At 6-0, Michigan State is off to its best start since 1999 — Nick Saban’s final year in East Lansing. But fairly fast starts are nothing new for the Spartans, who teased their fan base with early-season victories in the past.
It’s the finishing that has eluded Michigan State.
Today’s game against Illinois is big for the Spartans, and not only because it would put them at 7-0 — the best start since 1966 (!) — and keep them at the top of the Big Ten standings. A win today would calm a lot of Spartan Nation’s fears about another second-half collapse.
For Michigan State, it’s not the big games that scare their fans. They usually aren’t expected to win those anyway, and it’s often much easier to get a team up for a game against an opponent that’s perceived as better. It’s the games they’re expected to win that are scary. Reading their own press clippings, and basking in the pats on the back from their fans have been a problem for the Spartans. They just don’t seem to handle success well.
Many Michigan State fans feel like things will be different with Mark Dantonio in his fourth year. This team is definitely an extension of its coach, and his no-nonsense, disciplined style gives the fans hope. That hasn’t stopped a lot of them from being rightfully nervous about Illinois today, and lapses in judgment like senior cornerback Chris L. Rucker’s drunk driving arrest last week don’t help.
So a win today doesn’t give the Spartans a Big Ten title, and doesn’t get them to a BCS bowl. But it will put to rest a lot of the common fears about the team, and show they’re ready to focus on winning, even when they’re expected to.
College football season continues to be awesome. It seems like every week I sit down to write my picks (which also continue to be awesome) there are a handful of games that are can’t miss.
I don’t know if that’s because there’s an increasing number of good teams in college football, or if all the cupcakes teams were feasting on at the beginning of the season beefed up their records artificially. Either way, I like being excited on a Friday night for what I’m about to see the next day, and I’ve been like that for a few weeks now.
This week is no different, in fact, it’s about as big as any weekend of the season. And maybe that’s artificially inflated for myself living in Michigan and seeing about 50% of my Facebook “friends” switch their profile picture to something Michigan or Michigan State related. It’s half exciting and half terribly annoying (example: New friend request from John Doe. Hmm, John Doe doesn’t ring a bell, I wonder what he looks like. Oh, he looks just like Denard Robinson. Strange. Ignore. (Not true, I never ignore. My ego can use all the friends it can get, virtual or not.)).
One of the feel good stories of the week was supposed to unfold today in East Lansing, as Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio was going to return to Spartan Stadium, where he was last seen calling a remarkable fake field goal to beat Notre Dame, just two weeks after suffering a heart attack.
It doesn’t look like this is a serious problem, thankfully, but Dantonio and his doctors are simply taking a precaution.
It will be interesting to see how the Spartans respond to this on the field. They were able to control their emotions last week against Northern Colorado, but that was Northern Colorado. Today, they were expecting to get an emotional lift from having their coach in the stadium, and now have to deal with this news, which will no doubt weigh on their minds, even if it’s not supposed to be serious.
Either way, hopefully Dantonio gets through this latest setback quickly, and is back on the sidelines in perfect health before long.
Say what you want about Nick Saban and Urban Meyer (and believe me, there’s plenty to say about both of them), but they are very likely the two best coaches in college football right now.
The duo has combined for four national titles since 2003, and it wouldn’t be that far fetched to say they’ll combine to win another four in the next eight seasons. Alabama and Florida are at the top of the college football heap, and will continue to be there as long as these two men are at the top.
Apparently, they could have been together, but Saban big-timed Meyer and didn’t return his call in 1990. In Saban’s defense, 1990 was before caller ID (right?) and maybe his wife lost the phone number, or took it down wrong. Or maybe Saban is a big-timer (this is probably more likely). Either way, Urban seems to have forgiven him. Probably because he’s done well enough for himself since then.
