Shaw Lane Spartans

GIF Soup Review of MSU Offense in 2012

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:57:00 GMT

I just discovered Reddit. I am a luddite. Here’s the Reddit Version of MSU’s Offensive Performance this season.

During fall camp, it was concerning that we had very little history to compare Maxwell against. It made me a bit edgy as a Michigan State blogger.

But the coaches were all, it’s cool man.

The Le’Veon hurdled that dude and MSU beat Boise State. And most fans managed to overlook some pretty serious flaws.

McGuffie!

MSU went on to kick CMU in the nads 41-7 and all was well until Notre Dame.

And now Maxwell couldn’t throw…

The receivers can’t catch because the ball is too slippery.

And the whole offense was generally on fire.

Aaron Burbridge started against Indiana and things improved.

But things did not improve by a lot and fans spent the bulk of the season discontent with the offense.

It got better as the season went on and finally kind of coalesced into this:

And now the Offensive Minds have set to work for 2013 and we remain hopeful.

The end.

All Things Are For Sale

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:46:56 GMT

Most Darren Rovell tweets make you dumber. This one does not, just sadder.

A booster’s lawyer once called @davebrandonad to ask how much it would cost to be entombed in the Michigan Stadium tunnel. Answer? $10M

— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) November 9, 2012

Ed: Dave Brandon actually responded on Twitter. I C&P his reply below. He says it was a letter vs a call and that he didn't reply. I don't think this invalidates the post, but in the interest of truth, there's that.

Rich people are weird. Very weird. Don't believe me, give the Great Gatsby a read or listen to a Kevin Smith podcast. I cannot imagine the thought process that goes into inquiring such a thing. No really, try to work through it logically and see if you can come up with a reasonable train of thought in which you're ok with being laid to rest underneath the tunnel into your stadium of choice. C'mon man if Bo didn't get that "honor" you sure as shit don't deserve it.

There were two things that bothered me about Brandon's answer. The first, is that 10 million dollars isn't anywhere near a high enough number to make sure that this guy didn't actually try to do it.

The second and much more disturbing, is that in College Athletics, all things are apparently for sale. Not in an obvious NFL kind of way in which you're going to get nickel and dimed throughout your gameday experience. It's much more subtle, in the way of donations and fundraisers, opportunities to meet the team for a 200 dollar donation. "We're going to raise your ticket prices through a mandatory donation." The definition of a donation typically includes the words "gift" and "benefit", neither of those words have a place in the NCAA business model.

The relationship between the NCAA,the business of making money and educating student-athletes has become increasingly fuzzy in recent years. Not surprisingly, that fuzziness has increased alongside with the increased TV contracts. Remember when not every game was on TV? Me neither. So you have these weird situations that crop up where everyone leaves the Big East, so the Big East gobbles up San Diego State so they still have a product for Saturdays. UConn vs San Diego State for all the marbles! Or we don't pay athletes because they've earned a scholarship and we make damn sure that they don't see a dime off the video games and jerseys attached to their likeness. I'm sure everyone buys a Le'Veon Bell jersey this year because it's a popular number that everyone likes. In fact the only people in the world guaranteed not to make money off of Le'Veon Bell's jersey are Le'Veon Bell and his family.

Here's the thing that really matters. Tom Lewand would laugh that Michigan fan off the phone because he doesn't need to bury dead people in the tunnel of Ford Field to make money. The goal of the NFL is to make money. They do so on gameday, through TV contracts and through brilliant merchandising. Because that objective is clear, we don't end up with these goofy-ass scenarios where the NCAA pretends to give a shit about the student-athlete because it needs to protect it's free labor.

If a school can't make money in athletics it shouldn't keep overspending it's budget. At a time where educational funding is as hardscrabble as it has been in a long time, it's flatly irresponsible for schools to keep asking for more money and then turning around and spending it on the Football Arms Race. When you borrow General Fund money to support your athletics department, you're missing the point for your students and your unpaid athletes.

Dear NCAA, the United States is a safe place. One of the safest in the world for a group of people who just want to make a few hundred million bucks. You could focus on making all of your members profitable and allow the dollars to stay in education instead of supporting another losing season at Eastern Michigan. You can make sure that Dave Brandon can handle a Michigan Stadium Entombment Request with some dignity and he can politely respond that "We're doing well enough at Michigan that we don't need to bury people here."

If the NCAA doesn't watch it, it might just be able to help students and athletes by dropping the notion of serving the student-athlete.

The Curse of Knowing Thyself

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 08:28:00 GMT

Tom Izzo loves March and so should you.

Michigan State lost last night’s game 66-62 and with impending jetlag and OMG Kansas, he’s probably going to lose on Tuesday. MSU loses games in November like they win games in March, consistently. While I admit my fan card for basketball is much less decorated than my football fan card, I find myself asking why anyone is surprised? This is what MSU basketball does, it’s not a slam on hoops, it’s just the truth.

KJ raises the obvious counterpoint:

Second, yes, this always happens, and Tom Izzo usually finds a way to get the team in position to succeed by March. This isn't football. There's no sense panicking over a single bad performance.

Still, losing in November is not a prerequisite for winning in March. In fact, establishing a higher baseline level of performance in November might actually lead to more success in March if the team can improve by the same amount from the higher baseline.

It’s hard to say, mostly because it’s been so long since MSU won these kinds of games. Even in the year MSU won the national title they went 2-2 against top 25 Non-Conference teams. It isn’t conjecture or mislabeling, MSU is just not good in November.

Other famous programs are not their coaches (Kentucky, UNC, Kansas) but MSU basketball is Tom Izzo and the two are inseparable. And Tom is a man with his eye on what’s important. Winning the Big Ten is important. Winning non-conference games is not important. Winning in March is important. Winning the Big Ten tournament is usually not important(last year seemed to be an exception).

It’s this ability to identify what’s important that drives our love for the guy. Yesterday, MSU played a game for the Wounded Warriors in Germany, a year ago it was playing a game for the Armed Forces on the carrier. In addition to providing a game for an audience mostly the troops, he gets a chance to teach these players that basketball is just a game and how lucky they are. Sure MSU gets some pub off it, there are other, much less positive, significant and cheap ways to get that pub, I won’t crap on anyone for that.

Tom Izzo knows who he is. We know who he is too and sometimes that’s a tough pill to swallow in November. But if these non-conference losses are the cost of all of those great Big Ten and March Memories, I’m damn glad Tom Izzo takes a month or two to figure out who he is each year.

Don’t Run on 2nd and 8 or Longer. With Stats!

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:51:00 GMT

During this past weekend’s game I tweeted the following “Stop running between the tackles on 2nd and 10, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!”. I stand by this statement, but felt like it needed some stats. And now I have them. These are the stats of what happens when you run the ball on 2nd and 8 or longer this season. This is what happens when you… well Larry, you should know by now.

Pretty awesome huh? If you run the ball on 2nd and 8 or longer you have an 18 percent chance of getting into manageable down and distance(3rd and 4 or less). 18 percent is pretty good right? It could be worse, it could be 15 percent.

One thing that did surprise me was the rate at which MSU extended the drive or scored(46.2 percent without taking out statistical oddities). There were a couple of drives MSU started in FG range and so would have gone three and out in a further part of the field. Or the Sadler Scurry! But it seemed unfair to not count these as successful drives because they were in fact successful, even if they weren’t optimally successful.

MSU has converted on 3rd down at 38.79 percent clip this season, so in plays where MSU didn’t score later in the drive their 3rd down percentage dropped to 14/38 or 36.84 percent. MSU basically assures below average 3rd down performance by running on 2nd and 8 or longer. And we’re not even talking about the garbage time runs against CMU in the second half which still provides a bit of bump to these numbers.

So if the plan is to get tricksy by hitting them with a 2nd and long run when they least expect it, with an 18 percent conversion rate, MSU isn’t putting Maxwell into manageable down and distance. If MSU converts the third down it’s usually in spite of their current down and distance on third down instead of because of it.

Anyway, just some numbers behind the rant.

Scorched Earth and Entitlement

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 20:35:00 GMT

Earlier today, I got down on people not coming to the game. There was a ridiculous amount of parking available and we didn’t have any luck passing off our tickets for free. I figured no one was coming to the game. At the root of it I felt like there was an entitlement to a team that’s good after two seasons in which MSU was indisputably good. I didn’t like the implied entitlement that by virtue of two good seasons fans now “deserve” a team that’s always competing for championships. As it turned out, the attendance was better than expected and it all worked.

Entitlement was the theme of the day in the face of the loss. A bunch of players sounded off on twitter because the refs stole the game. What? You know what cost MSU the game. Not stopping the Huskers on 4th and 10 on the final drive. Not being able to run out the clock in the fourth quarter.

I feel entitled to mouth off after the money dropped on season tickets, parking, concessions annually. I mean jeebus, I could have sponsored 5 or 6 kids in Africa who need food and shots and stuff. But I don’t, I give my money to Spartan football to slam my junk in a car door. I feel entitled to not watch crappy football.

So I am going to take my entitlement here and get a little pissed. If that’s not your bag tonight, I suggest you just move along now.

There have been a number of excuses surrounding the offense this season. Maxwell is young, the receivers are young, the Offensive Line is injured, Dan Roushar is an alien, but you know what. The offense did their job well enough today. On the day where the offense pulled through, the defense didn’t and the response? Blame the zebras? Oh, MSU only lost their four big ten games by 10 points?

Nope, the truth is that on the day where the offense did it’s job. The defense didn’t do theirs, which completely sucks. If Johnny Adams manages not to get a Personal Foul on Dennard’s pick-six, the game is over. If they manage to stop T-Magic on 4th and 10 on the final drive, the game is over. If they manage not to lose contain three times on Martinez the game isn’t even a damned game to start out with.

Outside of all that, WHEN YOU’RE RUSHING FOR 5.5 YARDS A CARRY FEEL FREE TO RUN ON 4th and 2 with 2 minutes left in the game, RUN THE DAMNED BALL. WHAT IN THE HOLY SHITBALLS DID MSU PUNT FOR? An extra 19 yards of field position? You’re either going to stop Martinez or you’re not. I don’t think the ball being at the 39 or the 20 really mattered a damn bit. Another coaching thing, when in the holy shit is MSU going to quit running between the tackles on 2nd and long? I cannot think of a single time this season where MSU has converted a 2nd and 9 or more for 5+ yards on the ground. I’m sure it’s happened, but it’s not happened a whole lot more times.

Anyway, that game was not a fun way to lose. (As though such a thing exists.) I’m going to turn off the computer and watch a football game I don’t give a shit about, like LSU-Bama. And I’ll be back ready to cheer on Monday. And so will you. And for the team it’ll be back to work(although likely twitter disabled). Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Just A Game and The Virtues of Shoulda Lost

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 09:12:00 GMT

Yesterday, I missed most of the game live. I was late coming back from a movie which caused me to miss most of the first quarter and then my wife was delayed coming home from a workshop in Ann Arbor by the dude shooting up I-96. As a result my folks and I spent the time from getting home until about midway through the third quarter helping my kids get ready for a Halloween party. Then actually taking the kids to the party.

I was salty about it all. I “hate” Wisconsin. I hope they never win at anything, least of all against us. I have the opportunity to watch both Badgerfreude and have my team be the team inflicting it. As we were getting ready to walk out the door, the Mrs. offered me the opportunity to stay home and I declined for fear of it being a trap. (It wasn’t, I think.) As I was driving to the party MSU continued to struggle on offense and I grew increasingly frustratedangryupsetannoyed. “How can any team’s offense be THIS BAD? There have been times this year I’ve thought an offense with 11 true freshmen might play better. How is the defense going to continue to be part of the team when they are clearly BCS caliber and the offense is not? And Holy God we’re going to lose to Bielema again and I hate that smug shitsipper.” And then…

“It’s just a game.” The first time it rattled through that list of surly, crappy thoughts I didn’t completely believe it. A dude got shot on I-96 yesterday. He’ll be ok thankfully, in fact, he may not agree with the “It’s just a game” sentiment:

Workers at the Mobile station told 7 Action News that the man hit by a bullet refused their help and just wanted to go to the World Series. He was eventually treated by an ambulance crew at the scene and taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital of Livingston where he is listed in stable condition.

Yesterday a man who’s much angrier about something than I am about a football game injured someone and inconvenienced thousands of people. As a result, I missed some of a football game live. I watched the whole thing later. We went to the party and the kids had a great time. I ended up “watching” the end of the game with Ty and bunch of other friends on twitter. Celebrating with them was a much richer experience than it would have been to watch the game alone. It’s just a game.

Anyway, enough about all that shit.

First off, oh hai there Bret BieLOLema. I know you lost Joel Suave and all but I bet you didn’t know our defense is rugged like Sam Elliott and shit did you? I cannot think of a more excellent way to break Wisconsin’s 21 game win streak than to steal one from Bielema at the end of the game. In case you were wondering, this makes for late game heroics in 2008, 2011(regular season) and 2012. MSU has also won the last three regular season match-ups which would normally constitute a winning streak if it weren’t for Roughing the Punter. Early prediction: MSU wins the 2017 game.

There had been a lot of talk this week about MSU dropping three conference games by six points. OSU and Michigan stand out particularly as games where a simple make instead of a miss on a FG try have MSU at 6-2 instead of 4-4 going into the Wisconsin game. I’m going to go ahead and chalk yesterday up as a “Shoulda Lost”. If Wisconsin doesn’t lose Suave, something tells me they’d have put up more than 10. After two “Shoulda Wons”, I’ll take a Shoulda Lost. If you were to go back and poke at the 2010 and 2011 teams I’m pretty sure you’d find a handful of Shoulda Losts. 2010 Northwestern and 2011 Minnesota I’m looking at you.

This offense plays well when they pass the ball with some urgency. So much so that I wrote a post encouraging some hurry-up play a couple of weeks ago. At this point in the season we are far enough along to know that our defense is filthy good. If it gets MSU an extra 10-14 points a game to let Maxwell gamble a bit more, let him do it! Even if he Rick-Sixes his way through the season I think you still come out ahead in that scenario.

The counterpoint to that argument is that with the Legends Division crown effectively out of reach and a bowl game pretty well assured now. Everything should be about preparing the offense for 2013. Next year MSU has a stupid favorable schedule skipping Wisky, PSU and OSU and getting Indiana, Purdue and Illinois. If you want to win the Big Ten MSU’s schedule is about as favorable as it can be.

It’s just a game. And MSU Shoulda Lost. But they didn’t and it was awesome. On to Nebraska.

Order Restored in Ann Arbor?

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 18:45:00 GMT

Despite having the worst MSU offense since Internet Recordkeeping began back in 2003, MSU lost to Michigan on Saturday by two. The Michigan/Michigan State internets have lit up like a brushfire about “what this all means” going forward.

Naturally, the Order of the Universe has been restored over at MGoBlog. One great throw to Drew Dileo in the last minute of the game is equal to total vindication of all Denard Robinson’s 14 of 29 day for 163 yards and no touchdowns. It’s cool to be excited about beating your rival that you don’t care about that much, but apparently cooler than I thought.

Denard Robinson is 13 of 29 for 143 yards; he's run 20 times for 96 yards. His team is down a point and has managed to turn 120 seconds into eighteen without moving the ball anywhere near plausible field goal range. A few drives ago Jeremy Gallon was as wide open as you can be on third and goal and Denard blasted it hard and behind the guy—if it was to keep it away from a defender it was because the throw was late—or Michigan would lead by three.

Behind me, some Michigan State meathead has spent the better part of four quarters screaming "throw it, Denard, huh huh huh." Juggalo Nation, reprazent.

Could it be the same Juggalo who saw this last year?

In this particular case, the stats were on the Juggalo’s side. Interesting fact. Andrew Maxwell after Saturday has a higher QB passer rating than any of Denard’s four showings against MSU. I get the delicious gooeyness of Robinson making a throw when it counts against the team that has not respected him, but it does not unmake a career of mediocre play against MSU.

Even better. After a two point home win in which Michigan did not score a touchdown.

MSU fans are still clinging to the recruiting-rankings-are-meaningless thing. They're in for a harsh reality check once Michigan's recruiting rankings are paired with something other than crippling attrition, lackadaisical talent evaluation, and crappy coaching. Maybe not next year, when Michigan's breaking in a new quarterback and the upperclass talent levels are still relatively even, but after that… back to the salt mines, Sparty. Or maybe Alabama, OSU, and USC are only good because of their helmets.

It’s certainly true that MSU is not recruiting at the clip that U of M is, but they never have. The last four years were the result of “crippling attrition, lackadaisical talent evaluation, and crappy coaching”. Which one was last year? Next year doesn’t count either since U of M will have a new quarterback and all. It might be easier if we can set up a schedule in advance of which years count based on quality of inbound recruits, home schedule and which years MSU will be having their worst offensive season since Internet Recordkeeping began. Who knows, maybe someday MSU fans can get enough UM cred to pick when it’s losses don’t count, but doubtful on account of the salt mining thing.

I’ve always hated the little brother quote. It’s always encapsulates the idea that if an MSU fan really wants to see U of M lose it’s because of a “complete obsession with the rivalry”. But if a distinguished U of M fan deigns to acknowledge the rivalry it’s because the pecking order of the Big Ten has been disturbed and requires correction.

This is a rivalry game and Michigan fans were exactly right to be excited as hell to win it. The same way MSU fans will be excited as hell to win it next time they do. This isn’t about relevance, if it were that I’d be writing about how much MSU cares about how Wisconsin not Michigan has kept them out of the Rose Bowl the last two years. It isn’t about recruiting either, after all on paper, Michigan had the better recruits the last four years. This is about being the champion of the state of Michigan. You won this year. Good for you, enjoy it while it lasts. We’ll see you in East Lansing next fall.

A Game of Finishing OR How to Beat UM Saturday

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:13:00 GMT

After last Saturday’s loss to Iowa, the season seemed lost. MSU just blew a game it was supposed to win and the Big Ten title fell out of reach in all but the Ohio State sense of official. The Spartan Internets turned into a tail-eating imploding mess. The offense looked like a blubbering pile of sadness and I assumed it was because of the rain. After watching our friends in Ann Arbor put 45 up on Illinois though, it wasn’t only the damn rain. The offense cannot move the chains and shoulder almost the entire burden of MSU’s three losses this season.

In a season of maddening statistics here might be the most maddening one of all. MSU has the passer with the most yards(Maxwell) and the rusher with the most yards(Bell) in the Big Ten. You say MSU isn’t moving the ball? Apparently they are. Even more strangely, MSU and UM have the exact same redzone percentage at 87.5 on the same number of attempts (24). MSU has even kicked fourteen field goals, seven more than UM. So how does UM average 12.7 more points per game? Simple, MSU has scored 2 TD’s on offense from outside the redzone where Michigan has scored twelve.

In past years, MSU has saved it’s fancy dishes for whenever we get together with U of M. Every year, there’s a formation or package that gets it’s grand unveiling even if it might have helped out in a game or two previously. 2012 will be no different. I’m not sure how yet, there are so many tricks that an offensive coordinator can use to hide a bad offensive line, such as but not limited to: Screens, Draws, No huddle, Slants, three step drops. How many of those have you seen? I saw some of those things in the Boise State game and then with the exception of the No-Huddle package they up and vanished like a fart in the wind.

18.7. MSU has averaged 18.7 ppg in their losses. Only Utah State and Stanford have lost multiple games while conceding fewer points. 18.7 would give MSU the 27th best scoring defense in the nation. For as much internet jabber about how the Defense isn’t holding up to snuff they’re giving up three points fewer per game than last year.

So where am I going with all of this?

The stats really bear out the story that the defense is the keystone of the team this year despite their message board whining about their lack of dominance. What’s surprising though is how close the offense has been to being keystone instead of Keystone Cops which is how I envision them in my head. The key to beating UM has nothing to do with making grand alterations to the defense. That gameplan is simple, keep everything between the tackles and just hold the score down. MSU has been able to do that the last three years and the only defense in that bunch that was better was the 2011 version. In fact Denard Wolverines have score 20, 17, 14 respectively. They’re only “due” to score 11 this year.

On offense, MSU has to finish drives this week. Notice I didn’t say in the redzone. MSU is fine once it gets in the redzone. To do that MSU will need to improve itself in the rushing game substantially. This is not a function of Le’Veon Bell, this is a function of the leading rusher in the Big Ten frequently being on a team where he’s the only trusted running back. For all of his foibles in the Punt Return game, Nick Hill looked just fine as a change of pace back against Iowa. MOAR of that please.,

This game is going to rely on Dan Roushar’s ability to take advantage of the flashes Mumphery and Burbridge have been showing. The game is going to rely on creative playcalling to help MSU finish drives. Maxwell and Bell have been moving the sticks this year in spite of the fact it feels like they haven’t been. They just need some help getting into a position to close. They don’t even need to score tons, a simple average of 17 points will be enough.

Figure out a way to get three touchdowns and MSU walks out of Ann Arbor with the Paul Bunyan trophy. It’s that simple.

The 2012 Tipping Point

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 16:08:00 GMT

I wrote like 600 words already on this, but I’m deleting most of them. All offseason long I thought 9-3 was a good estimate for 2012 MSU. I read a lot of hype about the lack of drop-off from Cousins to Maxwell and ratcheted those expectations up to the 10-2 or 11-1 type area. This is a 7-5 team and they might need to work hard to get to that number even. That’s disappointing and it’s pissed a lot of fans off. Maybe we’re greedy after two 11 win seasons, but after upping everyone’s seat prices by 50 bucks or more across the Spartan Stadium board, fans aren’t the only ones.

The players are far from the problem. They seem to be improving in spite of a dose of the injury bug this year not seen in the Dantonio era. Taiwan Jones has really emerged in recent weeks. James Kittredge has been a positive player at the Worthy spot this year. Kurtis Drummond and RJ WIlliamson are both great players at the safety position. Burbridge and Mumphery are coming along nicely and the drops seem to have dropped off some. At least the “OMG you are open like 7-11” ones.

Offensive playcalling is undoubtedly impacted when you lose two Offensive Line starters. The interior run game disappeared when Travis Jackson went down against OSU. The ability to put off a pass rush was greatly diminished when Fonoti went down.

All of that said, my patience for the offensive playcalling is exhausted right now. There is no way with a back as gifted as Le’Veon Bell and the passing game that’s clearly coming along that MSU should manage only 6 points that weren’t turnover presents. Iowa’s defense is good, but not that good. The offensive playcalling must improve for MSU to contend for conference titles, it might need to improve for them to make a bowl game. Any bowl game.

The hope of a Big Ten title is gone. You can resign yourself to that right now if you haven’t already. I didn’t until the pass to Mumphery got picked off to lose the game. Now the goal is to make a bowl game, preferably win, and fix some of these problems for 2013.

THings I liked about this game later this week or in the TOC Podcast.

An Offensive Identity Emerges?

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 09:17:00 GMT

Travis Jackson went down in the first half of the Ohio State game and with him any hope of a run game between the tackles this year. Drive charting the last two games since is not something I have time for, but it’s obvious to me that the interior run game has descended back into 2011 levels. This isn’t a sign of a terrible Offensive Line, there just isn’t an offensive line in the Big Ten that could take the loss of two full-year returning starters in Jackson and Fonoti and not struggle afterwards.

The good news is that an offensive identity is emerging. The bad news is that Coach “Run the ball and stop the run” Dantonio is probably not going to like it. MSU looks to have a legitimate offense in their no-huddle, dink and dunk offense.

In all of the games where MSU gets behind, they resort to a no-huddle, 5 WR/4WR and Bell passing look. AND THEY PROCEED TO MOVE THE BALL. When asked why they moved away from this look in the Notre Dame game Dantonio replied:

"I felt like we needed to change the tempo on the third quarter, which we did," he said. "From my perspective, I felt like we should probably have changed back and went with a more traditional offense after that, at least one or two more times. We sort of stayed in that mode too long. … We kept trying to force the issue instead of doing it more the conventional way.”

The conventional way? The conventional way is to have a QB who can run like Denard Robinson, Braxton Miller, Nathan Scheelhasse, MarQuies Gray, Kain Colter and T-Magic. Pocket passers are unconventional in college football. The rest of the pocket passers all run spread offenses, so playing pro-style football is decidedly unconventional these days. Who runs a pro-style offense anymore in CFB? Alabama? Central Michigan? MSU fans should all give Mark Dantonio a hug and tell him it’s ok to throw 65 percent of the time if that’s what wins games.

At the end of the Boise State game, Andrew Maxwell had 0 TD’s and 3 picks, only one of which was a terrible throw and even that came with 7 seconds left in the half. At the close of yesterday, Maxwell had 6 TDs and 0 picks in the other five games of the season. If MSU can move the ball in a five wide hurry up look three or four times a game, Maxwell has earned the right to run that offense. More importantly he seems to have the mental stuffin’s to do the job.

There’s gold in mixing two or three heavy passing quick series into the first half before MSU is down significant points. If MSU can pick up 7-10 points off of three no-huddle series in the first half that would lower significantly the odds of having to come from behind.

The offensive identity has emerged. It’s just that it’s come out the anti-Dantonio. We’ll see how he handles it.

A Good Offensive Drive Against ND

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:40:00 GMT

Would you believe that there was a drive in the first half where MSU was 6/6 for 34 yards passing and averaged 13 plays for 43 yards to chew up 7:07 off the clock? MSU was doing all of the things to deal with heavy pass rush pressure. RB screens, throws to the FB out of the backfield, quick little curl routes(PAST THE STICKS!), slant routes, throws to the flat.

The Burkland sack was brutal, he gets beat by his guy and really doesn’t make any effort to recover. I have to think Burkland was thinking there was a Running Back back there for more protection. Other than that, that drive was perfect. It was an excellent mix of run and pass to the inside and outside so ND couldn’t just put eight in the box and stop Bell. ND couldn’t just defend the outsides of the field because then MSU could run power between the tackles. All of the throws were high percentage, “Safe” throws(although the two almost picks by Maxwell hurt my eyes).

Roushar did an excellent job on this drive preventing ND from getting settled.For all the heat the offense took and is taking after this game, this drive was what they were trying to do the whole game. The problem of course was that in using three downs to go 10 yards a single sack for 9 yards undoes all of that good work and turns this promising drive into MSU’s only three points of the game.

How the Notre Dame 3-4 Won Saturday Night’s Game

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:41:00 GMT

It’s always difficult to write a blog post after such a complete shellacking as occurred at MSU on Saturday night. A loss like that rocks what confidence you have in your team. As far as heroes and goats, you watched the game. In broadest terms, the defense made about as many mistakes as the offense had positive plays. There’s some yin and yang in there. I won’t painfully rehash the game in narrative format, these are cosigned for your reading pleasure. A glimmer of hope: MSU’s defense routinely does to other teams what Notre Dame did to MSU.

So what in the good hell happened?

This might not be the best place to start. The best place to start is to talk about what the 3-4 is and why it gave our Offensive Line such horrible fits. The Ozone actually wrote a really excellent post on the 3-4 defense a few months ago.

If you want to run a 3-4 you’ll need a couple things for your shopping list (in order of importance).

