MSU 28, Michigan 14: Little Brother Has Become Big Brother

But I think Michigan is still a threat to win the Legends. Their schedule is as soft as I’ve ever seen. OSU still looks lousy, Nebraska is worse than advertised (their vaunted pre-season defense never made it to the real world apparently) and Illinois is not the challenge I had hoped they would prove to Michigan.

I won’t be shocked if Michigan only loses one or two from here on.

It was dirty, but it was also Sparty saying “We’re going to kick the shit out of you and you are going to sit there and take it.” And take it, Michigan did.

Also, Ohio State? Woody Hayes had a boner visible from space during that game. One single completion for a touchdown to a tight end? Cloud of dust, indeed.

The better team won today. I don’t think that this is debatable, and heading into this game I had a feeling that this would be our toughest test for the rest of the season. I don’t know if that will be the case, but regardless, Michigan lost to a hell of a football team. Michigan State is better than the 23rd best team in the country, and I’m hoping that Wisconsin kicks their teeth in next weekend.

Still, for how bad it looked today — and it looked really bad — the game basically boiled down to two plays; the play-action fake on fourth-and-inches in the redzone that got blown up, and the Denard pick six that really wasn’t all on him (with no backs in to protect, there should have been a hot-route by Smith in the slot. Denard thought he’d run a slant against zero coverage and he didn’t.) Michigan played better than they did last year on the road, and even though they looked dead in the water, they fought hard and gave MSU a game until those two plays. I’m excited to see these next few weeks, because with Purdue, Iowa, and Illinois coming up, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 9-1 start (although I’m thinking 8-2 is much more likely).

I was really impressed with Michigan’s defense today. Saying “well duh, they couldn’t be worse” when someone mentions the improvement is unfair — there’s a totally different unit out there from top to bottom. Michigan State’s offensive line played much better than I thought they would, but I’m happy that the defense was able to hold the Spartan offense to 21 points. MSU was still able to move the ball a bit, and yeah, we did get lucky on a couple fumbles (that were in MSU territory), but you’re crazy if you don’t think that this Michigan defense is for real — especially with the lack of offensive firepower in the conference. They aren’t a top-tier unit, but they’re solidly above average for sure.

As for our offense, man, I don’t know. I know that our offensive coaches are not as good as the ones that were here a year ago, but Denard should not be doing this badly. He wasn’t a great passer last year, though he was pretty average — especially for a first year starter — but this is utterly ridiculous now. He’s missing wide open guys, and our offense is suffering. The offensive line was abused, but that’s more of a testament to Michigan State’s front that to our o-line. I was really impressed with Michigan State’s defense, and I think that they’re pretty close to being as good as advertised.

The dirty play by MSU is not that big of a deal to me, and yes, they made some really dirty plays. It wouldn’t have made the difference if Michigan State hadn’t knocked Denard out on a late hit, but regardless, that play and the cheap shots by Gholston were absolutely inexcusable. Michigan didn’t do anything like that, so anybody saying that it was going on for both sides is an absolute moron. I’m not surprised by anything a Dantonio team does anymore, so it’s not going to come as a shock when Gholston’s punishment has to be handed down from the Big Ten. If I were a Michigan State fan, I’d be really disappointed with how Gholston and others conducted themselves on the field. People here will probably point to the Mouton punch two years ago, and I was mad about that then and thought he should be punished. That was one isolated incident, and there were more than a few plays like that by the Green and White Bronze today.

Still, the better team won, and Michigan was outplayed and outcoached. I still think Michigan’s going to make some noise in the conference and that they’re significantly better than they were last year. I also thought that Michigan was nowhere near as good as they were ranked, and that should be corrected on Monday. I was really impressed with MSU though, that’s a good team.

Oh, and they’re not the big brother. Call me if they keep this up for a couple more decades.

2 of those MSU personal fouls were what I’d call “cheap”:
1) when Gholston twisted Denards helmet in a pile
2) when Rush threw Denard to the ground after he released a pass

The others weren’t dirty, they were just incredibly stupid, and self-defeating for the Spartans. MSU gave UM 6 first downs via penalty. While those extended drives didn’t necessarilly result in Wolverine points, they led to very bad field position for the MSU offense on several drives, and contributed to some of the offensive futility for the Spartans.

MSU thoroughly and physically WHIPPED Michigan today, and without those personal foul calls, I think the point spread would’ve been bigger.

Is UM getting better? Yeah – I guess so. But, there are still very few guys on the Wolverines who would start for the Spartans.

Go Green!

I’d say it’s still much more like little brother beating up on big brother right after big brother has only just gotten over a serious case of pneumonia. That said, Sparty looked pretty darn dominant today, despite the cheap plays and attempts to shoot themselves in the foot. I think Denard will have his revenge next year though, and with the turnaround in recruiting it looks like big blue will be back in the big brother business before too long. It’ll be up to Sparty to capitalize on this season and get to the Rose Bowl.

Disturbing.

Just announced during the end of the ASU-Oregon game.

but you can make an argument that MSU is the second best team in the conference. I only watched the first half, but the MSU o-line looked a lot better than they did at the beginning of the year, and Denard looked terrible.

MSU took away his ability to run (except that first TD run, which was sweet) and Michigan’s offense was non-existent.

And the uniforms for both teams were horrid.

and MSU fans, you have forfeited your right to complain on any cheap shot for the rest of the season. if you do, all fans of the 11 other teams just need to post a gif of your boy pulling facemasks and punching lineman and say “oh, so you must have hated this then”.

College football math is fun

My personal slang for the home of the evil empire….

One dirty play by Gholston and the Mgoblog mouth-breathers are unbearable.

I’ve made it through a few minutes of the DVR. Go back to the replay of Denard’s TD run. Watch Gholston get blocked by two or three guys. Michigan OL #77 then clearly grabs his facemask and yanks it down.

Someone make a gif and whine about it.