Here's Your Shield, R.J. Shelton

The Spartans picked up their fourth commitment Sunday from Wisconsin running back R.J. Shelton.  Most of the recruiting sites haven't yet evaluated .  Only 247 has a rating for him -- 3 stars.  It also looks like the Spartan coaches got out ahead of other programs.  MSU was the first B1G program to offer Shelton, shortly thereafter he was noticed and offered by Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.  It appears that Bielema personally called Shelton to try to keep him instate, but MSU's early interest seems to have paid off.

Shelton has good size (5'11" and 185 lbs), and he is listed as running the 40 in 4.5 seconds.  That seems about right; he looks like a 4.5 guy in his video:

The immediate reaction is to see Shelton as the next Edwin Baker, as they move in a similar way.  If you look at this next video of Baker (at the 1:15 mark), you can see that Baker was bigger and more powerful in high school.  He may also have been faster -- according to Scout he ran the 40 in 4.4 seconds. 

Shelton was only a junior in his video, so some physical improvement seems likely. Nonetheless, Shelton already shows some excellent talent and athleticism.  He's another guy who makes you realize that it's too early to panic about recruiting.  After all, how can anyone be upset about taking a running back with competing offers from Iowa and Wisconsin?

Shelton's commitment should wrap up the running back recruiting, between Shelton and Holmes the Spartans have secured a speed/power back combo.  The Spartans now have 5 young guys who could step in for Caper after 2012 or Bell should he leave early for the draft.  

Here's Your Shield, Jalyn Powell

The Spartans have picked up their 3rd commitment from Ohio safety,  Jalyn Powell.  Powell attends Warren G. Harding high school, home of former Spartan DB Chris L. Rucker. Once again, it looks like the Spartan coaches have jumped ahead of most of the recruiting services, so the information on Powell is limited, and in some cases conflicting.  Only 247 has a rating for him, and they consider him a 3-star guy.  Otherwise, Scout says that Powell received offers from Michigan, and West Virginia, and that Ohio State is showing interest in him.  All of the other sites, however, list MSU as his only offer.

Powell has great size for a safety (6'1" and 185 lbs.).  If you believe ESPN, which is the only site that has a 40 meter time for him, he seems to be a little slow (at 4.86 seconds).  But folks, you tell me if you believe this guy is slow:

In this video, Powell looks like the best athlete on the field.  There are several moments where he makes everyone else look like they're standing still.  On defense he shows some pretty good instincts and he brings the lumber when he tackles.  I have to say, this is some of the best highlight video I've ever seen.  That makes Powell one of the most exciting prospects I've ever reviewed.

Powell is being recruited as a safety, but to me he looks like a guy that could excel at many other positions, including wide receiver, linebacker, and running back. He fits the mold of a Dantonio safety and will be a great addition to the class of 2013 for the Green and White.

Growing Pains: A New Problem For MSU Football

They're a serious problem sometimes.

Jerel Worthy

Worthy has a presser scheduled for 2pm today and is expected to declare for the NFL draft. This is not unexpected as he's been on mock draft watch lists since 2009 and hasn't moved much from the first round since. While it never feels like a great thing for a player of Worthy's caliber to leave early, it IS a great thing if he goes in the first round. When recruiting kids the three best things you can do for them are: make sure they graduate, win a championship and put them in the league. If Worthy has a shot to get drafted for big bucks in the first or even the high second, he should go.

Thank you Jerel Worthy, you are one twitchy young man.

Pat Narduzzi

Narduzzi is rumored to be interviewing in Texas A&M as we speak. This in my opinion is not a great thing. It's rumored his current salary is 230k to be raised to 305 in Feb and that his offer at A&M would be anywhere from 500 to 750. I am absolutely for our coaches taking HC gigs elsewhere. Again, if you are growing the program and the tree that's solid. What I am not for is Narduzzi taking a lateral promotion for double the money.

Is there a chance he stays at MSU? Absolutely. In my opinion though, it's for the solid season in 2012 to provide him an HC gig OR because he's happy in the Midwest and wants to stay. MSU needs to make him feel special right now, whether it's with money, better recruiting tools, etc. MSU needs to make a big show of how much they want him here.

If A&M can roll out 600k for Duzzer, they can roll out 800k. MSU cannot beat them in a bidding war. They can at best hope to keep pace. Another thing to consider here is that maybe Narduzzi doesn't want to be a head coach. I've managed people before. It's difficult, tedious and thankless work and maybe he's not interested. So doubling up salary to do what you love would sound very appealing.

