Michigan State 42, Indiana 29: post-game thoughts

Just finished watching the Spartans wear down the Hoosiers and get out of Bloomington with a win. Not pretty by any stretch, but I'll take it. Very nice to start off the Big Ten season at 1-0. MSU's next opponent is Iowa on Homecoming in East Lansing. The Hawkeyes lost at home to Northwestern, so next week's game for the Spartans is definitely winnable. (Having said that, Northwestern looks like they will be a tough team to contend with this year. They are still undefeated. With the parity in college football, which became particularly evident this weekend, that's saying something regardless of the competition the Wildcats have faced).
 

Back to MSU/Indiana: First of all, I could not believe the number of empty seats at Memorial Stadium. Is Indiana that indifferent towards football? (The answer must be a resounding "yes." I suppose the Hoosier faithful are too busy counting down the days until basketball season). If I didn't have responsibilities at home (or have to take my son to his soccer game this morning) I'd have hopped in the car bright and early, driven down to Bloomington, and bought a ticket at the stadium. (These are the kinds of things I wish I'd done when I was young and single with virtually no responsibilities and lots of time on my hands).
 

As far as the actual game goes, it was way more of a nail-biter than I'd have liked. Years of following Spartan football have made me uncomfortable with any lead that is less than two touchdowns. I thought Indiana hung in there pretty well, but dropped passes, too many penalties, and a little too much Javon Ringer was just enough to keep them from making this a closer ball game.
 

Some random thoughts:
 

Extremely rough game for Otis Wiley, but he redeemed himself somewhat by falling on that fumble.
 

Another good game for Ringer, but I sure wish the play calling was a bit more imaginative. I worry about what will happen when State plays better competition.
 

Our backup tailbacks have got to get more touches. Ringer is not going to be able to carry the load the entire season.

 

 

That's all I have for now. Gotta catch some of that Michigan/Wisconsin game now.

Michigan State 23, Notre Dame 7: post-game thoughts

As I write this post, I am relishing my "victory beer," a very smooth Indian Pale Ale from the Michigan Brewing Company. It's tasting pretty darned good right now.

Nice, solid win for the Spartans today. I knew that Dantonio would have the boys ready today, and MSU as a team was about as good as I have seen them in quite some time. I felt that for any Heisman talk regarding Javon Ringer to be truly justified, he'd have to bring it against big-name competition. Yes, I know Notre Dame is not a great team, but they have improved from last year and they are still NOTRE DAME. That name is nationally recognized and if you can light them up, you can guarantee that the national pundits will take a shine to you.

Having said that, the long Big Ten season is still in front of us, and the test for the Spartans will be if they can stay healthy enough to finish with a winning record. I am still maintaining relatively low expectations until proven otherwise.

I know that many of the MSU sports chat rooms and blogs will rip Brian Hoyer from here to Grand Rapids for this performance today, but he really was not that bad. Sure, he wasn't great, but he didn't make any mistakes that hurt the team. In fairness to Hoyer, there were some dropped passes that should have been caught. I was happy that when he didn't have an open receiver, he threw the ball away. Jimmy Clausen, who has a great arm and will be a solid quarterback for the Irish, made some mistakes that really hurt his team (particularly the throw into double coverage that Otis Wiley picked off in the end zone). The bottom line with Hoyer is that he's what you'd call a solid "program player," a little like former Spartan quarterbacks Bill Burke and Dan Enos. Some people expect him to be Tim Tebow, and that's just not going to happen. I still believe that Hoyer can have a solid year (have I used the word "solid" too much?). Let's not forget that, although he did have a bad game against Boston College in last year's Champs Sports Bowl, he did play a brilliant second half in last year's comeback win against Penn State.

After giving love to Hoyer, I have to admit that if anything bad happens to Ringer, MSU's football season is in serious jeopardy.

