A few months ago, I wrote a pretty hearty rant about
Bret Bielema. In that rant I got after him for
beating Indiana 83-20 in 2010. After watching yesterday's game, I honestly
wondered how Wisconsin A) managed to give up 20 and B) when going to run up the
score only scored 83. Coming into this week Jamie Mac from the Just Cover Blog tweeted
that Michigan State was 19-5 against the spread in it's last two Senior Days
and 0-2 in it's last two. I figured we would not cover this week because we
would run early and often against Indiana. I simply did not expect Michigan
State to come out and dominate the way that it did.
Once Michigan State took it's
commanding lead, that allowed the opportunity to allow the Seniors to all be
taken off the field one by one. Cousins saluted the Spartan Helmet at midfield
as he trotted to the sidelines for the last time. Joel Foreman got to take an
end around for three yards. He was a block away from getting four or five more!
Martin got a moment, Nichol got a moment. Celek and Linthicum got taken off
together. It was very nice to be ahead comfortably enough to allow the Seniors
to all have their moment.
There's not much statistically to be
extracted from yesterday's game. We're a very good football team and Indiana is
a very poor football team. At this point in the season you're what your
record says you are(I'm going to contradict this mildly later in the article). We are 9-2 and the highest ranked two loss team in the
land.
I sincerely hope for Indiana that
their program improves under first year coach Kevin Wilson. As fans there is
nothing more frustrating than supporting a team that is terrible. The future is
bright in that 30 of the players who saw playing time this year were true or
redshirt freshman. These days of Senior day being a funeral send-off for us are
over now and that feels amazing.
The Rest
MSU became the inaugural winner of
the Legends Division yesterday. We got a helping hand from our friends down the
road in Ann Arbor, which was nice and a bit ingratiating. When asked if he was
appreciative of UM's helping hand he said, "I play for Michigan State. We
mow our own grass." Who do we play in the Big Ten title game? The winner
of next weekend's PSU/Wisconsin game at Camp Randall. This puts the odds in
Wisconsin's favor, but as the cliche goes "That's why they play the
game."
Back to the two loss team thing real
quick. Since 2008 each year I've felt like we were the best or worst of our
particular Win-Loss record indicating we'd be either a pretender or contender
in a battle of all teams of our record. In 2008, we were the worst 9-3 team in College Football, in 2009 the best 6-6 team, in 2010 the worst 11-1 team. This year we've broken that trend a bit, we're an above average 9-2 team for 9-2 teams. Oregon and USC are probably better than us, TCU, Clemson, Oklahoma and Kansas State are worse. Everyone else is probably an "Any Given Saturday" win on a neutral site. This is actually GREAT news. In the past three years, MSU had a season where it overachieved(2008 and 2010) and then a season where it underachieved. This year our record says 9-2 and we are a 9-2 team.
The Bowl Outlook: Win out and MSU is playing in Pasadena. A loss to Northwestern and a Win in the Big Ten title game and MSU goes to the Rose Bowl. A loss to Northwestern and a loss in the Big Ten title game means probably the Outback Bowl. A win at Northwestern and a loss in the Big Ten title game means most likely a trip to the Capital One Bowl. The Cap One Bowl outcome assumes an MSU loss in the title game and that Michigan wins out.
In short, for me, yesterday felt like a program victory. Five years and one day ago MSU finished it's season 4-8 with a 17-13 loss at Penn State. Yesterday MSU clinched it's path to win Back to Back Big Ten titles. How far things have come in so short a time. It kind of makes you wonder how much farther things can go, doesn't it?