Growing Pains and the Financial Cost of Success

These are new pains for us at MSU and as fans, alumni and a school we need to ask ourselves a few questions. Are we willing to accept having the cost of a top notch football program? Many top assistants are fetching north of 500k in college football. To match the high end of Narduzzi's rumored offer, MSU fans would need to pay a dollar more per ticket per game. To bring the entire assistant staff's salary into line with SEC ranges a 3-5 dollar per ticket per game change wouldn't be off the board.

Next year, MSU plays Boise State, EMU, ND, OSU, Neb, Iowa and Northwestern at home and you can bet that after holding ticket prices steady for the 2011 season there will be a substantial hike next year.  Would you be willing to fork over the additional 3-5 dollar per ticket money when it could be on top of a 5-15 dollar per ticket hike already?

College football isn't a game now, it's an arms race. Michigan State has the alumni base and support structure to participate, but it's going to mean changing the way fans think of buying tickets. To participate with the big hitters of college football, it's going to mean opening your wallets as fans. So what's it gonna be MSU fans?

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.

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. 

MSU - Georgia: The Outback Bowl

The Bloomin' Onion Bowl

Michigan State and Georgia will play in the 2012 Outback Bowl on Monday January 2nd, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. To say this was MSU's first choice would be simply untrue, but Georgia is a quality opponent and we have similar strengths. Of course there will be a very real game preview later down the road as well as five questions with College Football Zealots. For now statheads here are some similarities between these two teams.


Well shit, it looks like we'll be playing ourselves. That should be interesting. I welcome the opportunity though to play the SEC runner-up in the Outback Bowl. On paper, this should be a remarkably good game.

Other Bowl Thoughts

Big Ten


- Getting passed up by Nebraska kind of sucks. Orlando four times in five years though wasn't a good fit for anyone, IMO.

- Purdue vs Western Michigan. Watch yer ass, Purdue.

- The Kraft Hunger Bowl - 6-6 Illinois vs. 6-7 UCLA. This should seriously be the worst football game ever.

- The Gator Bowl - OSU vs Florida in the Urban Meyer bowl. Bonus for Charlie Weis being rolled to the game instead of airlifted.

- The TicketCity Bowl - Penn State should not have fallen this far. It's weaksauce for that to happen. PSU will still travel and casual fans will still drink egg nog and watch the game. A 9-3 PSU deserved better as Lloyd would say.

- Speaking of, it's time for the elephant in the room. UM jumping MSU is crap, not because it's U of M, but because it's crap. The BCS is crap, we all know it. If we were in UM's position and vice versa I'd be happy for our team so I can't say all this without some hypocrisy. I was really hoping UM would get Houston. Michigan's losses were to Iowa and MSU. The best two QB's MSU Michigan played?* Iowa and MSU. VT's QB is crap and UM will probably win. Good for the Big Ten, a little bit of a stinger for my rivalry based heart.

The Rematch

I will not watch this game. Not as a trainwreck, not as a point of fascinating failure. The only thing I can do to discourage them from allowing this to ever happen again is not watch. I encourage you to do the same.

* - Thanks to Commenter BeGreen for catching my mistake with the MSU/UM thing.

Prepare for Rose Bowl.

A couple of months ago, I took my family to the dentist. Being a good Spartan, the dentist in question has MSU memorabilia up all over the office, including a matted and framed blimp shot of the 1988 Rose Bowl. Exactly as above, but with “MSU” and “USC” in the end zones.

My five-year-old son looked up at the picture and said, “Dad, is that Spartan Stadium?” “No,” I answered, “that is the Rose Bowl.” I blanketed the words with velvet reverence.

“But, it says ‘MSU’!”

“Yes,” I explained, “they paint the end zones for the schools playing the Rose Bowl game that year. You see, the Rose Bowl is a game played between the champion of the Big Ten and the Pac-10 every year, except . . . well, uh, sort of. Mostly. Yes, mostly.”

He asked, “Is that from this year?” I grinned wryly. “Heh, no, that’s a picture from 1988, the last year Michigan State played in the Rose Bowl. I was seven years old then, same as your big sister is now.”

Oh my God.

OH MY GOD.

Since the Spartans last went to the Rose Bowl, I grew up and went to MSU and got married and had a kid and now that kid is as old as I was when the Spartans last went to the Rose Bowl.

