georgia is a very good and very young team, and I'd like to avoid playing the 2012 and maybe even the 2013 version of this team.

I said in the postgame write-up and will reiterate here, this game was MSU's season in a nutshell. You had the "road game blues" where the offense couldn't do anything, you had the "Spartan Domination" on offense in the 3rd and 4th quarter, where MSU scored 27 points in the second half to turn the corner. Special teams played well when it counted and the defense, oh, the defense. Thank you. This season wouldn't have been possible without our amazing defense.

I'll be rewatching this game over the weekend and with the help of Ty doing a bit of film review. That should be fun for next week.

Badgerfreude and a tiny bit about Basketball

MSU notched it's first victory at the Kohl's Center since 2001 on Tuesday night. The Badgers had their clocks out of sync and the scoreboard clock expired before the stadium clock. The refs reviewed and decided the Wisconsin player had not gotten the shot off in time. Bo Ryan summoned his rage. He called the refs falcons. He ranted "Falcon, you falconing Mister Falcons!"

Bielema can't tell time. I've decided this is the only way the clock management of a Big Ten Head Coach could be so poor. He called a timeout on 1st and 10 in the third quarter. A timeout that would have been useful with :02 seconds to go in the Rose Bowl when you'll have a shot at the end zone from the 28. Honest to goodness, he really needs to work on this in the offseason.

Perhaps, and this is just me spitballing, they wrote a clause into his Rose Bowl bonus where the bonus is only activated if he runs the shot clock at the following night's men's hoops game. You know, for funsies. All of this clock mismanagement couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.

DeAnthony Arnett

DeAnthony Arnett received his release from Tennessee and will transfer to Michigan State University. Between Arnett and 2012 WR commit Aaron Burbridge, this marks the second year in a row MSU will have the top WR commit in the midwest committed to play for the green and white. I'm currently projecting Arnett as a slot receiver and the heir apparent to Keshawn Martin at the position. Whether he will run all of the fancified trick plays is a different discussion altogether. This is a huge pickup for the Spartans and can only help Maxwell's transition into Cousins job next year.

Jerel Worthy

Worthy announced his plans to forgo his senior season and declare for the NFL draft. Worthy is a projected first rounder and it would be a gamble for him to pass up that kind of money. There are a host of potential DTs ready to step into his place, but his impact will be sorely missed next year. Players leaving early for the NFL is a great thing for Michigan State. Be happy for him. His mom Stephanie made it quite clear Jerel will finish his degree or else... A great situation all around.

Pat Narduzzi

Pat Narduzzi has interviewed for the DC position at Texas A&M and will be offered the job at a rate of pay between 600 - 750k. As I said yesterday, this is not a positive thing for MSU. Coaches leaving for Head Coaching jobs is a great thing, coaches leaving for lateral promotions is not. The fan reactions have ranged from fury to apathy to congratulations. No decision has yet been reached on the part of Narduzzi nor has an apparent public counter-offer been made by Michigan State.

I suspect this will be over by the end of the weekend, maybe even Friday. If MSU loses Narduzzi, expect some upset fans. I just hope these same fans don't complain when ticket prices go up to support the coaching staff in the future. If MSU keeps Narduzzi, it'll probably only be for a couple years until he finds a quality head coaching gig.

Bonus Conspiracy Theory

Narduzzi was "scheduled" to receive a raise to 305k per Hondo in February. Narduzzi withdrew his name from consideration for the Akron gig. Treadwell is making 450 or so at Miami-OH, so one would expect that Akron would be shopping in that price range too. To me this all adds up to the reported 305k actually being higher than that. 2/3rds of a potential salary doesn't seem low enough to cause Narduzzi to say no.

In Review

That Outback Bowl feels like it was a LONG time ago now. MSU had some of it's biggest successes of the Dantonio era and was immediately forced to begin defending it's newfound success. The choices made regarding Narduzzi will help demonstrate how committed MSU is to paying the money necessary to retain an excellent coaching staff. It's a game of inches as Dantonio always says, and MSU needs to win the next couple days to help secure more of these first world problems for 2012.