A Giant Mountain of a Manbeast to Play Nose Tackle – Louis Nix is 6’3” and 326 pounds and has a couple of quick first steps. This is the most important and unique quality of a 3-4 you have to have a dude to play Nose Tackle who can break the size/speed curve. The number of people on earth who can play this spot is rare. The job of the Nose Tackle is to occupy the Center and a Guard on every play.
Two guys at either defensive end position who are roughly the size of a defensive tackle. Jerel Worthy moved from playing Defensive Tackle to Defensive End when he transitioned from MSU’s 4-3 to the Packers’ 3-4. At 303 and 306, Kapron Lewis-Moore and Stephon Tuitt are perfectly sized for this position. Again, finding guys who fit the size/speed curve for this are exceptionally rare.
In a 3-4 the OLBs are bigger LB/DE tweeners and have more pass-rushing responsibility than a 4-3 OLB does. The ILB’s are used for run support or covering the short-to-middle part of the field on passing downs.
The secondary is more or less the same as it is in a 4-3.

Ok, quick primer of the 3-4 complete. Now, what happened?

During the game there was more rotation of the Offensive Line than usual with the injury to Right Tackle Fou Fonoti and the replacement of LG Jack Allen with Ethan Ruhland(who was later replaced by Allen anyway). Early in the game Roushar helped Skyler Burkland(Fonoti’s replacement) out with lots of Dion Sims lining up to Burkland’s right. It was a shell game Offensive Line and we’re not even talking scheme yet. FUDGE.

Scheme-wise. By replacing Fonoti with Burkland and the rotating cavalcade at Left Guard Nix was put into a very advantageous position. If Nix attacks the A-gap between Jackson and McDonald, Burkland is left in a one-on-one situation or he requires Tight End help(both of those assume no extra blitzers, which isn’t always true either). If Nix attacks the A-gap between the Center and Left Guard, the same situation applies to France at Left Tackle and as an added bonus the Left Guard position was being made weakened by the constant substitution. After that you can bring any number of linebackers on blitzes to take advantage of the weakened Offensive Line. If you only provide one tight end for help Nix just attacks the other gap. This of course makes me wonder where Andrew Gleichert was on Saturday night.

Are we going to be using the play where MSU got beat 3 on 7 in TOC’s picture pages? You bet your sweet ass we are.

Having four linebackers free to play the run or pass as needed took away a few things. Namely, passes to the RB, passes to the Tight End and short, safe slant passes to the middle of the field. Naturally, Running Backs and Tight Ends were targeted on 23 of 45 throws because that’s just the kind of night MSU was having.

Why not go deep?

After the game I wondered a-twitter why not go Max Protect and go deep. Max Protect would be two tight ends, five offensive lineman and Bell committed to blocking for Maxwell. Bell or either Tight End can release into a pass route if they’re not engaged with a blocker. With MSU’s love of the two tight end set only behind 7-0 or so, this would be a believable looking run play right up until the ball was snapped. I suspect strongly that in rewatching the game I’ll see an instance where this happened, but it didn’t work out. Either the D sniffed it out, the D-Line blew it up before it got started or Maxwell couldn’t connect. ND’s secondary was soft and could have been challenged indirectly in the first half using the illusion of the run.

What Else Could MSU Have Done?

Bubble Screens, End Arounds, Draw Plays, Bootlegs, MOAR Playaction. I honestly have no idea if it would have helped, the Devil was in the Offense on Saturday night and with the exception of the Big Ten Title Game last fall every loss since 2009 has been a pasting. It was just a bad night in which the Offensive Line kept getting killed by a very talented Defensive Line.

Tuesday or Wednesday, I’ll try to dig into the film when I do Picture Pages for TOC. If you have a play you want me to look at, leave me something in the comments and I’ll do my durnedest.

Notre Dame (the 15 Minute Blogger Edition Preview)

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 09:48:49 GMT

Ok, this has been a superbusy week so this is all the game preview I can write in 15 minutes. It'll be like a preview typed out on an iPhone, but probably worse than that.

Offense

Bell. Bell. Bell. Pass. If that pass goes well, then it should turn more into Bell. Bell. Pass. If that goes well then the playcalling should move to a Bell. Pass. Bell. Pass. Pass. Bell type model. And who knows, this is MSU-ND, you could very well see an actual Bell Pass. The ND game in 2011 is where Roushar was going to grandly unveil the Unbalanced Line he had been plainly working on all offseason, but MSU got behind early and running is not useful when you're down two touchdowns on the scoreboard but behind seven TD's in your heart. MSU will look to set up the pass as early as they can get away with because ND's secondary is wet-behind-the-ears, but their front seven is probably the best MSU will see this year(with apologies to Urbz and OSU).

Defense

Holy Defense! Pat Narduzzi ripped his defense for "not allowing an offensive touchdown" this year. He's like that fan back during the Minnesota game in 2010 who bitched at the MSU defense for having allowed zero points to that point in the game. That guy was a clown shoe. Pat Narduzzi is not a clown shoe. MSU played some pretty vanilla defense against CMU but didn't get oodles of push on CMU's offensive line. So, who the hell knows. This is the frustrating part of the college football season, you don't know what playbook doesn't exist and what playbook is just being kept secret for uncovering at a key moment of making Brian Kelly angry.

Obligatory Little Giants Drop

This play is overdone, but holy crap I can't remember a longer eternity that lived inside my head for just the two seconds the ball was in the air.

Is Brian Kelly an angry oompa-loompa?

No man, he's a huggable care bear.

Prediction

The thing about MSU-ND games is that they are close and the home team usually wins. The strengths and weaknesses of these teams cancel each other out well. MSU's run game is strong, ND's run defense is strong. MSU's pass game is not as strong(although ranked first in the Big Ten!!!!) and ND's pass defense is not as strong. In the end though, I don't think the defense has really had to work at it yet to hold their opponents scoreless and that's why I think MSU wins this game.

Obligatory Score Pick

MSU 20 Notre Dame 17

Opponent Preview: Notre Dame

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:35:00 GMT

Earlier this week I was contacted by Frank from the Unofficial Home of Notre Dame blog. He’s been kind enough to write a Notre Dame preview for us. You can also check out the MSU preview I wrote for them over on their site. Luckily, they were kinder to me than they were to LVS over at Inside the Irish.

Offense

It wouldn’t be the Brian Kelly era at Notre Dame is there wasn’t a good, old-fashioned quarterback controversy would it? After a fairly impressive performance from sophomore Everett Golson, Kelly called on Tommy Rees to lead what turned out to be the game winning field goal drive last week after Golson lost a fumble deep in his own territory to set up Purdue’s game tying score.

Before his miscue, Golson was 21 of 31 for 289 yards and a touchdown. The first year starter missed on some throws and left a couple of touchdown passes on the field, but overall he was very solid for making his second career start. Still, when the game was on the line, Kelly sent in his incumbent starter fresh off his one game suspension.

After the game and ever since Kelly has reiterated that Golson is starting quarterback, but questions on just how long he will stick with him should he struggle against stronger defenses now persist. As we saw last year, Kelly can have a quick trigger finger with his quarterbacks.

In Golson Notre Dame has a quarterback that can hurt you with his arm and potentially his legs. I say potentially because despite a high school highlight reel full of athletic runs and escapes, Golson has yet to really showcase that skill since assuming the starting role. As with most young, inexperienced quarterbacks, Golson remains gun shy and hesitant at times – almost being too conscious of making a mistake to the point of it holding him back.

What we have seen from Golson in his two starts however is a quarterback with a lot of poise and a really strong arm. He took some hits and had some passes sail on him this past weekend, but we’ve also seen a pretty accurate quarterback as well.

On the ground the Irish gashed an overmatched Navy defense to the tune of 293 yards in the season opener, but Purdue had it’s way with the Irish offense line and Notre Dame struggled mightily to establish any semblance of a ground game on Saturday.

Notre Dame’s rushing attack should be bolstered this weekend by the return of Cierre Wood.. The 1,000 yard rusher from a year ago returns to the lineup after a two game suspension for “violating team rules.” Wood is Notre Dame’s best back, but even he won’t be able to do much if the offensive line struggles as much as it did a week ago.

Outside of Wood, Notre Dame features two other talented backs in Theo Riddick and George Atkinson III. Riddick was the primary replacement for Wood while he sat out while Atkinson is the home run threat of the group. For whatever reason though, Atkinson was not prominently featured in the Irish game plan a week ago.

In the receiving department, the Notre Dame passing attack starts and finishes with Tyler Eifert right now. The senior tight end showed why many consider him the best tight end in the country against the Boilers before suffering what was reportedly a “slight concussion”. His availability for this weekend is not certain, but odds are the All American will be in the lineup. If he is, Michigan State will have to commit resources to stopping Efiert. Purdue left a single corner on Efiert at many times throughout the game which given Eifert’s size is an immediate mismatch.

Outside of Eifert though, Notre Dame has yet to find a go to wide receiver Sophomore Davaris Daniels has the looks of the next #1 wide receiver for the Irish, but he is still learning how to become a dominant receiver on the college level. Like Eifert, Daniels was banged up against Purdue as well and his status for this weekend is unknown at this time.

Junior TJ Jones has looked good on some wide receiver screens, but he hasn’t had his number called often so far.

A couple of names to look out for at receiver are Roby Toma and Davonte Neal. Toma, a senior from Hawaii, came up with a huge catch for the Irish on the game winning drive and is just one of those players who makes plays whenever he is given the chance. Neal, meanwhile, is a true freshmen with a ton of talent and incredible speed who has yet to be prominently featured in the Irish offensive game plan. Neal saw some action against Navy but was relegated to special teams duty a week ago.

Of course, at the end of the day, how effective the Notre Dame is on Saturday will be determined by which offensive line shows up. Against Navy the Irish offensive was tough, disciplined, and dominant. Against Purdue, that same offensive line was sloppy, weak, and at times overmatched by the Boilermaker defensive front.

The talent and experience are both there for the Notre Dame line, but last week they took a step or two backwards after a very promising start to the season.

Defense

Defensively, Notre Dame’s strength lies within in its defensive line. Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix have both taken steps towards becoming dominant players this season. Through two games, Tuitt already has 4 sacks from his defensive end position while Nix has 1.5 of his own to go with 3 total tackles for loss. Both players are matchup nightmares for almost any offensive line they will face right now. Michigan State may have to commit an extra blocker inside for Nix to avoid a repeat of what the junior NT did to Purdue a week ago.

Notre Dame is a little banged up on the defensive line though with the status of 5^th year senior defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore in doubt. He missed the majority of the Purdue game and it’s unclear whether or not he will play this weekend.

Depth could be a concern for Notre Dame at DE this weekend with Lewis-Moore’s primary backup, freshman early enrollee Sheldon Day, banged up as well. If Day can’t go either, Notre Dame will mix in sophomore Tony Springmann and junior Kona Schwenke.

The star of the Irish defense is middle linebacker Manti Te’o. The Hawaiian native surprised many by coming back for his senior season and he has done nothing to disappoint so far this year. Te’o has shown improved coverage skills this year to along with his great instincts and hitting ability.

Notre Dame’s other linebackers are more of a question mark. Outside linebacker Prince Shembo has been a great pass rusher for this Irish so far this season while sophomore Ishaq Williams has been up and down. Notre Dame should get a boost at OLB this weekend with the return of Dany Spond who missed the first two games with injury. Inside, next to Te’o, Notre Dame got Carlo Calabrese back from suspension last week, but the senior inside backer looked lost in coverage and could be a target early and often for Michigan State.

In the defensive backfield, Notre Dame’s extremely green scorners looked much improved over their week one performance last week against Purdue. Notre Dame is starting a true freshman and a converted wide receiver at corner this year in Kei’Varae Russell and Bennett Jackson and while both struggled in week 1, both bounced back with great games in week 2.

At safety the Irish have a pair of experienced starters in Jamaoris Slaughter and Zeke Motta. Slaughter left last week’s came after delivering a punishing, incompletion causing hit and the Irish secondary struggled in his absence. Notre Dame needs a healthy Slaughter in the secondary to help mask the inexperience the Irish have at corner.

Special Teams

Place kicking has been a bit of an adventure so far this year, but sophomore Kyle Brindza delivered in the clutch last week when called upon. Still, the Irish have struggled at this point in the early season with each facet of the kicking game – snapping, holding, and kicking. If Saturday were to come down to a field goal attempt by the Irish, Notre Dame fans will be collectively holding their breathe no matter the distance.

In the punting department, Ben Turk turned in possibly his finest game in a Notre Dame uniform. The senior has been inconsistent throughout his career, but Saturday he came up with several big kicks and helped the Irish defense avoid too many short fields.

Notre Dame features dangerous returnmen on both kicks and punts. On kickoffs, Michigan State fans likely remember George Atkinson very well for his kickoff return for a touchdown against the Spartans in South Bend a year ago. He is back as the primary return man for the Irish and his return on Notre Dame’s final drive helped set up the go ahead field go.

At punt returner, Notre Dame features a dangerous albeit still fairly untested freshman in Davonte Neal. So far Neal has had the looks of a return man who is capable of breaking a big return but has yet to do so. He has also shown a knack for fielding some kicks he shouldn’t have – a habit that will get him trouble sooner or later.

Final Analysis

This game is going to come down to the Notre Dame offensive line vs. the Michigan State defensive line and just how much Brian Kelly is willing to remove the training wheels for Golson.

Michigan State is going to look to pressure the young Irish QB and force him into mistakes or to take sacks – the later of which he did frequently last week instead of forcing the issue. It will be the job of the Irish offensive line to slow down that rush to give Golson time to make some plays. Two weeks ago that was a matchup that I felt reasonably comfortable with. After last week though, I have some major concerns about Notre Dame’s ability to hold up against a quality defensive line like Michigan State’s.

Just how much Kelly removes the training wheels from Golson is going to determine how effective the Irish offense is on Saturday. So far Kelly has kept Golson fairly under his reigns in terms of play calling – something that has created issues with procedure penalties and wasted time outs the last two weeks. Kelly will have to let Golson run a little free this week.

I don’t see either team running away with this one and think it will be farily low scoring. I would love to predict a Notre Dame win this weekend, but while I certainly think the Irish are capable of escaping with the victory, I think Michigan State ends up winning this one by a field goal.

The Passing Game: MSU’s Offensive Strength?

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 21:29:00 GMT

Butterface or Butterface Boy for the lady folk. For many long, laborious, football-droughty months the MSU Passing Attack has been the perceived butterface of the MSU 2012 football team. Even the wildest hopes in the preseason included the idea that maybe MSU might be able to move the ball with some sort of consistency by the end of the 2012. Until then it’s going to be 98 carries a game from Le’Veon Bell and the hope that the Defense can party like it’s 1951 and that a 10-10 tie is the limit. What’s strange though is that you might not have to wait very long for the Pass Game to pass the Run Game, because at least in yardage it already happened.

Michigan State currently ranks 41st in Total Rushing Yardage nationally and 31st in Total Passing Yardage. Michigan State is moving the ball effectively through the air, but not spectacularly, ranking 50th in Yards Per Attempt. Yet, MSU keeps throwing, ranking 30th in total pass attempts. Some of this is the result of CMU being a glorified practice game, but Maxwell’s 22 of 38 against Boise State retrospectively was more significant than it sounded at the time. Indeed Captain Kirk only threw 38 or more pass attempts three times in his MSU career, Northwestern in 2010(come from behind win), Notre Dame in 2011(The misery) and The Outback Bowl in 2012. In the VERY early goings, Maxwell is on pace to average 34.5 pass attempts per game. Kirk’s highest total for a season was 29.9 in 2011(he had 26 in 2010 and 27.3 in 2010).

There’s been some message board criticism of the pass protection this season as well, but so far the Offensive Line has allowed zero sacks. There are nine other teams who have played two games who also have allowed zero sacks. Most of those schools play quick-release passing attack football(See: State, Boise). Maxwell may not have had eons and epochs to throw, but, he’s getting the ball out on time.

Right now the perception of MSU’s offense is that Le’Veon Bell is judge, jury and executioner of the whole offense. But as anyone knows who’s watched some MSU football in the past two years, Dantonio knows a thing or two about Sleight of Hand. MSU is very quietly throwing the ball as much as they did under the Captain Kirk regime and Maxwell will continue to improve throughout the season. (The way the Big Ten this past weekend he might not even have to improve after Ohio State.)

So “Run Le’Veon Run”, but MSU will continue the death of 1000 paper cuts in the passing game all season long.

Time To Forget The Bad Times

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:06:00 GMT

On a 4^th and 1 play designed to sustain the drive, Kolton Browning ran to the endzone. The overtime touchdown sealed University of Louisana-Monroe’s win over the #8 Arkansas Razorbacks. ULM just knocked off the number 8 team in the land in their own house. The same ULM who hadn’t won their season opener since 2006, the same ULM who hasn’t had a winning season since ESPN started keeping W-L stats in 2002. There were mitigating factors, like the loss of Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson, but a team as talented and deep as Arkansas should be able to knock off ULM with their second string. This was a dang coaching mistake perpetrated by everyone’s favorite clown in head coach paint, John L. Smith.

So when I read Chris Vannini’s Free Press article today titled “Michigan State has no excuses for not winning the Big Ten this year" I get an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Logically, I agree: The Big Ten looks terrible this year, and MSU has the best combination of talent and eligibility to represent the Big Ten in Pasadena, despite some questions in the passing game. But still, my stomach feels wobbly at the idea of Michigan State being assigned the role of “Favorite”.

For this, fans owe one John L Smith a giant collective therapy bill. If you’ve rooted MSU football since prior to the arrival of Mark Dantonio, the scene which played out in Little Rock Saturday night is not all that shocking, it’s something we’re used to. Knock off a Goliath, lose to a David. It’s not solely John L’s fault, even St. Saban knocked off two top ten teams in 1998 while losing to Colorado State, Purdue and Indiana. And look at him.

But after a quarter century of inconsistent play and just two short seasons of ass-kicking football, MSU fans aren’t used to being the Big Ten’s steady hand. Yet, that’s exactly what’s happening in spite of MSU’s inexperienced QB and receiver corps. As fans, this is a difficult role for us to embrace.

Two years is an eternity in the sports narrative and the last two years have been the best MSU football has had to offer since the 60’s. The Spartans have won 15 straight at home since the opener in 2010. Their five losses have all been to ranked teams. MSU was a missed punt block away from playing in the Rose Bowl last fall.

The national sports narrative doesn’t remember the torrential downpour in which Brady Quinn piloted Notre Dame to a come from behind win in 2006. They don’t remember Jaren Hayes valiantly trying to knock jump balls away from Braylon Edwards despite being 7 inches too short for the job. You do. You were there. You were cheering and screaming. You remember the clock rolling zeros in excruciating detail.

The body of evidence is present. MSU has been one of the most successful programs of the last two seasons . Nationally, no one thinks of MSU as the “sleeping giant” anymore, the little engine that could if they only could stop tripping on their own feet. They’ve forgotten all of our worst memories of MSU football.Maybe it’s time for us to try and do the same.

Friday Afternoon YouTubin’: Central Michigan

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:26:00 GMT

Payback’s a bitch.

THE HORROR! THE GODFORSAKEN HORROR!

Well at least the youtube era has yielded a positive outcome for us to show the world. Last year we only had the Horror! If you’re going to the game check out this Q&A with Mt. Pleasant tips. Little Brother Blog does a post on Maxwell’s chance to make a statement. You can get a Central fix over at the Chip Report. Enjoy the game everyone!

Game Preview With Some Film: Central Michigan

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 22:16:00 GMT

This weekend MSU travels to Central Michigan. Yes, you read that correctly. As a part of Mark Hollis’ State of the State Where MSU Football Plays Round Robin the Directional Michigan Schools State Series Continuum, MSU will travel to Central, Eastern and Western Michigan by the year 2020. First up, Central on Saturday.

After MSU’s fastidious but unspectacular win against Boise State last weekend they’re looking to get some glorified practice time against a school that’s struggled mightily since Dan LeFevour left Spartan fans after squeaking out a win in EL in 2009. Dan Enos took over as Head Coach in 2010 and has led the Chips to a 7-18 record since. This has not sat too well with Chip alums and fans who enjoyed the privilege of being the best team in the state of Michigan in 2009 as you might imagine.

The Chips are coming off a pretty unspectacular 38-27 win against Southeast Missouri State last Thursday night. The Chips conceded some points to the Redhawks and trailed or were tied until late in the third quarter. There should be a name for this phenomenon. When David plays Goliath in college football, David can hang tight until well into the second half, but, Goliath aint tired in the fourth quarter.

Last week Central was Goliath, this week, back to being David. This is undoubtedly the biggest game to come to Mount Pleasant since Soaring Eagle signed the paperwork and made it official. Local businesses are turncoating Spartan as well as some students. A win would secure another year for a Dan Enos head coaching gig that is trending, well, not well. A loss would be expected, a bad loss could give some fuel to the get rid of Dan Enos train.

On CMU Defense:

The Chips run a 4-2-5. The link in the previous sentence goes to Gary Patterson’s seminal work on why the 4-2-5 is cooler than Le’Veon Bell breakin’ fools all game long.The 4-2-5 is a defense similar to what Narduzzi runs here at MSU. The defense uses basic alignments but uses that simplicity to mask where the blitz is coming from on each play. As an added note of MACtion, the Redhawks are lined up in the pistol here.

Like MSU, CMU is very faithful to their base defense. Even on third and 20, CMU came out in this 4-2-5 they just gave up a bit more cushion from DB to receiver. On the Redhawks 55 yard TD run they ingeniously used all of their speed on offense to get the edge like so:

Redhawks are back in the pistol. Another speedy 1-AA dude goes into motion and starts running towards the QB.

1-AA Dude actually turns around and starts running behind the QB getting ready to set up the option.

The two backs originally lined up in the backfield go upfield to block out(read: slowdown) the offensive line from reacting to the option. Now this is just a “simple” option play.

QB holds on til the very last second and pitches.

But by now Number 4 is off like a bat out of hell and gets in for the touchdown.

MSU Rushing: If Le’Veon Bell played for Southeast Missouri State he’d be like the third fastest dude on the field. SE Missouri State made it’s hay off of having a bunch of little dudes who can run like the wind. (See: State, Appalachian). When SE Missouri State ~~tried to run power~~ they didn’t try to run power really. If MSU wanted to challenge itself, they could use this game to try running speed to the outside so they could get a sniff on how much Baker might be missed for the Michigan game or something. Power running looks like it should be there all game,we all know it was against Boise who also ran a 4-2-5.

MSU Passing: I couldn’t find an up-to-date depth chart, but, the problem with the 4-2-5 is frequently your Star/Robber/Bandit is tiny.Sims will be open even when he isn’t because he’ll 80 lbs heavier than the fifth DB lined up across from him. Additionally, the way Central plays with it’s four DB flat with a ten yard cushion Maxwell should get oodles of practice throwing safe intermediate passes. Don’t expect lots of deep throws,CMU’s defense is designed to give up small to moderate gains and work to string together three stops.

On CMU Offense:

CMU runs the Multiple Offenses similar to MSU. Some of which are screencapped below.

This I-Formation should look familiar. They come out in the I “a lot”. Like “4 out of 5 plays I’ve watched so far” a lot.

Here CMU runs a Pro Set. You don’t see this at MSU, MSU almost exclusively lines up in some variant of either the Single-Back, the I Formation or the Shotgun 5WR. You don’t see a Pro Set very often in college football and in fact this may be the first time it’s use has been recorded in MAC history. Enjoy folks, you’re seeing Bigfoot here. The pro set offense helps take advantage of CMU’s running backs Zurlon Tipton and Garland/RB2?.

On 3rd and Long, CMU runs Shotgun 4WR. So I’m pretty sure you know how this all goes.

CMU’s offense is constructed similarly to MSU’s, if you didn’t know better you might think Dan Enos coached at MSU. The only thing “new” to the defense that they might see this weekend is the introduction to some pro-set formations.

MSU Run Defense: Keep CMU’s running backs in the middle of the field, Garland/RB2? looks quick enough that if you let him get the edge he has the speed to burn you. Both have good vision and respectable speed.

MSU Pass Defense: This game is going to have sacks and sacks and sacks and sacks. Shotgun appears to be a formation reserved primarily for third and long. The problem for CMU is that MSU’s front four can get respectable pressure without Narduzzi crazy blitzes. So, they should just motor right through CMU’s Offensive Line. If MSU struggles for any reason to generate pass pressure, that’s not a very encouraging sign.

Overall:

CMU is Diet MSU. There’s almost nothing here that MSU hasn’t seen before or doesn’t practice against everyday with Big Ten Legends Division Championship players. Worry if the Defensive Line isn’t forcing Radcliff into all kind of bad decisions, but the offense should be able to sustain itself based schematically on CMU’s defense. Le’Veon Bell is just a huge plus. Maxwell will get lots of medium range target practice in this one and MSU officially doubles up the series 6-3.

Score Prediction: MSU 38 CMU 10.

Film Review: The Great Roushar I-Formation Caper

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 20:40:00 GMT

The offense stepped onto the field friday night for it’s first series. There’s a good chance the poor kids in Africa who get all of the Buffalo Bills Super Bowl championship t-shirts from the 90s knew that MSU was going to hand off to Le’Veon Bell on the first play. So MSU lining up in the I formation should be expected, right? RIGHT? MSU lines up in the I Formation and Roushar tosses in his first wrinkle of the season on the very first play.

Yes, that’s right. Larry Caper was lined up as the fullback. Boise doesn’t appear to react at all. There’s really no reason for them to, after all the I formation is still the I formation and Bell is still getting the ball.

The ball snaps and Caper goes out to get his block on this HB sweep.

Caper gets popped here. While he doesn’t lay waste to second level linebackers like an Offensive Lineman would, he does manage to take a potential Bell tackler out of the play at the Line of Scrimmage, which allows Bell to pick up four on this play.

The strange thing is that one of the things I’ve learned from rewatching Friday night’s game is that Palazeti is a definite upgrade from previous years in the run blocking game at Fullback. He routinely took his guy out of the play all night long. So why even bother with this wrinkle?

Then in the second quarter:

Notice how much farther back Caper is lined up in this instance? He’s almost an extra yard back, which doesn’t seem like much, but it might be enough to telegraph the upcoming “FB handoff”.

Caper gets the handoff and start his off-tackle run. The linebacker who is correctly crapping his pants everytime Bell touches the ball tonight, freezes when he realizes Bell doesn’t have the ball and that Caper in fact has the handoff. MSU has handed off to the Fullback probably less than two dozen times since Dantonio came to town, so it doesn’t surprise me that Boise would ignore the notion that MSU might have handed off here.

But by now Caper is already out to the same level as the linebacker and appears to have a hole the size of Rhode Island to run through. Sims is already engaged with a second level blocker and Caper looks almost assured to pick up the first down.

Caper cuts inside instead of outside. Just outside of the frame to the upper left of where it says “Wide Open Spaces” lurks a deep safety who is probably just waiting for Maxwell to drop the hammer on playaction. So the space is open for now, but cutting outside isn’t the obvious good I thought it would be when I screencapped the play. So to answer my own rhetorical question, you bring Caper in as the “fullback” so he can take an unexpected handoff later in the game and pick up some needed yards.