I felt no pain at the dentist that day. Nothing could sting quite like the realization that for all the big wins and star players to come out of Michigan State since I became self aware, they’ve spent almost the entire time failing to get anywhere near Pasadena. USC has gone to the Rose Bowl EIGHT TIMES SINCE THEN. Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern and freaking Wazzou have all been to the Grandaddy of Them All more recently than Michigan State.

You know who started the 1988 Rose Bowl for USC? Rodney Peete. Rodney Peete, who finished second in Heisman voting to Barry Sanders, got drafted by the Lions in the 6th round, was immediately installed as the starter (!), and had a sixteen-year career in the NFL which ended seven years ago.

Rodney Peete! Tecmo Super Bowl!

Last year the Spartans won the Big Ten Championship, or whatever passes for it these days. By traditional rules, that would have ended the interminable Rose Bowl drought, but no. Wisconsin, a team they beat soundly during the regular season, had collected more Starbits or something and so Michigan State had to go the Capital One Bowl and suffer a loss so spectacular that the clothing line bearing the #BEATEMDOWN hashtag it spawned still sells like hotcakes.

The Rose Bowl was first played in 1901, nine months before the inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt. It’s been played 97 times since then, twenty times more than any other bowl. It is the bowl game that is the reason bowl games are called ‘bowl games.’ But these are Modern Times and so in order for the best team from the Big Ten to go to the Rose Bowl as has been done since my Grandfather was like negative thirty, Michigan State must beat a team it already beat this year in a big fake money grab perpetrated by profiteering gasbags who miss no opportunity to ‘brand’ themselves with tradition they stomp all over while selling out to the highest bidder, or really any available bidder.

So be it.

Wisconsin, I’m sorry. You guys have a real cool program and a real good team and I dig that thing you do when you all jump around until your stadium exhibits signs of imminent structural failure. But this is bigger than you. It’s a mission, a duty, a crusade to win back the prestige and heritage of Biggie and Duffy and every All-American who’s worn the only colors. The Spartans have won 21 games in two seasons and we aren’t going to the Capital One, Outback, or heaven-help-us Alamo Bowl again. This game means nothing to you, and it means everything to us.

Spartans, #P4RB.

Northwestern: Game Preview

Northwestern makes me crazy. Their quarterbacks have a weird knack for completing ridiculous percentages of their passes. Then on 3rd and 8, they'll scramble for 10 yards. This year's Northwestern squad will be no different. I will need my foam bricks to throw at the TV and my beer foam for this game. For MSU, this game really only holds any postseason value in terms of determining a consolation bowl if they lose the Big Ten Title Game. Should they lose both this week and in the BTCG, it's no better than Outback for us, if they win this week and lose the BTCG we could land the Capital One Bowl, but it might still be the BTCG.

Northwestern on the other hand has a bit more to play for. At 6-5 they're already bowl eligible, but they're currently in a 3 way tie with Ohio State(6-5) and Purdue(5-6) for seventh in the Big Ten at 3-4 in-conference.  With eight bowl tie-ins, things get a lot more comfortable for Northwestern if they win on Saturday even if comfort is the Pizza Pizza Bowl.

MSU's Passing Defense vs NW's Passing Attack

Dan Persa blew up his Achilles tendon at the conclusion of last year's MSU/NW game, he's since PersaStrong'ed his way back as the starter, but he's still playing as a percentage of what he was last year prior to injury. Filling in for him admirably this year has been Kain Colter. Colter leads Northwestern in Rushing on the season.  Last week Persa tossed up 216 yards and 2TD's to Minnesota who is all of a sudden not as bad as their record looks.

Obviously, they'll be playing against our pass defense, which is pretty damn solid. We'll get dinged on Wheel Routes, Drag Routes and TE Throwbacks whenever the pass rush doesn't get home in time. Denicos Allen will have a good day against the more mobile QBs as he usually does. I think a healthy Persa gives MSU fits, but a still ailing Persa will struggle against MSU's Pass D even with the things Northwestern does that make me nuts.

Advantage: MSU

MSU's Rushing Defense vs NW's Rushing Attack

Northwestern's rushing offense ranks 5th in the Big Ten thanks to the fact that when Colter is in the game they run a lot. Their Yards Per Carry has been 4.01 which is higher only than MSU and Indiana which is sad. MSU by comparison has been holding their opponents 80 yards below their season average in Big Ten play. Will 100 rushing yards be enough for Northwestern to win this game. Not very likely.


