Photo Courtesy of Pat Narduzzi’s Twitter

Football is back and what’s more American than the American Flag and Oversized HD TVs and FOOOTBALL AND HOLY CRAP FOOTBALL IS BACK AND IT’S NOT THAT CRAPPY ENGLISH FOOTBALL WHICH I ALSO ENJOY BUT HOLY CRAP FOOTBALL IS HERE.

So MSU and Boise State enter the 2012 season as Connoisseurs of College Football’s Finest Trick Plays, both teams replace massive amounts of starters on one side of the ball and both quarterbacks are breaking in new Quarterbacks behind the winningest Quarterback in school history. Michigan State replaces all but 21.1 percent of their total offensive yardage from 2011 against a Boise State defense that returns just two starters. Boise State brings their high fallutin’ fancy offense to East Lansing and the authoritative MSU guide to understanding the Boise State offense exists at TOC.

With all of these changes predicting anything based on previous tendencies of the past few years seems like a fool’s errand exceptin’ for these three things. 1.) MSU’s defense is solid. 2.) Boise State is going to use that Multiple offense to attack the weaknesses of MSU. OF WHICH THERE ARE NONE. 3.)  I will bet 20 internet bucks against any takers that MSU’s defense gives up a touchdown on the opening drive. It happened against 6 of 11 BCS opponents last year and while Boise State isn’t a BCS program, they sure think they are. This has always seemed like a feature/bug of Narduzzi’s style, “I give you a few points while I learn everything it is that you do, then I hold you down until the third or fourth quarter.”

On Offense MSU Will:

- Let Le’Veon Bell tote the rock to settle Maxwell down early on. If MSU has success rushing early they’ll ride that Bronco until the run gets slowed down. There’s no reason to put any pressure that isn’t necessary on Maxwell.

- MSU will rediscover the jet sweep they used to run under Treadwell back in 2010. It’s an easy way to get a rush that’s good for a few yards against a young defense.

- Use Dion Sims to give Maxwell a friendly target and provide a mismatch against BSU’s 4-2-5.

On Defense MSU Will:

- Attack, Attack, Attack. With a new quarterback, MSU will blitz early and often to apply pressure and force bad incompletions.

- Stick to their guns on defense. As Heck noted several times, Narduzzi sticks to his 4-3 no matter what. In 2009 when the 4-3 made you nuts, it didn’t matter, Narduzzi was not putting an extra DB on the field come hell or high water.

- Bend but not break. MSU has never had an issue surrendering yards between the 20s, it’s when you’re in a red zone that they really clamp down. Boise State is no different than any other high powered offense MSU plays. Keep the play in front of you and tackle well.

This game could be wild like either MSU-Wisconsin game in 2011 where two teams play 60 minutes of great football and it results in a great game or this game could be like the 2012 Sugar Bowl where it’s an exciting game played poorly by both teams. I suspect there will be a moment tonight of DERP so powerful it turns Spartan Stadium briefly into the House of 80,000 Facepalms, whether that moment belongs to MSU or Boise remains to be seen. Given the enormous question marks on MSU’s Offense and BSU’s Defense I’m going to go with an exciting game featuring an above average number of facepalms.

Obligatory Prediction

MSU 34 BSU 28

On the most beautiful August day in recent memory, the Spartans settled in for their last scrimmage of the preseason. Le’Veon Bell and a handful of others were left out of the scrimmage to keep healthy and the Offense turned in a 52-48 victory. Interestingly, as important as that was, Dantonio and Maxwell took some time out to compliment MSU staff getting these scoreboards put into place. Dantonio: “Those video boards are cutting edge and add a whole new dimension to the stadium experience. These high-def video boards bring the action right to you - it's almost an interactive environment. It's going to be exciting for our fans and players alike.” and Maxwell: “These video boards will definitely be a factor this year."

After seeing a photo, it’s not hard to see why these video boards will be a game changer.

Original Photo: MSUSpartans

As you may have heard, Dion Sims caught 10 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown. This was aided greatly by the fact that in the picture above, the scoreboard affectionately known as Phil was clearing out Sims vertical route by holding Drummond and Dennard out of the play.  When Phil was asked what he felt his greatest contribution was he replied “I found myself occasionally turning off the game clock just to keep Maxwell on his toes.” When asked what he’s looking forward to most about the Boise State game he said “I get to turn it up to 11.”

Outside of Phil’s interaction with the game and Sims Godzilla rampage through the LB corps pass coverage the only other noteworthy note was that the Offense did convert a 3rd and 10 on the last drive of the game to put the Offense ahead. So hooray on the offense.

Last weekend I was playing an old fashioned game of pick up football.  Playing right guard, I, Carin McEvoy, 5’6” and 125lbs, tackled Spartan offensive lineman John Deyo. To the ground. And we scored.

Okay, so he didn’t land on the ground. And I don’t think we really scored. And this was no ordinary game of pick up ball.  This was a dozen Spartan women learning how to move like a Spartan offense, “playing” against the real Spartan offense, twice our size and half our age.  This was the 2012 Spartan Women’s Football Clinic.