The MSU Football Postseason Awards

Instead of taking Jim Delany's idea of naming the conference trophy after a coach who was very successful 70 years ago with a school that hasn't been part of the Big Ten in 50 years, I think we'll pursue a more modern award name or at least a more Spartan one. Our awards will be called the Perles trophies. When MSU wins it's next Rose Bowl, the name will be updated to the Mark Dantonio award.

Without further adieu, the George Perles awards for 2011.

The George Perles Award for Most Improved Position Group(From 2010-2011): The Defensive Line. The defensive line was in a word, breathtaking. The combination of Gholston and Worthy was dominating this year. The projected loss of Worthy and actual loss of Pickelman and Strayhorn will be a huge question mark going into the 2012 season.

The George Perles Award for Most Improved Position Group(Intra-Season): The Offensive Line. Against Youngstown State, the Offensive Line looked out of position, unsure of what it should be doing. By the Outback Bowl, Dan France was getting beat by one of the elite pass rushers in the nation this year, but they still found a way to recover and score 27 points in the second half. This was largely on the back of the Offensive Line buying time for Cousins to throw.

The George Perles Award for Unsung Hero: Mike Sadler. Early in the Ohio State game, a wayward snap(I can't remember whether it went over his head or he just bobbled it) was recovered and booted away before the OSU players could get to him. This was deep in our own endzone and would likely have resulted in points for OSU. That matters in a game that ends 10-7. If MSU loses they are 3-2 coming home Columbus. At the risk of "What-If"-ing this to death, if Sadler doesn't make that play I don't know if MSU is 10-2 in the regular season.

The George Perles Award for Offensive MVP: Le'Veon Bell. Feel free to beat me with socks full of batteries if you must, but the MSU offense got very, very good right around the time Bell took over as the lead tailback. This is no slight against Mr. Cousins who is the best QB in MSU history, but what made the MSU offense move from struggly to very good was the faith put in Bell.

The George Perles Award for Defensive MVP: Jerel Worthy. Just like the Offensive MVP I don't think you can have one without the other. So the threat of Gholston allowed Worthy to make some plays. I think in this case if you take Worthy away, Gholston struggles more than if you take Gholston away from Worthy. We'll likely see next year. The Haunting Spectre of Jerel Worthy caused teams to gameplan around protecting the interior of the line which freed up Gholston on the edges, IMO.

The George Perles Award For Best Freshman: Marcus Rush. Rush played solid defense at the Defensive End position opposite Gholston all season long. Unlike Gholston, who's job appeared to be to either stuff the run or kill the QB. Rush dropped into pass coverage with some regularity(as regularly as a DE does anyway) and did a good job defending the pass. He and Gholston will be a treat to watch in 2012.

The 2011 season was definitely one to enjoy, back to back 11 win seasons is something that hasn't been experienced in post World War II football by either Michigan or Michigan State. While it was easy to enjoy, it'll be a bit difficult to remember. MSU was so very close to going to the Rose Bowl, where I think they would have beaten Oregon, but we'll never know. Any hypothesizing as such is just that.

All we can do is thank Mark Dantonio, his coaches and the players. In forty years, MSU fans have been treated to some very mediocre football. In the last four years, MSU has become a football program to be proud of, a program who looks at the Outback Bowl as not good enough.

On Tuesday afternoon, when the team arrived home Le'Veon Bell could have gone home. After a week away from EL, it would have been fair to do. But he didn't. He got off the bus and was in the film room in 20 minutes. This is what MSU football is about now not being satisfied with what they've done, but enjoying the moment and focusing their eyes on where they're going. I'm just happy us fans can be along for the ride.

Outback Bowl: Quick Review

How did the game go?

Well MSU looked amazing once the Offense got off the bus in the third quarter. Hondo tweeted, not while driving I'm sure, that the traffic going to the Outback Bowl was awful. I can't believe the whole first half got played before the O showed up, but I'm sure glad they did.

