Monday, October 29, 2007

For sure, same old same old?




The Spartans on Saturday lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes in a close overtime thriller. The Hawkeyes were down 17-3 at half-time and in the second half, the virtually inept offense put up 17 points on the improving Spartan defense. While the thought to be very good Spartan offense was only able to put up 3 points the whole half. Was it good play from the Iowa Hawkeyes?


No it was a total let down by the Spartan defense. The Iowa Hawkeyes were not doing anything differently then they did in the first half, and it's not like the offensive line of the Hawkeyes is any good they're starting 1 senior, 1 junior, and 3 underclassmen. They're just as bad as there quarterback Jake Christenson who's completion percentage against the Spartans was well below 50%. The linebackers were not filling the holes like they were suppose too. The linebackers were too out of position, like they were worried about the play-action, which the Hawkeyes only ran twice, one complete for 6 yards.


The Spartan offense in the second half looked just as bad as the defense. They had less then 100 yards total offense in the second half until there last drive. Javon Ringer was running east and west, while to me Jehuu Culcrick was looking pretty good actually. He put the pain on defenders that tried to tackle them and though his yards per carry wouldn't agree with statement, because of the few carries he got, was gaining good yardage on the ground between the twenties. On the upside Brian Hoyer looked really good. His stats wouldn't agree with that but, the Spartans dropped seven balls, most of them on third down, that would have kept the drive going. Devan Thomas, looked good at times but dropped too many passes. Looking like Matt Trannon from a year ago. Though twenty points in regulation is alright against the Iowa Hawkeyes, whose defense is fairly good. 3 points in the second half isn't. Especially against a team that is known to give up a way more points in the second half then first.


Swenson missed a 39 yard field goal and, being an overtime game, could have won it in regulation. I'm not saying that the game was his fault, because it obviously was the offense, defense, and the horrendous punting, but that should be easy for him. He's not a bad kicker, that separates the talented teams that don't win as much as they should, from the good teams.

I give the:

Offense: B for the jump they put on Iowa but the way they played in second half lowers it.

Defense: D- allowing the Hawkeyes 3 points in the first half isn't anything special and allowing 17 in the second half is terrible.

Special teams: F the horrendous punting probably cost us the game

Coaching: A- There's only so much a coach can do. The players, at some point, have to preform. The minus is Jehuu needed more carries.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Finally, Spartans talking about bowl game




The Spartans have hope.

Although a 6-6 Big Ten team could get shut out of a bowl this year, one more victory could send Michigan State to the Motor City Bowl at Ford Field.

Two more victories might mean a trip to the Insight Bowl (Tempe, Ariz.) or Champs Sports Bowl (Orlando). Three or four victories could even bump the Spartans into the Alamo (San Antonio) or Outback Bowl

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Monday, October 22, 2007

State falls in close defensive game with #1




I thought Ohio State's defense was good but not as good as they showed in Saturday's game against Michigan State. The Michigan State offense, which averaged 543 yards per game before playing Ohio State was shut down to less then 200 yards of offense. In the 17-24 loss MSU scored two defensive touchdowns. An interception ran back 59 yards and a fumble recovery ran back 26 yards. The MSU defense played well. 24 points against an average offense is good but the offense and special teams screwed up giving Ohio State 2 possessions inside our 40 yard line.


The offense was a different story.


The play calling was bad, plain out bad. We ran the ball way more then we passed and it clearly wasn't working. We did not get the ball into Devan Thomas's hands enough, and when we did, good things happened. Why don't u just keep doing it then. I didn't get the play calling, maybe they were seeing something i wasn't, but to me it looked bad.


We play Iowa next week, another good defense but Iowa has a horrendous offense. Putting up 17 points will win us the game against Iowa.


Any comments about the game or predictions for next week?

Friday, October 19, 2007

Ohio State vs MSU Tickets




A Defining Moment

MSU's football team, and new coach Mark Dantonio, face their greatest challenge and ultimate role model at Ohio State on Saturday. This is a difficult test, but it's perfect for a first-year coach rebuilding a program in his mentor's image.

Buy your tickets: http://www.michiganbusiness.us/showcompany.php?id=14222

Find a way, finding their way. One's a short-term task for the Spartans; the other's a long-term goal. They intersect this week, and if you've been paying attention to this season and this team, you know anything is possible.

Technorati Profile

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Win - MSU Defeats Indiana Hoosiers




The Michigan State Spartans defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 52-27 on Saturday October 13th. And this was a huge victory for the Spartans, upsetting Indiana, this not only helps us this season but in the long run too. We become bowl eligible with one victory and since we won this week, we show our recruits that we will not crumble in the face of adversity as we have done in the past.