Advantage: MSU


MSU's Passing Attack vs NW's Passing Defense

Kirk Cousins stats against Northwestern in 2009 and 2010? 5 TD's, no picks, 68 percent passing completion and 612 yards. You know, Playstation numbers. Couple that with playing the Big Ten's 10th rated Passing Defense and well.

Cousins Uber Alles.


Advantage: MSU

MSU's Rushing Defense vs NW's Rushing Attack

Our run game has looked much healthier in recent weeks. The only team who has held Northwestern to under 24 points this year? Army. Army runs the triple option and had a Time of Possession of 40 minutes! in their game earlier this year. MSU will not control the clock for 40 minutes and this is the one area where NW has bested us.


Advantage: NW

Intangibles

MSU goes to the BTCG either way, this is an away game over thanksgiving weekend with virtually no consequence for losing for MSU and a Pizza Pizza bowl berth for NW if they lose. What does this spell? Trap game.

Advantage: NW

Overall

The Wildcats make me crazy because they're feisty. They're not always better than you, but they can get the better of you with their trickeration and majesty. This MSU squad is too talented and NW too tired. MSU wins this one and prepares for the winner of PSU-Wisconsin.

Go PSU!

MSU 34 NW 21

Indiana: The Takeaway

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?

Iowa: The Takeaway

Well another road game and another historical monkey off our backs. MSU walked away with their first Iowa victory at Kinnick since 1561. With that, I move to 0-4 at picking road games for this year. So we'll be losing at Northwestern(my official prediction!) in a couple of weeks. The thing that surprised me about this win was how comfortable it was. Yes, Iowa made a run in the second half, but it never closed within thirteen. A two possession game is pretty comfortable as far as I'm concerned.

So we have a couple of outstanding monkeys under Dantonio now and then I think we're good on monkey control. One, we need to win a bowl game. Two, we need to beat Nebraska at all as twitter follower MSUAlum2002 pointed out. The first is "more concerning" than the second, although, neither is worrisome yet.

How good was Kirk Cousins day yesterday? His passer rating was 160.5 and the only B10 game he had a higher one against was Wisconsin. It was his third best away game ever after 2010 Michigan and 2010 Penn State.

Why was our road offense so improved this week? Honestly, I saw plays I haven't seen this year yet. I saw several draw plays including Bell's 35 yard touchdown run. Also, I think the formation where the 3 WR lined up in a shallow diagonal to the right of the line and Cousins rolled right was new. Further, I think using Bell as the starter with Baker as the change of pace back worked perfectly. Bell got yardage early so Roushar didn't abandon the run too early and then the pressure was off Baker when he came into the game. I believe Michigan State is undefeated when LeVeon Bell gets 15 carries.

How did we hold Iowa's Offense down so well? Well, simply put, Vanderbeek isn't as good a Quarterback as he was in Varsity Blues, knowing full well a win put them in the catbird's seat to win the Rotel Division he opted for the simple life.



So MSU turned their attentions to stopping Iowa's run game and made Vanderbeek win the game on his arm. This was MSU's defensive gameplan against Iowa in 2009 and I assume that it was also the plan in 2010, but we'll never know. I figured Coker would not be tossing up 150 and 2TD's on us as he has been want to do the past four weeks, but I did not anticipate him being held to 57 yards on 21 carries. So when the fourth quarter came and Vanderbeek was playing from behind he started making bad reads and crappy throws.

Why were Iowa fans booing our injured players?

Because they're a bunch of whiners.



Seriously though, I'm not going back to rewatch the game to count up this number, but there were a lot of injuries that magically were fixable in 2-3 plays. At this point there might be a hint of truth to the injury fairy, because this happened at Nebraska too. More likely is that it's November and this defense is tired and dinged up. Genuinely hurt without a doubt yesterday though were Gholston and Dennard, hope they heal up soon.

Is this becoming a rivalry game?

Would you go with a double reverse pass off a reverse (thanks to @Baylan295 for finding that error) Keshawn Martin pass up 31-7 on someone you liked? What about faking a field goal three plays later? What about having Marvin McNutt throw a pass to Iowa's drug lord DJK in 2010 in the fourth quarter up 37-6? Make no mistake about it, there is bad blood brewing between Iowa and MSU. That plus all of the new offensive business from Roushar leads me to believe this was the second most important regular season game to this staff to win. BTW Pop Psychology thought, Iowa doesn't creep back in if we don't run the trickeration.