This is the kind of Rousharian quirk that’ll get you some extra needed yards out of this run formation when you really need them. By having Bell and Caper(both capable receivers) in the backfield the potential to move into a 5 WR set is there, the potential to motion Sims(Dion) back as an H-Back into a heavy run formation is there. This ties strongly back into Roushar’s shared tendency with Scott Linehan to line up in a typically strong run formation and switch to a pass play or vice versa.

Or maybe it’s just a quirk MSU played with once and we’ll never see again. You just never can tell.

Game Recap: Boise State And Adjusting to the New

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 09:14:00 GMT

My wife is a former bando. As such we tailgate on Adams Field and the beginning of every home game starts for us by following the band in after they’re doing Series. If you haven’t yet done this, it’s a part of the gameday experience not to be missed.

On the ensuing walk is one of my favorite moments of coming to Spartan Stadium. As you walk towards the Sparty statue the stadium comes into view from behind the trees and that’s the moment it all comes together. I’m no longer part of pedestrian crap like having a job or worrying about paying bills. The next 3-4 hours belong to me, my friends and my family.

Last night we round the bend and the very first thing I see is HOLY SCOREBOARDS. I had intentionally avoided going to see them in person so my first experience would be last night. People say the pictures don’t do their size and grandeur justice. People were right.

Through a ticketing snafu we ended up sitting detached a couple rows over and up from our main block of friends and I got to watch the game with my wife and a couple friends from out of town. The last time she and I watched the game alone was probably MSU-Hawaii in 2004 and she fell asleep at 2:30, like a reasonable person should. The scoreboards were beautiful and amazing and frankly distracting at times. We watched our new Quarterback lead his new receivers against a Boise State opponent that had no business at Spartan Stadium and the whole game just felt surreal.

It was like watching a game in an alternate universe where what I know about Michigan State football offensively felt broken. MSU ran on third and short to wild success. The sure handed receivers were trying to catch a buttery football all game. Maxwell managed to avoid getting sacked, but probably would have been safer to get sacked a couple times. The PUNTER got a late hit penalty. (I actually thought this was kind of badass.)

The most amazing thing about it though is outside of the fact that Bell CANNOT tote the ball 44 times a game all season, nothing about the offense was statistically broken. Except turnovers obviously, but that can be fixed. 10/19 on 3rd down? In 14 games last year MSU did that once. Time of Possession of 39 minutes I suspect that’s a Dantonio record as well. The defense stayed fresh and only allowed three earned points.

The challenge as fans was adjusting to something new. This was not the Michigan State team we had come to know and love the last two years. It also wasn’t the Michigan State team of 2009 with the offensive sputters or the 2008 Ringer throws to Ringer who passes back to Ringer or even the 2007 Ringer/Caulcrick Offensive Victory march. This was just something altogether different and different is bad and scary and new. The newness is certainly not over yet either, what we saw on offense last night is unlikely to reflect the polished product of 2012, but it won’t be what we’ve seen before.

Bullets?

Bullets

The Good

Le’Veon Bell scored himself a pair of the hover shoes from Back to the Future II. His ability to get positive yardage on every single play won MSU the game last night. A beautifully executed performance by him.
Dion Sims and Maxwell are going to cause some problems for anyone who doesn’t have 260 lb linebackers this year. Which is to say, everyone.
I don’t know if there’s an English word to describe our defensive performance last night. Inexorable comes to mind. Merciless is another.
I’m actually going to put Maxwell’s performance in the good category, but only just. Of the three picks only one goes squarely on him and MSU was pressing because it was the end of the half. What concerned me more was the throwing the ball while he was getting sacked. Take a sack dude, we’ll still cheer for you.
The defense sniffing out the two throwback plays in a row. I’ve never seen a team, not even Boise, do that before. Keeping on their toes for a second trickeration play was sharp.

The Bad

Uhm, the receivers had a bumpy night. I’d wager a guess(I haven’t rewatched yet) that of Maxwell’s 16 completions that roughly half were catchable balls.
The offensive gameplan cannot be to run Bell 44 times a game, he will need new legs by season end if MSU even a few more times.

The Ugly

I know Roushar gonna Roushar, but the reverse pass to Lippett made me crazy. Overall I thought he called a pretty good game, but we were moving the ball well on that drive. The trickeration seemed unnecessary.

1-0. On to Central.

Friday Mornin’ Youtubin’ Returns

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:02:00 GMT

It’s friday morning of gameday. Are you going to pay attention to work or class? Hell no you aren’t. Football’s back! The greatest 4.5 months of the year starts today. Are you ready to get pumped up? Watch these videos and prepare your vocal cords for glory tonight. Lots of help comes from twitterer Pietrang5. You need to subscribe to his youtube channel here.

Let’s do this friends.

Game Preview: Boise State

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 07:00:00 GMT

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

Michigan State Football and the Satisfaction of Absurdly Futile Labor

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:49:00 GMT

“The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.”

--Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus”

The Rose Bowl defines “mythic.” It is legendary, eternal, iconic, inevitable. It has always been the ultimate goal of every Big Ten football team, every season, since our parents’ parents’ parents were young. It is the Granddaddy of them All, and it is one of the last things about college football that retains any of its ancient magic.

The last time Michigan State went to the Rose Bowl, I was six years old; all the adults in my life made sure I understood every ounce of that weighty accomplishment. It had been 22 long years since the mighty, undefeated, No. 1-overall ranked Spartans were upset by UCLA, and MSU’s subsequent triumph over Rodney Peete and USC was all the sweeter for it.

This season’s Rose Bowl will mark 25 years since 1988, and 47 since 1966. That’s nearly half a century spent grinding between the middle and top ranks of the Big Ten conference, only once tasting its ultimate prize.

I have two children older now than I was then.

MSU AD Mark Hollis has said the football program’s goal is to go to Rose Bowls, yet in the remarkable first five years of Mark Dantonio’s tenure it’s achieved everything but. Dantonio is 44-22 as the Spartans head coach, including back-to-back 11-win seasons. The Spartans have gone to a bowl every season he’s been at the helm. They beat Michigan in Ann Arbor, and then in East Lansing, and then in Ann Arbor, and then in East Lansing. His Spartans have clinched a Big Ten Championship, won their inaugural division championship, played in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game. They’ve played for or won everything a Big Ten team can save a BCS National Championship Game . . . and the Rose Bowl.

In 2010, under 2009 rules, Michigan State would have gone to the Rose Bowl. In 2011, under 2010 rules, Michigan State would have gone to the Rose Bowl. Like Sisyphus, no matter how well or how often they push that rock up the hill, it seems they will never, never push it to the top. They’ll be doomed to win double-digit games and somehow miss the Rose Bowl for eternity. It is ridiculous, absurd that all that incredible effort and achievement is repeatedly denied its deserved reward.

But as Camus said in his essay, “happiness and the absurd are two sons of the same earth.”

In the intervening years, money and greed has chipped away at everything that made the Rose Bowl the Rose Bowl: from the swollen conferences that play for it, to the BCS system that prevented it from hosting their two champions every season, to new system that will protect the Rose Bowl Game Presented by VIZIO by ensuring it will sometimes feature the second- or third-best of each conference, and sometimes an unrelated national semifinal.

What was once “the best of the East versus the best of the West” will only happen if neither the Big Ten Champion nor Pac-whatever Champion are good enough to crack the top four nationally (unlikely), or if both do in a year the Rose hosts a semi and the seeds work out (even more unlikely).

BUT STILL.

The Rose Bowl still holds a massive sway over our collective subconscious. No team has ever buzzed on the sidelines of the fourth quarter their last game with a bag of Tostitos in their teeth. No team has ever collectively raised oranges into the air with fists clenched as time expires on their regular season.

It also holds sway over Mark Dantonio. John L. Smith never made it to the Rose Bowl. Bobby Williams never made it to the Rose Bowl. Tellingly, Nick Saban never made it to the Rose Bowl. If Dantonio could get to the top of that hill, in the same job Nick Saban couldn’t? It’d be a fantastic achievement and a wonderful way to cement Dantonio in the pantheon of Michigan State all-timers.

It also holds sway over the Spartan players. Throughout 2011, Spartan players talked about the Rose Bowl, wrote about the Rose Bowl, Tweeted “#P4RB,” over and over and over through spring ball, summer camp, and all autumn they sighted their target and aimed and again they just, barely, missed.

“As for this myth, one sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone, to roll it, and push it up a slope a hundred times over; one sees the face screwed up, the cheek tight against the stone, the shoulder bracing the clay-covered mass, the foot wedging it, the fresh start with arms outstretched, the wholly human security of two earth-clotted hands. At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward the lower world whence he will have to push it up again toward the summit. He goes back down to the plain.

It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end. That hour like a breathing-space which returns as surely as his suffering, that is the hour of consciousness. At each of those moments when he leaves the heights and gradually sinks toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock.”

It is this season that interests me. The Spartans open their schedule with Boise State, and a chance to contend for national glory. This season’s Spartans can prove that even if the Gods have cursed them to spend eternity just barely failing to reach their goal, they can nevertheless achieve immortality.

The Offense Gonna Party Like It’s 2007

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:32:00 GMT

It’s fall of 2007, Fall Out Boy was popular, The Office was still funny and Mark Dantonio brings his cliché-driven coachspeak to the mike in his inaugural season. MANBALL wasn’t invented yet as a term but come hell or highwater Mark Dantonio was bringing it back to East Lansing. The temptation to drop some App State LOLZ right here is so completely inviting, but I’ll resist. Barely.

Oh yes, this crap was popular five short years ago.

MSU had it’s QB of the future in Brian Hoyer and he was taking over the reins of the new MSU Offense. He had played intermittently in the 2006 John LOLOLOLOLOLOL going away season and after John L was shitcanned got to play two full games. In those games MSU took the leash off and let Hoyer throw at will. In fact Smith said after one of the games:"We ran the ball 15 times," Smith said, "and it was 15 times too many. We probably should have thrown it another 15 times and maybe we would have gotten the win." This just in: John L can be a dick sometimes. He and Arkansas deserve each other. Long story long, Hoyer’s experience was intermittent combined with two games none of the MSU staff gave a rip and two shits about.

MSU also returned two of the better running backs in the Big Ten in Ringer and Caulcrick. An extremely athletic mismatch of a tight end in Kellen Freeman-Davis and a bunch of unproven receivers. In 2006, MSU lost Matt Trannon(Who ALSO PLAYED BASKETBALL!), Kerry Reed and Jerramy Scott to graduation. Despite how completely shittastic John L was at recruiting Offensive Linemen, MSU returned a pretty average to maybe slightly above average offensive line in 2007.

Sound familiar? It should.

Obviously the point of all this is that while MSU is returning a serious lack of experience at the skill positions the MSU staff has been here before. Not so very long ago even. Maxwell is obviously less experienced than Hoyer was, but, both QBs were renowned for their accuracy coming out of high school. The offensive line is shaping up to be the best since 2007 with the 60 some starts between returning players. Bell is every bit as good and better than Caulcrick was, Caper and Hill will combine to be a reasonable facsimile of Ringer’s production. If you trade Bell for Ringer in terms of WOW factor and accept CaperHillr for Caulcrick as the steady change of pace back, the rushing attack could be just as effective. Bennie Fowler has already been drawing comparisons to Devin Thomas. Dion Sims is another freakishly athletic Tight End in the mold of KFD. KFD was a bit trimmer and lithe but watching linebackers try to tackle Sims is like watching nine year olds trying to tackle a full grown man.

So How Did MSU Do in 2007?

MSU finished 2nd in the Big Ten and 29th nationally in total scoring offense at 33.1 ppg. They finished 3rd in the conference in rushing offense and 25th nationally. Coincidentally or maybe not so much, this was the only year of the Dantonio era where MSU was MORE likely to run on 3rd and 3 or less than pass. Passing Offense: MSU finished sixth in the conference and 62nd overall, so that stung a bit. Turnover margin was 2 on 18 Offensive turnovers in 2007 and 7 on 18 Offensive turnovers in 2011. So if MSU can turn the ball over 18 times or less in 2012, they’ll do just fine at negating the impact of turnover margin.

MSU managed to make do in 2007 with plays designed to take advantage of their strengths. Devin Thomas was plenty fast and they got him rushing yards by running 27 end arounds that averaged 6.56 per carry. Jeez even KFD had 6 end arounds that year. You could set an egg timer on the 50 yard playaction bomb on 1st and 10 of the third drive. The offense was simple, use the run to open up the pass and I’ll bet you one hamburger that’s how MSU opens on Friday night.

For all the fretting about how the Offense will come together in 2012, this isn’t new territory for MSU. They already did this back in 2007 and with a much less impressive defense backing up the Offense. If MSU can recreate it’s success in 2007(33.1 ppg most of the Dantonio era) fans won’t have to hope for a very good season in 2012, they’ll be smelling the roses and enjoying life.

Assume The Position: Defensive Line

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 21:51:00 GMT

Here we continue our 2012 position previews. I aim to be occasionally right, barring that I’ll shoot for humor. For your enjoyment, I present the Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Fullbacks, Wide Receivers, Tight Ends, Offensive Line, Linebackers and Secondary.

Projected Starters: William Gholston(DE), Marcus Rush(DE), Anthony Rashad White(NT), Micajah Reynolds(DT)

Key Departures: Jerel Worthy, Kevin Pickelman

I saved the best for last. The dessert of the 2012 position previews comes now. The MSU defensive line is the heart and soul of the Michigan State football team for both 2011 and 2012. In 2011, this unit was the lynchpin of a defense that dominated the Big Ten and 2012 will be no different. MSU returns 3 of 4 starters losing only Jerel Worthy to the NFL. Much speculation has been made in the off-season as to whether or not someone will replace Worthy’s devastation on the interior DL. The answer is yes. And No. White showed out big time in the Outback Bowl with an explosive performance that culminated in a field goal block to win the game.

To fill the actual place of Jerel Worthy the spot has been bouncing back and forth between Micajah Reynolds(who has been MSU’s Mr. Fix-It for a year or two now) and Tyler Hoover( who has struggled with injuries on and off throughout his career). Reynolds goes 6’5 and Hoover goes 6’7”. This has lead to a bit of internet chatter that Mr. Hoover might be too tall to play the 3 technique. But Tyler Hoover would tackle the damn Sears Tower if you let him.

With the amazing work Heck did on the Double A-Gap Blitz a couple weeks ago it should be noted finding someone to blow up the interior line on heavy LB blitzes isn’t the key thing. The place Worthy will really be missed is in generating pressure in just a down four formation. Still, the other three starters should be plenty strong enough to cover if this position struggles to get out of the gates against Boise State.

The Other Guys(It’s Late and I want to start writing about Boise State tomorrow instead of finishing this).

Watch out for Joel Heath and Shilique Calhoun, both are younger versions of Gholston and Rush respectively. Lawrence Thomas is going to eat someone’s face on the Defensive Line whether it’s at DE or DT. Brandon Clemons was highly rated coming out of high school and James Kittredge turned some heads since transferring from Vandy Since it’s not uncommon for MSU to rotate 8-11 guys in at DL throughout a game any or all of these guys could play as early as the Boise State game.

Overall Summary

The Defensive Line is stacked. Like our Linebackers our second string would start for half the Big Ten. Expect them to continue leading the defense to lots of turnovers and sacks all season long.

Here’s Your Shield, Dennis Finley

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 20:27:00 GMT

Dennis Finley committed to MSU on Sunday. He’s the unlucky thirteenth commitment overall and the ~~second~~ first offensive lineman. Finley’s offer sheet includes Ohio State, Wisconsin, Illinois and a half dozen other BCS level schools. He’s an offensive tackle, from Detroit Cass Tech rated three stars by Rivals, Scout and 247. At 6’6” and 285 pounds he is literally a big pickup and we should be very…

Just what the shit are you trying to pull here?

Um, I don’t know.

MSU scored a commit from a highly sought after player from Cass Tech? No less a player who plays Offensive Tackle, the single position at MSU one might wonder if MSU dabbles in angering a relative of AIRBHG?

Yeah, that’s more or less the deal.

Here’s the thing, MSU doesn’t get players from Cass Tech. Ever. The ancient texts of Rivals.com indicate that since 2002 no kid has attended MSU from Detroit Cass Tech. Update: The last one was Roderick Maples back in 2000. If they didn’t go to Michigan and they could play, they’d leave the state. Also, Finley had a committable offer from Ohio State and instead picked MSU, the last kid to do that was Dion Sims. It should be noted that Finley did not have a Michigan offer. In case you were under a rock the day that Michigan filled their entire class full of Rivals Top 150 linemen back in February, they did exactly that. They went from zero to full Offensive Linemen in 24 hours. Finley is a very solid prospect, but Michigan felt they had better choices. This was a huge pickup in three ways.

So now we crack open Cass Tech forever and grab that juicy morsel of talented kids AMIRITE?

No, I think this is like how Hoke raided Farmington Hills Harrison(a notoriously MSU leaning school) in 2012. MSU got a kid they wanted at a position they needed in a year where UM had higher targets than Finley. The same was true in 2012, I don’t think MSU was particularly high on Funchess or Ojemudia. Allegiances gonna stay loyal bub.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

Do you like horror movie music? Me neither.

What’s to Love About This Kid?

Well, he’s a huge dude and fast. Like almost all Offensive Linemen he’s just too big and strong to really “play well” in these videos. They end up falling over because they hit their guy so hard they lose their balance. His hulksmash is fun and he should do well with a year or two of coaching before he sees the field.

Prediction for 2013 and Beyond

Finley redshirts in 2013. It’s so very rare for an Offensive Lineman to start as a freshman and usually signals a lack of depth on the OL in general. He’ll be groomed well though for when France and Burkland are both gone and could be a four year starter should he excel in the way his offer sheet would imply he should.

Upshot for the rest of the class

MSU will take 15 or 16 in this class unless there’s huge attrition in the offseason. I’d bet one more of those will be another Offensive Lineman. Taking only one for the class of 2013 seems a bit crazy pants. This class would have been sweet if Benenoch had stuck around.

Here’s Your Shield Demetrius Cooper

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:26:00 GMT

I still need to do the write-up on Devyn Salmon, but given the timeliness issue I figured I’d write about something that happened in the recent past.

Demetrius Cooper committed to MSU over the weekend, he’s the twelfth commitment overall and the second defensive line commitment for the class of 2013. Cooper’s offer sheet includes highlights of Notre Dame, Purdue and the all important Single Redeemable Offer Good for Any School in the MAC. He’s ranked a three star recruit by Scout and 247 and has yet to be ranked by Rivals. A three-star Rivals ranking with that kind of offer sheet is virtually assured.

Hype on Cooper

Cooper arrived on the scene after blowing up the Sound Mind Sound Body camp earlier this summer. There’s a good video of Cooper abusing dudes including Spartan Commitment Dennis Finley over at SpartanMag($). At 6’5” and 220 he’s got great height to develop into the 6’5” 260 lbs kind of guy that Dantonio clearly likes at the Defensive End spot. At 220 lbs however, he’ll have a fair amount of work to do to put on some quality muscle before he sees playing time in anything other than obvious passing situations. Luckily this is what he does well already.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

If you’re a tackling dummy, you’re boned.

ESPN also has video, NO PAYWALL! Unfortunately no highlights either.

What’s to love about this kid?

Well, from what limited video is available for free, he’s quick as a cat and viciously unkind to tackling dummies. So if you’re an Indiana Offensive Tackle, he doesn’t need to improve at all to kick the crap out of you. That’s all the video we have on him right now.

Prediction for 2013 and Beyond

Cooper redshirts in 2013, even with the loss of Gholston and a four percent chance of losing Marcus Rush. There’s been no shortage of hype surrounding Shilique Calhoun and Joel Heath as the number two DE’s or even Lawrence Thomas as the #3 DE. Add to that the fact that Cooper’s high weight estimate is 225 right now, but in two interviews he was quoted as being around 205 he needs to put on quite a bit of good weight. He’ll probably see time in MSU’s Delta package as soon as 2014 though because he’s a crazypants pass rusher.

Upshot for the rest of the class

Unless your name is Montravious Adams I think it’s unlikely we take anymore Defensive Line in 2013. MSU will take 15 or 16 for 2013 and they’ve already filled 13 spots there’s just not a lot of room left. MSU still needs to grab another Offensive Lineman in addition to Finley and I think the last spot or two might go to BATFAN(Best Available That Fills A Need).

This is normally where I write an advertisement looking for quality Offensive Linemen, but we seem to have gotten one over the weekend in Dennis Finley. More on that tomorrow.

Assume the Position: Wide Receiver

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 09:49:00 GMT

Here we continue our 2012 position previews. I aim to be occasionally right, barring that I’ll shoot for humor. For your enjoyment, I present the Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Fullbacks, Tight Ends, Offensive Line, Linebackers and Secondary.

Projected Starters: Bennie Fowler(X), Tony Lippett/Keith Mumphery(Z), DeAnthony Arnett(Y)

Key Departures: All of them. Cunningham, Nichol and Keshawn Martin. 68.8 percent of all receiving yards.

The script has been clear all summer long. The 2011 WR corps accounted for 68.8 percent of receiving yards in an incredibly effective passing attack. MSU has a ton of talent that has yet to prove itself on the football field. Just because these statements are boring and ominous doesn’t make them any less true.

Bennie Fowler has been the heir apparent at the Wide Receiver position since late 2010. Fowler is probably best known for the Mousetrap play below:

Fowler missed almost all of 2011 with some sort of ankle injury. He appears to be fully healed and ready to lead the WR corps in 2012. Dantonio recently mentioned that Fowler was having a camp like that of Devin Thomas back in 2007. Thomas had 79 grabs for 1260 yards and 8 TDs that year even though he was in triple coverage on every play by the end of 2007. Fowler is the surest thing MSU has going at a pretty unsure position.

At the Z position two guys who seem likely to see time on the field are Tony Lippett and Keith Mumphery. Lippett played QB in high school, CB in college and has moved over to WR for the 2012 campaign. One of my concerns for Lippett is that he’ll get drafted back to the defense if either Adams or Dennard goes down. The CB depth has improved such that this shouldn’t be an issue, but until it isn’t an issue I remain 22 percent skeptical.

Keith Mumphery was the leading receiver in the Spring Ball season this year and has played right alongside Maxwell the past two years, he figures to work in consistently throughout the season as well. Mumphery is one of those Georgia guys who brings the ESS EEE CEE speed to the MSU mix.

DeAnthony Arnett will likely be MSU’s starter in the slot position. MSU doesn’t really do three starters at WR(that’s a John L thing), but he’s most likely to be the first slot guy up when needed. Andre Sims also had a nice spring at this position. Here’s a video of DeAnthony Arnett blowing up some kids in high school camps Will Campbell style.

All of that said, after everyone but Fowler your consistent WR producers are pretty much a crapshoot. The great news is that everyone will get a fair shake, the bad news is that this MSU staff doesn’t seem real quick to settle in position battles. Love that in the long term, could lead to a frustrating ND game.

The Other Guys

MSU had a huge Wide Receiver class in 2012, none of whom are mentioned above. Top ranked WR commit Aaron Burbridge is out 4-6 weeks with a knee injury. Given where that would put him on the development curve plan on him redshirting this year. Monty Madaris was injured in fall camp with a high ankle sprain. This likely will end up in a redshirt for him as well. Kyle Kerrick enrolled early and could be one of those lunch pail guys who ends up making it, but not in 2012. MacGarrett Kings appears to have the inside track on the Keshawn Martin role down the road, but he’ll be more of a 2013 or beyond type guy as well. Juwan Caesar has been very talented since coming to MSU, but also injured often.

Future Blair White Watch

Tres Barksdale is a walk-on from Solon Ohio who has gotten lots of dap from coaches including this quote from Dantonio. “He makes catches down the field, he knows where to line up, he knows where to go on the routes, and he’s been impressive because he makes plays,” Dantonio said. “There’s not been a practice that’s gone by that he hasn’t made plays for us.” John Jakubik made noise in Spring Ball.

Overall Summary

In addition to the loss of many receiving yards and touchdowns, a quieter thing that will be missed is that both Cunningham and Nichol were excellent run blockers. Martin was no slouch either, but Cunningham and Nichol were excellent. Frequently their target was deleted out of a play. We will miss that this year against defenses that are slow to the edge like Michigan. We’ll find people to make catches, but this is a critical aspect of second-level rushing that will need to get addressed at some point.

For 2012, Fowler is the only sure thing at a very unsure position. As is the blessedly wonderful script since our John L abuse took place, the talent is there, it’s just sifting through to find a cohesive unit that will be challenging. This year will undoubtedly be aggravating at points because MSU staff stick with a starter a game or two beyond where the general fan consensus would be to move them. Lippett, Mumphery and Arnett all will see plenty of playing time in 2012. The future of this position seems assured, but the present is pretty damn unsteady right now.

The Scoreboard Needs a Nickname

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 21:24:00 GMT

Throughout history, men have taken to name inanimate objects to create a “personal connection”. Everyone who owns a boat/yacht/ship/dingy names it something like “A Little Nauti” or “Hot Ruddered Bum”. (You can find more terrible ship names here.) The same is true of weapons. The A-Bomb detonated at Hiroshima was named “Little Boy”, the world’s largest gun, the Gustav Gun.

So seriously, doesn’t this terrible bit of HD genius need a nickname?

I originally tried nicknaming it Phil, in honor of Phil Knight. Phil Knight obviously is Aldous Huxley’s choice to play the role of Henry Ford in the sports world remake of Brave New World. But I didn’t really like it, it doesn’t seem a name befitting of such a monumental achievement in sports. How monumental you ask? Well MSU now sports the fifth-largest videoboard in the nation according to Wikipedia.* The two dinky boards in the north end zone would come in at 43rd overall at 1654 square feet a piece.

* – Heh heh heh. See who’s 13th on the list. Smaller seats and smaller screens == A Better Gameday Experience.

The main board needs a nickname and I’m asking your help in contributing the nickname to the blog. Leave a suggestion in the comments below. If we get enough suggestions we can do a vote. So c’mon, MSU just spent a yacht’s worth of cash on this thing or at least most of a yacht’s worth of cash. Let’s smash a champagne bottle on this thing and nickname it for the blog.

Here’s Your Shield: Jay Harris

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 10:44:00 GMT

Jay Harris committed to MSU on June 25th just hours after Wide Receiver Trey Kilgore gave his oral commitment as well. He’s the tenth commitment overall and some of his notable offers were Temple, Old Dominion(do they even have a football program?) and maybe Pitt? Rivals indicates a Pitt Offer, Scout and 247 want you to get that weak sauce out of here. Despite the reported Pitt offer Rivals rates him a two star prospect where 247 and Scout rate him three stars. Apparently with Rivals if you get a Pitt offer you lose a star. Seems logical to me. The Freep reported offers from PSU, Rutgers and Maryland as well, but Rexrode didn’t work there yet. So get yer salt out on that.