Analysis: Our defense, as I predicted, definitely stepped to the challenge. They only let up 20 points to a high powered Indiana offense. (The Spartans fumbled it and they took it back for a score) With 52 points our offense played just as well.

Any comments on the game?

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Monday, October 8, 2007

Indiana




The Wisconsin Badgers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes by a measly three-points, the Indiana Hoosiers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 38-20. The Michigan State Spartans lost to the Wisconsin Badgers by three-points. So how do we fair against the Indiana Hoosiers?


My prediction is this week Dantonio and Narduzzi will really focus on the defensive side of the ball in practice this week and State will come out pressuring quarterback for the Indiana Hoosiers Kellen Lewis and with injury problems at running back for the Hoosiers they will have to pass more often then not. Otis Wiley and the secondary will shapen up and play better. The Hoosiers defense has let up on average 36 points. Michigan State being the high-powered offense it is, no way the Hoosiers stop the Spartans from moving the football.


Bottom line the defense will step up in a victory over the Hoosiers 27-13.

defense




On Saturday the Michigan State Spartans let up 41 points in regulation against the Northwestern Wildcats, most of the points coming off of big gains. Otis Wiley who was predicted to be All-Big Ten this year let up two touchdowns, one going for a pick on 3 and 14 which the reciever caught and ran it for over 65 yards and the second was terrible coverage the reciever caught it for a 10 yard gain then ran it over 30 yards.
Still the Spartans didn't allow over 100 rushing yards but, the Wildcats had over 600 yards of total offense. The secondary to me looks terrible, what's your take on the Spartan defense?

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Spartan Football Play-calling




The Spartans started off with the ball on the the Northwestern 25 in over-time, so you can get 2 first downs (In the 41-48 OT loss to Northwestern).

Michigan State had been running all over Northwestern the whole game, and just like last week did not run the ball once in the clutch. Four straight shots into the endzone, all incomplete. Granted, Brian Hoyer didn't throw well at all. Why don't you run it at least once with Javon Ringer ... at least once when you know your quarter back isn't playing well?

Any comments about Mark Dantonio's play calling?

Michigan State Football Helmet MP3 Player - MSU

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MSU Football - Same old, Same old




Spartan defense lets up over 600 yards and racks up over 50 yards worth of penalties. Yet Spartan offense scores fourty-one points but still not enough. Sound familiar to you? Just like last year the Spartans choke in a big game and the result of hangover, lose the next game.

I'm not saying this is the same team as last year, because I am a true believer of Mark Dantonio, but I'm tired of this crap. I just hope the Spartans can turn it around against Indiana and maybe a win over Iowa would send us to a bowl game.

On the bright side Javon Ringer had 185 yards and three touchdowns, Devan Thomas had over one-hundred recieving yards and a touchdown, and Brian Hoyer did not look bad until over-time. But a key to a quarter-back is providing in the clutch moments and Brian Hoyer has just not done that this year.

On the negative side Wisconsin lost to Illinios, so how good is Wisconsin? Bowling Green gets rolled over by Boston College so what does this all say about us? We have faced no good opponents beside Wisconsin and honestly I think Wisconsin is only worth number twenty in the country.

Any predictions for next weeks game against Indiana or anything you would like to add about the analysis?

Michigan State Gifts / Spartan Lover Gifts

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Friday, October 5, 2007

Spartan Stadium Posters




The 2006 edition of the Michigan State Spartans / Northwestern Wildcats football game featured the biggest comeback in NCAA history. The Michigan State Spartans, after falling behind to the Wildcats 38-3 with 9:54 remaining in the 3rd quarter, rallied to score 38 unanswered points to defeat the Wildcats 41-38.

Any predictions on what is going to happen in the MSU / Northwestern Contest tomorrow - October 6th?

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MSU Football Tickets




The student section might sound a little different at Spartan Stadium on Saturday.

A grassroots campaign spearheaded by political theory sophomore Jason Leva and other members of the Spartan Tailgate Red Cedar Message Board are trying to start a new cheer based on the team’s mantra: “Pound Green, Pound.”

The cheer — which goes “Line ‘em up/ Knock ‘em down/ We are one/ Pound Green, Pound” — will occur during the first defensive MSU play after a kickoff or punt and after failed third down conversions by the opposing team. The cheer mirrors the 1960s cheer “Kill Bubba Kill,” when defensive lineman Bubba Smith played for the Spartans.

Current players have differing stories of how the phrase was introduced to this year’s team - but all I say is .. if it can get us win's than Go For It.

Um .. I mean Go Green ... Go White

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