Their teams play each other today, in what’s probably the game of the day when you consider everything (records, rankings, history, etc.). Click ahead to see who wins that one and more. Read the rest of this entry »
After going 3-1 two weeks ago, I successfully predicted a downfall last Saturday by putting forth a brutal effort. Alabama (no front door cover, Tide?), South Carolina (couldn’t hang onto that lead, Cocks?) and LSU (only 20 points at home, Tigers?) were all losers, while my only winner was Temple over Penn State (even though the Owls tried to blow that one for me late).
Here goes a better effort this week…
No. 17 Ohio State –16.5 at Illinois, 12:00PMET
Lay the points. The Buckeyes are 4-0 against the spread this year and have done it in rather easy fashion. I realize this is their first road test of the year, not to mention their first Big Ten game, but Ohio State is the far superior team and should roll. The Buckeyes haven’t lost to the Illini since 1991 and while Illinois has hung with them in recent years, it’ll be too much Terrelle Pryor this Saturday. THE PICK: OHIO STATE –16.5
No. 11 Wisconsin vs. No. 24 Michigan State +2, 3:30PM ET
The Spartans will certainly get a lift from Mark Dantonio, who returns to the sidelines (the press box, actually) this weekend after suffering a heart attack following MSU’s overtime win over Notre Dame two weeks ago. The Spartans have rushed for over 200 yards in each of their first four games and while the Badgers have a potent rushing attack themselves, I like MSU to win outright in East Lansing. Every year the Spartans beat an opponent they’re not supposed to and while a win on Saturday would hardly be shocking, it would still be considered an upset with Wisconsin ranked 11th in the nation. THE PICK: MICHIGAN STATE +2
Virginia Tech vs. North Carolina State +4, 3:30PM ET
I feel as though people are falling asleep on this NC State team, which is coming off impressive wins over Cincinnati and Georgia Tech the past two weekends. They don’t have a great rushing offense, but their passing game led by Russell Wilson ranks 19th in the nation and they’re averaging 37.75 points per game. After losing to Boise State and James Madison earlier in the year, VA Tech has gotten back on track with wins over East Carolina and Boston College the past two weekends. That said, there’s still something missing from this team and while Tyrod Taylor has made a ton of highlight reel plays, he leads an offense that is 87th in passing. I think NC State keeps this game within a field goal and covers. THE PICK: NC STATE +4
No. 3 Boise State –43.5 vs. New Mexico State, 8:00PM ET
Usually I don’t even consider games that have point spreads of over 30 points because of the threat of a backdoor cover, but I always make an exception when New Mexico State is involved. As long as the Broncos don’t take their foot off the gas I could see them scoring in the 60s this weekend. The Aggies rank second-to-last in total defense among FBS teams and the Broncos can ill-afford to suffer a letdown now that they’re ranked third in the nation. Boise rolls. THE PICK: BOISE STATE –43.5
In basketball, when a last-second shot during the end of a quarter or half is made and officials aren’t sure if the play clock or shot clock had expired before the ball left the shooter’s hands, the referees will review the play.
If the player got the shot off in time, the basket counts. If he didn’t, the basket doesn’t count. It’s pretty cut and dry.
With that in mind, why can’t the clock be reviewed during a football game too?
Take what happened in the Notre Dame-Michigan State game this past Saturday for example. The Spartans lined up for what would have been a game-tying field goal in overtime but instead, they faked the field goal and Aaron Bates wound up throwing a 29-yard touchdown to Charlie Gantt to win the game.
The problem is that the play clock had already hit double zero before MSU got the play off, which therefore should have resulted in a delay of game penalty. But the play stood and now Irish fans are rightfully screaming shenanigans.
“The responsibility is assigned to the Back Judge, who in this situation was standing beneath the upright. Proper mechanics dictate that his focus be directed to the play clock as it approaches zero. When the play clock display reads zero, he must re-direct his attention to the ball. At that time, if the snap has not started, a flag will be thrown for delay of game. If the snap has begun, no flag will be thrown.
“Under these procedures, there will always be a small amount of lag time between the time the clock reads zero and the time the Back Judge is able to see the football.