Bowl Outlook: I don't think we fall any farther than Cap One Bowl now. If we win out, we play for the Big Ten title in Indy and if we lose that game we're likely Cap One Bowl Bound. Our likely Big Ten Title game opponent? Wisconsin.

Spartans, this is about as good as it gets. Enjoy.

Minnesota Recap

There's going to be a lot of handwringing about yesterday's game and typically I'm as handwringy as anyone else. Not on this blog today though. The Minnesota team that showed up in East Lansing yesterday would be a 5-3 or 6-2 team. Do not feel bad about winning. We won. An ugly win kicks the crap out of a moral victory and actual loss. Gnash your teeth if you must, it was ugly and not a lot of fun, but a win is a win. We're 7-2. No use in whining about that.

The Defense had a bad day. So what? How many times have they saved the Offense's backside this season? They're entitled to a bad day as much as anyone on that team. However, to say that Minnesota's success was only because our defense played poorly is simply not true. Go back and watch in the fourth quarter, I can't remember if it was the last drive or the second to last drive, but Gray completed a 3rd and 22. That throw was perfect. If he throws it shorter, our guys tackle him before the receiver gets to the sticks, if he throws it longer or more to the left or right, the safety(Drummond I think) has time to get to the receiver before the ball gets there. That's the hole in that scheme and Gray found it, good on him.

I wrote up in the Game Preview that Cousins would have an absurdly efficient Cousins day, and he did. No Sad Panda there. Bell ran well. No Sad Panda there either.

I don't know what the hell is going on with Baker and the butterfingers, but he's in danger of continuing to see diminishing playing time in a season where he stated the goal of 2000 yards. Somewhere in the being of Edwin Baker I believe there is an NFL talented running back, what that piece of him has gone, I'm not sure.

You know who else had a bad day? The fans. They were late to the game, quiet as a library throughout and did not get engaged when we were losing to a 2-6 Minnesota team. The fans are entitled to an off day too, but it reminded me of the CMU 2009 game real hard.

Finally, the continued grumbling of Roushar continues. If you want to point at our crappy road production on Offense, fine. We got 31 yesterday, that should always be enough to win a football game. If it isn't, it's not because we didn't score enough points. The man has committed some errors this year, but this was not one of them.

Finally for real this time you guys, ok? MSU will lose to Iowa next weekend if it plays like that again. So while we should not be sad about how yesterday went, it hopefully will serve as a warning to prevent the same sort of flat play next weekend. Now that we're back in the driver's seat in our division(Squee!) this game becomes even more important.

Mark Dantonio improves to 10-3 in November.(Squee!)

Here's Your Shield: Ezra Robinson

MSU received it's 16th commitment on Thursday from Sarasota Florida's Ezra Robinson. Robinson was recruited as a Defensive Back and select MSU over a host of Big Ten and ACC schools including Boston College, North Carolina and Wake Forest. Robinson is ranked a 3 star prospect and #51 CB in the nation according to rivals.com. Scout disagrees slightly, listing him also as a 3 star prospect, but 103rd in the nation.

Here's an interview with him from his sophomore year.



He hit that 10 foot broad jump.

The Takeaway: Robinson is a corner recruited by Dantonio who as a former Defensive Backs coach obviously has an eye for the position. The lack of an offer from any Georgian, Floridian or South Carolinan school would have me a mite skittish if it weren't for Dantonio's aforementioned reputation for making good cornerbacks.

Athleticism won't be an issue for Robinson. With a 31 inch vertical and over 10 feet in the broad jump. He has the leaping ability to play the position. Still not convinced? He's the Sarasota County record holder of the triple jump with a 44' 4" jump and an 11.46 in the 100 Meter Dash at the County Championship meet. The 100 meter dash time is not stellar, but given Robinson's destruction of all events jumping I think explosiveness is a strength for this young man.

Robinson's commitment likely closes out our Cornerback recruiting for 2012. It looks like MSU would take one of Demetrious Cox or Jordan Diggs, both highly sought after recruits for the Safety position. Both are A-List DB prospects, but if neither wants to come to MSU I suspect we're done in the Secondary for this year.

Welcome Ezra Robinson.