40 Time

As always, I think they’re crap, but, people seem to care about them. So he runs a 3.7. Jay Harris flat demolished Usain Bolt in the 100 while eating a sandwich. This is where I usually list a 60 or 100 meter time, but he doesn’t appear to have run track. So a measurable guage of flat foot speed is going to be hard to get.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

Did you like camera shake in the Blair Witch project? Yeah, me neither.

What’s to love about this kid?

Well, at 5’11” and 175 if you guessed that MSU has a slot receiver on it’s hands you guessed correctly. If you watch the tube, you can see he has a great nose for where and how to get yards after the catch. He also has a very nice stutterstep to get his over coverage outta his face. It’s hard to judge his deep speed from this tape, all this deep routes were underthrown. I didn’t see him get lined up in man coverage, but that probably also means coaches knew better than to put him in man coverage.

Prediction for 2013 and Beyond:

Andre Sims, DeAnthony Arnett and MacGarrett Kings are all natural slot receivers who will have experience on this kid in 2013. Harris will redshirt undoubtedly. He’ll be more likely to see the field as an upperclassmen than early in his career. UNLESS…. Roushar as a secret Richrod package up his sleeve. Then it’s all Harris all day right away.

Impact on the rest of the 2013 class:

Between Trey Kilgore and Jay Harris that’s it at wide receiver unless the Super Stud Wants to Play at State Scenario transpires. Offensive linemen? We need you. Come to Michigan State pronto.

Assume the Position: Secondary

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 07:17:00 GMT

Projected Starters: Johnny Adams(CB), Darqueze Dennard(CB), Isaiah Lewis(S), Jairus Jones(S)

Key Departures: Trenton Robinson(S)

It’s 2009, Marvin McNutt has just caught a slant pass to beat Michigan State on the last play of the game and 75,000 people just threw up in their mouth a little bit. Rick-Six Stanzi has just marched the length of the field and looked excellent doing it in under 2 minutes. Where the hell is MSU’s pass defense? There were implications in the following days, MSU doesn’t have the right players, they don’t have the right scheme, maybe Narduzzi isn’t all that good of a coach, etc.

My how times have changed.

In 2011, the MSU secondary put on it’s big boy pants and had improvements in almost every pass defense related metric.

What the hell? I thought you said they were a lot better.

Well, aside from the passing yardage they were really about the same. So how about an improvement from 20 sacks in 2010 to 45 sacks in 2011? An extra 40 Tackles For Loss from 2010 to 2011? The passing yardage improved so dramatically in 2011 because the blitzes were getting home quicker than John L would go three and out. From 2010 to 2011, the number of pass attempts as a percentage of total offense dropped from 48.3 percent to 44.4 percent. Not only were teams not as successful in throwing the ball, they were throwing it less often as a result.

So what about 2012?

MSU returns three starters in the secondary, Johnny Adams, Darqueze Dennard and Isaiah Lewis. All three had at least one pick-six last year. Something tells me that puts MSU in some pretty elite company in terms of returning secondary talent. Johnny Adams returns for his senior campaign after a brief flirtation with the NFL. He decided to return for 2012 and is a consensus potential first-round draft pick.

Cue the Pietrang5 Highlight Film. Twitter: https://twitter.com/Pietrang5

If I have a single bone to pick with Johnny Adams it’s that he draws penalties for being too aggressive. I’ll follow that up by saying if you want to make an omelet…

Darqueze Dennard

Dennard returns as a junior this year. A two-star recruit out of high school he had some pretty tepid offers, like Middle Tennessee State University and Utah State. He was forced into action as a true freshman in 2010 when Chris L. Rucker was suspended for his, ahem, legal issues. The craziest part of all was that he was pretty darned decent. As a sophomore in 2010 he recorded 3 picks, 1 for a TD. More importantly he proved that he has the Dantonio gift of being a corner who plays well in run support while being every bit as good as needed in pass coverage. In 2012, expect him to continue his development as a Chris L. Rucker like corner.

Isaiah Lewis.

I like the title as much as anything.

Lewis had moments of tremendous athleticism in 2010 while playing more heady football. Lewis’ development curve reminds me a lot of Gholston. In 2010, it was raw athleticism leading the way, in 2011 it was lots of excellent athleticism with responsible play and in 2012 I expect both will take the next step of playing strong with some really heady plays as well.

The Other Guy(Free Safety)

Currently, all of the tea leaves point to Jairus Jones being the guy to fill Trenton Robinson’s shoes at Free Safety. Jones suffered an Achilles tear in Spring Ball: The 2011 Edition, but seems to have the inside track on the starting job. The real challengers to his precarious position are returning safety Kurtis Drummond who played in MSU’s nickel package last fall as the extra DB. Drummond had two picks in a fraction of the snaps that everyone else was on the field(although to be fair I’m sure an unnaturally high percentage of picks happen on 3rd and long). True freshman Demetrious Cox has earned high praise this fall as well. Cox committed to MSU around signing day over A Single Redeemable Offer Good for Any School in the Midwest. Cox is the future, but it looks like the present will be duked out between Jones and Drummond.

The Other Guys

Corner: Fifth year senior Mitchell White will be the first guy up if either Adams or Dennard are injured. White was a starter briefly in 2011 but was replaced as the quality of Dennard’s play improved. Arjen Colquhoun,Trae Waynes and true freshman Ezra Robinson are the future of the position. Should Dennard/Adams get injured it wouldn’t surprise me to see one of the younger guys step in and play some minutes too. Mylan Hicks has finally recovered from whatever chronic injury has been plaguing him so depending on how he shows out he could be in the backup mix as well.

Safety: It’s pretty cut and dry here. Between Cox, Drummond and Jones, one will be the free safety and the other two will be the next guys on the field. RJ Williamson has also shown tremendous potential so far and I probably should have mentioned him above in “The Other Guy” section. True freshman Mark Meyers doesn’t figure to see the field this year given the enormous logjam in front of him at the position. BONUS Wild Ass Guess SECTION! One of the guys who doesn’t make the cut here takes a whack at returning punts or kickoffs. There have been no rumblings as such there’s just so much talent here that the staff will work hard to get it on the field somehow.

Overall Summary

The 2011 MSU secondary was a good unit that played great with the help of an improved pass rush. In 2012 the secondary cannot count on the pass rush to help them out as much. The loss of Jerel Worthy will be felt especially in the first couple of weeks. To further complicate matters MSU opens next friday against Boise State home of the three step drop followed by a two yard pass. Fans will easily be able to take the temperature of the secondary with it’s minimum pass rush help and maximum confusion factor on account of the 9000 page Boise State playbook.

The remainder of the year this unit will be top of the class in the Big Ten. If for no other reason than they aren’t going to play any real formidable quarterbacks with the exception of Iowa’s James Vandenberg and mayyyyybe Braxton Miller? After those two the secondary really only needs to be good to play great.

Assume the Position: Linebackers

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 07:19:00 GMT

Projected Starters: Denicos Allen, Max Bullough, Chris Norman

Key Departures: No one. Absolutely no one.

In 2011, Max Bullough and Denicos Allen were tasked with the responsibility of replacing Greg Jones and Eric Gordon. Prior to the beginning of the 2011 campaign there were whispers that Bullough and Allen might be just as good, maybe even better than their predecessors. And they were every bit that good. The 2011 linebacker unit teamed up for 248 tackles, (32) TFL’s and one pick, whereas, the 2010 unit teamed up for 257 tackles, 17 TFLs and 4 picks. Every bit as good and depending on how you value TFLs maybe even better.

In 2012, the linebacking corps returns all three starters and a second string that would start for half the Big Ten and a third string that would start for a couple of Big Ten teams whose feelings I don’t want to hurt. Sorry Indiana. Even if he regresses slightly, Denicos Allen will still spend his time in the Big Ten harvesting the organs of Quarterbacks who are not spritely enough to get away. He might sell them on the black market, he might not. You don’t get to decide. Denicos Allen decides for you. Max Bullough will continue to be the pillar for the defense. His great Houdini act in 2011 was not replacing Jones’ production, it was knowing the defense well enough to get them in position. The internets have pointed to Chris Norman as the only guy who might be a little bit in danger of losing that starting job. Frankly this seems pretty damn unlikely to me, you don’t replace a four year starter. Unless….the other guys are that damned good.

The most obligatory video drop in MSU history… since Little Giants

The Other Guys

Whew. Where to start. If you are a scholarship linebacker at MSU in 2012, you could start next week at beautiful Indiana University. As an added perk, you’d be able to continue battling for the Old Oaken Bucket each year! Added perk part 2! You’ll never have to worry about the bus space to bring it home!

If my photoshoppin’ were a bit more up to snuff this would be where I would drop a pic of our elder statesmen as the Jedi Ghosts at the end of Return of the Jedi. All three of the following guys have played in the past and can hold down their spot in case of emergency. Last year, Kyler Elsworth had several key stops in the Wisky and ND games. TyQuan Hammock hits like a wrecking ball from hell. Steve Gardiner has looked ok in spot duty the past couple of seasons. Of these three expect Elsworth to play rotationally and the other two to play in cases of injury.

But that’s not the story of MSU’s depth at linebacker. The story is with kids from the classes of 2011 and 2012. These are the kids who are rumored to be pushing for playing time now. Just today,the Free Press did a post on how Ed Davis might just be another Greg Jones. Riley Bullough and Jamal Lyles are true freshmen who may yet see the field in 2012. Darien Harris has consistently been listed in the two deeps at the Star position. And Taiwan Jones, oh Taiwan Jones. Aside from having the coolest name on the team, he was the only true freshman to play in 2011. Whenever he was on the field he was the dude who looked impossibly large for his size. Also impossibly fast for his largeness. Jones goes 6’3 and 230 and figures to be one of those players MSU will find a way to get on the field.

The linebacking corps is set for many years to come even if Allen(RS-Soph), Bullough(Jr) and Norman(Sr) all leave after this year. Did I really just type a sentence that implied two underclassmen linebackers will be good enough to leave at the end of 2012? Damn.

Overall Summary

MSU’s quality starters and depth at linebacker are unmatched anywhere in the Big Ten this year. I guess if Ohio State counted they might be close, but they don’t, so there’s that. The biggest “concern” is that two of the three starters might be so good they leave as underclassmen and I’d rather have problems of talent than “Get Yer Piss Hot” John L Smith problems. Behind the starters are a bevy of players ranging from experienced and talented to young and very talented. This is the deepest position group in my MSU memory with apologies to…no one I guess. Expect the linebackers to compensate from any drop-off from the loss of Worthy and continue punishing quarterbacks.

Videoboards Push Offense Past Defense 52-48

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 19:04:00 GMT

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.

Here’s Your Shield: Trey Kilgore

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:26:00 GMT

Trey Kilgore committed to Michigan State on June 25th, 2012 in the Great Theatrical Week of Post Camp Committing. He is the ninth commitment overall and one of two Wide Receivers. Kilgore was sporting offers from Iowa, Boston College, Kentucky and he had the all important Single Redeemable Offer for Any School in the MAC including Cincinnati. They are just the pluckiest little MAC school. Kilgore is currently ranked a 3 star prospect by Rivals, Scout and 247.

40 Time

We all know 40 times are bullshit. Kilgore’s PR in the 400 this spring was a 50.48. Which is cooking but not top end. That shouldn’t surprise you a whole lot when you see his film. He’s fast, but not holy crapply pants fast.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

What’s to love about this kid?

Someone get RichRod on the phone, this kid can run the crap out of the zone read! Kilgore has some nice shake, not DeAnthony Arnett shake, but a quick shoulder shuffle that’ll get him out of a couple open field tackles. He accelerates smoothly and has nice top end speed. After watching some of his throws, I’m left to think that he’d have played QB for one of those MAC teams if he’d have taken their offer. He does a good job looking the ball in even when a sideline or hit is coming up on him.

Prediction for 2013 and Beyond: I have to think that because of the logjam at Wide Receiver this year that Kilgore isn’t likely to see the field in 2013. Once we see the 2012 Wide Receivers it’ll be more apparent whether or not he has a chance to beat out some of them for PT in 2014 and the FUTURE!

Impact on the rest of the class: MSU received a commitment from Jay Harris later that day to also play Wide Receiver. That’s probably it at Wide Receiver.

Also, holy crap. Offensive linemen. Do you like being overweight? Like mostly muscle with a bit of fat? Do you appreciate when Kirk Herbstreit calls you a HogMolly in NCAA football? If you’re a good Offensive Linemen would you object to having people measure your arm length at an NFL combine? Would you feel weird when people dispute whether 32 inch long arms or 33 7/8” inch long arms determine whether or not you can block Julius Peppers?

If none of those things sounds objectionable to you, consider a college career as a Michigan State Offensive Linemen. The perks as previously stated include training table, hanging with Sparty, hitting football players from other schools, etc.

Call the football office for details!

Assume The Position: Offensive Line

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 06:08:00 GMT

Here we continue our 2012 position previews. I aim to be occasionally right, barring that I’ll shoot for humor. For your enjoyment, I present the Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Fullbacks, Tight Ends.

Projected Starters: Dan France, Jack Allen, Travis Jackson, Chris McDonald and Fou Fonoti

Key Departures: Joel Foreman

In 2011, the much maligned offensive line managed to buy Captain Kirk enough time to get MSU to the Big Ten title game. The offensive line and Cousins teamed up to allow one sack per 27 passing attempts. Not too damn bad for a unit who was starting a first year JUCO Right Tackle and a converted defensive tackle at Left Tackle. So pass protection. Check.

Run blocking was another matter entirely, MSU finished 11th of 12 in the rushing game and struggled between the tackles. I had a theory that Baker’s regression in 2011 was tied to the fact that he would run to where the hole was supposed to be. If the hole didn’t develop for him, he’d just run right up the backs of his offensive linemen. Bell would adjust to where the hole developed and picked up a few extra yards. Beast Mode. So run protection. Needs work.

Despite the loss of four year starter Joel Foreman, you’re going to see a vastly improved offensive line in 2012. Dan France comes back for a second year at the Left Tackle spot but will be pushed hard by Skyler Burkland. Burkland suffered an ankle injury in the Notre Dame game last fall but was already showing flashes at the Right Tackle spot. Joel Foreman will be replaced by ~~Blake Treadwell~~ Jack Allen. Blake Treadwell has a stress fracture in his right leg and will miss a minimum of six weeks, meanwhile Jack Allen has been coming on strong. Unfortunately, I think Treadwell’s odds of getting Wally Pipp’ed are pretty high here. Travis Jackson is a redshirt sophomore who started 10 games last year and was a plus player on the offensive line at the center position. Chris McDonald has been selected as a pre-season contender for the Outland trophy and his nickname is Magnus. My nickname is nowhere near so cool as that, and neither is yours. Fou Fonoti also had a solid 2011 especially considering last year was his first with the program. This year he’ll take a big step forward too.

Also Fonoti’s hair is heavenly:

An article from the Wall Street Journal talks about the role of experience at the Offensive line position. Specifically, in 2008, eight of the top ten teams returned an Offensive Line that had more than 65 starts. This group from MSU has 48 starts between the lot of them. The best news. Two of those guys(France and Jackson) will be back next year. This should be the “Just For Men” offensive line, enough gray hair to know what it’s doing, but young enough to do it anyway.

The Other Guys

Henry Conway has had a strange story at Michigan State. He suffered a cracked vertebrae a couple years ago and so despite being a mountain of a man hasn’t really seen the field. Best of luck to him of course. The two-deeps at all five spots are pretty respectable. Left tackle(France/Burkland) and left guard(Allen/Treadwell) could turn into straight up position battles throughout the season. Ruhland, Klatt and Conway are all fine backups at the C, RG and RT positions respectively. After the two-deeps, you get into walk-ons and true freshman. I doubt either group sees anything outside of mop-up time.

Overall Summary

In 2012, the Offensive line will move from being a patchwork of who’s around and can stop Kirk Cousins from getting killed to a force who can clear some lanes for Bell, Caper and Hill. The four returning starters should aid Maxwell in making his transition to the Captain’s chair and get Bell some room to breathe. Expect McDonald and Jackson to contend for All Big Ten honors and don’t rule out Fonoti either. If MSU can get back to Pound Green Pound, you can probably thank some of these gents for that ability.

Here’s Your Shield Riley Norman

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 21:30:00 GMT

Riley Norman committed to MSU tonight with a track scholarship according to Josh Helmholdt of Rivals. As a Rivals Top 250 Offensive Tackle he would have been a great fit for the football team. And holy wow does MSU need offensive tackles. His football highlights are just ridiculous. Picture a grown man slapping around kindergartners, that’s about half as savage as these highlights are. Actually, just watch them below.

The kid really wants to shotput in college and who could blame him? He tossed a 61’ 2.5” this season in the shot and a 167’ 7” in the disc. For comparison, Reese Hoffa PRed this season at 71’ 3” and the gold medal winner finished the disc at 224. The 12th place finisher in the shot at the Olympics put a 65’ 7” toss. Norman may well have not just a college career out of this, he might well have real international potential at shot and disc.

Will he play football at MSU?

According to Helmholdt, no. Football has more scholarships than any other sport, so if Norman accepted a track ride, he’s going to do track. Otherwise they’d put him on football scholarship and let him do track in the Spring.

As bright as Norman’s future in football is, it takes some stones to run down the thing you love. Especially when track has just a fraction of the commercial success that football has. Best of luck to him and hopefully we can all watch him get his Reese Hoffa on in 2016 or 2020.

That man is an Olympic athlete and a damned fine one too. I’m living my life wrong.

Assume The Position: Tight Ends

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 06:29:00 GMT

Here we continue our 2012 position previews. I aim to be occasionally right, barring that I’ll shoot for humor. For your enjoyment, I present the Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Fullbacks.

Starters: Dion Sims, Denzel Drone, Andrew Gleichert

Departures: Garrett Celek, Brian Linthicum

In 2011, MSU had a pretty solid rotation of tight ends with Linthicum, Celek and Sims. Linthicum was the point guy for all of Dan Roushar’s Linehanian Tight End devilry. Celek and Sims took turns being hurt and catching passes. The Tight End group combined for 498 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2011.

In 2012, Linthicum and Celek depart and are replaced by…

Guys, we did remember to recruit some Tight Ends after Linthicum and Celek, right? Surely, we did not recruit for the last five years and only bring in Dion Sims? Right? Guys? No? I mean surely you’re not telling me we intend to run an offense that relies on two tight end sets to disguise intent right up until the snap with Dion Sims and a bunch of tight end n00bs right?

It’s not fair to say that MSU has an Angry Tight End Hating God a la AIRBHG,but their luck since Dantonio has come to town has been poor. MSU didn’t take a Tight End in 2008 or 2010. In 2009 they took Sims who hasn’t been a consistent presence on the field, but has been a breathtaking mismatch when healthy. They also took Derek Hoebing in 2009 who currently sits fourth on the depth chart. In 2011, MSU brought in Paul Lang who suffered a pretty severe back injury and according to the message boards(WHICH ARE NEVER WRONG) his career might be over.

But I thought you sarcastically implied(in italics no less) the coaches recruited adequately for the type of offense they like to run?

I uh… thought they did. Not taking a Tight End in 2008 or 2010 and then having Hoebing not really pan out makes three years where MSU’s Tight End recruiting has one very talented Tight End to show for it’s efforts. True freshmen Evan Jones and Josiah Price look pretty promising, but are true frosh. As such they might be good in 2012, but it’s not fair to expect that of them.

Dion Sims

Dion Sims has had an up and down career with MSU. Sims is a constant mismatch for defenses because he has linebacker speed but is 30-40 lbs heavier than your average B1G linebacker. In 2009 he caught 11 passes for 133 yards and 3 touchdowns and in 2011 he caught 12 passes for 99 yards and 3 touchdowns. In 2010, Sims redshirted after being convicted of laptop theft that occurred while he was still in high school. He’s had issues with injuries in both 2009 and 2011 which isn’t surprising. Humans are not meant to be 6’5, 285 lbs and move like Sims does. He’s poised for a big year if he can stay healthy. He’s been named to the preseason Mackey Award list and will see his catches go way up in 2012. Expect big things or injured things from Sims in 2012.

Denzel Drone

Denzel Drone moves over to the tight end position after a very productive year at DE/DT in 2011. Drone played flat out of his mind in the Georgia game when injuries dinged up the defensive tackle position. Drone starts the preseason as the number two tight end on the depth chart and if he can continue his development curve at tight end, watch out.

Andrew Gleichert

Gleichert will push for playing time in 2012 and had a couple catches in the Spring Game. He also lead the Tight Ends in catches after the most recent scrimmage. At 6’5” and 250, he figures to be more of a pass catching Tight End than a blocking Tight End. Given the walk-on status and the being a sophomore and all a decent season from him might position him nicely to have a Blair White trajectory at the Tight End position.

Starter Summary

Well as previously stated, Sims is our occasionally injured juggernaut at the tight end position and then a giant fantastic ball of “I don’t rightly know”. This is the reason I skipped the Wide Receiver segment so far; there’s just lots of conjecture behind one or two guys. So if you’re bored and concerned about this, write out the names of the tight ends that aren’t Sims and pick one. Know secretly all season that if your pick isn’t on the field, he’d have done better because the cosmos willed that piece of paper into your hand.

The Other Guys

I really enjoyed this flick. It was one of those movies where I had low expectations and so they were met wildly and as a result I enjoyed it thoroughly. It’s very similar to MACtion football in that regard. Oh… the Tight Ends. Yes, sorry. If you are not one of the three guys listed above you’re going to need a stellar fall camp to see the field in 2012. So far no indication of that.

Overall Conclusion

If you’re looking for a position to brag on MSU’s depth and talent this is not the one for you. Call up the defensive line, I hear they might be decent. If Dion Sims can stay healthy, he’ll be all Big Ten in 2012. Everyone else falls in various places on the spectrum of talented but unproven. Recruiting has improved at this position with the arrival of Evan Jones and Josiah Price for 2012 and Dylan Chmura for 2013. In the meantime, MSU sits tight and waits for those guys to carry on the finest Linehan traditions in 2014.

Assume the Position:Fullbacks

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 05:02:00 GMT

Starters: Niko Palazeti, Trevon Pendleton

Departures: Todd Anderson

The fullbacks took a beating last year. The fullbacks take a beating every year, that’s their job. Oh, they also deliver beatings(to High School Spanish Teachers and everyone else on the Adam Sandler CD from way back when.) When they drop the hammer, they are Fight Club style hits designed to take blitzing linebackers out of plays. The traditional I-formation fullback has been replaced in both college and the pros by a more H-backy fella who might line up wide or motion presnap. As a result, fewer teams are giving out scholarship rides to fullbacks and instead using athletic Tight Ends to handle big pieces of the H-back job.(See Linthicum, Brian)

Todd Anderson leaves MSU after a 2011 where he caught 6 passes for 40 yards and a Touchdown. He also had one carry for one yard against Indiana in 2011, so obviously we’re not talking huge chunks of offensive yardage here. But the bruises! Oh the Glorious Bruises!

Niko Palazeti

I have known three dudes named Niko in my life, none of them well and all of them could beat me to death with their eyebrows. I suspect that this Niko is no different. I just looked it up, Niko actually means “Victory of the People” He was the only fullback to be recruited as a fullback to come play at MSU. In 2011, he caught one pass for 2 yards against Indiana and caught a couple passes in the Spring Game. In high school, he rushed 224 times for 1279 yards and 24 TDs his senior year. Palazeti is entering his redshirt sophomore year so if he’s the right mix of athletic and boxer you’ll be noticing him for a few years.

Trevon Pendleton

Trevon Pendleton is a redshirt freshman this year. He’s walked on at MSU, but turned down offers from Ball State and Air Force. Hokeamania? He turned down the hallowed stomping grounds of Hokeamania? Anyway, Pendleton was the number three ranked fullback in the class of 2011. He had a few catches in the Spring game and figures to be the next guy up should we lose Palazeti for any reason. He rushed 88 times for 967 yards in his senior year of High School which is good for 11 yards a carry. He also had 78 tackles on defense.

Starter Summary

These are the guys right here who will start at Fullback, so much as anyone starts there. This year it would be a huge improvement in my mind if they can assist in picking up short yardage situations so you don’t see five wide on 3rd and 2 a few times a game. These guys are both a bit smaller than Todd Anderson was last year and as a result likely a bit more athletic. You should be able to get a good sniff on how much more or less MSU will rely on it’s linebackers this year pretty early on against a lightweight Boise State defense.

The Other Guys

Taylor Calero was recruited to MSU as a part of the 2010 recruiting class and had the JLS offer sheet(Indiana and the MAC). He came to Michigan State as a defensive end and is transitioning into the fullback role this year. I don’t have all of the information, but I seem to recall him struggling with injury at some point between his commitment and now. Senior Jeff Bobek was recruited as an inside linebacker and decided to walk-on at Michigan State. Neither are expected to see significant field time this year.

Overall Conclusion

It’s tough to write that the fullback will have a huge role because they just don’t get used enough. As I talked about in the starter summary, the best and most immediate impact any fullback could have is to allow MSU to obliterate their opponents in short yardage. I haven’t seen enough of either of these guys to know if they’ve got the blast their linebacker into space power. Treadwell also tended to use the Fullback to roll out into the flat and catch passes more often than Roushar and again, I haven’t seen enough of these guys to know if that’s a strength of theirs.

So in short, MOAR RUNNING on 3rd and short probably means YAY FULLBACKS!

Here's Your Shield Dylan Chmura

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 09:05:19 GMT

Dylan Chmura committed to Michigan State on June 24th,2012 over offers from Western Michigan and Central Michigan...and that's it. Eastern passed because they've had enough of this directional school solidarity bullshit. They went .500 last year and I'll be damned if Eastern is just going to fall in anymore. Chmura is currently unrated by Rivals, two star by 247 and Scout. He's the sole tight end commit for the class of 2013 and was the eighth commit overall.

Chmura plays football at Waukesha West in Wisconsin where he's coached part-time by his father, Packer great Mark Chmura. Dantonio gets his Beeline on raiding by Raiding Sons of Former Pro Players. Chmura was sidelined his junior year with an ACL tear which I'm sure was super fun for him.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

Ouchtown brother, population you. Instead:

Awww... I mean, manly, beer, football, meat, bloody meat.

Stats: Threw a 52 foot 7" finishing ninth in the State Shotput meet. 19 catches for 250 yards and 4 TDs in his sophomore year. And a State Championship.

Prediction for 2013 and Beyond: Normally this is the part where I say he redshirts as a freshman because of the low, low ratings and the serious injury his junior year. Positionally, after Dion Sims there's currently a void of proven talent heading into the 2012 season and since he didn't play his junior year there's a void of knowledge as to how good Chmura is right now. The TE #2 spot will get sorted out for this year, but whether he could crack the 2013 depth chart, only your psychic knows. Probably not though.

And Beyond? Well, Chmura really is going to be more of a pass-catching TE than a blocking TE so he'll see the field after the Sims/Drone duo clears out next year. You know, genes and all that.

From Chmura's commitment article on 247:

I’m from Massachusetts. I have zero ties to the state whatsoever. I was clear to all the colleges that were recruiting me, including Michigan State, that I’m not from Wisconsin, that my blood isn’t from Wisconsin, it’s from Massachusetts.