During the game, I was thinking that this may have been the best performance by an MSU defense since the Nick Saban era. Otis Wiley is a stud (and if he continues to play as well as he has--will be a high NFL draft pick) , Adam Decker is one tough hombre at linebacker (although does seem to be a bit of a hothead--he needs to temper some of that aggression), and Greg Jones will be playing on Sundays. Fortener had one of the game's most important plays breaking up a sure touchdown pass late in the game.

Overall, a good, tough, hard-hitting game (as would be expected in this rivalry) and a great win for the Spartans. I continue to be impressed with the way Dantonio consistently has this team ready to play, ever since his first game on the job. Bring on Indiana!

What, another football post?

I am still awake when I should be sleeping, but hey, it's Friday night (actually Saturday morning) and I don't feel like going to bed.

Now, let me gab for awhile about an important issue: college football. Later today, at 3:30 PM, Michigan State and Notre Dame will kickoff at Spartan Stadium. I have never seen as much confidence in a Spartan blowout as I have seen on various MSU sports chat rooms and blogs. Why so much confidence? How long have these people been State fans, I wonder? Yes, it's true that Notre Dame struggled against a weak San Diego State team and Michigan virtually gift wrapped last week's Irish victory (and, at least for now, Michigan is not a good team) but what exactly has Michigan State done? The Spartans lost to a decent, but not great, Cal team on the road, manhandled the predictably woeful Eastern Michigan Eagles, and then escaped the drizzly, rainy slopfest last week against Florida Atlantic. The bottom line is that it's way too early to judge how good any of these teams are, MSU and Notre Dame included. Add to that my reluctance to predict a Michigan State drubbing of the Irish based on my 30+ years of getting my hopes and dreams dashed by the Spartans. I've just gotten too cynical and pessimistic to get the least bit cocky about any Michigan State football game.

We will get a much clearer picture of how good Michigan State and Notre Dame are after today's game. I know that isn't a particularly original statement, but it's true. My hope is that Mark Dantonio's toughminded approach will have the Spartans ready to play, and hopefully come away with a solid victory. So far, I like what I've seen of Dantonio as a coach. He consistently has had MSU ready to play every game since he took over the job, that's a hell of a lot more than I can say for his immediate predecessors, John L. Smith and Bobby Williams.

I'm not a Michigan fan, but as one who has lived in this state his entire life I can't help but to have followed U of M football to a certain extent. Michigan football is pretty much ubiquitous around these parts--you can't really avoid it even if you try. Reports of Michigan's football demise seem a little premature to me--I'll believe it when I see it. It seems to me that Rich Rodriguez's new offensive schemes will make more sense to their players as the season goes on, and their offense will improve. (It is certainly strange to see Michigan running a spread offense, though. To me, Michigan is all about the power running game with the occasional long bomb to one of their long line of great receivers: Anthony Carter, Desmond Howard, Amani Toomer, Braylon Edwards, Steve Breaston, etc. I also recall Bo Schembechler running the option on virtually every play back in the late '70s. I have wondered about why a team that gets such a bumper crop of 5-star recruits year after year needs to implement a spread offense. I generally associate that type of offense with teams that need to use trickery to compete with the big boys, like Purdue, Northwestern and Michigan State in the John L. era. Am I off-base here?).

Here's another thing I don't understand. If Michigan gets a top-5 national recruiting class every year and is allegedly stocked with great athletes, why have I heard endless whining about RichRod not having the right players to run his system? This is Michigan football, folks! The winged-helmet, the Big House, and Hail to the Victors! Shouldn't the Wolverines have a stable of blue-chippers to run the spread? A veritable cornucopia of gridiron studs to run the new scheme like a fine-oiled machine? Not to drag MSU into this, but I don't recall John L. Smith saying he didn't have the right players to run the spread back in his first year at MSU. Yes, it is true that John L. inherited a senior quarterback in 2003, but it's not as if Jeff Smoker was the ideal spread quarterback. Still, John L. had his most successful year in '03: 8-5 record and Big Ten Coach of the Year. (Wow, I actually wrote something nice about John L. Smith!).