More seriously though, this game was completely a microcosm of MSU's season. No or inconsistent offense all through the first 2/3rds of the season game. Stifling defense all through the season game. Good to great special teams all through the season game.

Sacks

Remember how Cousins was under fire the whole first half? Well, he only got sacked once. This had less to do with the Offensive Line which substituted McGaha to help France figure out what to do... which like luv u McGaha, but WTF. Our tackles were lost and hadn't played a 3-4 worth a shit since ND. It took them almost 3 quarters to figure out WTF was going on. Meanwhile, our D-Line rattled the shit out of Murray for four sacks and a host of bad throws. Well played.


Anthony Rashad White

When he was playing out of his gourd in the first and second quarters and I figured he'd be exhausted by the fourth quarter. But the MSU D-Line just looked better and better as the game moved along. He was a mountain of a man who was an example of his unit today. Gholston was outstanding, Worthy was outstanding, Rush was outstanding. Outstanding game across the board by the DL. Drone was huge. This unit could not have played better in my opinion. KJ from the not so reclined position in his living room noted that 24 percent of plays resulted in a tackle for loss. This is legendary.

Dan Roushar

A great point made by LVSatTOC, Roushar called plays super craptabulous in the first half, but made outstanding adjustments in the second half to put MSU in a position to win. I still think he abandons his gameplan TOO quickly and that's something he should work on in the offseason. He got MSU the points he needed to win the game.

Points for Later Film Dissection

• Why did pass pro improve so much from the first half to the second?
• How did UGA so effectively shut down Bell?
• Why was MSU's D-Line so effective at getting through UGA's O-Line? 

Great win and a needed win. Now time to recruit Worthy(difficult) and Adams(much easier) to stay. More substantive implications for 2012 season coming a bit later this week. What a great win for MSU.

Behind Frenemy Lines: UGA Q&A

I wanted to do a Behind Enemy Lines piece this past year with every team we played, but really only got to it once. It is our good fortune bowl-wise that MSU plays Georgia this year though because our friend Kevin over at CollegeFootballZealots loves all college football, but is a Dawg at heart. He agreed to do a few questions with us. You can check out our responses to his questions here and follow him on Twitter here.

Just like MSU, UGA lost the conference title game and got kicked all the way down to the fourth best bowl appearance in it's conference. Does the team appear to have a bit of title game loss hangover?

CFBZ: I don't think they do. Georgia played LSU better than anybody else in the country for one half. Georgia had some great opportunities in the first half that they didn't capitalize on and then in the second half they just got caught in an avalanche and were a bit shell-shocked as the #1 team in the country poured it on like they've done against everybody but Alabama. 

Georgia has a very young team. They only have two seniors on the two deep depth chart on defense, they have a soph starting at QB, their leading receiver is a true freshman and their leading rusher is a true freshman. I don't have any inside knowledge but I think Georgia sees this as a chance to cap off a really good year and set themselves up for next year.

Of your 10 wins this year, which would you identify as being UGA's highest quality win taking into account both performance and quality of opponent.

CFBZ: Auburn. Auburn came into the game ranked 20th and had recently beaten #10 South Carolina (before Lattimore got hurt for the season) and Florida. Georgia just thoroughly dominated them from start to finish. Auburn came into the game averaging 191 yards rushing per game and 354 yards per game. Georgia held them to 51 yards rushing and 195 total yards (76 of these yards came on Auburn's first drive). Georgia dominated time of possession holding the ball for over 40 minutes. It was 35-7 at half-time and it was over at that point as Georgia eased off the gas en route to a 45-7 win. Murray threw 4 TDs to 4 different receivers, two RBs went over 100 yards, Jarvis Jones had two sacks, Bacarri Rambo took an INT back for a TD. It was the most complete game Georgia played this year and to dominate a rival like that was very satisfying. 

There was some scuttle that Richt was interviewing for the A&M job. While it appears that this was false, do you think there is/was truth enough to even be a little concerned about his future with UGA?

