I was in Section 18, Row 65, Seat 47.

And it was, by all accounts, probably the wildest thing I've ever seen in person. Just like you remember big life events, you won't forget this one quickly.

Let's take a walk through the last minute.

Continue reading this post »

Sorry to go all Simmons-esque with the picture attached to this story but this was the image I had in mind after the conclusion of the game tonight.

Call it a draw, call it a toss up, call it a "hanging chad" if you must. After 59 minutes and 56 seconds MSU and UW were deadlocked. Each team kept taking the other teams best shot and kept getting back up off the mat for another go. If this game would have gone to overtime, it would seem only fair. I am biased to be sure, but I think the wrong call was made on the field and the right one was made in the booth, however I wouldn't have been surprised if they called it the exact opposite way (TD on the field, Short in the booth) and sent us to OT. It seems only fitting that it came down to a body twist, a matter of inches and a judgement call. On UW's previous series a judgement call decided that Wilson was not guilty of intentional grounding while commentators thought and replays appeared to show that he was inside the tackle box when he threw it out of bounds. It seems somewhat unfufilling (not the victory) that it ended the way it did. What did we learn?

Continue reading this post »

I went to elementary school at Leonard Elementary in Ovid, Michigan, a little village of 1200 north of Lansing. We were comprised of 4th through 6th graders. The recess game of choice was a vicious game of tackle football, where monstrous 6th graders dominated every contest. Occasionally, I would sprint my scrawny ass into the end zone and celebrate like crazy. The response of our 6th graders was telling. Multiple over-sized 6th graders would pile on me, yelling "yayy yayyyy" as if to say, yeah, you scored, but don't forget that we're going to be smashing you the rest of the game.

With that, we ponder Michigan-Michigan State. Because really, what is the ultimate mark of an unequal relationship between two siblings or individuals? When the bigger, more confident one realizes that, no matter the score, no matter the momentum, no matter the situation...they're going to prevail both physically and mentally at the end of the day. And that's where Sparty is at right now in relation to Michigan. MSU didn't fear Denard Robinson. The MSU defense didn't even blink when their offensive teammates were playing hot potato with the football. MSU was bigger, faster, and unafraid of any aggressive Michigan actions. Even if Michigan had won, MSU could have shrugged it off, saying they blew the game and Michigan needed a lucky and vicious late game comeback to win.

And that's a mentality straight out of How To Be An Older Sibling 101.

Continue reading this post »

Contrary to popular belief I have not been institutionalized nor have I been in hiding due to a contract undertaken by our friends in West Lafayette. Whatever the reason for my absence, I am back just in time for Michigan week.

I know, I know, as the OTE founders from Columbus will quickly point out, Michigan week is the last week of the regular season. But not for us. This game is our most important conference game. This game in many ways shapes the season for both teams. Only once since the B1G began allowing multiple teams to go to bowl games (1975) has MSU not played in a bowl in a season they beat UM (1978 - due to probation). On the flip side, only three times since the Spartans joined the conference in 1953 has UM lost to MSU and won a B1G title in the same season (1969, 1978(MSU co-champs), 1990(MSU co-champs)). 

Continue reading this post »

Yeah, it wasn’t pretty against Notre Dame Saturday. If you worried about something in the offseason Spartan-football related, chances are those worries were legitimized against the Irish. The Spartans went from hands down the second best team in the Legends division…to just another member of the B1G's squishy middle of teams we know little about.

Because I'm an equal opportunity kind of guy, it's time to spell out Sparty's deficiencies. How much time do you have?

The Offense

Hey, remember all those genius plays that came at the perfect time the last few years? Remember the Texas Tech bowl game where the Spartan coaching staff, short 14 players, threw the kitchen sink of clever offensive plays at the Red Raiders and almost pulled off the huge upset? The architect of much of that, Don Treadwell, is gone to Oxford. So is the panache of those playcalls.

Kirk Cousins. Big arm, big heart, babies smile instinctively when he walks by, etc. Also immobile, forces the ball into coverage late in games.

And it ain't all Cousins either - the coaches kept calling deep vertical routes into Cover Two schemes. Didn't work in the first half. Didn't work in the second half. Maybe a short crossing route to your deep stable of playmakers? No? Okay, nevermind.

Continue reading this post »

We'll have a full open thread tomorrow for all of the game action. But tonight, we'll set this out for anyone who wants to talk about Michigan State's opener against the Penguins. Kickoff will be at 6:30 CDT on the BTN. Frankly, if Crosby's concussions are still keeping him benched, Michigan State shouldn't have much trouble in this one. So if you accidentally flip over to the Baylor/TCU tilt and discuss that, it'll be OK.

Come on in and have a seat.  If you're new to our open threads, the rules are easy to follow: No racism, no sexism, no homophobia, no personal attacks, no pornography, and no illegal internet streams of the games. That sound you hear is the ice hitting the bottom of the rocks glass...

Five All-Americans in 1965 (l to r): Apisa (45), Jones (26), Smith (95), Washington (84), and Webster (90).

I. Case History/Opening Statement

A. Case History

We all know what happened last year for the Spartans 11-2 (7-1) B1G co-champs*, hopefully the last shared championship in B1G history. A case could be made that Michigan State University received the short end of the stick when bowl selections were made, but bowl selections are as much for what you have done as for what you did in a season. The horror show for MSU faithful that was the Capital One Bowl left Spartan fans little room to argue that the wrong teams were picked for the Rose and Sugar Bowls. I might suggest that no team in America was beating an angry Alabama team stocked with talent including four future NFL first round draft picks that had four weeks to prepare, but it really doesn't matter. We are fans, we are sure of what is right and what is true and what matters. The MSU football team was overmatched and it underwhelmed on its biggest stage of the 2010 season. 

Continue reading this post »