“On the play in question, this lag time created the situation where it appears the play clock expired just before the snap. We believe the snap occurred well within the normal lag time for the Back Judge to make this determination.
In essence, the Big East defended the no-call and by rule, it appears that the play should have stood.
But again, why wasn’t the play reviewable? I understand that the NCAA (or NFL for that matter) doesn’t want to slow the game anymore by reviewing every single play that comes close to being a delay of game penalty, but they don’t have to. All reviews are done by officials in overtime, so why couldn’t the refs go under the hood before awarding MSU a game-winning touchdown? A touchdown that also cost Brian Kelly’s team a potential victory?
Maybe the call would have stood anyway under the rules, but it should have at least been reviewed. If plays that are affected by the clock can be reviewed in basketball, I don’t see why they can’t also be reviewed in football.
Those of you who aren’t from Michigan might not be familiar with Mike Valenti, the, um, energetic co-host of an afternoon sports talk radio show in Detroit.
Valenti is a Michigan State graduate, and after the Spartans blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter against Notre Dame in 2006, he went off. A handful of national blogs picked the rant up and posted it. He became semi-famous for it, and it’s still one of the first things people in Michigan think of when they hear Valenti’s name.
He’s actually very good at what he does, and has a ton of knowledge when it comes to college sports and the NBA. But with the Irish and Spartans meeting at night for the first time since the Spartan collapse/Valenti meltdown, I felt it was high time to bring this back. If you haven’t heard it, it’s a masterpiece. If you have, take about 15 minutes and enjoy it all over again.
Under the direction of Mike Stoops, Arizona has won some very big games. The Wildcats knocked off a top 10 team three years in a row from 2005-07, with UCLA, California and Oregon all being their victims. This past year, Arizona even knocked off the Pac 10′s Goliath in USC.
But those wins all came late in the season, when Arizona had already piled up a handful of losses. One thing the Wildcats — who seem to perennially be thought of as a sleeper team — have not done, is capitalize on any preseason hype with a big-time early-season win.
They have the chance to do that tonight, though, when they play host to No. 9 Iowa. A win moves the Wildcats to 3-0 and gives them some serious national respect. It would also be a huge victory for the Pac 10, which is trying to assert itself as a top conference, even with a lethargic, and penalized, USC.
Can Stoops and Arizona pull it off? Click through for that prediction, and more from today’s games. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a quick and dirty look at how I see things playing out in the Big Eleven this season:
#1 Ohio State
Some believe the Buckeyes’ offense might be close to catching up to their defense in terms of dominance, which is saying something with the way OSU’s D played a year ago. The Buckeyes return all three leading rushers from 2009 in Brandon Saine, Dan Herron and quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who some believe has become a more committed teammate over the offseason. The key to OSU becoming a national title threat is Pryor, or more specifically, whether or not he’ll make opponents respect his passing game. The good thing for him and the Buckeyes on a whole is that they return four starters to a veteran offensive line that will open up plenty of holes for a deep and talented group of running backs. Defensively, OSU was a top five unit last season and could be once again this year assuming they can generate a pass-rush and the safeties can hold up in coverage. Cameron Heyward is one of the nation’s best defensive ends and Ross Homan is a playmaker at the outside linebacker spot. The secondary isn’t flashy, but cornerbacks Chimdi Chekwa and Devon Torrence are solid. From a schedule standpoint, if they can beat Miami in Columbus in the second week of the season, they should be 6-0 heading into Madison on October 16. From there, they’ll be tested by Wisconsin, Penn State and Iowa, but this is your clear favorite to win the Big Ten.
Tom Izzo and reporter Lynn Henning get into a spirited discussion about the media’s response to Izzo’s flirtation with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Both guys bring up good points, but I especially like Henning’s point about how the silence from MSU and from Izzo’s camp is not going to stop the speculation about Izzo’s future. If Izzo is upset about the misinformation that’s floating around out there, then he needs to set the record straight. If he’s hoping that people are going to stop talking about the situation while he ponders his decision in absolute silence, he’s going to be waiting a long time.
