My feelings on the OSU game

Yup, that about sums it up. I thought MSU would lose, I just never believed it would be this bad, marking the first time in the Dantonio era has lost a game by more than a touchdown. It's not hyperbole to state that the only phase of the trip the Buckeyes were unsuccessful in was their ability of their fans to pick up ladies at The Landshark Saturday night. The Spartans couldn't force turnovers as they have in the past this season, they turned the ball over unusually, and gave Terrelle Pryor yet another defining moment on his ascent to the throne as King of Columbus. As if that wasn't enough, MSU now has a burgeoning QB controversy on its hands, as Kirk Cousins did quite well (18-25, 161 yards, 1 TD). The only saving grace about this game was that it was a "guillotine" kind of loss - the end comes quickly, so that you have no time to think, process the defeat or feel pain, your head just lies detached from its body, blinking until you can't blink no more.

Whatever, it's on to Michigan for HATE WEEK. If you think that MSU won't get up for a team that has beat them the last six times, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you. Lastly, on a more cheerful note, Midnight Madness was Friday, and if this image doesn't make your heart smile with glee, I feel sorry for your black, joyless soul.

Big Ten Picks, Week Eight

In brief, mainly because I just got back from Chicago...

Ohio State 13, Michigan State 7
I answered some questions about this game for The Only Game that Matters. In brief, I believe in game between two very similar teams, give the edge to the side with the best unit. In this game, it's OSU's defense. I do hope I'm wrong on this one.

Northwestern 27, Purdue 14
Good news for you Boilermaker fans - Purdue will score a couple of touchdowns this week! The bad news - C.J. Bacher keeps the ball in the hands of the purple and scores more.

Iowa 20, Wisconsin 13
Don't let the record fool you, Iowa is a very good team that suffered a few brain farts that caused the three losses. As for the Wisconsin fans, if you haven't started drinking yourself death by now, Saturday around 3ish might be a good time to start.

Illinois 42, Indiana 28
Illinois gets its frustrations out the only way how - by scoring bunches of points while allowing them. Indiana, meanwhile, continues to stay in the two-pony race for worst team in the Big Ten.

Penn State 42, Michigan 7

Uh...it's going to go down like this:

What Was Your Best Day as a Spartan? With much thanks to Spartans Weblog

Stolen shamelessly from Spartans Weblog's post about the same topic. If you've got a favorite memory about the Spartans (if you're reading this blog, you most likely do), go over there and post it in the comments section, and feel free to post it here as well. However, if you post it at Spartans Weblog, you'll be in the running to win a copy of College Basketball Prospectus for this season. And free things are always awesome, unless they cause cold sores.

There’s no doubt about my best day as a Spartan; it was the day of the Elite Eight MSU-Kentucky game. I remember yelling at the refs, telling them that Pat Sparks’ foot was on the line as he shot the three at the end of the regulation. I remember cheering as Abezuike (spelling?) was late on his shot at the end of OT. I remember holding my breath as Alan Anderson shot his free throws towards the end of the second OT to seal the Final Four.

Most of all, my favorite moment is running down Oakhill into downtown EL. I was in a mass of people screaming “FINAL FOUR! FINAL FOUR!” at the top of my lungs at the corner of Charles and Albert. There must of been at least hundreds of students on Albert, screaming GO GREEN! GO WHITE! chants at the top of their lungs from one side of the street to the other. I walked down to Cedar Village, there were just as many people there cheering. Exchange students were calling back home, trying to explain what was going on. Most of all though, the crowd as a whole did not misbehave. Tear gas didn’t need to be shot into the masses. Sure, the loss against North Carolina six days after hurt, but nothing could take away from the sheer exuberance in East Lansing that day. That, more so than my first day on campus, and even more so than my graduation, was my favorite day as a Spartan, because for one day, we weren’t 44,000 students with over 100 majors. We were all Spartans, one, high-fiving and patting each other on the back as we celebrated a victory few thought we could achieve.

Week 7 Big Ten Picks

If you're looking for an in depth preview, the Enlightened Spartan has a good one on his site here. As for me, here are my Big Ten picks in brief.

Michigan State 26, Northwestern 17

If you're like me and will be at the game in Evanston this weekend, drink everytime you hear a Wildcat fan say this: "We're going to stop Ringer and let Hoyer beat us." First off, I think Ringer's going to have a game like he did in Bloomington - decent YPC with about 30-35 carries and a run over 30 yards somewhere in there. As for Hoyer, if you're going to go single cover the wide receivers, expect three of his passes in the game to go for more than 20 yards. His throws deep are underrated. Northwestern's been good at capitalizing on teams' mistakes this season. Michigan State doesn't make enough for the Wildcats to win.