(H/T to The Only Colors Welcome Aboard post)

Translation: Screw Wisconsin. Screw them right in their ear. I don't like this state, their brats or fried cheese curds. Go Bruins!

Impact on the remainder of the class

Linemen. We need linemen. Do you know any linemen who want to play football at Michigan State University?

Team with Back to Back 11 win seasons seeks Offensive and Defensive Linemen. Perks include a scholarship to a Big Ten University, all the food you can eat at training table, hanging out with Sparty, winning division titles, Florida bowl games. You too can enjoy a fine collegiate football career at Michigan State.

Call the football office for details!

Assume the Position: Running Backs

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:42:00 GMT

Starters: Le’Veon Bell, (Larry Caper and Nick Hill)

Departures: Edwin Baker and Joel Foreman(LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL end around against Indiana LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL)

Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the Running Back position will improve significantly in 2012, the bad news is that it’s because regression to the mean would demand improvement. In the 2011 season, MSU averaged an underwhelming 3.95 yards per carry and finished 11th in the Big Ten in total rushing. More importantly, on third and 2 MSU would line up in the power I and hand off to one of their TWO FULLBACKS OUT OF THE TRIPLE WISHBONE AND --- what? MSU would throw over 50 percent of the time on 3rd and 3 or less? Ugh. The excellent news is that as the workload shifted from Baker to Bell throughout the 2011 season, the running game improved dramatically. In fact, in the last six games of MSU’s season the ground game averaged 4.3 ypc/144 ypg vs the first eight games of the season where they averaged 3.70ypc/133 ypg.

Le’Veon Bell

Much of that late season improvement can be attributed to the emergence of Le’Veon Bell. Bell started the 2011 season as the complimentary back to Edwin Baker and as the season wore on he continued to get more PT and continued improving. Bell finished the 2011 season with 5.21 YPC average and 13 TDs. He also emerged as a legitimate receiving threat grabbing 35 passes for 267 yards. In the 2012 outlook for Bell, he was ranked the fifth-best running back in the Big Ten pre-season by ESPN(although the list included Silas Redd who will be playing at USC this year). He’s a Doak Walker preseason watch list selection as well. As you know Bell has a weird combination of elusiveness and bruising ability, like he can hurt you or he can sidestep you. That’s a blend not often seen at Running Back. Way Too Early Prediction: Le’Veon Bell will end up second team All-Big Ten this year behind only Montee Ball. That dude won the award for All Big Ten when he decided not to enter the NFL draft.

Courtesy of Twitterer @Pietrang5

Larry Caper

<-- Larry Caper sets up a field goal runs over Troy Woolfolk to beat UM in 2009. 2011 was an interesting year for Larry Caper. He played in 11 games, primarily as MSU’s third down back. He averaged 3.87 ypc and caught 10 passes for 86 yards. Showed great hands and more important looked great as a pass blocker on third down. He spent a few games of the 2011 season concussed after the Nebraska game and again in the Spring game this year. Provided his noggin stays healthy, he’ll see an expanded role in the offense as he and Nick Hill consume all of Edwin Baker’s carries from 2011. Caper has a running style that is quicker than Bell and moves nice and fluidly. He’s obviously not quite as beefy, but at 220, he’s still a load to bring down.

Nick Hill

Nick Hill saw a lot of mop-up duty in 2011 aiding in defeating mighty juggernauts such as Youngstown State, FAU, CMU and Indiana. More importantly he returned 38 kicks for 999 yards in 2011 and showed that he has the quicks to be the lightning to Le’Veon Bell’s thunder. He actually reminded me a bit of DeAndra Cobb, where you could run the delayed draw and watch Nick Hill go right up the middle for 78 yards and a touchdown. He had 29 carries for 113 yards and no receptions. It’s difficult to tell how the coaches will work Hill and Caper into the fold together.

Starter Summary

Bell is the clear number one back, but the coaches haven’t hinted whether they’re going to try and feed three guys carries again in 2012 or whether they’ll try to pick two guys and go. If the coaches go three guys I’d expect to see Bell and Hill on first and second down and then Caper on third down. If the coaches go two guys it’ll be Bell and someone else. Another thing helping this group is that the interior Offensive Line has improved quite a bit since 2011 as well. Chris McDonald and Travis Jackson return at RG and Center, Joel Foreman is replaced by Blake Treadwell who’s flat nasty on the football field. Running between the tackles should become quite a bit easier this year.

The Other Guys

The two guys most likely to see the field are Jeremy Langford and Nick Tompkins. Jeremy Langford was recruited as an athlete from the same school as Keshawn Martin. The rumor has been that Langford was faster in a straight line, but Keshawn was like a Wonkavator in every direction. Langford played third string corner last year and had an interception return for a touchdown. Nick Tompkins is a true freshman this year and picked MSU over offers like Wisconsin and Georgia Tech, he like Hill has that one-cut and gone type speed. These are the two guys next most likely to be tapped.

Tony Fant and Marcus Horne join the team this year as walk-ons. Tony Fant comes to MSU from Loyola High School where he averaged 10.2 ypc and picked up 9 TD’s his senior year. Horne is a greyshirt from Wisconsin who turned down a Single Redeemable Offer Anywhere in the MAC to come play football at Michigan State. Horne and Fant Jr. both have the kind of stories where you root for them to succeed.

Overall Conclusion

The position of Running Back may not be amazing in 2012, but it will improve and substantially. It will certainly evolve into a position of consistency which will give Maxwell some additional breathing room on 2nd and 6 type plays. The three backs all bring different styles to the table, Bell is strong and fluid, Caper is sturdy and Hill is quick as a cat. There’s a formula for dinging all of the Big Ten defenses with those three styles it’ll just be a matter of health and blocking. I expect MSU to finish more middle of the pack this year in Big Ten rushing(think 4-6th) and that 2012 to be MSU’s strongest rushing year since 2007.

Fall Camp Links and Current Graduation Chart

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 05:35:00 GMT

It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here! Fall Camp kicked off officially on Saturday morning. Arthur Ray was not listed on the 105 man roster, which is crap. Dantonio is excited about his young players. Specifically, Aaron Burbridge, MSU’s highest ranked recruit is reportedly qualified and showed up to camp yesterday. Most of the rest of the articles are just rehashes of the same.

On a less fortunate note, Devin Thomas has retired from the NFL. Thank you for catching passes in 2007 even when you were triple covered and Brian Hoyer didn’t give a damn he was throwing to you in triple coverage no matter what.

SCOREBOARDS!

Graduation Chart ( as of 8/5/2012)

* – indicates a player where pursuing a sixth year of eligibility has been discussed.

As you can see, I didn’t try to figure out who’s going to redshirt this year. Some of the positions like QB and Kicker are gimmes, everything else is up to the cosmos of college football gods. I also stayed away from 2012 NFL defections. Gholston, Bullough, Lewis and Allen are all suspect, but, it’s a fool’s errand trying to find logic in the chambers of the human heart.

President Simon kicking athletic ass and taking names

Lou Anna Simon recently agreed to become the next chairwoman of the NCAA executive committee. When I was at MSU one of my professors talked about how McPherson was a “great get” for the University and how Simon was a bit of a reach. After a few years of Simon, I couldn’t disagree more. Simon has performed not just in the scope of athletics, but managing to grow the university during one of the hardest economic times in Michigan’s history. Congrats to her on this position.

Thoughts on Arthur Ray

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 21:19:38 GMT

The Arthur Ray story has been one of the feel good stories of MSU football since Mark Dantonio came to Michigan State in 2006. Ray agreed to take a chance on Dantonio in January 2007, two short months after Dantonio was hired at MSU. At the time Dantonio had two strong selling points to his name, he had been the defensive coordinator of a national title Ohio State team and point two is that he wasn’t John L Smith.

Famously, Ray was diagnosed with bone cancer after he signed with Michigan State, but before his arrival on campus. Dantonio could have given Ray a medical scholarship which would have paid for his college in full, but he’d never be allowed to play football in college, anywhere, ever. Dantonio elected to leave him on football scholarship and give him a chance to heal and work his way to play football. In the meantime Dantonio and the Michigan State Athletic Department initiated the first Women’s Football clinic to raise funds for Ray’s treatment. The event has since gone on to raise thousands of dollars for various charities around town. He’s been honored, awarded, hell he might be Michigan State football’s most decorated player since Dantonio came to town. They just don’t happen to be Michigan State football awards.

It became apparent in recent weeks that Ray really wanted to play football, while Dantonio would love to see Ray play football, but to earn a scholarship he needed to be in the two-deeps. The writing was on the wall when Dantonio replied to a question earlier this week about Ray by saying he and I need to have a private conversation. Finally, it was announced today he’s not on the 105 man roster. He’s been given every opportunity to come back from cancer to play football so why does it feel so wrong?

First and foremost, playing football was one of the things to pull him through his fight with cancer and that’s being taken away from him now that he’s healed. More Ray:

"I've noticed how my story has evolved," Ray said. "And I'm just blessed to have the testimony to help other people out. But at the same time, I want to play football. Football is my love, football's my passion and I don't feel like my story is done. I feel like I still have a lot more to do up here."

As a fan, I find it a bit hollow to read all of these stories about how courageous and heroic Ray’s recovery has been and how much he’s looking forward to his chance to compete once he’s cancer-free. Now he’s cancer-free, but not in Big Ten football shape, and it feels unfair to yank the rug out from him now. While I suspect this decision has something to with getting more snaps for younger players, it’s hard to see how giving Ray every avenue to compete right up through a seventh year of NCAA eligibility could hurt the team at all. Just from a leadership perspective you have a player in 2013 who’s been with Dantonio since the beginning. In the meantime you use the extra scholarship to sign another Offensive Lineman who won’t contribute for 2-3 years? I’m just not seeing the immediate or long term impact of keeping him on as long as you can.

While the circumstances of Ray’s likely departure are unclear, don’t worry, Ray will come up aces out of this whole thing. After all at the age of 23, he’s kicked BONE CANCER right in the nuts, will graduate with a degree from Michigan State University in December and won the 2011 Discover Orange Bowl/Football Writers Association of America Courage Award. Did I mention he kicked a cancer with a 5 year survival rate of 60 to 70 percent right in the nuts? The man still has a hell of a future in front of him.

Maybe the only mistake was waiting this long to make the decision. After 25 months on crutches he should just be grateful to be walking, let alone playing one of the most physically demanding positions in football. But something doesn’t seem right about not giving him all of the chances the guy wants to see significant playing time at MSU. Still this just serves as another reminder that becoming a great football program has costs associated with it.

Four Weeks Until Football: Fall Camp Begins

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 07:14:00 GMT

Off in the distance, the gears of football are beginning to turn. It’s four weeks until MSU opens against Boise State and today marks the beginning of fall camp. The first major lever has been pulled in the 2012 Michigan State football season.

As always there will be a number of stories to follow from the preseason to the moment where toe meets leather on August 31st, but this year should be especially interesting given the youth of our offensive skill positions and the ludicrously fantastic depth on defense. Earlier this week, Michigan State released it’s first depth chart of the season, which as always is hardly worth the pixels it’s printed on because it doesn’t even account for true freshmen. Still, it’s the long, especially hot desert of an offseason so we’ll do some entirely overwrought depth chart questions, because that will be fun! Right? Guys?

MUCH DEPTH CHART HARRUMPHING!

Position Battles to Watch:

1.)Wide Receiver. If you’re reading this blog, you’re smart enough to know that you can sum up the Wide Receivers in two words: Unproven talent. Every single Wide Receiver snap is up for grabs this year. Since gladiator games are illegal in the state of Michigan I suppose we’ll have to settle for which receiver makes the biggest impression on the coaching staff through fall camp. Way Too Early Prediction: Mumphery sticks as a starter this year, he and Maxwell have had two years scout teamin’ together. That chemistry will come in handy on a team short of game experience.

2.) Nose Tackle. What’s the difference between co-starters Tyler Hoover and James Kittredge? About four inches and 40 lbs. I am skeptical of a 6’7” defensive tackle, unless he plays in an ex-NBA pickup football league. Kittredge is an unknown. He transferred from Vanderbilt in the summer of 2011 after deciding he wanted to play football in college instead of play football for Vanderbilt. There are a platoon of other half-man, half-machine 6’4 280lbs-ish guys who could slide in and take this spot.

3.) Free Safety. This is another position where MSU has talent just pouring out of their ears. Kurtis Drummond and RJ Williamson are listed as the co-starters at the Free Safety position. Drummond played the nickel back in our 3rd and long package last year and had two picks in his limited time on the field. That’s a play to interception ratio of VERY AWESOME. Newcomer RJ Williamson is a redshirt freshmen this year and not long after National Signing Day in 2011 I recall a rival coach of his saying Williamson will play on Sundays. This all before the entry of Demetrious Cox into the fray, who Mark Dantonio said on National Signing Day in 2012 had NFL physical talent right now.

4.) Tight End. More unproven talent. Dion Sims returns from the 2011 campaign, but that’s about it. Denzel Drone has moved over from the DE position where he was really shining towards the end of 2011. Then you have a pair of true frosh Josiah Price, Evan Jones and a walk-on who showed some stuff in Spring Ball named Andrew Gleichert. Anything after Sims is pretty large-size question mark in an offense that relies heavily on pre-snap motion to mask the coming play.

A Couple More Questions

1.) What about Lawrence Thomas?

Thomas moved from linebacker to defensive end after weighing in at 292 lbs!!!! Even Courtney Upshaw was all “That dude is too big to be a Mike!”. Thomas’ future has been on the defensive line since the minute he was a 245 lb Mike in High School. Way Too Early Prediction: Thomas continues his Journey Through The Defensive Positions and sees time as the Nose Tackle in MSU’s 3rd and Long Defense early in the season. He transitions from DE to DT throughout the year and by the bowl game is part of the regular DT rotation.

2.) A Clear Skyler over France?

In the rumblings out of Spring Ball, there was noise that Skyler Burkland was gaining ground on Dan France to become our starting Left Tackle. France is currently listed as the starter on the depth chart, however in 2011 Burkland looked very talented but raw in his limited playing time. Burkland has the most upside of any of our Offensive Line prospects playing right now.

Overall Conclusion?

Spartan Problems. We has them. The bulk of our question marks on either side of the ball are less of the John L Smith – “Which these darned kids are we gonna git to play in the secundary this yeer?” depthless issues and more of the “Which of these talented but inexperienced individuals is going to step up and fill this position of need for us?”.

Actual footage of John L Smith as the football coach.

Bonus Bits

Michigan State was ranked 13th in the first preseason coaches poll and Boise came in at 22nd. Heck does his fall camp breakdown over at The Only Colors. Little Brother Blog has a take on Dantonio’s “under-the-radar class” as noted by CBS. Banks of the Red Cedar has noticed that Dan Roushar is part alien and is not happy about it. ISportsWeb continues breaking down the schedule in exquisite detail in part IV of their series.

Crazy Bowl Preseason Prediction Madness

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 11:22:20 GMT

I normally don't get all huffy about what other media sources are saying about bowl predictions in August, because honestly, everyone's throwing darts at a board right now man. That said, some of the logic in Jerry Palm's 2012 Bowl Predictions is pretty hole-y, especially as it relates to the Big Ten. He has UM in the Rose Bowl, Wisky in the Fiesta Bowl(BCS At-Large) and MSU in the Capital One Bowl playing Mark Richt and Georgia again.

You might assume that because this is Spartan blog that my issue is with the idea of UM in the Rose Bowl, but it isn't. Not totally anyway. My issue is that the loser of a conference title game rarely goes on to a BCS bowl unless they were ranked really highly (top 5 or better) at the time of their conference loss. Wisky comes into the season ranked 13th in the Coaches Poll. Which means that for Wisky to make a BCS at-large bowl after losing the conference title game means they're probably undefeated at the time of the B1G title game.

If there's a spot I put on my Michigan blinders it's here. Michigan's offense should be about the same as the last two years. Defensively, they lost three of four starters on a VERY good defensive line. Someone's going to have to step up there for the D to be as good as it was in 2011. I don't see that Michigan team beating an undefeated Wisconsin team in the Big Ten title game.

That's assuming they can break the streak against MSU first.

Here’s Your Shield: Darian Hicks

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 07:50:00 GMT

I wrote up the mother of all recruiting posts on this. It was like Unicorn tears describing high school defensive backs and then Windows Live Writer ate it. Bill Gates giveth and he taketh away. Enjoy your vaccinating the world and philanthropy and the best recruiting post I’ve ever written. Jerk.

Darian Hicks committed to MSU on June 20th, there was much fanfare, except for where there wasn’t. He had offers from the whole of the MAC and half of the Big Ten including Penn State, which I still can’t quite get out of my head as a prestigious offer. In my head a Penn State offer reads like this right now. Oh, I see Ohio, Buffalo, Purdue, Indiana and Penn State.

A Conversation between my brain and Walter Sobchak

“Hey man, Penn State’s a pretty good offer. They have a long history of success with integrity and shit.”

“Eight year olds dude.”

“Right, eight year olds, forgot about that for a minute.”

Hicks was rated a four star recruit by 247, three stars by Rivals and Scout. On your excit-o-meter he should rate as average to good. Hicks was a part of the great wave of commits that occurs after MSU’s camp season.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

The second video is basically the first with a lot more footage and a lot fewer yellow arrows. If you like watching football, watch the second video if you just want the Cliff Notes watch the first one.

What’s to love about this kid?

On offense, he shows a nifty little one-cut move when turning upfield. It looks like he should get tackled in a handful of these shots and he just doesn’t. He doesn’t have elite breakaway speed. But he’s plenty fast enough to get where he’s going. He’d probably be a fine slot receiver on offense if he ends up over there.

But he won’t. On defense he already shows a good knack for arriving to the receiver at the same time as the ball. He keeps the play in front of him and when his guy gets tackled he stays tackled. Tackles very well in the open field. Towards the end of the second video one of the guys just starts going ham on throwing deep and Hicks shows good ability to get up there and knock the ball away or pick it off.

40 time.

ESPN lists him at 4.71 which…. is probably pretty accurate. He ran 7.31 in the 60m dash in 2011-2012 Indoor Track. He also posted a 24.3 in the 200 and a 21’1” in the long jump.

Prediction for 2013 and Beyond….

Hicks redshirts in 2013. Fits right in the mold of a Dantonio guy who can cover but also play well in run support, will see the field in an upperclasserly fashion.

Impact on the remainder of the class

MSU currently has 11 commits at the time of this writing. With the late signings of Jamare Mills, Taybor Pepper and DeAnthony Arnett in 2012 the class of 2013 will be smaller. Add to that out of the 11 commits only one plays on either Offensive or Defensive Line and you have a scenario in which Hicks might be our only corner in the class of 2013. Something tells me MSU takes one more in the secondary either a CB or S but not both.

Assume The Position: Quarterbacks

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:59:00 GMT

The next installment of the 2012 Assume the Position series. So far we’ve done our visit with the Special Teams.

First, a limerick!

There once was a Captain named Kirk.
He made our rivals go berzerk.
He said with a grin
As he beat them again
”All the trophies are just a nice perk”.

So if you think the tenor of this preview is going to at least rely heavily on how much we’ll miss Kirk Cousins, you’re partially right.* Cousins threw last year for an astonishing 419 pass attempts and managed to have only six regular season interceptions. I bring these stats up because it’s difficult to impress how good Kirk Cousins was last year when he needed to be.

* Note: Even smart passes for 2 yards on 3rd and 6 will occasionally be missed. VERY OCCASIONALLY.

Andrew Maxwell

Every single preview regarding the MSU Quarterback position is going to focus on and try to predict whether Maxwell can fill Kirk Cousins shoes. In response, a numbered list.(It’s been a few months, I’m rusty at blogging.) 1.) The average pro-style starter in the Big Ten going back five years will throw down for 58.8 percent completion, 16 TDs and 8 picks.2.) It’s fair to have higher expectations of that from Maxwell, some of the data points in point number 1 included freshmen and Rick-Six Stanzi. Maxwell is a fourth year player beginning his Redshirt Junior year and has looked plenty competent in relief so far. 3.) Maxwell has yet to take a meaningful snap in a meaningful piece of a game and after missing the Spring game he missed a lot of important reps with his young supporting cast.

Must love this story from the Free Press:

Maxwell's team was running an inbounds play. "We set the picks, whatever," he said. "I catch the ball at the free-throw line."

He did a drop step. Turned. And raced the other way. He was wide-open. We are talking, ridiculously open. "This is it," he thought. "I'm going to get my dunk, get my dunk."

Maxwell passed half-court and couldn't hear anything, and he dunked the ball with one hand, turned, and everybody was laughing.

"I looked at the ref, and I was like, 'Yeah, that was the wrong hoop, wasn't it?' "

"And he was like, 'Yeah.' "

As much as this is a story about Andrew Maxwell, it’s equally a story of his supporting cast. MSU loses their top three wide receivers, top two Tight Ends and one Edwin Baker.They are replaced by a bounty of talented but unproven underclassmen. Further hampering that chemistry was the loss of Andrew Maxwell in Spring Ball which robbed him of even more of those needed reps. Every rep in fall camp counts.

2011 Game Log

Everything looks excellent! Pay no attention to those Garbage Time Stats against Indiana! Seriously, don’t pay attention to any of that really, I just thought it was good quick reference. There’s nothing here to suggest Maxwell might struggle this year, unfortunately, there’s not a lot to refute it either. That’s all I have to say about that.

If it seems like I’m bearish on Maxwell, it’s more like there’s just nothing to point to other than a good anecdote about high school basketball and some noticeable improvement from 2010 to 2011 on the field in garbage time. There’s also a lot of missed reps from the Spring and an entirely new surrounding cast at the skill positions with the exception of Bell and Caper. As much as I’m looking forward to Boise State, opening with a tomato can would do MSU well in this situation.

Connor Cook

Battle tested. Warrior of the Spring. All-Time Quarterback.All of these things describe Connor Cook’s warrior-i-ness. He went 20 of 45 in the Spring Game for a touchdown. Handed the ball off to Sparty successfully. Check.

The likelihood of Cook seeing non-injury time this year are low. Cook played well enough in the Spring Game, but, Maxwell has three years in the system and knows that offense inside and out now. In the extremely unlikely event of a position battle Dantonio is not quick to make changes(Baker/Bell –2011), (Cousins/Nichol –2009) so let’s all agree there’s no chance of that happening plskthx.

Tyler O’Connor

Not battle tested. True freshman. If he is seeing meaningful time in any meaningful game, something has gone very, very wrong. There’s an excellent chance that Maxwell got into a fistfight with Cook so powerful they ruptured a hole in space and time and will fight for all of eternity. Alternative! It’s the Rose Bowl and we’re up 100-3 on USC and Dantonio burns O’Connor’s redshirt so he can give Lane Kiffin the finger in the middle of the second quarter. Another Alternative! One time in NCAA 04 I recruited a two-star athlete who was a 97 Defensive End, but was easy to get because the game was broken, maybe in NCAA 12 O’Connor turns out to be a 97 much to the surprise and delight of Spartans everywhere.

Best Case Scenario: Maxwell’s chemistry with his receivers is immediate and they grasp the offense without issue. Maxwell comes in and shows himself a competent game manager and shows himself capable of winning a game with his arm early in the season. Stays healthy the whole season, (I have tiny little voices in my head saying I shouldn’t be worried about this, and tiny ones saying I should.) He’s able to match Kirk Cousins production his first year as the QB.

Worst Case Scenario: Maxwell’s lack of experience shows itself in an ugly way. He gets down early against Boise State and struggles to get his confidence in time for ND where MSU loses another squeaker. Then the QB controversy begins.

Overall Assessment: Well, how do you feel about uncertainty? An opportunity for learning? A chance to grow out of your comfort zone? Horde canned food and gold coins for trading after the power goes out? However you feel about massive uncertainty scale your reaction to your love of MSU football and plan accordingly. Maxwell is walking into as friendly a Quarterback situation as they come and won’t be rushed to perform at a high-level immediately via QB competition. However, his competition will be stiff opening against number 8 Boise State on August 31st. So far any evidence for or against his immediate impact is inconclusive. Bet on Maxwell being perfectly capable to play adequately or even goodly-ish this year but that he'll need a year to get out of the shadow of Kirk Cousins.

Hey! We’re Back!

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 05:09:06 GMT

Well, it’s been a nice summer away, but today is August 1st and football occurs this month. This means one thing to you dear reader; Shaw Lane Spartans is back open for business. The blog is going to run from August 1st – National Signing Day this year. It’s going to be a whole lot of unnecessary roughness and poor grammar on your eyeballs man. So settle in, have a beer and hopefully we can watch and enjoy some good football together.

In the off-season, we did our Special Teams preview. We also blogged about the Recruiting Cycles of Football to help us all remember that MSU focuses on winning instead of recruiting during the football season. The Mrs. hit John Deyo so hard at the Women’s Clinic that he transferred to WMU. Finally, but far from the least important thing: WE, THE MSU FANS, GOT JOHN L SMITH HIRED AS THE HEAD COACH AT ARKANSAS! This isn’t just a blogging accomplishment, this is a life accomplishment.

MSU recruiting off-season fanfare: Caleb Benenoch commits to MSU in March and decommits in June. MSU has more solid commitments over the summer from Dylan Chmura(TE from Wisconsin, son of Hall of Famer Mark Chmura!!!), Darian Hicks, Trey Kilgore and Jay Harris. A mildly more squishy commit from Devyn Salmon a week or so ago. We’re good once he’s visited EL in my mind. Here’s Your Shield to come on these guys before the season starts.

Scoreboards:

You might be wondering why I picked such a big picture that overshadows a good chunk of the rest of the post, because the scoreboards are big and I thought it would be, er, uh. You get it. These scoreboards are going to be huge. Dantonio emphasized they will be the “largest in the state.” See what he did there? Also: Texas Tech got 27 yards rushing. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

On Penn State:

I’ll keep it short, because I’m tired of it and so are you. Football punishment seemed appropriate and necessary. I did not enjoy watching PSU have it’s program zombified by the Sandusky accusations, trial and convicition. I did not enjoy watching PSU have it’s program eviscerated to satisfy the NCAA’s moral, juicy, hypocritical center. I feel sorry for the PSU community who was uninvolved in this but is having to pay the price. Except for the denialists, it’s important to stand up for what you believe in, but not at the expense of learning the truth. Hopefully the victims can find their peace and the community can begin to move on.

Learn You Some Football

If you’ve not read any of Heck’s “Better Know A”… series this offseason, you should. He wrote pieces on Three Verticals, the Crack Toss, the Outside Zone, and Stunting. All of these links will make you better at watching football which in turn makes you a better person.

Anyway, more content later today. We’ll preview the Quarterback position which will probably turn out to be about 31 percent accurate. In the meantime, here’s a little something to get you pumped for 2012 courtesy of @Pietrang5.

Enter video caption here

Assume the Position: Special Teams

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:04:36 GMT

The fourth of July has come and gone, which means it’s officially fair game to begin too early 2012 season prognostications. It’s a bit like starting your Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Actually, you might do that, I find shopping an hour before close on Christmas Eve usually results in a VERY empty Goodwill store.

