Hate to say it, but Michigan is the team to beat for the Big Ten title

Michigan absolutely demolished Northwestern last night. Now granted, Drew Crawford is out for the season, but even with him, I don't think the Wildcats come within 15 of Michigan.

I know this is ostensibly an MSU-related blog, but I have to say that Michigan is really, really good in basketball this year, with a lethal perimeter game AND guys who can get it done in the paint. Barring injuries, I don't see anyone seriously challenging Michigan for the Big Ten title this year. Hate me all you want, fellow MSU fans, but sometimes the truth hurts.

Bowl game mania

I'm watching the Northwestern/Mississippi State game. This is one game where I wouldn't be surprised to see the Big Ten win. I also have a feeling Wisconsin will give Stanford all they can handle, and don't count Michigan out against South Carolina. (You can probably guess who I'm rooting for in that game, however).
I will try and make periodic updates to this post throughout the day.
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Northwestern has a 13-0 lead over Mississippi State. Go 'Cats!
Purdue, unsurprisingly, is down by two touchdowns to Oklahoma State. This game had mismatch written all over it.
More later...
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Flipping channels between NW game and Michigan. Drinking a Yeungling.
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A few observations we (me and my sister-in-law's husband--can I call him my "brother-in-law"? I'm not sure about the rules regarding this) have had while watching the bowl games today: why do college football teams need to train with Navy Seals? Isn't that overkill? Do the Navy Seals do it pro bono, or do they receive payment? How do they find the time to train a college football team?
If college basketball is like jazz or hip-hop, then college football is like '70s prog rock: bloated and self-important. Do college football coaches really need state troopers to accompany them? I've never seen Tom Izzo or any other college coach guarded courtside by state troopers.
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The Outback Bowl just ended. What an exciting game. I greatly enjoyed watching the Wolverines' hearts ripped from their chests and the looks of disbelief on the faces of their fans.
Congratulations to the Northwestern Wildcats on their first bowl win since 1949.
Now the Rose Bowl is about to start.
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More later... (I'm sure you're all dying for more of my razor-sharp observations).

Happy New Year

This is an experiment: I am posting from my Droid Razr. On the final day of 2012, I am finally technologically advanced enough to be able to do this.
Full disclosure: I only saw about one minute of today's Minnesota basketball game. I was trying to get the house ready for company tonight and knew full well the game would be a distraction, so I periodically checked the score on my Droid. (No, Motorola is NOT paying me for product placement, but they should).
As I posted elsewhere, there's no reason to freak out about this MSU liss to Minnesota. The Gophers are a good team and beating them in the old barn on New Years Eve was a tall order for any team. Road wins will be especially hard to come by in the Big Ten this season, just ask Indiana who barely beat Iowa this afternoon.
I won't let the hoops loss get me down. I plan on having some adult beverages tonight among friends and enjoying the new year. I hope all of you do the same...and BE SAFE.

A perfectly fitting, but perfectly happy end to the football season (Michigan State 17, TCU 16)

It was at various turns ugly, comical, inept, inspired, exciting, and electrifying. In short, last night's Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl was like the entire MSU football season in microcosm. But unlike most of the Spartans' regular season, the bowl game ended happily.

I have to admit I wasn't too terribly excited about last night's bowl. But in that, I don't think my feelings were unlike those of most MSU fans. Still, by the time 10:15 rolled around last night, I was ready for some MSU football. It felt good to see those guys I hadn't seen since the last weekend of November.

Of course, I was about to change my mind by halftime. The first half of the BWW Bowl was, to be charitable, not MSU football's finest hour. However, I decided not to bail on the team. I don't know exactly why. Maybe it was because I thought there was no possible way the Spartans could play worse than they had in the first two quarters. As it turned out, I was correct.

It was refreshing to finally see the breaks go MSU's way, as they did in the second half. None was bigger than TCU's muffed punt that gave the Spartans the ball at the Horned Frogs' five-yard line, with the Spartans scoring a touchdown two plays later and seizing the momentum. MSU's defense completely shut down TCU's offense and TCU's defense received a big dose of Le'Veon Bell (who most likely played his final game in an MSU uniform).

The bad Spartan fan in me, conditioned by the bad fortune the football team endured all season, kept expecting that somehow TCU would manage to win and deliver another heartbreaking blow to the Spartans. But that never happened. MSU made the plays and caught the breaks. Dan Conroy made arguably the best kick of his career to give the Spartans the 17-16 lead, and the defense stopped TCU in the final minute of the game. Victory for MSU.

Perhaps the most intriguing development of the evening was the benching of Andrew Maxwell in favor of Connor Cook. Cook, though he wasn't perfect, brought a definite spark and swagger to MSU's offense and made some big passes in the Spartans' final drive for the game-winning field goal. The 2013 quarterback competition will be interesting.

At 2:00 AM last night, I was a happy guy. Don't tell me that the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl wasn't important, because I was about as excited as I've been following an MSU victory of any kind. After what this team has been through, they deserved last night's win. Despite the ugliness of the win, and MSU's performance through most of it, I am optimistic (albeit guardedly optimistic) about the 2013 team.