Four years ago the clinic began in a fundraising effort to help offensive lineman Arthur Ray and his family cover the medical costs for his recently diagnosed cancer treatments.  His mom still comes to the clinic every year even though since then funds have been donated to such causes as Ele’s Place and the Lansing City Rescue & Food Bank.  The clinic, which includes a silent auction and facility tour beforehand, opens with each coach’s wife introducing her husband.  While it may be a little cheesy to hear “he’s a great father and husband” ten times, it’s so great to hear that these guys, who devote as much (or more!) or their lives to football, are still true to their families. This year’s special guests even included Special Teams coach Mike Tressel’s mom (yes, she’s a coaches wife too!).

Coach Dantonio and his wife Becky clearly enjoy this event.  I enjoyed their playful banter.  After introductions, our awesome head coach, and a few of his assistant coaches came in to teach us a little bit about football.  What I loved most was that neither he nor his coaches talked down to us.  Sure, they tried to water things down a bit (not every woman there has an awesome football blog writer husband to help explain the game like I do), but they never “dumbed” them down (Coach Warner, what exactly was that 42 wide left B 12 Pancakes & Pickles on 6 play again?!?). Coach D was especially sure we learned a few key buzzwords, and shared with us their team mantra, that Spartan football is about commitment, communication, and trust.

Coach Tressel did a great job explaining how the Spartans use our special teams as an opportunity to put the best 11 players on the field at the same time (as opposed to just whatever 11 guys are leftover).  We learned about the Kickoff Dawgs (the outside two guys who’s only job is to contain the ball), how to look for two guys double teaming an opponent in order to create a lane for the kickoff returner, that the decision to return or block a punt is made before the play begins, and that the kicker only needs protection for 1.3 seconds from snap to kick.  I’d love to talk about the 3 on 2 field goal block in the bowl game last year, but I’ll leave that for Jim to capture and highlight in film.

Coach Barnett, the Spartans secondary coach, started out by explaining the proper stance for a defensive back: heads up! See the target! Hit the target! Hurt the target! After that motivating demonstration he gave a very thorough and accessible explanation of a special play they call Hot Main Magic Blitz.  Again, while I’ll leave the pictorials to Jim, I’ll try to summarize as proof of Coach B’s excellent instruction.  Most teams apply zone pressure using a 5-man, 3-under, 3-deep formation.  This blitz uses a 6-man (linemen), 2-under (linebackers), 3-deep (secondary).  This play got us THREE “pick-six” (Coach D buzzword!) this past season!  The best news of course is that the only secondary man not coming back next season is Trenton Robinson.  The rest of the guys, Isaiah Lewis, Johnny Adams, and Darqueze Dennard, are all coming back for the 2012 season!

Coach Warner our quarterbacks coach, was the only one who went a bit above my head (and I don’t think I was the only one).  He talked about how much is going on in a QB’s head from play call to the end-of-play whistle.  He explained the false cadence (to draw an off-sides) and taught us that when the QB is under pressure he is throwing “hot” (another buzzword!). But there was a lot that went over my head (did I mention the play 17 deep underwear pockets with 64 ham slices?).

After our crash course in Xs and Os we headed to the indoor field and weight room where we rotated through a series of workouts and training exercises taught by assistant coaches and players (or former players) like Aaron Bates, Andre Sims, Arthur Ray, and John Deyo. Remember? I “tackled” him! He and Ray, along with other linemen, showed us how to set and run a play.  We even had our own “routes”! Maxwell and Warner helped us lob footballs (mine *almost* had a spiral!) at a target. (I promise we didn’t cause Maxwell’s injury!). We caught interceptions and learned to yell “Oskee!!” so the rest of the team knew to run the other way (I’ll be using this in the stands this fall).  We learned how to catch and cradle the ball while running through an obstacle course, and tried a rope lifting exercise that burned after 10 seconds (though the players can do it for a whole minute at a time!).  It was so much fun and yet I also feel like I can talk my talk that much more.

We ended the day with a talk-back about recruiting with Coach & Becky Dantonio, Brad Salem, William Gholston, & Fou Fonoti.  The rules of recruiting are mind boggling and I’m sure we only skimmed the surface! Gholston and Fou shared their personal recruiting stories, with editorials by Coach D including an enjoyable tale about a friendly game of pool between the coach and Gholston.  When Coach D stopped by one afternoon, Will was in the players lounge and mentioned that he felt he had to make a trip to Alabama.  Not one to risk such a great player and person, Coach D invited him to a friendly game of pool.

“What are we playing for?” asked the coach innocently.

“Whatever you want, coach.” the young man replied naively.

“How about this.  I win, you don’t take that trip?” the coach asked slyly.

To quote Coach Dantonio, “Will’s a man of his word.” In fact, both of these two young men presented themselves so humbly and sincerely it’s no wonder Coach D asked them to speak with us.  My daughters and I will for sure be seeking their autographs at Meet the Spartans this summer.

This year the Women’s Football Clinic registration filled up in five days and it’s no wonder why.  This clinic is so much fun for both fan and fanatic.  Both educational and enjoyable, it is a very special gift that our Spartan football staff and players give to their female fan base, not to mention the charities they benefit.  My girlfriends and I plan to make this an annual outing for many years to come.