My "live blog" from the Purdue game

Tony Lippett catches a long pass from Cook for the TD. Good way to start the game. Perhaps deflate Purdue slightly and dampen the crowd's enthusiasm.

 

Lippett has far exceded what I ever expected as a receiver.

 

Purdue has apparently changed its colors to black and highlighter yellow.

This is NOT the same Purdue team that I saw get dismantled by CMU last month. Austin Appleby is impressive at quarterback and a big step-up from Danny Etling

 

The announcing crew is terrible, so I'm watching most of this game with the sound down.

 

Purdue has no answer for Lippett. 4 catches for 95 yards in the first quarter.

Defense getting shredded, which is shocking. Getting killed by those bubble screens.  Not a good second quarter. All of Purdue's misdirection plays also seem to have the Spartans off balance, and this quarterback has been ridiculously accurate.

 

MSU needs to put the clamps down in the second half and Narduzzi needs to make adjustments. It'd be big to get Purdue's offense off the field on its first possession.

 

Defense did play better in second half. More pressure on Appleby.

 

Game went topsy turvy after the Cook interception. If MSU scores at least a fg, game over. Or probably over.

 

I still do not understand the fake punt call. Why when you are deep in your own side of the field with 14 point lead?

Glancing back at Nebraska, and looking ahead to Purdue

Today the Spartans are in West Lafayette to take on Purdue. I'm happy that today's game starts at a more reasonable time of 3:30.
 

I watched a replay of the Nebraska game, and it's stunning to see how the game unraveled in the 4th quarter, but it had as much--if not more--to do with bad luck as uninspired or mistake-prone play. Kurtis Drummond had a near pick six that would have put MSU by at least a 33-9 score, but instead he whiffed and the ball ended up in the hands of the Huskers' Jordan Westerkamp, and he ran the ball deep into MSU territory. This resulted in a Cornhusker TD to make the score 27-16. Then came Mike Sadler's line drive punt that was run back for a touchdown and closed the gap to 27-22. Sadler should have put more air under the ball or kicked out of bounds. Maybe this is easier said than done in some circumstances. And then, of course, came Jeremy Langford running out of bounds when Nebraska had no timeouts left. Another mental miscue.
 

At least when MSU needed them most, the Spartans were able to make the most important plays to preserve the win: blowing up the Huskers' two-point conversion try (to keep the margin at 5 instead of 3) and, of course, Trae Waynes' game-ending interception.
 

Despite the bizarre fourth quarter, Michigan State dominated Nebraska. If the team that pushed Nebraska around for 3 1/2 quarters shows up at Purdue today, this game could be a 35-40 point blowout. But what concerns me is THAT team has yet to play for a full 60 minutes. Maybe they can get away with that against a weak opponent like Purdue, but I hope the Nebraska game was a wake up call.
 

Purdue has played better of late, but I don't see them hanging with MSU. Call this a workmanlike 38-10 win for the Green and White.

An apology to the early-leaving students--It's not your fault.

I've softened my view a little regarding empty seats at Spartan Stadium, and empty seats in college football in general.

In my last post, I came down pretty hard on the students. However, as has already been mentioned by others, it was a perfect storm of events that caused the mass exodus of students in the latter stages of the MSU/Nebraska game.

First of all, it was a night game, with a late start time of 8:15. The weather was wet and rainy, the game took a ridiculously long time to play with all the TV timeouts, and by the end of the third quarter, it appeared for all the world that MSU would win in a blowout. And, as I remember from my own days as a college student, those kids were not dressed properly for wet and cold weather.

Just as a Rod Serling-esque litany of bizarre plays allowed Nebraska to almost win the game, so too was the case (bad weather, late start, interminable game, lopsided score) in almost completely emptying the student section in the latter stages of the game.

This gets to the whole problem of night games--in the north--later than September. It's always a dicey proposition and frankly I'm against it. These games are scheduled with television, and only television, in mind. The needs and wants of the spectators are not considered.

So MSU students, this old fogey offers you a sincere apology.

Thank you, Trae Waynes

Through the first three quarters of last night's game, the Spartans looked like a well-oiled, humming machine of domination.

 

But as we all know, it wouldn't be a proper Michigan State game without some craziness tossed in the mix.

 

The fans, apparently thinking the game was won and tiring of the chilly rain, left early and so did MSU's home field advantage. Meanwhile, in a bizarre script so improbable that not even Rod Serling could have dreamt it up, the Nebraska Cornhuskers cut a 27-3 deficit to 27-22. The Huskers' bid for a miracle win, and a Spartan collapse that would make even John L. Smith blush, was thankfully ended by a Trae Waynes interception.

 

One thing that's clear about this MSU football team: they are supremely talented and capable of utter domination. But maddeningly, they don't yet seem capable of doing it for 60 minutes. This is not due to lack of ability but because, as of now, they haven't developed the killer instinct that made last year's team so great. This may go back to the leadership issues discussed in the previous blog post.

 

For MSU to achieve all they are capable of--and they have the potential to be one of the most lethal teams in college football--the Spartans need to learn from this near-debacle and play a full 60 minutes from now on.

 

And one last word about the fans, in particular the students. I've been one their staunchest defenders, but I am extremely disappointed that so many of them left the game at the end of the third quarter. Yes, I realize the weather was chilly and drizzly, but frankly it didn't appear any worse than last year's Michigan game played in almost identical conditions. If we want a top-notch program at Michigan State, our fans and students need to support the team through the ENTIRE game, not just when it's convenient. To the fans who stayed, I applaud you; to the ones who left, unless you were becoming ill or had extenuating circumstances, I'm disappointed that you bailed on the Spartans. The lack of support was one of the factors than nearly cost them Saturday's game.