Iowa 20, Indiana 10

This Hawkeye team is much better than its 3-3 record indicates. Their problem? A propensity for shooting themselves in the foot, as they turned the ball over four times within the MSU 30 yard line last week, be it on downs, fumbles, or interceptions. My guess is that if a bad defensive team such as Minnesota can hold the Hoosiers to seven points (and yes, I realize what that says about MSU if they let IU gain 29 points), Iowa should be able to hold them to enough points for the offense to put up the usual 17-24 points. That'll be enough.

Michigan 27, Toledo 7

My guess is that Michigan holds onto the ball more than usual, and only turns it over three times. The Wolverine defense won't be playing Juice Williams this week, so Michigan should win comfortably.

Illinois 38, Minnesota 17

All thoughts of Minnesota's defense having improved will be confirmed this week, as they hold Illinois to under 40 points.

Ohio State 27, Purdue 20

Call me crazy, but I think this game may be close. For all the good he's shown so far, Terrelle Pryor is still a freshman, and that means he's going to have some mediocre performances this season. After a comeback victory in Madison, I'm guessing this game will be one of those times. Also, I can't believe Purdue only put up six points against Penn State in West Lafayette. Their offense is better than six points, and this game will show that opinion. However, the Boilermakers will still lose...but it'll be tight.

Penn State 17, Wisconsin 13

The first crack in the Spread HD appeared last week, as the Nittany Lions put up a "good enough to win" 20 points on the Boilermakers. Now they travel to Wisconsin to face an above average Badger defense. They'll be held to about 14-17 points. However, I believe that with Evridge at the helm, the ceiling for the offense is 13 points at home. That total will fall just short of a victory.

That's it for this week. I'll be down on the O'Malley's West bus trip to be in person for the Northwestern game. Take it easy, and have a good weekend.

What is Big Ten Round Table?

This week's Round Table, hosted by The Only Game that Matters. This week's Round Table is being done Jeopardy-style (you'll see how it's done in a bit), and as for TOGtM...I would not be surprised at all if they were telling Trebek to put the lotion on his skin in a well in their basement. Anyway, on with the show.

1) Jay Paterno and the Spread HD

Who is Jim Carrey? Much like Carrey's career, Jay and the HD were once thought to be a joke, but through a few legitimate performances (vs. Oregon State, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), are now taken seriously. Of course, chances to fall remain (evidence in favor: lackluster performance against Purdue, The Number 23).

2) Joe Tiller's Mustache

Where is Mr. Belvedere? The Wilford Brimley comparison is worn out. If you add some color to Tiller's mustache, it looks verrry similar to one carried around by a famous butler.

The evidence is damning: Joe Tiller, guilty of Grand Theft 'Stache, and kidnapping Purdue's offense from last year.

3) The Color Purple

What is, for the first time ever, the color that will fill up more than half the seats at Ryan Field next week? (Cue outraged "NO ONE EVER RESPECTS NORTHWESTERN!" from Lake the Posts in 3...2...1...just kidding. Seriously, if you need a primer on Northwestern football, go to Lake the Posts now. It's all good stuff.)

4) Brains

What is the missing ingredient from the Hawkeyes? They outgunned MSU at the line of scrimmage on both ends last week, but turnovers and a couple of unfortunate 4th down calls flushed a win down the drain. Also, Big Ten Blogger by-laws state that whenever brains are mentioned, a picture of JoePa must be shown:


5) Hawkeye State

Where is the place that manufactures Hawkeye vodka? Hawkeye vodka is the #1 vodka on my "liquors to taste" list, mainly to take in its poor quality. Will it be worse than Crystal Palace? Will I go blind? I don't know, but I'll have fun getting there.

6) Rudy

Who has gotten more mileage out of one sack than anyone in history? Many stories of walk-ons are worthy of mention. Take for instance, a Spartan who walked onto the football team, played his way into a scholarship, and graduated with a 4.0 average in Kinesology with his Masters (not University of Michigan Kinesology, this degree's legitimate). This man's name? Cole Malatinsky. Scholarship, hard work, and kicking ass...now that's a story.

Do not look into his eyes. You will get pregnant.

7) Knee Ligaments

What are things that if you're going to tear, tear awesomely? In other words, don't break them like this kid did:



8) Terrelle Pryor

What is the reason I'm happy MSU doesn't play Ohio State for the next two years after this year? If he can lead the Buckeyes to a win by orchestrating a drive in the 4th quarter - IN WISCONSIN, NO LESS -it's scary to think how good he'll be in a year.

9) Mark May

Who is the biggest benefactor of the "Ugly Friend" effect? You know the theory - all sets of girls have one ugly friend that makes the others look better by comparison. Who is Mark May's ugly friend? You guessed it...

10) Rich Rodriguez

Who will be the #1 selling effigy in Ann Arbor after a 5-7 season for the Wolverines? If they go to a bowl this season, they will overachieve. The best news about that is the fans will save on gas by going to Detroit for their bowl game.

Big Ten picks tomorrow? I'm leaving early for Chicago tomorrow, for this Saturday I'll be on the O'Malley's West bus trip for the Northwestern game. Hopefully, some of you'll be out there.

