These might have been hideous, and the game might have been, too, but Michigan State will take it.

The Spartans ended Michigan’s run at a perfect season today with a 28-14 win against “Big Brother.” That’s four straight, which pretty much makes big brother your older, fatter, kind of alcoholic brother that you can beat at sports.

Michigan’s offense was rendered impotent as the Spartans corralled Denard Robinson’s run game and forced him to pass, which, um, isn’t what Michigan wants to be doing. Robinson was 9-of-24 for 123 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The interception was returned for a touchdown by Isaiah Lewis, effectively ending the game.

Perhaps more impressive, however, was Michigan State holding Robinson to under 50 yards rushing. The Spartans also hit him well after the whistle a couple of times, you know, just because. It worked, though, as Robinson was out of the game at the end of Michigan’s final drive, causing backup Devin Gardner — who Michigan offensive coordinator Al Borges inexplicably used with relative frequency during the game — to come up with a fourth-and-22 play that is sure to reside at the top of ESPN’s Worst of the Worst for years to come. Seriously, Gardner ran for about 130 yards on the play, 125 of which were in the wrong direction or sideways.

It’s only loss No. 1 for Michigan, but it brings back memories of the Rich Rodriguez era. Michigan State out-schemed Michigan in the second half, destroying the “Brady Hoke and Greg Mattison won’t be out-coached” meme that Michigan fans were spreading. The Wolverines couldn’t tackle, which surely gave Michigan fans the shakes after watching that on repeat for the last three years.

I’m not saying Brady Hoke = Rich Rodriguez, but this should put the brakes on the Brady Hoke for Pope campaigns. Michigan is just now entering the tough part of its schedule, and should expect more of this as it goes on this season.

As for Michigan State, it’s not out of the woods yet. The Spartans have to play Wisconsin and Nebraska in the next two weeks, so the euphoria from this win could wear off quickly. But the Spartans are unbeaten in Big Ten play after games against Ohio State and Michigan, and control their own destiny when it comes to playing for the Big Ten championship.

But that’s all irrelevant right now, as “Little Brother” has officially grown up and is in control of the state of Michigan, which might be the most important thing to the residents of East Lansing.

Through the first three games of this season, Michigan offensive coordinator Al Borges has tried at times to implement the more pro-style offense that he eventually wants to run in Ann Arbor. When that hasn’t worked — and that’s often — he’s trashed that and gone to a simplified version of Rich Rodriguez’s offense, aka the “Give the Ball to Denard” offense.

Denard Robinson as a runner might be the most dangerous weapon in college football. As a drop-back passer in a pro-style set, he’s not even in the top half of quarterbacks in the Big Ten.

Borges is realizing this, and in recent weeks has gone to the GTBTD offense quicker than he did in, say, the Notre Dame game. Against the Irish, Borges waited until the second half, and had it not been for horrendous fundamental coverage skills by the Notre Dame defensive backs, it would have been too late. Unleashing Denard in the shotgun not only allows him to throw, but also forces single coverage on the outside, which is Michigan’s only chance to get any kind of passing game, because Robinson isn’t going to read a defense effectively.

The challenge going forward, however, is finding a way to make this work during the Big Ten season. A year ago, the better Big Ten defenses figured out how to shut down Robinson, or at least slow him down enough to force Michigan into uncomfortable situations. If Borges tries to go pro-set, Michigan might not win a Big Ten game, and I’m not exaggerating. If he goes simply GTBTD, the Wolverines are probably going to run into the same problems eventually, but it’s easily their best chance at winning games.

Some Michigan fans have brought up using Robinson as a running back and trying out Devin Gardner, a sophomore who was a highly-regarded recruit, at quarterback. That won’t work either, because part of what makes Robinson so dangerous is the fact that you still have to cover receivers down the field when the ball’s in his hands. That goes out the window if you’re just handing off to him. He’s also not big enough to handle the between the tackles pounding that a running back.

So how about the single wing? It’s a pretty simple offense, and it’s really not that far from what Michigan does now. The misdirection keeps defenses from keying on Robinson, and he still has the threat of throwing downfield. Also, nobody plays against the single wing, because nobody runs it. That gives Michigan, and maybe the most dangerous player in the country, the same advantage the service academies and other option teams have: forcing teams to prepare in one week for an offense they’ve never seen before.

I understand that Michigan is eventually going to be closer to the kind of smash-mouth type football team that we saw under Lloyd Carr and Bo Schembechler, but if it wants to win games and take advantage of its best asset this year and next, it’s going to have forget about that.

With the first night game in Big House history, throwback uniforms and an incredible last-second win over Notre Dame, Michigan fans got quite a treat last night. The atmosphere was electric and completely different from what we’ve come to expect from the wine and cheese ground in Ann Arbor.