Assume the Position starts every year with Special Teams. The time of life where I was at my most passionate and verbose as a fan was none other than the John Goss era. He was a good guy, recruited as a punter and asked to be a kicker, then thrown under the bus by John L Smith* for not being good at the position he wasn’t recruited to play. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the third phase of the game as a result.

*- The L in John L Smith stands for baLLin’ ass real estate investor.

Placekicker

Dan Conroy returns to MSU for his junior year. After going making 93 percent of his field goals his freshman year, he slipped to a more human 74 percent in 2011. After working out his preseason jitters(and something tells me some snap/hold issues) against FAU and Youngstown State last season, he missed one field goal inside of 50 yards in the last 11 games of the season.

Projection for 2012

MSU will have another new long snapper with the departure of Matt Giampapa and the arrival of Taybor Pepper. Add to that a new holder with the departure of Brad Sonntag and it seems safe to assume that there could be some early season jitters just like in 2011. Luckily we’re opening against… oh, Boise State? Hope that’s not an issue.

Notice how the projection of Conroy didn’t include much about Conroy? He’s solid, expect him to do a bit better than he did in 2011 and not quite as well as in 2010. Walk-on Evan Fischer figures to stand in as a replacement should Conroy go down with injury. Kevin Muma will continue handling kickoff duties in 2012. Conroy whiffed a couple field goals in good weather at the Spring game, which would be a big deal if it weren’t the Spring game.

Punting

In 2011, Mike Sadler replaced the irreplaceable Aaron Bates. I remember in last year’s Assume the Position one of the first things I talked about is how Sadler would struggle to match Bates’ 45.0 yard average. And Sadler did, averaging only 41.1. What I did not know though is that Sadler is an end over end punter, as opposed to Bates who was a spiral punter. The other thing I did not know is that Sadler would drop punts inside the 20 the way Braylon Edwards drops footballs.

Projection for 2012

Look for Sadler to continue improve his yardage in 2012. In every other phase of the punting game it’s hard to imagine Sadler playing any better. If memory serves he did not have a single punt blocked in 2011, he had a number of punts inside the 20. He played great football.

Kick/Punt Return

Do you miss Keshawn Martin yet? If not, you will. Martin’s stat of scoring a touchdown five different ways is as cliché as Trannon the basketball player these days. But seriously though, did you know Matt Trannon also played basketball? In the running to replace Martin are a number of guys(Andre Sims, MacGarrett Kings, Nick Hill). In the Spring, Jeremy Langford and Nick Hill handled Kick Return duties. In 2011, Hill was the #2 Kick Returner and would seem to have the inside track on the job.

There’s no reason to think that the kick and punt return game will be addled beyond repair with the loss of Martin, but, I don’t think it will any longer be a position of STERLING EXCELLENCE. Further, with the new kickoff rules limiting the impact of the kick return anyway, the effect will mitigate kick returns across the board regardless.

The Recruiting Cycles of MSU Football

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, MSU received commitments from four players in the last week of June. This is pretty typical of Dantonio recruiting to have a slew of commits right after summer camps. With some luck, we can pass the time of watching the grass grow slowly in the heat and maybe even learn a few things about how recruiting happens at MSU. I dove into Excel headlong with some commitment dates from 2010-2013 and set to work with the charts.

1.) When does MSU land it’s prospects for the year?

For as boring as summer is in terms of football, it’s crazy busy for recruiting. If you follow MSU recruiting at all, you probably know this already. What surprised me most though is that in June, July and August MSU receives over 50 percent of it’s commits for the year. (50.8 percent to be precise).

2.) Does MSU recruit during the football season?

No, they win football games. (Season is defined as Sept – Dec.)

3.) So what’s the plan then?

Well, it might make more sense like this. The peace sign looking object above points to the following. Roughly 1/3rd of all of MSU’s commits come in the January/February push(Signing Day Push), another 1/3rd come in the June/July (Camp Season), the final third come in the other 8 months of the year. While that might make recruiting tremendously boring mid-season, typically this is offset by the winning of football games.

Anyway, not a huge post, but I wanted to highlight how important camp season is to the recruiting cycle at Michigan State and how completely pedestrian in-season recruiting seems to be. Obviously, in-person evaluation in a camp setting is hugely important to Dantonio and staff.

The Rough Draft: Keshawn “Horatio Alger” Martin

Sun, 20 May 2012 07:55:00 GMT

Keshawn Martin inked a four year deal with the Houston Texans for 2.512 Million Dollars earlier this week, this completes the Horatio Alger-esque journey of Martin from John Glenn High School to NFL Wide Receiver. For those of you who don’t remember high school english, (if you’re an avid reader of SLS it’s apparent I don’t remember anything about English), Alger made famous the “rags-to-riches” story back in the late 1800s. I suppose a more modern version of the tale would be that stupid Adam Sandler movie where he becomes a billionaire and at the end of the movie he’s still Adam Sandler. This used to be a compliment until the Waterboy or so, but then, man, being Adam Sandler just got old.

After the 2007 season Martin’s Athletic Director created a game tape of Martin’s highlights and started sending it to various schools. Typically, kids with Martin’s talents have a dozen offers by this point in their recruitment. Kids of Martin’s talent have the money to attend high school football camps where they can be scouted by college coaches. This was not the case for Martin:

His unlikely journey begins in Inkster, MI, the second of two sons of very proud parents Charles and Tracy. During his formative years, Tracy suffered from chronic illness, Charles worked as a baggage handler and times were tough. As Swinehart says: “His parents have done a phenomenal job of raising him, he’s never been in any kind of trouble. He comes from a great family with not a lot of money but a lot of character.” Finding the glamour of the recruitment process astonishing, Martin commented he felt weird at being treated like a celebrity.

Martin came to Michigan State and spent his first two years just learning to play WR(he was a quarterback in high school). He became one of just a handful of kids to score a touchdown five different ways and became a steady, reliable and stunningly quick receiver by his senior year. In Houston, he should immediately compete for Punt Return and Kick Return duties. Martin should also compete for the third wide receiver position along with DeVier Posey and Lester Jean. Do those names sound familiar? They should. DeVier Posey missed most of his senior year due to suspension from accepting inappropriate gifts and Lester Jean was the entire FAU offense in 2010.

Martin offers a change of pace to those two coming in at 5’11’ and 189 compared to 6’2” and 210-ish for the other guys. I like Martin’s odds of being to slip in as the Texans go-to slot receiver in Houston.

Fan Reaction

“His speed and attitude, founded on his instinctive ability to drive downfield, is what makes Martin such an exciting prospect as a playmaker for the Texans.” says the Texans Bleacher Report. “Keshawn Martin, taken in the fourth round, might be the better option, another Big Ten prospect, this one from Michigan State. Martin is shorter than Posey but is really fast and might work well as a slot receiver for Houston. He is probably someone that will earn his job on special teams but has the skills to help Houston where they need it the most. “ writes Yahoo. “Texans make two more good picks with Martin, Crick in fourth round.” writes the Houston Chronicle.

NFL Future

Martin will more than likely open the 2012 season as the Texans starting kick and punt returner. He could see spot time in 3 WR sets with a combination of some good luck and a bit of continued DeVier Posey fail. As far as a long term future goes, if he excels at Punt Returner and Kick Returner he won’t likely be seeing a lot of playing time. Typically, the number of kick returners who play significant offensive snaps are pretty small.

Of course what about Martin’s journey has been typical so far?

The Rough Draft: Jerel Worthy

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:47:43 GMT

I’m a bit late to the party on a write-up of MSU draftees. You might say a week late, I’d say fashionably late. With the 51st pick in the draft, Jerel Worthy went to the Green Bay Packers. The Green Bay Packers finished last in total yardage defense in 2011 and 19th in Scoring Defense. Nick Perry, Michigan native and USC product was taken as the packers first round pick.

In Green Bay, Worthy will change from a 3-technique Defensive Tackle in a 4-3 defense to a Defensive End in the 3-4 defense. This is going to be a significant transition for him. In a 4-3, the 3 Tech is responsible for controlling the B-Gap, where in the 3-4, the Defensive End is responsible for controlling the B and the C gap. In a 3-4 he’ll also have significantly less pass rushing responsibility. That falls to the outside linebackers, in this case Clay Matthews and Nick Perry.

Now, a lot of this will describe the typical play responsibilities of Worthy. What you have to love about him though if you’re a Green Bay fan is that despite being a full 30 lbs lighter than B.J. Raji, Worthy has the same ability to blow up a play from the interior of the line. You’ll probably see some packages from Green Bay involving Raji out on the Defensive End spot and Worthy in the middle in a 3-4. While pass rushing won’t be Worthy’s primary responsibility, his ability to do it well will give him a leg up on the competition.

Example:

Come for the middle of the line kasplodey around 0:35, stay for the Rawk!

Fan Reaction

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel likes this pick as a “calculated gamble”. The Packers B/R writer loves his upside and notes that he needs to sand some edges off. Acme Packing Company writes that Worthy and Perry strengthen the Packers front seven.

NFL Future

B.J. Raji is cemented as a starter on the Packers defensive line for years to come. Ryan Pickett is aging at 32, but still very stout against the run. The third D-Line spot was vacated by Cullen Jenkins in the 2010-2011 offseason and never really replaced. Sure the Packers tried by drafting a defensive end in the second round in 2011 as well, Mike Neal. Neal was injured for most of 2011 and had virtually no impact once he did see the field. So the available playing time is right there for Worthy, but the competition both in 2012 and a year or two following will be fierce.

As a Lions fan, I wish him a successful career and two Lions losses annually. Congrats to Jerel Worthy.

The 2012 Women’s Clinic, A Fan’s Tale

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:29:29 GMT

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.

Sometimes, Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:35:24 GMT

As most of you know, John L Smith was hired today as a human placeholder for Arkansas for the 2012 season. While this doesn’t amount to a whole hell of a lot for Michigan State except a Nelson Muntz “HA! HA!” towards the South it’s kind of an intriguing instance of how truth can be Stranger Than Fiction. As I’ve been saying to anyone who would listen for the past couple hours, I wrote an “Open Letter to Arkansas AD Jeff Long to hire John L Smith”. Obviously it worked, because he’s now been given a 10 month contract worth 850K to basically stand in for a season as the Arkansas Head Coach.

The Spartanfreude has been particularly strong with this hire because John L actually did a nice job holding things together off-the-field, if anything he was too hard on kids from a disciplinary perspective. He improved APR all three years of his tenure according to the NCAA. He just didn’t win on the field. Maybe he was overwhelmed at the non-spreadiness of the Big Ten, maybe it was his wife’s cancer, maybe he’s a shitty coach who just got lucky in his prior jobs. Whatever it is, it didn’t work out and we’re over it now. Mostly.

So John L has just been handed the keys to a program which has experience unprecedented success in the past five years and a James Dean like flameout in the past few weeks. He through only the strangest of coincidences has been handed a talented team with talented coordinators who was and is a legitimate national title contender even still. Much like I suspect the plot of Space Cowboys was if I were to have seen it, he got called out of retirement to come save Earth from crashing into the sun and maybe even learn a lesson about life again. If he can save Donald Sutherland’s colostemy bag from freezing in space, so much the better.

Unlike the plot of Space Cowboys, I’m sure he’s not expected to save anything. If he manages to not make things exponentially worse, he’s succeeded and set the table for his replacement to be hired next year. Best of luck to him and I hope all goes well.

Speaking of Stranger Than Fiction

I ran my second half-marathon yesterday. I was feeling my oats and signed up for the Detroit Full Marathon. At 6’4” and 265 I’m kind of small for a 3-Technique Defensive Tackle, but pretty stout for a runner. How does this involve you? I’ll be raising money for the Make-A-Wish foundation in my training. Will occasionally pimp this here on this blog. Feel free to contribute for the kiddos.

Here’s Your Shield Shane Jones

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:39:47 GMT

Michigan State picked up it’s sixth commitment of the 2013 class on Monday from Shane Jones, Inside Linebacker from Cincinnati Moeller high school. Jones makes the third defensive commitment and the second inside linebacker. Jones committed to MSU over offers from Michigan, Penn State and Oklahoma as well as a host of other schools who recruit the midwest. Noticeably absent from the list of suitors was Ohio State, Urbz is going to Urbz himself some “better talent”.

Jones is rated a four-star prospect by Rivals and three stars by 247 and Scout. Scout had this to say about Jones: “Uses solid technique along with agility and speed to shed blockers making plays sideline to sideline. Capable of playing all linebacker spots and shows good recoil in upper and lower body giving him above average power from a player who stands 6-foot tall. Above average hip turn and foot quickness allows him to get depth and width. Has the speed to blitz and post bigger sack totals. Needs to continue work on hands to finish plays on the ball.”

Above average power, versatility and the tools to be good in pass coverage? Yes please.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

It took me a solid 1:30 to realize I wasn’t ACTUALLY watching Big East football. ZING!

I really wish this video was a couple minutes longer, he really showed some pass coverage skill and a bit of the Denicos Allen missil-ey-ness you’ve come to know and love. But this is a short video and that’s really my primary knock on it, not enough here to show how he plays against the run.

Predictions for 2013 and Beyond

Michigan State has signed three prospects from Cincinnati Moeller since Mark Dantonio came to MSU. Two, Greg Jones and Marcus Rush will finish as solid, heady players that gave opposing offenses fits. Monty Madaris comes in as one of MSU’s talented freshmen for the class of 2012 at the Wide Receiver position. Jones shows some of that same heads-up play that we’re coming to expect from Moeller kids. That said, figuring out when he sees the field is pretty difficult, there’s a logjam at LB right now which will be only more entropic if Allen or Bullough leave after 2013.

In short, he’ll play. When is impossible to tell right now.

Bonus Bits

Maxwell suffered a sprained knee in practice and may be done for the Spring according to Rexrode. This is the part where I fuss about how Mumphery has been hurt and Fowler has been day-to-day since 2010 and Sims was hurt but now isn’t, but could very well be again. I’m not worried about any one of these injuries specifically, but more that how is a team supposed to build chemistry when it can’t even keep the same QB and WR’s on the field? It’s the chemistry that I’m fussing about.

Bonus Academic Question: If Cook is the number 1 for the Spring game, who plays QB for the other team. I vote Connor Cook for all-time quarterback in that situation.

Here’s Your Shield Damion Terry

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:55:00 GMT

Michigan State has itself a 2013 Quarterback, after Damion Terry committed to the Spartans earlier today. His commitment marks the seventh of the class of 2013 and the fourth on offense. As always, you want a QB to commit nice and early so the staff can go out and recruit knowing who will be the centerpiece of the offense in years to come. Terry is not ranked by Rivals or Scout and rated a three-star prospect by 247. He selected Michigan State over offers from Illinois, Boston College, West Virginia, Kent State and Toledo and Duke.

Stats

	PA	PC	Percentage	Yards	TD	INT
2011(MaxPreps)	179	97	54.2	1415	13	6
2010(Rivals)	191	99	51.8	1780	19	5

Terry had an outstanding sophomore year and struggled a bit more as a junior. Interesting that the numbers suggest that Terry spent sometime his junior year learning to make shorter throws with higher accuracy but that it impacted his TD to pick ratio. In case you were curious Shane Morris threw only for 14 TDs and 5 Picks his sophmore year.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

2011 Junior Highlights

2010 Sophomore Highlights

Game Film Review

Note: You MUST listen to some of the background conversation in the Jr Year Highlights. Secret agents and killin’!

In Terry’s highlight video, he does a funny thing a lot in his sophomore video and a little less in his junior year video. He runs the zone read. The only guy who seems to give him a legitimate run for his money in terms of athleticism in the Dantonio era is Tyler O’ Connor. Notice anything weird about this? Two recruiting seasons of Roushar and two mobile quarterbacks. On his home planet of Roushax 5, all offenses are composed entirely of mobile QBs and H-backs.

Terry has that kind of wonky throwing motion that most mobile QBs have, but he probably won’t be in a serious position battle until 2016 so he’s got a while to figure it out. Terry has a nice touch on those sideline go/fade routes. He throws it over the middle a few times with some zip.

Predictions for 2013 and Beyond

Barring doom Terry will have two chances to compete for more than a single year of playing time as the starter. In the fall of 2014, he will be a redshirt freshman battling Cook(RS-Jr.) and O’Connor(RS-Soph) barring injury or transfer to either of them. In 2016, he’ll have a chance to battle again as a Redshirt Junior against O’Connor as a RS-Sr, so yeah, we’re really talking about a guy who will be playing football in 2017 which feels like it cannot be a real year in the future anyway.

An Open Letter To Arkansas AD Jeff Long to Hire John L Smith

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:59:38 GMT

Dear AD Long,

Upon firing Bobby Petrino just a couple of short hours ago, you concluded your press conference by saying your coaching search begins now. As a fan of college football, I want to make sure the best candidates are connected with the best positions. As such, I hope this open letter may be of assistance to you.

You need to find a replacement who has a strong moral compass, graduates his players and provides balance to an athletic department that is increasingly football-centric. Best of all, he’s already been a coach at Arkansas for the glory years of Arkansas football. Yes, indeed-y, you need to hire back John L Smith.

As an MSU alum, it took us many years to figure out what the L in John L Smith stood for, but I assure you it was not Losing. In fact, John L Smith led the NCAA’s largest comeback victory in 2006 in an AWAY game. As I sat in a B-Dubs on that fateful day first drunk in sadness, then drunk on victory, I learned to believe in miracles again.

The Rousing Return To Victory

When John L Smith was the coach at Michigan State he encouraged a life of Renaissance. He climbed Kilimanjaro while piloting a fighter jet that he parachuted out of and ran with the bulls upon landing in the middle of a pack of lions. He never missed an opportunity to participate in an interesting life experience when he could have been doing his job. This is undoubtedly the kind of high character individual you want teaching your student athletes about life and football in that order.

Accountability. John L believes in coaching accountability, watch him willing to put things plainly regarding a special teams gaffe against THE Ohio State University.

“The Coaches Are Screwing It Up!”

Transition. A transition to a new JLS era would be virtually seamless. They coached together at Arkansas, Idaho, Utah State and Louisville. At Louisville, Petrino saved the day when JLS informed his players he was leaving at halftime of their bowl game. You might even say JLS owes Petrino a favor for covering a friend’s back at a disgraceful exit! These guys work great together! But they work even better at covering for each other’s screwups!

Victory! John L Smith has a long tradition of winning on the big stage, knocking off a top 10 Wisconsin team so violently it caused Barry Alvarez to retire at the end of the year. He also took Michigan to overtime. TWICE! You would be crazy to not hire John L Smith.

Mr. Long, I would slap you before I would let John L Smith ride off into the Weber State sunset without at least making sure you knew what a gem you had right under your nose. Of course, even John L would slap you better than I would.

JOHN L SMITH

“A SLAP OF MORALITY”

Personal Success Through A Meat Grinder

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:38:51 GMT

Derrick Nix was arrested for possession of Marijuana early Tuesday morning and has been suspended indefinitely. Derrick Nix, why yu no like succes? Nix, who really was exhibiting some leadership characteristics towards the end of the season and burned it down last night with this arrest. A conviction will send him packing and position MSU as ISU’s Official Basketball Feeder Program. “Hey kids, too talented and straight-laced to be a cyclone? Go to MSU and be a dumbass/make Izzo mad/drive drunk/have weed and then get sent packing. We’ve got a home for you waiting in Ames.” It just frustrates me so much I want to punch something.

The most frustrating thing of all was how far Nix had come in the past couple of years. From nearly quitting the team in 2010 because of a lack of playing time to dropping Tommy LaSorda amounts of weight to playing some great inside-outside in the tourney Nix was a man on his way up. So now, that’s all up in smoke.

If Nix leaves, expect additional playing time for Payne and Gauna, but we simply do not have anyone that will fill the gap at the 5 the way Nix can. Anyway, let the courts bear it out and we’ll see where we are in a few months. No rush since there’s no hoops for six months.

Bonus Bits

The Little Brother Blog done growed up and became a part of Bloguin today. Important to note, http://www.thelittlebrotherblog.wordpress.com takes you to the old site, the new site is http://www.thelittlebrotherblog.com. Go there, Mike is a friend of SLS and I’m excited for him he Bloguins his way to fame and fortune.

Tons of recruiting chatter that MSU hosted kind of a Spring Break recruiting day today. DB Antonio Allen, a top 250 guy from Isaiah Lewis’ High School was on campus today as well as OG Nate Jeppeson, OL Poet Thomas and ATH Berkley Edwards. Berkley Edwards is the brother of Braylon Edwards. Dion Sims is hurt again and will be having surgery again, starting to think that Sims days as a Spartan of Consequence are numbered. I misread Rexrode's post as Sims is not healthy when he in fact is. Hooray Sims! Stay Healthy My Friend!

Tuesday Mish-Mash

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 06:10:18 GMT

Apologies for the light posting this week. Life is getting in the way of blogging. However, I'm reading Mike Leach's "Swing Your Sword" and it is absolutely a fascinating book. Leach is a bit clunky as a writer, but I love his approach to solving problems. It's an entertaining and poignant book by a man who is incidentally entertaining.

Kentucky bought won the national title last night. Don't make the poor maintenance dude get up into the rafters and hang that up, he's going to have to take it down by the end of the week.

Back tomorrow with a X's and O's type post, my favorite kind.

Saturday Night Cheap Heat and A Brief Eulogy of Hoops

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 19:42:02 GMT

The first week of Spring Ball is in the books and MSU is off to the races. In case you’ve not heard yet, Shilique Calhoun is turning heads and by turning heads I mean drawing comparisons to Julian Peterson. This week we’ve heard lots about how MSU is working to find homes for Calhoun at DE, RJ Williamson at Free Safety and Jack Allen at LG/C. Coincidentally, in the case of Williamson and Allen they are pushing more experienced players for the only playing time available in their position groups. Spartan Nation elaborates on the progress of the Offensive Line. It sounds like previously injured Skyler Burkland and 2011 starting LT Dan France will be having an American Gladiator position battle at the Left Tackle spot.

How about the Wide Receivers?

From Roushar:

“At this time nobody’s really jumped out at me," Roushar said. "I think Tony Lippett’s getting better. A.J. Sims made some catches today, I noticed him. DeAnthony’s getting his feet up underneath him and getting experience in the system. Keith Mumphery had a much better day today. I thought the first two days, there was a lot of effort and a lot better route running than he had last year. But he’s just got to catch the football first, he’s got to slow the process down, first things first.”

Dammit. I was hoping to hear that one or two guys are getting some separation, not Roushar just naming some guys on the roster with generic coachspeak attached.

A Brief Eulogy

Mark, a reader of SLS has written up a goodbye post to MSU basketball for the season. Give him some love in the comments below.

While most MSU fans are still licking their wounds from the unexpected flop against Louisville in the Sweet 16, let’s take a minute to reflect on the championship season that Izzo and company accomplished. Izzo has said time and time again that what made this team special was chemistry. This was a team that stuck together both on and off the court and exceeded all expectations. They took home two championships, the B10 and the B10 tournament, something that hasn’t been done at MSU since Mateen and the infamous “Flintstones” back in 2000. On top of that, the big boys were able to take home some serious hardware with Izzo winning his 3^rd B10 COY honors and Draymond garnering B10 POY and All American honors. But the one thing to me that stands out the most is how hard they worked to earn the respect and admiration that they were able to achieve by the end of the season. Don’t get it twisted- starting the season unranked and losing your first two games, albeit to UNC and Duke, while ending the season with a championship and a #1 seed is an accomplishment of great measure. It’s not often that an MSU basketball team starts the season unranked and after last year’s disappointing season it is no surprise that is where the Spartans found themselves at the beginning of the year. While their stay in the NCAA Tournament was a bit succinct, it is hard to argue that part of that disappointment isn’t there simply as a result of Izzo spoiling MSU fans with 6 Final Fours in the last 14 years. It’s as if every year you could flip a coin: Heads, MSU to Final Four. Tails, we’ll get ‘em next year. Unfortunately, in that regard it was a tails kind of year. Izzo may be as close to a golden god as you can get in college basketball but nobody is immune to early exits from the tournament every once in a while. Looking ahead, they’ll have some big shoes to fill with Draymond leaving but once again Izzo will bring in some of the top talent in the country with the 2012 recruiting class, including the highly coveted Gary Harris and Mr. Basketball in Bay City’s Matt Costello. And by the way, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself but I just flipped a coin for good measure. Heads up. Go Green.

Bonus Bits

Vannini does the deep dive on 2013 RB Commit Gerald Holmes over at the Only Colors. Little Brother Blog drops the hammer on the sad professionalization of college athletics. The Munn Minute has a new and improved look, stop by and check it out.

A Quiet Defensive Discussion on Spring Ball

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:54:52 GMT

On Monday, we previewed the Offensive Side of The Ball. Today the Defense gets their send-up. I’ll try not to repeat too much from earlier this week and incorporate a little more Dantonio into the quotes, divinations and projections. Spring Depth Chart and Roster can be found at the respective links.

It All Begins on The Defensive Line

The biggest news here is that Tyler Hoover currently is in the first position to play the 3-tech as the WORTHY replacement. Hoover is 6’7” and if I remember correctly has had some back issues in the past. Can he remain injury-free and will he be able to get underneath guys who are 4-5 inches shorter than him? Particularly if memory serves and he has a susceptible back? Behind Hoover are a platoon of 6’3 270-280 pound guys who have all shown flashes of talent. Something tells me the 3-Tech will resemble 2009 in 2012 where there are like 4 B-minus guys platooning all game long. The depth pays off in the fourth quarter, but until then, the position is largely a non-factor.

The Nose Tackle positioned will continue to be manned by Rashad White. White finished 2011 by destroying Georgia’s hopes and dreams of winning the Bloomin’ Onion Bowl and looks to carry that momentum into Spring Ball. He’ll be backed up by the previously homeless Micajah Reynolds who has found a home, for now. Until something else breaks and they need to apply a little Micajah glue somewhere else.

The Defensive End starters will continue to be Willl Gholston and Marcus Rush. Gholston barring injury will leave for The League after this year, Rush will likely play all four years at MSU. An interesting development in terms of Defensive End depth is that Rush’s backup Shilique Calhoun was compared to Julian Peterson by Dantonio in the Tuesday press conference and Gholston’s understudy, Joel Heath was compared to… Gholston. Hyperbolic praise for our two redshirt freshmen here, but encouraging all the same. Unlike DT where MSU is four deep with talented dudes, the third string back up to Gholston is 6’2” and 231 Jeremy Gainer. Hope MSU stays healthy here.

Secondarily…

This spring kicks off without Trenton Robinson at the Free Safety spot. Robinson was outstanding in pass coverage and so-so in run support, which is basically expected of a free safety. The battle to replace his position is being held by RJ Williamson and Kurtis Drummond. Drummond played extensively last year in MSU’s nickel package and notched two picks while doing it. After Isaiah Lewis manned that position in 2010 it’s starting to look like the nickel back serves as the training wheels for playing the safety position. Drummond would appear to have the inside track on the Free Safety job, but I remember reading a quote a while back from Williamson’s coach who said he was sure Williamson will play in the NFL someday. In short, should Williamson beat out Drummond it means he’s very good and not that Drummond isn’t. Of course none of this may matter once Demetrious Cox comes to town in the fall.