CFBZ: No, I really don't. The A&M thing was all smoke. Richt and AD Greg McGarity seem to have a really good working relationship and getting back to double-digit wins did nothing but cement that. I have no concerns about Richt leaving. He's at Georgia as long as Georgia wants him and as long as he has that fire to coach college football.

Later Georgia self-reported a violation that Richt was paying his assistants under the table (only in the NCAA could paying your employees a bonus being a violation), have either of the two aforementioned things appeared to have any impact on the team leading up to the game?

CFBZ: Basically what happened is the athletic department decided not to pay bowl bonuses to non-coach staff due to economic conditions back in 2009. Richt asked for a list of who would not be getting their bonuses and paid them out of his own pocket.There were some other instances where Richt felt that his coaches compensation was inadequate compared to like positions and petitioned the athletic department for increased compensation but was denied so Richt paid them out of pocket. It should be noted that this all happened under the watch of the former AD Damon Evans (the one that got canned). If anything, I think this would have a positive impact on the coaching staff. I mean, who doesn't want to work for a boss that has your back?

Aaron Murray filed draft paperwork but claims to be not interested in leaving after this year. My question is do you believe him?

I do believe him because I simply don't think he'd be a high pick (probably somewhere in the middle rounds) and I think he's too smart to go pro simply to go pro. I think he's just trying to see where he's at so that he can make an informed decision next season (which will be his red-shirt junior year). Murray has had games this year where he's looked like he can play at the next level but he still struggles with consistency from quarter-to-quarter and from game-to-game and he doesn't have that prototypical QB height that makes him a sure fire first rounder. I'm not sure what his NFL future is but I think he still has a lot to prove in the eyes of pro scouts.

Looking at this game, where do you think Georgia matches up most favorably?

CFBZ: I like the match-up of Georgia's front seven on defense against the Michigan State OL.Georgia's DL has been getting better and better as the season has progressed. JUCO transfer (NG) John Jenkins has really started to make his mark in the second half of the season and Sophomore DE Garrison Smith is another guy that has really started to show up on film recently as he's gotten more playing time. The LB corps has been a work in progress for Georgia this year because of injuries. Alec Ogletree is the best player on Georgia's defense and he broke his foot in the Boise State game (was it a coincidence that the Broncos had 0 points when he was in the game?) and was out until mid-season. Couple that with other injuries, Georgia was playing walk-ons and true freshmen early in the season. Since Ogletree has come back, he and Jarvis Jones have been reeking havoc on opposing teams and back-ups have stepped up since they've had real game experience. If Georgia can make Michigan State one dimensional by stopping the run (which Georgia has done a really good job of this year), it could be a long day for the Spartans.

The other match-up I like for Georgia is Orson Charles against who-ever he is matched up against. Charles is one of the premier Tight Ends in college football. He's too big for a Safety to cover and too fast for a LB. Georgia's OC Mike Bobo sometimes forgets Orson is on the field, but since this might be his last game as a Bulldog I think Bobo will make an effort to get the ball to Orson and if he does it will open up the field for everybody else.

What concerns you most about playing Michigan State?

CFBZ: To be honest, I'm not as concerned about Michigan State as I am about certain areas of the Georgia team. That's not a knock on Michigan State as much as it is the confidence that I have in the talent that Georgia has put together but talent doesn't always win football games (just ask Florida). 

The first area is Special Teams. We came into the year with arguably the best kicker/punter combo in the Nation in Blair Walsh and Drew Butler. Butler has been solid this year except for a couple of times where he out-kicked his coverage (can you say Honey Badger?). Walsh on the other hand has been awful. As a soph and junior, Walsh made 40 of 45 FGs. This year he's only 19 of 31 (including a miss in a 3 point loss to South Carolina). Georgia has also given up 4 returns for TD this season. Georgia has been working on Special Teams a lot going into the bowl so I expect coverage to be better but practice isn't going to help a FG kicker who is in a funk. The other area of concern is our offensive backfield but I will get to that next...

Who needs to step up and have big games if Georgia wants to win this game?

