The post-Oregon blog post

I think I've finally reached the point, perhaps for the first time in my life as a Michigan State football fan, that I now expect the Spartans to find a way to win big games. As much of a tense nail-biter as last night's 31-28 win over Oregon was--and who really expected it to be anything otherwise?--I didn't panic. Oh, sure, I thought for a few minutes that I might not be able to watch the pivotal 4th down play that determined the outcome of the game--but never did I expect the other shoe to fall, as I pretty much have since I started seriously following MSU football in 1977.  I wasn't stomping my feet, I wasn't cursing. I honestly thought that somehow, some way, the Spartans would find a way to win the game...and they did.

My knee-jerk, off-the-cuff reaction to the game was that it was far from a perfect game for the Spartans, yet they still beat the #7 team in the country. Yes, they gave up a lot of yards to Oregon's "basketball on turf" brand of football, but the Spartan defense made big plays when they had to (goal line stand in the first half, huge 3rd down sack late in the 4th quarter followed by the aforementioned 4th down incomplete pass) so most of the Ducks' yards were empty yards. About three quarters of Oregon's yards were through the air. The MSU defense wasn't allowing much of anything on the ground, so Oregon was forced to throw the ball a lot--and I'd much rather have it that way than the other way.

 So, as I write this on Sunday afternoon, I just discovered that the Spartans have risen to #4 in the rankings. Provided that MSU can remain focused and win all their remaining games until November, we will be looking at a monumental showdown in Columbus between the Spartans and the Buckeyes.

I watched most of ESPN GameDay yesterday. They were in East Lansing. I was extremely disappointed in GameDay. As far as I could tell (having not seen the entire show) there was exactly one feature about Michigan State, a brief live interview with Mark Dantonio. However, we were treated to the most sycophantic, fawning, and utterly nauseating feature about Jim Harbaugh that I have yet witnessed. It was so over-the-top that I swear the University of Michigan paid ESPN to run it. It had all the look of a commercial for Michigan football. As if MSU needed any more ammunition for the October 17 game against Saint Jimmy and the Wolverines, this could provide even a little more.