Players on both sides made some spectacular plays, and Denard Robinson overcame a bad interception to drive down the field for the winning touchdown.

That said, this was one of the more pathetic displays of defense I’ve ever seen in college football. Brady Hoke might be bringing toughness back to Michigan, but he and his coaching staff should be embarrassed by what happened on Notre Dame’s last touchdown. Meanwhile, Chip Kelly has never been known for his defenses, and Notre Dame found a way to give up huge plays with under 30 seconds left in the game.

Michigan’s new head coach, Brady Hoke, is facing a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, he needs to bring Michigan back to playing Michigan football after the disastrous RichRod experiment. That means moving back to a pro style offense and moving from the absurd 3-3-5 defense that stopped nobody in the Big Ten back to a traditional 4-3. Michigan needs to get bigger, and Hoke has started that process with his 2011 recruiting class.

Yet with respect to the offense, Hoke also has Denard Robinson, one of the most explosive college football players we’ve seen in years. He was perfect for RichRod’s offense, even though that offense and Robinson sputtered against better defenses. It was an all-or-nothing proposition, and naturally Hoke is anxious to move on.

So how does he use Denard Robinson going forward? Hoke says “We’re smart enough to have elements he does well from what he did in the past in our offense.” But he plans on using Robinson as the quarterback in his pro style offense, which will have Robinson taking snaps under center instead of the shotgun and relying on play action.

I’m skeptical this can work. Sure, he’ll still unleash Robinson at times, and I suspect they might use the option play, but Robinson’s effectiveness will likely suffer dramatically under this system.

Robinson made big plays in the passing game last year, but that was because he found wide-open receivers when defenses tried in vain to slow down his running game. This year he won’t have that luxury. I don’t see Robinson consistently making the tough throws demanded in a pro style offense. He’s also very short and that will limit him as well.

We’ll see how this experiment plays out, but I suspect that Hoke will regret taking Robinson out of his element.

A better option might be to have a traditional quarterback run Hoke’s new offense, and keep a version of RichRod’s system around for Robinson to run as a Wildcat formation. He could also use Robinson as a Slash-type weapon in the traditional offense.

Right now their odds of winning the Big Ten are set at 15/1, so few are expecting a breakout year.

With this transition and the drama surrounding the Big Ten this year with the addition of Nebraska and the troubles at Ohio State, Michigan should be one of the more intriguing stories of 2011.

The 2011 college football season is still a couple of months away but seeing as how we’ve reached the dead days of the sports calendar, I figured it would be okay if we took a look at this year’s Heisman candidates. Below are five players I believe have the best shot at claiming this year’s Heisman hardware.

1. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
What to Like: Barring injury or a Jake Locker-type senior campaign, Luck could run away with this year’s Heisman. He was runner-up for the award in 2010 and was named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year. Most pundits believe he’ll be the top signal caller in college football this year and he’s the main reason why Stanford will be rated high in the preseason polls.
What Not to Like: He lost his top two receivers (Doug Baldwin and Ryan Whalen), his head coach (Jim Harbaugh), and his offensive line (which allowed only five sacks last season) is undergoing a reloading phase. Can Luck overcome all that change in one offseason?

2. Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma
What to Like: Jones led the nation in completions last season and put up monstrous numbers in Oklahoma’s pass-happy offense. He completed 65% of his passes while racking up 4,700-plus yards and 38 touchdowns. With WR Ryan Broyles and nearly all five starters on his offensive line returning, Jones shouldn’t miss a beat.
What Not to Like: Losing all-purpose back DeMarco Murray hurts, but the biggest worry with Jones is whether or not he can handle the expectations of Oklahoma being the top-ranked team at the start of the season. All eyes will be on the Sooners every week and just one slip up could cost OU a national title berth and Jones a shot at the Heisman.

3. Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina
What to Like: After rushing for 1,197 yards and 17 touchdowns as a freshman, South Carolina fans can’t wait to see what Lattimore will do for an encore. His performance last year placed him among the nine SEC players who have rushed for at least 1,000 yards as a freshman, which is a list that also includes Georgia’s Herschel Walker and Florida’s Emmitt Smith. With Lattimore set to again be the workhorse in Steve Spurrier’s offense, you can expect big things out of this sophomore in 2011.
What Not to Like: Quarterback Stephen Garcia is one jaywalking charge away from being kicked off the team for good. If Garcia flubs up again or can’t beat out sophomore Connor Shaw for the starting job this summer, then Lattimore might have too much pressure on his shoulders this season. If SC becomes too one-dimensional, Lattimore’s production will likely suffer.

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