Johnny Adams, Darqueze Dennard and Isaiah Lewis all return as starters to their positions. The quality of their backups has improved substantially since most of them were redshirted last year. None of the backups are so good that they should push the starters for consistent playing time.

Linebackers, We Has Them.

So remember when everyone was supposed to crap their pants at how good Jarvis Jones was prior to the Outback Bowl? Coming in with 11 sacks, only 2.5 less was Denicos Allen. Guess what? He’s back and he’s still super-pissed like in Waterboy.

Max Bullough will be back as the Quarterback of the Defense this year. Headed into his true junior season, he’s already projected as a second rounder should he declare for the 2013 draft. Taiwan Jones is filling in for the injured Chris Norman. Norman might be in danger of being Wally Pipped were it not his fourth year as a starter at the Star position. Jones is young, huge and fast and looked flatly vicious on Special Teams in his 2011 campaign.

This is the first time in recent memory where the same three starters from the previous year were projected to start again on offense in the fall. Also, in case you watched 2011 with eyes shut, MSU didn’t miss Jones or Gordon all that much. After 2012, Norman departs, Bullough and Allen are serious threats to declare for the draft.

I See What You Did There

It was really difficult to write about Spring Ball for the Defense. Unlike the Offense where QB, WR and TE are all completely unknown quantities, this defense returns 9 of 11 starters and even in the two deeps the athletic depth seems to have improved. Not really a lot of drama here. Having a second Defensive Lineman emerge will be key for the D-Line maintain their juggernaut status. Drummond seemed to have a bit more of a nose for the ball as evidenced by having half of T-Rob’s Pick Total in probably 1/5 of the snaps. There’s just not that much to talk about, an excellent defense returns 9 of 11 starters.

When was the last time you felt this comfy going into a season on D? Watch the Maxwell-led offense tee off on most of the starting D for 35 points and give us all something to worry about this summer.

The 2011 MSU Run Defense, Unlucky? Indeed

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:27:18 GMT

Brian from MGoBlog wrote a post called “Sometimes You Eat the Turnover Bar” wherein he describes the phenomenon of Michigan’s devastatingly excellent turnover margin in 2011.

Michigan ate the bear last year, and how. SBN's Bill Connolly put together a stat called "adjusted turnover margin" that assumes an NCAA-average fumble recovery rate (50.3% for the D) and NCAA-average PBU-to-INT ratio (21.9%), compares it to your actual turnovers gained, and calculates a points per game figure Connolly figures is just the bounce of the ball. Drum roll…

Five Teams Who Benefited Most From Turnovers Luck
1. Michigan (+3.97 points/game)
2. Maryland (+3.97)
3. N.C. State (+3.61)
4. South Carolina (+3.61)
5. Oklahoma State (+3.40)

I am Jack's utter lack of surprise. Michigan's overall fumble recovery rate of 75% was first in the nation by a whopping eight percent! (Maryland was #2 at 67%.) They were three standard deviations above the mean! They were a full standard deviation above the #2 team in the country! This aggression against regression to the mean will not stand!

This isn’t entirely a response to that post, the Turnover Gods partied hard in Ann Arbor in 2011, it was obvious. What’s more surprising though is how absolutely horrid MSU’s luck was in recovering fumbles in 2011. For a defense that could hang with damn near any in the country you would have expected a better fumble recovery ratio.

What happened?

There’s an increasing body of research by sites like Advanced NFL Stats and Football Outsiders that fumble recovery is nearly random, a fact that seems to be supported by the season average recovery rate of 50.3 percent by the defense. From Football Outsiders:

Fans like to insist that specific coaches can teach their teams to recover more fumbles by swarming to the ball. Chicago's Lovie Smith, in particular, is supposed to have this ability. However, since Smith took over the Bears, their rate of fumble recovery on defense went from a league-best 76 percent to a league-worst 33 percent in 2005, then back to 67 percent in 2006. Last year, they recovered 57 percent of fumbles, close to the league average.

Fumble recovery is equally erratic on offense. In 2008, the Bears fumbled 12 times on offense and recovered only three of them. In 2009, the Bears fumbled 18 times on offense, but recovered 13 of them.

Fumble recovery is a major reason why the general public overestimates or underestimates certain teams. Fumbles are huge, turning-point plays that dramatically impact wins and losses in the past, while fumble recovery percentage says absolutely nothing about a team's chances of winning games in the future.

Hell, even Jim Schwartz is on board and he had to undo the powerful evil of Matt Millen. From that times article:

“Fumbles are a random occurrence,” Schwartz said he told Belichick. “Being able to get interceptions or not throw interceptions has a high correlation with good teams. But over the course of a year, good teams don’t fumble any more or less than bad teams. Bill didn’t agree. He said, ‘No, good teams don’t fumble the ball.’ But actually, they fumble just as often as bad teams.”

So The Hobo Sweatshirt thinks math is just a fad, yet elects to go for it on 4th and 2 on his own 30 a couple years back. I think Belicheck is far more interested in screwing with people than coaching football, he’s just found football a satisfactory avenue to do it.

At the collegiate level I’m less inclined to agree with the randomness on account of poorer, BUT MORE LOVEABLE, play. Fumbling is at least in part random and the recovery of said fumbles is even moreso.

So Why Poor MSU?

Well not poor MSU, they had a season for the ages defensively last year. According to cfbstats their opponent fumbled 22 times which is good for 43rd in the nation. Out of 120 FBS Football teams that means average opponent fumblyfingers with a dash of luck thrown in for zest. Of those 22 fumbles, 7 were recovered for a fumble recovery rate of 31.82 percent. The original post by Football Study Hall pegs a turnover as being worth about 5.0 points. So had MSU recovered an average number of fumbles(11), that’s good for an additional 20 points. Of course since MSU got flat smoked by ND and Nebraska and an extra five points only would have helped in the Big 10 Title game. Which, DAMN YOU BIELEMA, the football gods smiled on you corpulent bastard.

Despite all of this MSU finished ahead of the curve at 12th in total interceptions, which as Schwartz stated is a trait someone can use to determine the quality of a defense. So thanks Jim Schwartz, you make blogging fun. Anyway, root for regression to the mean in fumble recovery, it’ll make your heart happy.

Spring Ball Press Conference and The Inaugural Twitterbag!

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:46:19 GMT

The beginning of Spring Ball is a bit like buying a lottery ticket. You leave with the feeling that your team could be the next national title winner and that one dude at that really key position gained/lost the weight that will make your football team a national title contender. Really though, what you’ve invested yourself in is the right to daydream about how the talent will improve from last year to this. Maybe, just maybe this is the year your team clinches a rose between their teeth or more? Right now everyone’s a winner still and there’s promise and hope budding all over the damn place. It’s a good thing that spring football isn’t in a season of death like winter, or that would be some iconoclastic shit, man.

Dantonio kicked off Spring Ball officially with a presser early this afternoon at the Clara Bell Smith Center. As with all Spring Ball pressers, there’s a cautionary warning to an obvious starter, this year’s victim was Le’Veon Bell. There’s hyperbole:

Q. You have a couple linebackers sitting out of contact for the spring. But as a position group, it seems this is probably as deep a group of linebackers that you have. Any thought of three four?

COACH DANTONIO: Yeah, in terms of the three four, we can mess around with that and look at it, but the reality is we have just as many defensive linemen as we do linebackers. When you start throwing in guys we red shirted last year, Joel Heath is 6-6, 275 pounds right now, he looks just like Will Gholston.

You have William back. You have (Shilique) Calhoun on the other side who is going to be a phenomenal player here. He backs upMarcus Rush who is a red-shirt freshman. You have Tyler Hoover moved inside, he's 297, 300 pounds. Rashad looks to come back. Rashad White is in shape. You have Damon Knox in there at 280. Scarpinato at 280. So we're built for the four three. But our linebackers, three guys are red-shirt freshmen. LT (Lawrence Thomas) will not go through spring, and he's 280 pounds, so who knows where he's going to end up. He'll find his way on to the field somewhere.

So yeah, you better watch out, we have players comparable to two NFL first-rounders(if Gholston isn’t a first rounder it’s because his cousin screwed it up for him) backing up Rush and Gholston. I’d love to be wrong in my cynicism, but this is the kind of hyperbole that gets ratcheted into July 2011 wondering if Anthony Rashad White will leave as a junior for mid-first-round money. DeAnthony Arnett’s waiver is officially filed with a red rubber stamp. MSU will hear back in around three weeks. Speaking of Gholston, he heaps some pretty hearty praise on Ken Mannie in an interview with Howard Griffith.

The Inaugural Twitterbag!

Earlier today I put out the word on Twitter I was looking for questions for our very first Twitterbag. There was a bit of confusion about who was asking since the guy who’s helping run the twitter account answered some of the questions with 140 characters or less. We’re still ironing this out a bit, give us sometime. This is going to be a feature of the blog from here on out, however, if you want to send your e-mail questions or comments the old-fashioned way, flip me an e-mail at shawlanespartans@gmail.com. On to the twitterbag!

How do you see Lawrence Thomas being used this year?

At 6’4 and 265 it was still possible to envision a Courtney Upshaw-like LB existence for him, but at 280 that’s simply not going to happen. As Dantonio stated in today’s press conference MSU is stacked like pancakes at Defensive End I almost wonder if there’s time to retool him as a 3 technique Defensive Tackle? This of course is provided he’s not injured in the fall, since he has yet to be healthy at a time where football or some facsimile thereof is being played, this is becoming a legitimate question. Dantonio doesn’t seem to force position changes on a kid, he tends to show them the shortest path to the field is in another area, the same will be true of Thomas.

I am of the mindset that after redshirting in 2011 and missing all of Spring Ball that Thomas will not see significant time in 2012. Mop-up duty at linebacker or maybe rotational duty on an injured Defensive Line.

Who is your early prediction for starting WRs for first B1G game? I'm guessing Lippett and Arnett, with Fowler in the slot?

Well a quick point of teaching on this. If Fowler is healthy, he’ll most likely play the X spot, which is the B.J. Cunningham position of 2011. At 6’2 and 210 he, Caesar and Mumphery who is up to 6’0” and 208 are going to have the easiest time beating their jam while they are right up on the line of scrimmage. Lippett and Arnett will probably trade off between the Z spot which is typically WR2 in a pro-style offense and the Slot Receiver/ Y Spot which sits even farther off the LOS than the Z receiver. Arnett has classic slot receiver written all over him, not very big(5’11” and 170) and can shake the paint in a can just by looking at it. Which leaves Lippett in the Z spot unless Burbridge can 1.) Qualify and 2.) Outperform Lippett.

Keith Mumphery got lots of praise from Dantonio today: “I think Keith Mumphery is a guy that's ready to explode on to the scene.” To me, this just means he has lots of raw talent. It also means that he’s probably been one of Maxwell’s most consistent targets since his arrival on campus. We don’t know a lot about him though.

So my bet is Caesar/Fowler/Mumphery at the X, Lippett at the Z and Arnett in the Slot.

Is Chris Norman the next Wally Pipp?

Chris Norman is sitting out this portion of Spring Ball with an undisclosed injury, Wally Pipp is the poor bastard who got hurt and passed by Lou Gehrig. The inference being of course that Taiwan Jones, Norman’s replacement will pass by Norman in Spring Ball and not look back. While Jones has looked five horns on his head beastly on Special Teams, Norman’s experience both individually and as a corps of three Linebackers playing together on last year’s defense is too much for Jones to take the job away from him.

How much will Trenton Robinson be missed?

Will touch on this in the defensive spring ball discussion, but the short answer is lots in the passing game and not much in the run game.

Bonus Bits

Heck breaks down a what a Stunt play is and how it works using MSU footage magnificently. The Munn Minute is looking for site feedback, stop by and tell Matt what you do and don’t like about the site. Banks of the Red Cedar recaps the Basketball Season, so does Pete over at the Only Colors.

Spring Ball, Roster and Depth Chart

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:27:29 GMT

MSU released the Spring Ball Roster and Depth Chart. The Depth Chart at this point is barely worth the internet it's PDFed on. Spring Ball is all about trying out players in new positions or in new situations and seeing how they respond. That said a few notable notations below:

Injured: Lawrence Thomas, Chris Norman, Bennie Fowler(maybe time to move off the number 13?), Drew Stevens, Pat Rhomberg, Paul Lang(Yay for getting even thinner at TE!)
Tyler Hoover has moved to the starting DT spot as a WORTHY REPLACEMENT. Leverage might be an issue for a dude who's 6'7" playing in that spot, but hey if he can play, he can play.
Blake Treadwell begins the spring as starter at the Left Guard spot, he is backed up by Ethan Ruhland, Donovan Clark and ARTHUR RAY!
Dantonio had very positive comments on Keith Mumphery. I would bet you a nickel that Mumphery and Maxwell have the strongest pass-catching relationship between QB and WR of anyone on the team right now. That counts.
Shilique Calhoun and Joel Heath are backing up Marcus Rush and William Gholston. Calhoun was compared to Julian Peterson, Heath to Gholston, you shouldn't sleep on either apparently.
Apparently, Running Back is wide open, per Dantonio? I find this hard to believe, this reads Bell is the number one, but needs to keep his head on straight.

Spring Football is better than no football, but it is Diet Caffeine Free Football. What are you excited to see out of the Spring Season?

We’re talking offensively about Spring Ball

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:52:53 GMT

This has been covered a couple times by a couple of different and excellent bloggers today. Not one to be deterred by more educated and intelligent opinions, I plow ahead anyway

Andrew Maxwell, like Kirk Cousins, but better?

Last year in the dark, uneducated corners of the Spartan internet there were rumors of dissention and mutiny. Maxwell was going to replace Kirk Cousins as MSU’s Starting Quarterback! Obviously, this didn’t happen because… well… Mark Dantonio isn’t an idiot?

Here’s what you can expect out of Andrew Maxwell both in Spring and in the Fall. Even if his arm is better, his ability to read a defense and check into the right play will not be as advanced as Cousins was in 2011. So, he’ll be better than 2009 Cousins(if for no other reason than he won’t compete with Keith Nichol until midway through the Big Ten Season) and worse than 2011 Cousins. (I’d be happy to be wrong about this.)

Fine, you want proof?

Here are the first year numbers of starters in the Big Ten from 2007-2011 at the QB position provided they had more than 14 pass attempts per game. Which despite ESPN’s policy of sapping the joy out of things actually makes a lot of sense.

* - Pro-Style Average is comprised of UW, PSU, MSU and Iowa.

So, do I have any idea how Maxwell can do? No, but there be some averages for your comparison shopping.

What of the Tight End situation?

I realize Tight End play isn’t necessarily everyone’s bag. (It’s tough to drop that joke and move into serious talk, so clunky transition goes here.) Late in the 2011 season, Roushar used Linthicum frequently as an H-back to keep defenses off-balance right up to the snap. This helped conceal the intent(pass/run) of the play right up until the snap and was a very important piece of MSU’s late season successful running game. MSU is going to be thin at Tight End for all of 2012, but they will be extremely thin prior to the fall arrival of Evan Jones and Josiah Price. Dion Sims will be back this spring, but he has spent his time at MSU battling injury(human beings aren’t meant to be 6’5, 280 with his speed) and legal issues(computers that say property of DPS, probably doesn’t mean Dion P. Sims.). So while he is extremely talented, he has yet to put together a consistent season on the field. Denzel Drone has moved over as a Spring Time Band-Aid, but he’ll move back to the DL in the fall. He did too much good work late in the season to get moved off of the D-Line permanently.

Be excited if in the Spring Game you see someone doing the Linthicum H-Back works who looks natural at the job. Otherwise, we just see what happens here, won’t we?

ZOMG! Who is Maxwell going to throw to?

I’m probably a bit less concerned about this than your average blogger/serious MSU football fan. This is of course, as big a deal as whether or not Maxwell is any good, but he’s had three years of throwing to Bennie Fowler, two years throwing to Keith Mumphery and Tony Lippett(yes, I know he played corner last year) and a year throwing to Andre Sims and Juwan Caesar(who was hurt in 2011). Then of course MSU brought in an outstanding 2012 receiver class as well as transfer DeAnthony Arnett. Of those folks, Arnett and 2012 early enrollee Kyle Kerrick may make appearances in the Spring Game. Fowler is rumored to be 100 percent for the first time in a while, Lippett looked good as a corner last year. If Arnett is indeed eligible by fall, that could well be your X,Z and Y positions right there. Depth is going to be scary this year because the youth is inexperienced and talented. Regadless the position group is too deep as a whole for Maxwell not to find a group of guys he can throw to by fall. Spring could be bumpy though.

Will our Offensive Line be better?

Nothing can be gleaned from this in Spring Ball that is definitive. The Defense’s major loss, Jerel Worthy, was part of a two man tag team of first round Defensive Line talent in 2011. If MSU’s interior line looks improved in the Spring Game it might be just because they’re not playing Worthy.

That said, we can measure how well the Offensive Line did in pass protection by using their pass attempts per sack statistic which I am proudly making up right now.

I somehow think this statistic would be better measured if it somehow included the number of picks thrown too, but whatever. There’s a whole summer of NO SPORTS to figure that out. The point is for every 26 times MSU dropped back to pass in 2011 they took one sack. I’d be worried that this is simply a measure of how savvy your QB is, but PSU’s number was even better and they didn’t have a person playing Quarterback in 2011 to my knowledge. One could argue that Cousins low YPA numbers might have accounted for this too, but you just shut up with that argument. The pass protection was plenty solid enough and returning four of five starters has me thinking it’ll stay that way.

Obviously, run blocking was the big Bugaboo in 2011. MSU averaged a paltry 3.95 yards per attempt while the traditional rushing powers(Neb, UM, Wisky) were north of 4.62. It’s more of a fall point, but I’d really like to see someone a little physically larger than Fonoti show something at Right Tackle this spring. This run blocking is a huge question for MSU this spring and it is nearly impossible to measure whether or not there’s been any serious improvement using statistics, divination or even film.

Running Back?

Bell, Caper, Hill. In that order. This is an area of little to no complication. That’s great news for MSU. Stay injury-free and things will be happy. A question will be does Caper stay in his third-down back role only while Nick Hill moves into the Edwin Baker spot? Or will Caper chew up most of Baker’s carries?

Anything else?

Not really. Obviously, there are a lot more question marks on Offense than Defense this Spring. As Izzo showed this past fall, sometimes a squad can take what would be devastating hits and sometimes that resets chemistry in a good way. I don’t expect that here, there’s no chemistry reset needed in the football game. In the Spring Game, to measure passing chemistry, don’t worry about whether Maxwell makes his throws, be concerned if you start seeing lots of blown routes or WTF handoffs to the wrong side of the ball. Trickeration in the Spring Game doesn’t count toward the fall since those plays are WAY on tape, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any. Roushax 5 misses it’s proud son and hopes he’ll start returning some phone calls once in a while.

The Hardest Loss Is The One You Should Have Seen Coming And Didn’t

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 20:52:26 GMT

It never even occurred to me that MSU might not beat Louisville tonight. MSU was going to win the 2012 National Championship, this was an indisputable fact. Draymond Green was the best Spartan to lace up his shoes since Magic Johnson, both the numbers and the heart, the big ebullient heart of Draymond bore this out. Not only that Draymond made all of the other players around him better. It didn’t seem possible that they could be derailed by Louisville, North Carolina or even the Miami Heat. This NCAA tourney belonged to MSU and everyone else was just allowed to earn a participation medal. This is exactly how I felt right before the Big Ten Title Game.

That cold December night in Indianapolis, the ref threw the yellow flag after Isaiah Lewis ran into Brad Nortman and I punched my friend Rob in the arm. I’m not a violent person, it just happened that way. After the penalty was assessed we sat for the first time in two and a half quarters, we waited two minutes for that idiot man-child to officially win the game. The PA announcer asked everyone to stay to watch the “Inaugural Big Ten Title Trophy Presentation”. In retrospect, I wish I had. At the time I just wanted my superpower to be the ability to scorch earth in a five foot radius. As we were walking out, some Wisconsin fans were offering to buy ticket stubs at five dollars per, presumably so they could sell them to other Badger fans who couldn’t make the trip. I gave them the finger as I walked by, again, not me, but this is a special kind of pain. We exited Lucas Oil Stadium and got turned around trying to find the car I insulted everything about Indianapolis from the architecture to the citizens to the lack of city grid planning in the area surrounding Lucas Oil. A very kind Badger fan explained herself as a citizen of Indianapolis and helped us find our car, I apologized three times for my frequent use of the f-word. Really I was apologizing because I had spent the last 20 minutes completely shell-shocked, acting like a terrible person and she was kind enough to help us find our car.

So obviously, as I watched MSU struggle to play basketball, let alone MSU basketball, my heart broke all over again. At the end of the first half it seemed obvious, when had MSU asked Appling to engineer a plan to break a game long full court press? Every single aspect of ball movement against Louisville was conducted unnaturally for MSU and Louisville didn’t let up defensively for a moment. They didn’t miss a chance to swipe a ball away or force a bad shot. Louisville played savage, opportunistic defense and earned this win.

My heart is all sad panda tonight and this MSU team deserves a proper and fitting euology of their wild and unexpected success in the 2011-2012 season. It’s not time yet, I still can’t believe what just happened.

Cheap Heat Says If It Walks Like A Duck

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 06:43:55 GMT

Mark Hollis announced yesterday via Twitter that MSU and West Virginia have scrapped their 2014-2015 series and instead MSU will be taking on Oregon in it's place. West Virginia appears to have been the party to opt out of the agreement so they can focus on their transition to the ACC SEC Big 12. We don't want to play Michigan State football so we can focus on our transition from one crappy conference to a slightly less crappy conference. Plus, I am sad to miss out on Holgohair. It is glorious!

Huge dap to Mark Hollis for getting turned down by West Virginia and replacing that game with a better one. Very Early Hand Wringing! Who's excited about tossing the winner of the Cook/O'Connor QB position battle to the dogs in Autzen in 2014? This guy.

MSU Spring Ball

Spring Ball starts next week, not that anyone will give a damn if MSU is still in the tourney after this weekend. Rittenburg and Bennett obviously got a phone call in with Dantonio this week and announced a couple of position changes. Tyler Hoover is moving to DT(expected), Dana Dixon is moving to WR(Whaa??) and Denzel Drone is moving to TE(Whaaa?). The Hoover thing makes sense, there's a logjam at DE and a 6'6" 300lber is not going to play anything other than relief to Gholston, which Drone did admirably. The Drone thing reeks of a Spring Ball position change which is temporary to cover up the lack of TE depth but give Maxwell someone to throw to. Dana Dixon, he's not going to see the field at CB or Safety as a starter, so this one might be more permanent, consider it written in Disappearing Reappearing Ink of Roger Rabbit fame.

MSU's Spring Game is on April 28th at 1:30pm. You get to find out the ice cream cookie sandwich price increases then too.

Achievement Unlocked: A Return To the NCAA Tournament

It took a bit of luck, a bit of skill and a heaping helping of Anastos kicking some guys in the ass, but MSU is back in the NCAA tournament. As always the Munn Minute has you straight covered for all of your MSU hockey needs. They do a quick preview of MSU's first round matchup against Union which is Friday at 3pm.

Bonus Bits

Adam Jacobi has landed at the Bleacher Report and that is great for BR and fans of well-written blog material. This is Michigan Football discusses the possibility of Devin Gardner playing WR. (Borges hinted at it yesterday in a presser.) Green Thoughts talks about MSU's very profitable athletic department. I'd be all down for some MSU profit sharing amongst season ticket holders. No?

A Comparison Between The College Football and Basketball Playoff Models

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:32:58 GMT

I’ve read Death to the BCS and odds are as a lover of College Football so have you. If you haven’t though, the thrust of the book is about how deciding a National Champion is more effective using a playoff system, would provide a better payout for the schools and minimize corruption of college athletes. So it totally would? Right you guys? College football playoff solves world hunger, yes? Well, for comparison’s sake, we should at least have a gander at the Premier College Sports Playoff solution of College Basketball, right?

So What Kind of Deal Did College Basketball Get?

Well back in April of 2010, the NCAA signed a deal with Ted Turner and CBS valued at 14 years and 11 Billion dollars. On average this works out to roughly $777 million dollars a year with two percent inflation each year. Unfortunately, the most transparent data comes with the end of the 2010 season which was the last year of a deal with CBS that paid out approximately $500 million dollars annually. In 2010 of the $500 million dollars earned approximately $180.5 million was distributed to teams who had participated in the NCAA tournament from 2005-2010. In 2010, for each game a conference appeared in during that five year span, they received $240,000 dollars. The conferences are free to distribute the money by socialism, the per game basis or Battle Royale, whatever they see fit. Some conferences take their check, split it 12 ways and mail it out. Others give huge amounts to one team to try and keep them in conference, such as Butler.

To say the money was kept by the NCAA is overly simplistic. The moneys kept by the NCAA are redistributed according to another pie chart! I like Pie!

So What Kind of Deal Did College Football Get?

According to Death to the BCS, for the 2010-2011 Bowl Season the Annual Take of the College Football Bowl System was approximately $275 Million Dollars, $95 million of which gets sucked up into exorbitant travel costs, corruption, coke and hookers, etc. This leaves a collective profit of $180 million dollars, 100 percent of which gets distributed directly back to the conferences that play in the Bowl Games. Conferences can distribute again by craps game, communism, whatever.

The interesting twist to the current bowl system is that whatever your conference makes after it’s payoff, it keeps. So, the remaining $180 Million dollars distributed after $95 Million dollar Small Print looks like this.

The Differences

Well the net payout to conferences for participating in post season action is essentially the same between the two sports with football earning 180 Million after costs and basketball earning 180.5 Million after costs. Interestingly, the number of teams participating annually is nearly the same with 68 now for basketball, previously 64 and approximately 70 for football depending on which bowls fold and which new ones start annually. Since the profits are split among 11 conferences and Notre Dame(GRRR) in college football and 31 conferences in College Basketball, the per conference payout is higher in College Football.

Where basketball absolutely kicks football’s ass though is in altruism. Of the kept money by the NCAA, almost 195 million dollars goes right back into the pocket of Division I schools. This helps pay for non-revenue sports at the discretion of each individual athletic department. In football all money either gets directed to the bowl owners or the conferences. So in a way this is more efficient because it eliminates the NCAA as a passthrough. Teams in power conferences get more money and thus can decide how they want to spend it.

College Basketball’s model also has the benefit of eliminating the risk of your fanbase not showing up for games. Since a conference is paid based on a per appearance basis, whether or not a school’s fans show up has no bearing on that school’s take home pay. Also, there are rumors of an 82000 dollar travel stipend from WikiAnswers, so like, Caveat Emptor. Also, by basing payout over a five-year span College Basketball the “temperature taking” of a conference’s contribution is more accurate.

So Is The College Basketball Model Better?