Iowa - The Aftermath

Sitting in the north end zone section late in the 4th quarter, watching the Hawkeyes come closer to scoring a touchdown to take the lead, one thought kept echoing through my head:

"Dear God, it's going to happen again."

"It", being of course, a punch in the gut where MSU lets a lead slip away in the last moments, usually in the most heartbreaking way possible (C.J. Bacher throwing eleventy million touchdown passes, Chad Henne remembering he has deep threats on the field, etc.). When 4th and 1 came around at the MSU 21, I thought that the Hawkeyes would kick a field goal, have it split the uprights, and have the game go into overtime.

I was wrong.

The offense stayed on the field, and after Iowa used its final timeout, I thought that it was going to be a play action toss. Stanzi would find a wide open 3rd string tight end for a touchdown, giving the Hawkeyes the lead immediately, and that the Spartans would go four and out soon thereafter.

I was wrong.

The play was a handoff to Shonn Greene, who had torn through the MSU front seven all game. However, instead of going up the middle for the one yard needed, he ran off-tackle. As I saw Adam Decker hit Greene in the backfield, I was nearly certain that Greene would shed the tackle, gain ten yards and obtain the first down.

I was wrong.

Decker forced Greene to the ground. Iowa turned the ball over on downs, and after a couple of Ringer runs and a harrowing quarterback sneak where Hoyer fumbled the ball, Michigan State won the game. As I was leaving Spartan Stadium, I reflected back on how I felt ten minutes earlier, when I was sure MSU would surrender the victory.

I was really wrong. And it never felt better.

More notes on the game:

• I don't think Iowa made a bad call by choosing to run on 4th down for their final play, and the Iowa fans I talked to in the bar after the game agreed with that sentiment. One can certainly criticize the execution of the run (Off-Tackle? Seriously? After Shonn Greene gashed MSU up the gut all day), but the core decision was sound.
• Brian Hoyer looks like he needs to get out of his head a bit. He had a very good first half, followed by a mediocre second half in which he nearly let the Hawkeyes back in the game late.
  
• Javon Ringer looked human. That's OK, a lot of running backs will against Iowa's defensive line. As for the offensive line, just because the running game generates a lot of yards and the quarterback gets sacked very few times makes a great offensive line. I think MSU has a good defensive line, but I don't think they're tops in the Big Ten good.
• Dropped passes - yikes. Cunningham and Dell eached dropped one in the end zone. On the plus side, Charlie Gantt has progressed by leaps and bounds this season, and continued this pattern in yesterday's game.
  
• The defensive line played great against the pass, pressuring Stanzi many times. Special credit goes to Trevor Anderson, who had 2.5 sacks in the game.
• The cornerbacks could still use a bit of work. A few times I saw a CB slip, allowing a Hawkeye receiver to catch the ball unimpeded.
• A lot of Spartans got banged up yesterday: Dell, Wiley, C.L. Rucker, and Gantt off the top of my head. Hopefully they'll be healthy for Northwestern.

As for the rest of the Big Ten, some brief impressions:

• Penn State had their first sub-par performance I felt, as I was sure the offense would've put up at least 40. The defense did its job, and even though the Nittany Lions do have an above average offense, I still can't believe the Purdue offense has been this ineffective this year.
• Minnesota Golden Gophers - 5-1. On top of that statement, they won the Indiana game with their defense. Let those words sink in a bit. I think they have to get to 7-5 to be bowl-eligible this year in the Big Ten, and with them getting Northwestern, Michigan and Iowa at home, it's not outside the realm of possibility. As for Indiana, I think they'll be lucky if they win another game all year. Well Hoosier fan, there's always basketball seas...How many scholarship players will they have? If I were you, I'd cryogenically freeze myself until this school year is over.
• Let's see: a team from Michigan followed up an emotional upset victory by playing flat, making mistakes, and getting dominated (albeit by a superior team)? Well, that's typical MSU- wait, it was the Wolverines? Huh. Anyway, I also believe that Juice Williams isn't the best passer in the conference, but he is the best quarterback, if that makes any sense.
• Terrelle Pryor is wasting no time in cementing his mythic status. The number of quarterbacks that can lead a game-winning drive in one of the three toughest places to play in the Big Ten (Wisky, PSU, OSU) is small, the number of freshmen QBs who can do it is fewer yet. As for Wisconsin - the wins will start coming. And let's face it Wisconsin fan, you reserve those tickets for the Outback Bowl in July every year. I'd fully advise you to hang onto those.

I'll be back to a more regular posting schedule this week, last week was a gauntlet of tests, interviews and career fairs.

Busy Busy Busy...Brief Big 10 picks

Sorry y'all, Career fair and other tests and quizzes got in the way of posting this week. Indiana preview will hopefully be up tomorrow. As for now, here are my Big Ten picks for this week:

Michigan State over Iowa
Minnesota over Indiana
Illinois over Michigan
Penn State over Purdue
Ohio State over Wisconsin