Gah! There was a bunch of stuff wrong on this write-up. He apparently did have offers from Clemson, GT and South Florida. I only found these things after reading What Is Your Profession? so go check out their write-up which is fairly similar, except more accurate.

Game Preview: Minnesota

Somewhere in a Luxury Suite, December 2006...

Joel Maturi, Minnesota's Athletic Director is passed out triumphantly as the Minnesota Golden Gophers have dispatched the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2006 Insight Bowl. Empty highball glasses lay strewn across the floor after Maturi's "Captain and Coke" party ironically toasting Mike Leach as the Pirate Captain of College Football. The first few bars of Auld Lang Syne play as the ball has just dropped into 2007. Glen Mason goes to wake Joel gently. He strokes his hair delicately and then begin to stir him with increasing vigor as Maturi dreams of clowns and crappy bowl victories.

Mason: Joel, Joel, wake up. Wake up Joel.

Maturi: What's wrong Glen, did you poop the rug again?

Mason: No Joel, worse than that. We lost.

Maturi reaches for a bit of Hair Of the Dog. Finding nothing, he stumbles over to the bar and finds it empty. He longingly eyes a bit of Window Cleaner, but decides against it. Mason looks at the carpet for answers, he knows he did a bad. Maturi puts his hand to his face and wipes away a tear as he grabs a Bud Light Lime.

Maturi: Glen, this isn't easy for me to say, but I have to. You're fired.

Mason: But I took them to overtime, it's the damned Leach, he went all Davey Jones and shit on me. He just took me to the shed in the fourth quarter and beat my head in and shit.

Maturi: Glen, there's something you've failed to wrap your special little mind around while you were here. We were national title winners in 1960. Murray Warmath was able to fuse farm boys, snow, snot and some gumption into a National Championship team. You had Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber playing football for you AT THE SAME TIME for two years and only managed to get to the damned Sun Bowl.

Mason: But, Joel, there are no players, Iowa locked Iowa, Wisconsin locked down Wisconsin. In the Dakotas there are only a football team's worth of players spread across both states...

Maturi hurtles his half-full bottle of beer at Mason and Mason quietly leaves the room. Maturi weeps gently and sadly.

PS Glen Mason goes out and calls Mark Dantonio about Greg Jones and Greg Jones comes to play at MSU.Thank You Joel Maturi!

Fast forward a few weeks...

Maturi: So why should we select you over the next candidate, Mr. Brewster?

Brewster: Well as the Tight Ends coach of the Denver Broncos for the past two years and a lifelong Tight Ends coach, I know a lot about two things; Tight Ends and Winning. The winning part comes from my senior year in 1983 when we played Rick Neuheisel in the Rose Bowl after going 10-1.

Maturi: How did you do in that Rose Bowl?

Brewster: Well, we managed to pull out the loss 45-9. Great story though, we started partying with some girls and one of them had some sick moves during Come On Eileen. Bet you can't guess what her name was?

Maturi: *looks away wistfully* Tim, you don't have any head coaching experience. You also haven't coached in college in almost seven years, you're honestly not really qualified for the position. How could I justify hiring you to the group?

Brewster: Well, I'll put the BREW back into Winning Minnesota Football.

Maturi: Alright buddy. Let's do this.

Fast forward again to the end of the 2010 season...

Brewster gets fired because he's an underqualified chump. It's not his fault, it'd be like asking my three year old to coach a football team. She's reasonably knowledgable, she knows a pass when she sees one as well as a run. She knows that your team's quarterback throwing to the other guys is a bad thing. Occupation of an endzone by your offense is a good thing too. But a head coach, she is not.

Minnesota comes in with a 2-6 record and right up until Saturday was in the running for the worst team in the Big Ten. A fluke-y victory over Iowa prevented them from being the Golden O-fers in the Big Ten. The reason Minnesota is 2-6 is because of two extremely poor choices by Joel Maturi.

First, was firing Glen Mason without having a proven or capable asset on the short list or even backburner. Mason went 7-5 and made a bowl game every damn year in a state landlocked by Iowa, Wisconsin and the Dakotas. That's not too bad for a state where the only thing going for it is Minneapolis and Lake Woebegone. While I agree Minnesota was not going to compete for Big Ten titles under Mason, 7-5 and a bowl game. Discontented fans of Iowa take note of this paragraph.