CFBZ: The answer here is the entire RB corps. Georgia has done it with smoke and mirrors at the RB position a lot this season. They've had multiple suspension (Crowell, Thomas, Malcome) and injuries (Crowell, Samuel) galore. It looks like everything is now taking shape for everybody to be healthy going into the bowl game. True Freshman Isaiah Crowell is the one who gets all the hype but he's been somewhat of a disappointment to Georgia fans because of his constant nagging injuries and repeatedly asking out of games. When Crowell is healthy, he is a game changer. I'm of the mind-set that he's a 15-20 touch a game back (he's not a workhorse type back like Marcus Lattimore) and if he gets that in this game then he could be trouble for Sparty.

Just when Richard Samuel (who switched from RB to LB and then back to RB this year due to lack of depth at RB) hit his stride against Florida, he was lost for the season with an injury. He should be back for this game and if he can run with the bad intentions that he did against the Gators then he will help to open up the play-action game for Aaron Murray. Another guy to keep an eye on is RS Frosh Ken "Boo" Malcome (he was highly recruited out of HS and had offers on the table from Bama, Clemson, Florida, FSU, Oklahoma, West Virginia, etc). Malcome has struggled to get on the field this year (30 carries for 123 yards) but is currently taking snaps at #1 RB. Maybe a message is being sent to Crowell from the coaching staff but Malcome has been good in the minimal action he's seen in the last three games (Kentucky, GT and LSU) and I expect him to get a chance to run the football some in this game. He's a hard runner and more of an inside the tackles guy than Crowell is. They actually complement each other fairly well.

Between these three guys (and change of pace back Carlton Thomas) if Georgia can establish a running game then Aaron Murray can do what he does best and that's spread the ball around (12 different receivers caught TD passes from Murray this year, 7 of which caught at least 2 TDs) and keep Michigan State's defense off balance.   

Finish this thought..... Georgia wins this game if....

CFBZ: If Special Teams takes care of business, Georgia is able to establish a running game and the offensive line (I'm looking at you Justin Anderson) does an adequate job of protecting Aaron Murray. 

Know Thy Enemy: Georgia vs. Florida Film Review(1st Half)

Today we sit down to Know Thy Enemy. I've completely beat to death the past few weeks that the MSU-UGA game should be two teams playing each other in a mirror statistically. That hasn't changed. I was able to get some screencaps on the UGA - FLA game from earlier this year. For those of you who read my Film Review of MSU-Wisky earlier this year. I'm messing with the format a bit. Defensive narrative notes, then picture examples, repeat for offense. I think it flows a bit better.

Florida is a poor man's Michigan State this year.  They had the 25th scoring defense, and the 71st scoring offense. Michigan State had the 9th ranked scoring defense and the 38th ranked scoring offense.  So while the gap in total production was significant, the trend of a team with a markedly better defense than offense seems reliable. So too is the Weis-ening. Which involves putting the burden of NFL playbook on the QB's shoulders and then yelling at him when things don't work out. Weis ran a pro-style offense at ND and obviously his time in the pros.

Florida runs a 4-3 and is a decent defensive analog for MSU. MSU finished 12th in rushing defense compared to 39th for Florida. In passing defense, Florida finished 10th and MSU finished 12th. So again the pattern of a team that has a strong D that performs very strongly against the pass and well against the run holds true. Both defenses rely on their D-Line to drive their pass defense.

Game Notes(UGA)(per @CFBZ)

• Starting Safety Shawn Williams was suspended for 1st half (along w/NG Kwame Geathers). 
• Starting ILB Alec Ogletree's 1st game back since injuring foot at Boise.
• Best WR, true frosh Malcolm Mitchell, also didn't play due to injury

Narrative Defensive Observational Notes

• UGA has missed a fair number of tackles. On Florida's opening play of the game, a Georgia linebacker straight whiffs a tackle that allows Jeff Demps to go for 72 yards. At 11:01 to go in the first, UGA's missed tackles allowed for two first downs.
• UGA also blitzes a lot. A lot. This is a key feature of the 3-4, but you can count on probably a fourth and fifth on 2/3rds of plays. Interestingly, most of the blitzes I've seen thus far have all come from linebackers. That's a variance from MSU, they do tend to mix it up with some safeties and corner blitzes.
• UGA let up a 4th and 19 touchdown. UGA sent the house and Brantley(Florida's QB) somehow got through it. It was a super flukey play, I'll hope for one of those this week.
• The middle of the field is open like 7-11. See below.

