GameDay Video Wrap

If you couldn't tell Ty and I were pretty jazzed to meet the GameDay folks Friday. This was my first engagement as "media". The "media" consisted of a couple of actual media folks and some bloggers/fanboys such as ourselves. At any rate, so-so video, so-so questions, but figured we have the video, may as well document it. The Desmond video is the most interesting of the three to me and not just because it's the only one where I ask a question.

Kirk Herbstreit



I'm pretty sure Herbie could talk about anything for 20 minutes and make it sound like he knows his stuff. Easily the most polished of the bunch.

Erin Andrews



Good story about Izzo.

Desmond Howard



Here's the thing, actually there are two. Thing 1. If you think the fans sometimes carry the Little Brother thing too far, the media don't really help sometimes. Thing 2. You could see the writing on the wall for the gameday comments on Saturday that roiled the MSU fanbase so well.

The Defense of East Lansing

Maybe this is a false assumption on my part, but I've always thought the questions being asked by the media have some correlation to what's on the mind of a sports team. If this supposition holds any merit, MSU is going to have it's work cut out for it tomorrow.

See when you get to speak with the GameDay staff and 60 percent of the questions revolve around the game and aftermath of last week's game, you're missing a great moment to talk about the present and very immediate future. Although, in fairness Howard might have brought it on himself a bit.



People did not really care for his Lions hat.

What conversation did focus on today's matchup with the Badgers centered on this one key element. The defense is the marquee unit of the Michigan State Football team. Yet, they're the ones with the most to overcome in terms of moving on from the past to the present. Will Gholston was suspended on Thursday and then Friday Pat Narduzzi was admonished for his 60 minutes of necessary roughness comments. Both Herbie and Howard supported the suspension of William Gholston and were willing to spend a few minutes talking the fallout of MSU's dirty play.

Yet it's clear that the Spartans have earned the respect of both Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard. Herbstreit said: "Their mentality and the way they play, if you're a defensive guy, you've gotta love that." Howard said: "The Michigan State defense is one of the statistically best defenses in the nation." Gritted teeth were involved for Howard, but definitely some respect.

Still, what remains clear after our meet and greet with Howard, Herbstreit and Erin Andrews (more on that later), is that this game is about one thing. The Defense in East Lansing defending East Lansing. Defending East Lansing from media jib-jabbing, defending their suspended players from more criticism and defending the goal from a ferocious Badger offense. (Obligatory Badger Reference) With so much attention placed on the style of the Defense this week, how could the game come down to anything but their play? Tonight, tune in and view the Defense of East Lansing.

College GameDay: They've already come to our City

This morning College GameDay is in town for the fifth time. We already know you're going and we already know it will be amazing. Kirk Herbstreit agrees, "Anytime we can come back to the Big Ten region and get into this cool air, I'm a huge fan... we hope people will come out and join the hyped up scene we have around GameDay." Not enough? Today marks Lee Corso's 200th headgear selection. He picked MSU in 1999 when MSU beat Michigan.

You can get involved by getting up early tomorrow and heading down to campus. Parking will open in the Comm Arts ramp at 6:30 a.m. If you intend on being in the first few rows, you'll want to be there a couple hours before GameDay airs from 9 to noon. Parking for students can be done, but it will involve a trip using the old Airwalks.

As fans, we don't often get to directly influence the course of anything for team we bleed green and white for. In home games, we might draw a false start or cause the opposing team to take a timeout. In away games depending on the place, we might get pelted by batteries or into a fight in the stands or even in the case of Northwestern set up a home like atmosphere. Largely, the game happens outside of us, we just get to show up and watch.

However, this is different. Desmond Howard unintentionally threw down the gauntlet. When asked "What do you expect tomorrow?" he answered, "We've had some fantastic crowds, Ann Arbor, Tallahassee, Morgantown and since we're back on campus we'd like to keep that trend of fantastic crowds." This is something we can show up and represent MSU with lots of Spartan Pride and give them a crowd to remember.