Second, hiring Tim Brewster was an absolutely terrible decision. He had no experience to run a football team. Coaching TE's is coaching like 8 dudes and he was doing it on the professional level at that. The chasm between coaching 8 dudes and managing 8 coaches who coach 105 dudes is exactly that, a chasm. He was not prepared for the job.

So now Jerry Kill comes to East Lansing as a Championship Coach in the MAC, which is fortunate for him because he inherited a MAC team. This year and probably neither next year will be an indictment on Kill because Minnesota was such a trainwreck how anyone could hope to extract anything from this is beyond me. Godspeed Jerry Kill, I'm pretty sure there are presidents of third-world countries that have easier rebuilding jobs than you do in front of you.

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Minny Passing Attack vs MSU Pass Defense

The nation's 107th best passing offense takes on the nation's number 1 passing defense.

Advantage: MSU

Minny Rushing Attack vs MSU Rush Defense

Running the ball is the single thing Minny does better than MSU. Which makes me sad. Still they're marching right into our rushing defense. So, good luck with that.

Advantage: MSU

MSU Passing Attack vs Minny Pass Defense

Cousins reverts to form here putting up like 17 of 22 for 210 and a TD. Minny's Passing Defense ranked 68th isn't a complete farce, but our running game will make all of his throws easy.

Advantage: MSU

MSU Rushing Attack vs Minny Rush Defense

Ok, here's the insight, we're going to run Saturday. A lot. A lot a lot. LeVeon Bell will have a career type day. We're going to pound, green, pound. I hope you like running, because there's gonna be lots.

Hey, we're also going to run a lot.

Advantage: MSU

Overall, we're going to run and run and run on Saturday. Minnesota's 102nd ranked run defense is a great way to get over our running constipation. That said, I think the spread is like 28 on Saturday and honestly, I could see us not covering. The thing that will serve us best going forward this season is to know we can run the ball.

Pound Green Pound

MSU 31 Minnesota 3

November: When MSU Feasts on It's Opposition

The weather in East Lansing today is beautiful for November 2nd. It's 65 degrees with a nice breeze. With the Golden Gophers (previously known as the Golden O-fers) on their way to town and a beautiful Saturday on tap it's time to think of what lies ahead of the team for this upcoming month.

Currently, the Spartans are sitting well at 6-2, having run through an October gauntlet that included three straight weeks of top 15 opposition. The schedule for this month is far more forgiving with Minny and Indiana at home, Iowa and Northwestern away this month's schedule looks significantly easier. Why do I bring up a schedule of which you are all aware?

Two of our opponents, Minnesota and Indiana, are trainwrecks and we have them at home. Look for us to re-establish our running game against them. Northwestern has the friendliest fanbase of any opposing stadium in the Big Ten, because you'll be joined by all MSU fans. Then, there's Iowa. Kirk Ferentz seems to have Mark Dantonio's number, compiling a 4-1 record against him in the series including soul-crushing losses in 2009 and 2010. Their November schedule includes UM, MSU and Nebraska at home and away at Purdue. MSU hasn't won in Iowa City since 1989, etc. Frankly, this game scares me, history is on their side, they play the Cover 2 just like Nebraska.

Still, if Denard Robinson is Mr. September, Mark Dantonio is Mr. November. Dantonio has compiled a 9-3 record in November since coming to Michigan State, good for a .750 winning percentage. His career winning percentage at MSU is .650 percent. Prior to last year MSU hadn't won at Happy Valley since 1965 back when JoePa had been coaching the team for only about 45 years or so. Mark Dantonio can flat out win when the northern winds are blowing.

There are many interesting bowl scenarios that could play out this month. MSU currently sits 4th in the Big Ten in the BCS rankings and 17th overall. Spots 15 and 16 are currently occupied by Michigan and Penn State. It's unlikely Penn State makes it through the rest of the season without a loss, how they've made it this far is frankly staggering. If Nebraska wins out Michigan falls below us. If Michigan State wins out and so does Nebraska, it is difficult to see Michigan State not making a BCS at-large game. If Nebraska stumbles and MSU wins out, they will play in the Big Ten title game. Either way win out and great things will happen.

So why am I excited? Our defense is astoundingly good. Mark Dantonio is a proven winner in November and should Michigan State win out the odds of them being the second-highest BCS rated Big Ten team or HIGHER are fantastic. This is Mark Dantonio's time of year, this is when he feasts on the opposition. All I know is I'm excited to watch.