Oh Dan France, You Are Going to Have Your Hands Full

Dan France. Jarvis Jones. Jarvis Jones. Dan France. This is what Jarvis Jones did to Florida's poor left tackle just a couple months ago.

Jarvis Jones has a red arrow around him at all times. Not a bad idea for the offense if they can swing it between now and Monday.

The ball snaps and Jarvis just straight rushes the QB. The LT drops back into pass protection.

The LT engages Jones and it looks like the FLA RB joins in the fun, but he actually sneaks behind this world collision to try and get open in the flat.

LT engages in some pretty serious hands to the face, but whatever man.

A whopping 3 tenths of a second later, Jones gets his feet wide and gets underneath the LT which throws him off-balance.

Jones shoves LT to his right, your left and does a quick little redirect and then sacks Brantley.

This was a display of athleticism that I think only young Mr. Gholston can really represent for MSU. Jones straight up manhandled this dude. France and Roushar are going to need to figure out an answer for Jones that doesn't involve bringing the RB over to stop the pass rush. We will need to count on our RB and TE's to be open for safety throws.

The Middle of The Field is Open Like 7-11

The Gators go five wide. You see this look on 3rd and 2 all the time MSU fans.

The 3 down lineman and one of the edge rushers go, I believe it's Jarvis Jones stays back in pass coverage. Weirdly the dudes to the left with the red arrows pretty much stand still.

Jones has to pick between one of the two Florida dudes and decides to go with the one to the right, for obvious reasons.

Player cuts to the inside which is filthy wide open, there is literally no one for five yards.

The UGA coverage comes up and SHOULD make a tackle here, but through a combination of using the Umpire for a pick and a kind of eh tackle by the Georgia guy allows the WR to get out long downfield and turn this into a 20 yard pickup.

Narrative Offensive Observational Notes

• At the end of the first quarter, 100 percent of UGA's pass attempts had come out of the shotgun formation. This is something I remember from charting the UGA-MSU game in 2009 with Ty after the Lions drafted Stafford. They throw almost exclusively from the shotgun. When Trenton Robinson pops off about the simplicity of the Dawgs offense, I would guess this is what he was referring to. At the end of the second half, they had yet to throw a successful pass from something other than the shotgun.
• Isaiah Crowell has really nice vision and MOAR speed than Bell, he is slighter and more likely to go down after the first hit. His running style reminds me a lot of Montee Ball. The primary difference is that Crowell goes down far more often after contact.
• In the second quarter, UGA attempted one pass out of the I-Formation on playaction. Murray was sacked.
• Murray is not as good as Cousins. He's no slouch either, he's probably the second or third best QB MSU will play this year. I feel it fair to say that Murray is somewhere between .75Cousins and .9Cousins.

Isaiah Crowell: He's Got Talent 

Run out of the I-formation

Crowell runs into the pile, which looks stupid until you see the Grand Canyon open out on the other end of the pile.

He comes shooting out, and number 22 for Florida sees that Crowell will read his block and head for the sideline

Here's where this showcases the talent part of Crowell's talent, the DB #14 to the far left disengages his WR target and also heads for the sideline.

Crowell ends up beating both 14 and 22 to the sideline and ends up getting forced out by his own momentum. He had 14 and 22 beat.

Michael Bennett: Nice Catch

None too shabby.

Bonus

I'll work on the second half over the next few days to have ready before the weekend. I was not real impressed with Murray, was very impressed with Crowell and their defense is quick. They're missing two starters I might add. Cousins will need to get the ball off quickly.