I don't profess to be a football expert, although I am a big fan of the game. If anyone thinks I'm off-base with these opinions and wishes to set me straight, please comment.

I know that no living humans are reading this blog, so for my pretend make-believe readers out there who are depairing of all the football talk, I assure you that I will at some point write extensively and intelligently about subjects other than football.

Michigan State defeats Florida Atlantic

Michigan State knocked off Florida Atlantic in a virtual monsoon at Spartan Stadium on Saturday. I still don't think we know anything about this Spartan team until they take on Notre Dame this coming Saturday. I will continue to maintain low expectations for this year unless proven otherwise.

Football season begins...Amen! (plus my own saga of the last 30-plus years of Michigan State football)

The waiting is over... no more suffering through a disappointing Detroit Tigers baseball season. I can officially put baseball on the back burner and say "hallelujah!" to the beginning of football season (in particular, college football). It was a sunny and unseasonably warm day in mid-Michigan (and also the day of my oldest son's birthday party), so I wasn't able to plop in front of the tube and take in the full glory of College Football 2008-Day One, but I did see enough to be quite satisfied. I caught a tiny bit of the Ohio State/Youngstown State game (the Columbus, Ohio version of "Christians being fed to the lions"), then once my son's birthday party had ended (which, by the way, was lots of fun and way more important than football--seriously!), I watched the bulk of the Michigan/Utah game. I must admit to being overjoyed at the Wolverines' demise. (I had the game on in the background while putting together a Lego "medieval catapult" for my son).

I was a little disappointed that my Michigan State Spartans couldn't get over the top against Cal, but I was happy that they at least hung with the Bears and didn't fold up the tent (which is precisely what most past MSU teams would have done in similar circumstances). I like the attitude that this team has under Mark Dantonio (the guys have no quit in them) and the future seems bright for Spartan football. I feel I need to temper my enthusiasm for MSU football's future because I've been burned so many times in the past. I've been following Spartan football since 1977, and it has been essentially one disappointment after another (with enough sporadically exciting moments mixed in to keep me going for another season).

Here is a brief summary of my up-and-down life as a Spartan football fan: 3rd place Big Ten finish in '77 (I attended my first-ever MSU football game that year, a 44-3 massacre of Northwestern) and Big Ten title in '78 (but no Rose Bowl because of NCAA probation)--then coach Darryl Rogers splits town after '79 season. Thus began the Dark Ages of the Muddy Waters era (no, not the bluesman Muddy Waters--this was Frank "Muddy" Waters). Muddy was a good man--a true Spartan who cared about the school and his players--he was just out of his element as a Big Ten head coach (and maybe a little past his prime).

George Perles arrives in December 1982 and brings promise. Indeed, he leads the Spartans to the Big Ten title in 1987 and a victory in the 1988 Rose Bowl. Three years later, in 1990, MSU tied for another Big Ten title. Little did I know at the time, but as an MSU student during this period (1986-1991), I was witnessing the most successful stretch of Spartan football since the Duffy Daugherty era of the mid-sixties. Unfortunately, after 1990, it was all downhill for Perles (once he'd attained dual role as athletic director/football coach, the football program was neglected and eventually punished for NCAA infractions).

Enter Nick Saban (or as some refer to him, Nick Satan): four up-and-down mediocre years (no doubt hindered by scholarship cuts due to NCAA probation) followed by a 10-2 record in '99 (and second-place Big Ten finish). Just as it appears that MSU has turned the corner and found its saviour, Saban bails for LSU. The Spartan Nation is devastated (not to mention mad as hell). Bobby Williams is appointed interim coach and leads Spartans to an emotional Citrus Bowl victory over Florida. In a knee-jerk, "let's circle the wagons" moment, MSU hires Bobby Williams as head coach. At the time, it was a great story: players gather en masse at President McPherson's house and plead with him to hire Williams, and the president does so. (Here is my unsolicited advice for university presidents: don't allow your football players to influence your head coaching hires). Like Muddy, Bobby Williams was (and I'm sure still is) a good man. My understanding is that he played "good cop" to Nick Saban's "bad cop," and I truly believe he cared deeply about his players--I just don't think he was ready to be head coach at the Big Ten level. Midway through a truly abysmal 2002 season (on and off the field), Bobby Williams is let go.