MSU, The Outback Bowl, and some Cobain Angst

Yesterday, two executives from the Outback Bowl flew up to Okemos to do a press conference. Bloomin' Onion's were cooked, served, etc. Chris Vannini wrote a pretty thorough article covering the bases on his blog. The not-so-subtle message is that with only 5,000 of 11,500 tickets sold and people making their holiday plans that people need to get in line and buy their damn tickets. The Outback Bowl is the Big Ten's third bowl tie-in and a New Year's Day game. Vannini pointed out on twitter, this is MSU's third New Year's Day game in four years after one in 18 years. A good chance for Dantonio to get his first bowl win against a quality opponent. These are good points, and if you have the means to comfortably go, you should.

The game should be incredible. Statistically, the only difference between these two teams is what they each had for breakfast this morning. Incredible defenses and good offenses. It could very possibly be a quality defensive 10-7 type game.


I respect the hell out of this 2011 Spartan Squad. I thought their regular season ceiling was 9-3 and I thought all three would be in the Big Ten. A win at OSU? Unpossible! Four in a row against UM. Very Difficult! Getting the monkey off our back at Iowa. Eh. Not very likely. Yet, we did ALL of those things and we played in the first ever Big Ten title game. So it feels cheap to draw my line in the sand on this issue.

Yet, I laid out my Herculean Effort to go to the game a few weeks ago for the game in Indy. I blew out my voice in the concourse leading the Go Green/Go White cheer before kickoff. I like the rest of Spartan Nation had my still-beating heart ripped from my chest with unfathomable sadness. The promise of a good game, while likely, is as of right now an empty promise. Unless I was burning Benjamins to run my furnace, I don't think I'd go to the Outback Bowl.

It's not the Outback Bowl's fault. I wouldn't be excited to go to the Sugar Bowl either. The Cap One Bowl three years out of four does not a good time make. I think this is MSU's best matchup and opportunity to create a competitive and interesting bowl game. Yet, I'm just kind of numb to the whole thing, or was kind of numb until yesterday. Now I'm pissed, again, not with the Outback Bowl.

The Argument

"MSU's fans need to show up so future Bowl Selection Committees don't view MSU as a school who won't support their team."

My blood boiled a bit after reading this argument.  Here's a fact. "The Spartans have ranked among the NCAA's top 25 in attendance each of the last 55 seasons, including 19th in 2010, averaging 73,556 fans per game."    Well fine, that's home attendance, we'll overlook the fact that the Football team has sucked for probably half of those years.  Rexrode dropped this nugget a few days ago: "MSU fans have done well in Florida recently, bringing an estimated 30,000 to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando in 2009 and 2011.A Capital One Bowl exec gushed to me about MSU fan support a few weeks ago, saying it kept MSU in the discussion for that game despite the fact that MSU has been in Orlando in three of the past four years (the Spartans played there in the Champs Sports Bowl in December of 2007)." I was at the Big Ten title game, I feel comfortable saying that was 60/40 in favor of MSU.

We travel. We show up. We support our team. In 2006, when MSU went 4-8 and John L slapped himself out of a job, 70,819 fans showed up on average to all the games. That's 94.4 percent of the stadium in a year where MSU almost lost to Idaho. Don't even get me started on how well supported the basketball team is.

It's cliche and shitty to argue that the bowl system sucks without offering another alternative, but explain to me how this makes more sense than nothing? If MSU's attendance numbers don't speak for themselves, what will? Are we short the requisite number of fairweather fans? If that's the problem, maybe we're better off that way.

Anyway, go to the game if you have the means, it should be a good one. This is not a crusade to persuade people to stay home. This is a complaint that the notion that MSU doesn't travel off these sluggish sales for it's team is stupid and petty. For my own part, I'll be at home, having an ironic Bloomin' Onion party and rooting like hell for my Spartans. But don't question the MSU fanbase, we've been rocking out the NCAA attendance top 25 since before this game was called the Hall of Fame Bowl and we'll continue doing so long after Outback has sold the naming rights to someone else.