Once again, a new coach heads into town with loads of optimism. For a while, John L. Smith reminds me of the rootin' tootin' gunslinging cowboy that was Darryl Rogers 25 years earlier. After the terrible 4-8 finish of '02 (and all its attendant off-the-field problems) the Spartans bounce back for a solid 8-5 season. John L. Smith is named Big Ten Coach of the Year. Unfortunately, that's as good as it gets under John L. Three straight mediocre finishes (and an inability to beat Michigan, Ohio State, plus an absolutely devastating collapse against Notre Dame in 2006) and John L. is run out of town.

Now Mark Dantonio has arrived and brought some renewed optimism. With the changing of the guard down in Ann Arbor, Coach D has managed to land a national top 10 recruiting class for 2009 (and has re-established the all-important ties to the Detroit area). Will this lead to a consistently competitive program in the near future? Tune in later to find out...

"Number one vs. No one": Michigan State vs. Michigan football game 1990

The play that will haunt Michigan fans' dreams for years.

I was able to watch this controversial Spartan victory for the first time since the game was originally played, compliments of the Big Ten Network.

The most famous play in the game--the one that people still talk about and debate, was Michigan's failed 2-point conversion attempt late in the game that would have given Michigan the lead. Okay, it pains me to admit this, but the officials probably DID blow the call.

As a Spartan fan, I request that any Wolverine fans still hung up on this loss, give it up please. There were a few calls in that game that went against MSU, believe it or not (for example, Michigan running back Jon Vaughn's fumble at the Spartan goal line that was ruled to have been caused by the ground).

Both teams were very solid, and ended up deadlocked along with Illinois and Iowa in a four-way tie for the Big Ten title. The game was hard-hitting and featured several impressive individual performances. Desmond Howard had a great game for Michigan, and how did I forget about Jon Vaughn? He was a tough and rugged runner. For the Spartans, Tico Duckett and the late, great Hyland Hickson were outstanding in the backfield, and quarterback Dan Enos played arguably the best game of his college career, even though he had a horrible interception late in the first half that Michigan almost converted into a half-ending fieldgoal. Thankfully for Spartans, the kick was wide-left. If the Wolverines had converted the fieldgoal, they'd have taken a 10-7 lead into the locker room along with plenty of momentum.

MSU definitely had an advantage that year at running back, with the Duckett-Hickson tandem, but the real disparity in this particular game was at receiver, where Michigan had the dynamic duo of Desmond Howard and Derrick Alexander. MSU had (drum roll please)...Brian Smolinsky along with Hickson and Duckett occasionally catching a pass out of the backfield. (The Spartans' top receiver, Courtney Hawkins, was injured and didn't play in this game. If Hawkins had been able to play, maybe the Spartans could have won by more than one point and avoided the controversial ending. We'll never know). Still, two very evenly matched teams who duked it out like heavyweights that long-ago Saturday afternoon at the Big House. I'd love to see the teams of Dantonio and Rodriguez go at it for the next several years, with the Spartans somehow getting the upper hand.

If there are any Spartan fans out there who somehow stumble upon this blog, actually read the thing, and conclude that I'm being way too polite towards Michigan, I'm not apologizing. (Although, I will offer congratulations to you for being a fan of the correct school). This will not be my own personal launching pad for insulting and namecalling other teams (even Michigan), there's far too much of that on practically every fan site you can find on the web. (Of course, that's what I say NOW, but when MSU and Michigan play this fall--who knows what kind of colorful language you'll find on this blog! I'm not always so charitable towards that school down the road).