Yes, it is. At the end of the day, more coin goes into your team’s pocket than it does under the NCAA football model and the risk of having crappy postseason turnout is effectively mitigated. If NCAA football was bringing in $750 Million a year instead of $295 Million then it becomes more of a philosophical debate as to whether the big swinging cheese of College Football should stay that way or if we’d want to see the parity of well-funded Mid-Majors start to creep in. I didn’t write this post as a method to say that the Bowl System works, it doesn’t, but I couldn’t find anything in the googles that effectively compared the two playoff systems.

Fare Thee Well, Robbie Hummel

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 07:51:28 GMT

"AW DAMMIT PURDUE!" the Mrs. yelled around 11 pm last night. As an elementary school teacher, these words are not too often uttered on her behalf, so I knew the Prophesy of Chris Vannini prior to the Second Half had come true. "Part of me doesn't want to watch Purdue because of the sadness I'll feel when Kansas blows this open and the camera shows Robbie Hummel."

So MSU hangs on to the villians of the tournament mantle for a solid five hours until Kansas comes along and does this:

At Globo Gym, We’re Better Than You!

Robbie Hummel had the kind of game where he had shouldered the load of his team and fell short.You could apply that to large portions of his career as well. As a guy who could join Delvon Roe in the My Knees Are Made Out of Screws, Spoons, Chicken Wire and GRIT club it's awful to see him leave everything he had on the court and come up just short. Fare thee well Robbie Hummel, may the fortunes of the NBA come smiling upon you and your ACLs be strong for years to come.

Quick Hits on MSU’s 65-61 Win Against Saint Louis

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 19:25:04 GMT

MSU Are The Biggest Monsters Ever

Since Minny knocked Northwestern out of the NCAA tourney anyway.

MSU sidestepped a bullet from a very underrated Saint Louis squad today to advance to the Sweet 16. Saint Louis played a great game collecting better stats than MSU in Offensive Rebounding, Offensive Rebounding Percentage, Free Throw Rate, Points from the Line, Steals and Turnovers. MSU led the entire game by just a few points and finished out with the win.

Other Bullets

Keith Appling has picked a good time to rejoin the team. His 19 points, 3 assists and 1 Turnover were exactly what the team needed today.
Payne spent a lot of time today looking like he was doing great things, but 4 points and 7 boards isn’t stellar for 25 minutes played.
Draymond Green is my hero for pulling through when you need him.

For MSU, lots of rest tomorrow and game prep for Louisville this upcoming Friday against ~~Al Pacino~~ Rick Pitino and with some luck the winner of Marquette and Florida.

MSU Pro Day Roundup and An LIU Game Preview Haiku

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:27:36 GMT

Jerel Worthy’s milkshake brings Mike Tomlin to the yard. Damn right, it’s better than yours. Actually, Worthy wasn’t the only beneficiary of some one-on-one time with Tomlin. Tomlin reportedly took Kirk Cousins to dinner on Tuesday night at Mitchell’s. No word on whether they took in the Lorax over at NCG or who paid.

I am unabashedly a fan of how the Steelers conduct their business. Three coaches in 42 years and a focus on being a good team year in and year out. The Steelers, Pats, Ravens, Packers are all teams where regardless of the round, if an MSU player lands there you know they aren’t going to get bungled away through mismanagement. For Cousins, the Steelers might be a nice landing spot, Charlie Batch’s grandkids are too old to be playing NFL football and Cousins could come in as the backup and develop from there. For Worthy, he’d play either defensive end position in the Steelers 3-4 defense. Left end Aaron Smith is a little long in the tooth, this season will be his 12th and the last two he’s been injured significantly. Young buck Ziggy Hood has looked good in relief and is penciled in as the FUTURE there. At the right end position is Monty Kiesel of Grizzly Adams fame. He’s 33 and his backup is 31. So if Tomlin is scouting Worthy, it’s could be for the right end position.

51 other NFL representatives attended the Pro Day who weren’t Mike Tomlin, but I probably don’t like them as much. With the exception of Worthy, Mel Kiper MSU has Cousins and Linthicum sitting just outside of his “Top 5” at each position. Mike Mayock thinks Trenton Robinson is a True Free Safety, which is why the Steelers probably aren’t looking at him. Trenton Robinson is not going to supplant Troy Polamalu anytime soon. Edwin Baker jammed out a 4.43 in the forty. Baker’s speed has never been his problem, it’s his hands, it’s his inability to wiggle his way out of things the way Bell could, an extra year would have really helped him. Keith Nichol jumped over ALL OF THE THINGS putting up a gaudy 39.5 inch vertical. How is no one looking at this kid as a Strong Safety?

My Oh My How Times Have Changed

I remember a few years ago, when Demond Williams was a Diamond-In-The-Rough Corner during the John L Smith days. At 5’9” and 170 he was a speed guy, he’s not going to tackle anyone, he keeps people from catching the ball. He was an average to slightly above average player on a pretty poor defense. His pro day came and went and he ran a 4.71 in the forty. When Trenton Robinson committed to Michigan State as a Diamond-in-The Rough Corner, there was an awful amount of whining about how he only had offers from the MAC. Well Trenton Robinson is an all Big-Ten Safety and a mid-round draft pick. While this evidence is anecdotal, Dantonio is undoubtedly doing a better job of recruiting players to his system and developing them such. More supported evidence on this later.

The LIU Haiku

Transition ball care

Golden Defensive Prowess

We has it, you don’t.

Hot Links is Reviving the Ghosts of JLS past

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 06:44:06 GMT

MSU Pro Day

It’s the MSU Pro Day today and your favorite Seniors of 2011 will be performing their drills again for 35 GM’s from across the NFL,CFL, UFL, XFL, etc. For some candidates like Brian Linthicum, Keith Nichol, Todd Anderson and Chris D. Rucker this is the chance they didn’t have at the combine to impress the decision makers. For guys like Worthy and Robinson who did not have the most stellar measurables at the combine this is a chance to improve on “soft spots” in their performance. For guys like Cousins and Keshawn Martin, this is a chance to improve their mid-round draft stock. Mocking the Draft is interested to see if Cousins can “jockey for position in the second round.” Frequently, Pro Days serve as confirmations of what you already know about a guy. It’s a rarity that someone comes out of a pro day in MUCH better position than they came into it.

On an interesting note, I’ve heard some former and not-so-recent players will be there. Kendall Davis-Clark and David Herron, both JLS guys are rumored to be participating. There are others, they shall remain nameless until they are confirmed/not confirmed.

When Brady Hoke Is Recruiting, If He Wants Something, He'll Say Anything

Ace Anbender from MGoBlog interviews Wyatt Shallman on his commitment to UM. From the interview:

ACE: What did you get into when you talked to Coach Jackson? What did he tell you that firmed things up for you?

WYATT: We just talked about positions and how he sees me playing. It checked out with the things that I want to do.

ACE: Specifically, I know there have been a lot of questions when it comes down to position, how do they plan on using you when you come to school?

WYATT: At running back, and that's what I want to play, so that's why I liked it.

ACE: What do you think are your biggest strengths on the field, especially when it comes to being a running back. What do you bring that isn't necessarily what your more traditional running back might bring?

WYATT: There's not too many running backs who are 6'3", 250. I think I bring a lot of speed and power for that size of back, so I think that's what I bring to the game. I'm a one-cut running, so I think I'm going to bring back the power game to Michigan. I don't dance too much, that's what I think I'm good at.

Recruiting kids to a position you have no intention of keeping them in is a time-honored tradition as old as college football itself. This however borders on absurd, there is a zero percent chance that Shallman takes a snap as a running back in any sense other than a gimmicky end-around to appease the Running Back heart of UM’s Tight End or as a Rock-Toting Fullback. Last year’s fullback Stephen Hopkins had 11 carries for 43 yards, which is neither the number of carries it read like Shallman is expecting or the number of yards. To Ace’s credit, the next question in the series is about what weight the staff Shallman is expected to arrive at, which read to me like if you want to play RB, think about losing 20-30 lbs immediately.

Bonus Bits

Brian Hoyer is looking for a job as an NFL starting QB, if you’re hiring. Drew Stanton is visiting the Jets in what’s hopefully a move to get the Lions to decide between him and Shaun Hill. Munn Minute has a look at MSU’s reinvigorated NCAA hopes. TOC takes a long concerned look at the minefield of a West bracket. MSU gets some love for “promoting scholar-athlete excellence”. MSU follows up on that by topping the “Hoops & Helmet Rankings”.

Here’s Your Shield Caleb Benenoch

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:15:44 GMT

Michigan State picked up their fifth recruit of the 2013 class in 6’6”, 320 lb Offensive Guard Caleb Benenoch. Benenoch reports offers from MSU, Kansas State, Ole Miss, Tulane and the West Virginia Fighting Holgorsons. Benenoch was ranked a three-star recruit by Scout and 247, Rivals as of yet has no ranking for him. Benenoch is the first commit on the Offensive Line for the class of 2013 and projects right now as an Offensive Guard/Offensive Tackle tweener. At 6’6” he’s a bit tall for a guard(you don’t want your guards to be much taller than your Quarterback), but if he can just blow up defensive players in run blocking it’s not that big of a deal. That said, he plays Offensive Tackle in High School, so maybe he sticks there. Benenoch speaks on where he’ll play($): "I initially talked with Coach (Terry) Samuel," Benenoch said. "However, I got my scholarship offer from Coach (Mark) Staten. He is the one I have been keeping in contact with the most. Coach Staten said that they love the fact that I am big and athletic with long arms. He said they like my versatility to play either guard or tackle and I am exactly what they are looking for."

Bonus! Benenoch is MSU’s second commit from Texas of the Mark Dantonio era. The first, Nick Foles, was very talented but couldn’t squeak by Kirk Cousins on the depth chart. This is far from a pipeline to Texas, but it is an encouraging sign since Brady Hoke seems to be intent on locking down Michigan as part of his standard recruiting practice. More on Hoke’s recruiting strategy soon.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

Here be the Junior Highlights

Here be the Sophomore Highlights

What’s To Love About This Kid?

Well for starter’s if you watch his sophomore film, you see he’s playing at Left Tackle and in his Junior Year he moves to the Right Tackle spot. He makes blocks in single coverage look effortless, this isn’t a common trait when watching film of Offensive Line prospects. Many OL prospects tend to “overpower” a play, hitting their guy so hard that they themselves fall down. This isn’t Benenoch, he just moves his guy out of the way and keeps them out of the way. At 6’6” and 320, my instant reaction was to be concerned about his speed, but he seems to be quick on his feet for his size. Nitpicks? He looks like he plays a bit high, tending to stand upright, but that might tie back to the “Good Balance” notes from above. If you can push people around with arm strength, you should do that.

Prediction for 2013 and Beyond….

Benenoch’s future is on the right side of the line he has the quicks and size to be an excellent run blocker at the next level. Barring catastrophe in the Offensive Line ranks he redshirts in 2013.

Impact on the remainder of the class

Whether the staff projects him at Guard or Tackle will become more apparent when MSU lands a couple more OL Commits. Likely, the staff will add another OG and another OT Benenoch might just kind stay in that tweener spot until he gets to high school. His commitment doesn’t exclude any other prospects at this point.

Grade Inflation, The College Football Recruiting Edition

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:31:19 GMT

You’ll notice that whenever a prospect commits to MSU, I always note two things. One, where the prospect has competing offers and two, what their ranking is according to Rivals, Scout and 247. There’s usually also a bit WOOOO!! involved. I tend to shy away from star ranking as an evaluation tool for how GOOD a prospect is and more often will rely on offer sheet and available YouTube film. Why? Well, because the star system is flawed. Not just in the way that Le’Veon Bell and Jeremy Gainer were misranked as two and four star prospects respectively. Most importantly in that the “quality” of the average B1G prospect has increased by between nine and thirty percent from 2002-2012.

For the purposes of this article, I’m going to use the Rivals rating system and I’m going to examine Big Ten players. I give them my moneys, they give me the datas, it’s cool like that. In the Rivals ranking system, a prospect receives two rankings. The first is a star ranking, the prospect can receive anywhere between zero and five stars. This is the traditional ranking that some idiot armchair fan from every school cites in the following beer-inspired sentence after a loss “Well, we have a five-star quarterback coming in next year.” Rivals prospects do not get one star ratings, not even the bad ones from Texas, the Lone Star State.

The second rating system is unique to Rivals. Explanation:

The ranking system ranks prospects on a numerical scale from 6.1-4.9.

6.1 Franchise Player; considered one of the elite prospects in the country, generally among the nation's top 25 players overall; deemed to have excellent pro potential; high-major prospect

6.0-5.8 All-American Candidate; high-major prospect; considered one of the nation's top 300 prospects; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team

5.7-5.5 All-Region Selection; considered among the region's top prospects and among the top 750 or so prospects in the country; high-to-mid-major prospect; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team

5.4-5.0 Division I prospect; considered a mid-major prospect; deemed to have limited pro potential but definite Division I prospect; may be more of a role player

4.9 Sleeper; no Rivals.com expert knew much, if anything, about this player; a prospect that only a college coach really knew about

Getting the data for this one is really going to be a pain in the toucas, so unless someone really wants a follow-up post, I’m not going to dig into that.

For Stars

The quality of the “average” Big Ten prospect increased from an average of 2.80 in 2002 to 3.04 in 2012. Since NO ONE who gets a scholarship offer and gets signed before the rankings are done gets a zero star ranking, I derived the 30 percent number above as (1.04-.8). Even without that, the increase from 2.8 to 3.04 is still a nine percent increase. Meaning on average according to the star rankings, the average Big Ten player is 9 to 30 percent better than they were in 2002.

Are kids really even nine percent better than they were in 2002?

In 2004, Rivals reported that there were 3375 recruits between two and five stars. In 2012, that number jumped to 3469 which is a 2.7 percent increase over 2004. So presuming the power conferences like the Big Ten snatched up the higher quality kids that still doesn’t explain a 9 percent increase. As for the stratification of the “quality class”, in 2004 there were 2437 two-star prospects which comprised 72.2 percent of the class size. In 2012, the 1603 comprised a meager 47.5 percent of the total class. No question about it, the two-star Rivals prospect is a dying breed.

So where did they all go?

In 2004, there were 660 3-Star recruits(19.6% of total) and 244 4-Star Recruits(7.2% of total) and 34 5-Star recruits(1% of total). In 2012 there were 1513 3-Star Recruits(43.6% of total) and 320 4-Star Recruits(9.2% of total) and 33 5-Star Recruits(.95% of total). So as you can see the number of three-star prospects enjoyed a 122 percent increase from 2004-2012. The number of four and five-star recruits enjoyed a 24 percent increase over the same period which would seem ridiculous if it weren’t put up next to the three-star numbers. Really all of that increase comes from the four-star prospects, five stars have been holding steady at around 1 percent through the years.

So when should I crow about a kid’s recruiting ranking?

From a human decency standpoint, never. Until they’re on the field and out producing their predecessors, they’re not anymore valuable than any other recruit. However, if you must, do not crow about a two-star kid, they should have been a three. Don’t crow about a three-star kid, they’re the new two stars. Four-star prospects are growing at a semi-manageable rate of 27.8 percent from 2004-2012, (that’s like the rate of inflation right?), but even a 27.8 percent increase over a period of time that only saw a 2.7 percent increase in the number of prospects evaluated is still pacing on an untenable track.

If you get a five-star prospect, crow. That’s cool, rare and the likelihood of them being good is high.

So why Offer Sheets?

Prospects pick up the bulk of their offers in the Summer Camp season which is in June and July. So if you receive a commitment during a prospect's junior year the Offer Sheet as a tool doesn't have much merit yet. If the commitment comes after camp season, typically the offer sheet is a better gauge of quality. Also to be considered is what scheme the competing offers come from, if a four-star LB has offers from Indiana and the MAC I'm less excited about that prospect than say a three-star LB prospect with offers from Iowa and Wisconsin.

Big.Ten.Champs.

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 06:59:04 GMT

Last night, MSU eeked out a win against OSU 68-64 to give MSU their first Big Ten Tourney title since 2000. Those other two teams were the Big Ten Champs too, but we got the 1 seed. So there's that. Draymond Green was named the Big Ten Tourney MVP but Brandon Wood and Derrick Nix were the ones who won yesterday's game. There was much rejoicing in East Lansing, a car was flipped over by the Jimmy John's on Collingwood, because apparently that's what we do?

MSU was "rewarded" with a 1 seed in the West region, playing their first game on Friday night at 9:50 against LIU. I say "rewarded" because there are 7 top 20 teams according to KenPom. This includes MSU playing the winner of the St. Louis(15)/Memphis(9) matchup in the second round on Sunday. But, MSU beat the number two team yesterday(OSU) and is 5-2 against the KenPom top 10. So bricks == not shit yet. Also, Izzo is like 431-2 in the second game of the NCAA tourney weekend.

Like I said yesterday, I believe. This team has it in for New Orleans, they know it, I know it. It feels like a certainty, this is a way I haven't felt about MSU hoops since 2000. This is their tournament to win.

Wisconsin Review, OSU Preview and the Kool-Aid is Amazing

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 08:29:41 GMT

The Spartans got off to a slow start yesterday, but dismantled Wisconsin 65-52. Wisconsin was held to just 32 points in the last 30 minutes of game time and had a stretch of over 12 minutes without a field goal. MSU improves to 3-0 against Wisconsin on the season and Tom Izzo beat Bo Ryan for the first time ever in the Big Ten Tournament. Many demons, cancers, etc have been exorcised this season, but none so great as the one where Bo Ryan kicks Tom Izzo in the groin repeatedly at midcourt.

State kicked the game off by giving Wisconsin 9 free points while frittering away bunnies from a few feet out, getting called for a charge that wasn’t and Green turning the ball over LIKE A BOSS. Green’s only gear is the “LIKE A BOSS” gear. Austin Thornton summoned his inner Timbo dropped four straight three’s on Wisconsin and MSU was right back in it. State played stifling defense in the back half of the first and took a 35-25 lead into the locker room.

I credit this turnaround to the presence of the martyr, St. Bruce. Bruce Weber, former Illinois HC as of two days ago, was invited to the game as a guest of Tom Izzo. While normally I’d think it’s a bad idea to show up at something you were just excused from a few days ago, HE’S A MAN, HE’S 55!

What impressed me most about this game was the even distribution of scoring amongst players who saw more than 20 minutes. 14,13,12,9 and 9 for 36,38,28,36,21 minutes respectively. Payne finished with six points in 14 minutes and Trice finished with two points in nine minutes. What concerned me a bit is that Kearney didn’t look ready on offense or defense. It’s an unfair thing to ask Kearney to put in 15 quality minutes, but that’s where State is and what they need.

I like beating Bo Ryan. It makes my heart happy.

Game Preview

I picked OSU to beat MSU in the final matchup a few days ago. Maybe it’s a homer pick, maybe it’s just quality of play, but today I like MSU to win. WIth the exception of a couple of droughts in the past two games, MSU looks like it’s hardly lost a beat since Dawson went down. When OSU knocked off State just a week ago, it took Dawson’s unexpected exit for OSU to squeak out a two point win at the Breslin. This week, OSU has played two days in a row on a team where quality depth is already an issue. Matta’s teams are famous for running out of gas at an inconvenient time. I think today will only reconfirm what many Big Ten basketball fans already know, Matta doesn’t understand that his teams don’t need another Jared Sullenger, they need one or two more Austin Thorntons or Brandon Woods.

Many Big Ten title games are not important, this one is. In addition to settling the three-way tiebreaker for first place in the Big Ten this year, the winner of this game could likely receive a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. That’s not all though. For me, when MSU won the national title in 2000, it wasn’t really a question. Going into the postseason, you could feel it around campus, it was almost a tangible thing. You’d walk by the rock and see the invisible national championship trophy on display. You’d sit down to watch a game and say “Well, it’s not going to be easier to win the national title when you brain fart a game away against Wright State.”

In 2000, MSU was a seven-loss 1 seed, and you couldn’t help but feel like the selection committee picked State as 1 because they wanted to back the winner. A seven-loss record doesn’t exactly command a 1 seed and yet, there we were. There was a feeling, a certainty that this title was MSU’s to lose.

Despite all of the setbacks the past week or so, it’s hard not to feel like that certainty is returning. Be it because Green is MSU’s most charasmatic leader since Cleaves or because MSU has quality depth and a host of freshmen who can get hot at just the right times. It feels ridiculous to be sitting here writing about how a team that was supposed to struggle to: make the tourney is in great shape to win the whole thing. Yet, that’s where we are and how I feel. Today goes a long way to confirming how valid that feeling is. Also, in case you’re keeping track at home, the last time MSU won the Big Ten tournament, they also won the BIg Dance.

Prediction: MSU by 11

A Boy Becomes a Man in Madison

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:55:00 GMT

A good friend of the blog, Bret Bielema is celebrating his nuptials today in Madison. He tweeted on the subject earlier this week, “Great to see some of our seniors back in town for Senior Pro Day on Wednesday. Every NFL team will be here and is great exposure for all.” Bret Bielema, so much charisma! Oh you want to get him something? Don’t bother, the folks at bustedcoverage already picked him up an egg timer. You can find the highlights of his registry over with Spencer Hall and the kids at Everydayshouldbesaturday.

We at Shaw Lane Spartans are trying to find him a gift suitable of his many talents, the best thing we could come up with was a Nickelback Beer Cozy with an embedded stopwatch. This stopwatch would allow him to keep track of how much time is left in a game while allowing him to enjoy an icy cold beer and thinking of how Chad Kroeger really speaks to him. If you really want to buy him a gift of his own, bang it here to find his actual wedding registry.

No word on when, where or what the reception will be like. You can bet though that it will involve PBR, fried cheese curds and lighting a fart on fire while doing the garter removal. Bret’s a man of many talents. The wedding song will be “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn”. The best part is that writing the Wisconsin preview will be significantly easier this fall. Here’s a sneak preview. “Bret Bielema discovered women and all of their parts when he got married in March. As when all men discover women, their productivity in all other areas of life drops off significantly. The same will be true of Wisconsin this fall.”

Oh we play Basketball today?

So we do. Can MSU soil Bret’s wedding reception? No, nothing can be dirtier than I’m sure that party will be. MSU can however knock off Bo Francis Ryan’s goon squad for a third time this season with another well executed game. For MSU, run, run and run some more, give yourself lots of chances to score.Stop Wisconsin from outrebounding MSU or keep it close. Don’t let them back into the game with threes.

All of that said, knocking off a team three times in a season is not easy work. This Wisconsin team has not looked like the Bo Ryan teams of yore and Tom picks up his third W against Emporer Palpatine this season.

Prediction: MSU by 8.

Iowa Recap: Momma said knock you out.

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:08:27 GMT

So after a hand-wringy preview this morning it was good squishee to watch MSU come in and Nix any hope of Iowa doing the unthinkable. Everyone looked beautiful; it was like a supermodel convention of basketball excellence today. MSU shot 228 percent from the field on 93 attempts and beat Iowa 221-2. Iowa phenom Matt Gatens was held to 10 points on one basket and seven free throws. After the game he was torn limb from limb by Derrick Nix and each limb was placed at an entrance to Conseco as a warning to those who trifle with Nix.

If I have a single complaint, it’s that the regression to the mean did not account for Josh Oglesby’s 3 point shooting from deep. It was like NHLPA 94 where you could get a goal everytime if you shot from a certain angle. It was a glitch in the matrix and my unhappiness with stopping it is more or less trying to find something to nitpick about.

Oh the Payne!

Where in the hell did this version of Payne come from? He accounted for 16 points and 7 boards in the scariest 20 minute performance since Anthony Hopkins enjoyed that nice man with a can of Fava Beans and a nice Chianti. Looking at Draymond’s stat sheet, is it possible he’s underappreciated? At 21 points, 10 Rebounds and 5 assists he didn’t seem to have a remarkable game and yet, those are remarkable stats. Appling is breaking his slump and everything is coming up Milhouse, against Iowa anyway.

Great win, disaster avoided, convincing win. Indiana/Wisconsin preview by tomorrow morning. Enjoy your happy hour.

A B1G Iowa Preview of Violence, Mediocrity and Exploration

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:15:09 GMT

Michigan State vs Iowa

When: High Noon

Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapoliansadumbass

Viewing/Listening: ESPN/94.9

What’s at Stake: For Iowa, a trip to the NCAA tournament depends on winning through the Big Ten Tournament. A trip to the NIT lands Fran in anger management training with Carrot Top. For MSU, a trip to the NCAA tournament is assured, however, a loss might indicate that Dawson will be missed more than expected.

Last Time They Met: Fran got all crazy, picked up his chair and strode out to mid-court. He just yelled "Who Wants Some" and delivered a series of chair shots that would make Stone Cold Steve Austin proud. He was given eleven technical fouls and MSU rode on to a 95-61 victory in East Lansing. The chair was actually auctioned off to charity for the Iowa baseball team.

Four Factors on Offense

As you can see, Iowa is numerically similar to MSU in terms of offensive output. Matt Gatens has emerged as the assassin of the 2011-2012 Hawkeyes and will need to be contained or countered by a Thornton/Green combo. Iowa does a good job getting to the line, but manages to fritter that away with a 75.1 percent FT shooting percentage. Other than that Iowa doesn't really standout in comparison to MSU offensively.

MSU will be taking full advantage of the cliched "college is the time for exploration" while it tinkers with it's Dawson-less lineup. The loss of Dawson represents 8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds or as I like to call it "MarQuise Gray Production". MSU won't look worse than they did against OSU on offense because Iowa can't defend all that well and they've had a chance to regroup in the meantime. (See below.)

Four Factors on Defense

If the last paragraph or two was mildly concerning, this is where you bust out the cham-pagn-ya. MSU holds it’s opponents to almost 10 fewer eFG percentage points on defense and allows a much lower offensive rebounding percentage. MSU starves it’s competition of shots and takes away their rebounds. If Michigan State and get out and run their transition game, Iowa is not equipped to stop them on defense.

Iowa is the gas station lunch of defensive hoops, you will survive it, but you are not better off for the experience. Allowing over 1/3 of opponents missed shots to be rebounded is pretty poor. Allowing 52 percent eFG is pretty poor. If you have a turnover-less possession against Iowa, there is a 60 percent chance you're coming away with two points or more. That's excellent.

Prediction

The first half of this game is closer than you think. Tom will spend a significant portion of the first half exploring with lineups to compensate for the loss of Dawson. If MSU can get out into transition Iowa won’t be able to run with them. If for some reason Iowa can keep the game slower that helps negates the defensive advantage that MSU has in all things shooting and rebounding. Iowa has knocked off four top 20 teams this year(SHIIIIIIT), at home(wheeeeew). So don’t nap on them or Fran might get all rage-y and go out and bareknuckle punch some cinder blocks named MSU.

Game Prediction: MSU by 7.

Bonus Bits

Rodger Sherman of Sippin' On Purple runs how you felt after the Big Ten Title Game through a 2 million watt amplifier. I really hope this is not his last post, he deserves a big flowery applause post too. Munn Minute has got all of your CCHA Quarterfinals preview substance on their site. The Only Colors does questions with Black Heart Gold Pants , you can bet BHGP will get them back later today.

Big Ten Tournament Preview We Lift a City's Spirits

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:16:17 GMT

If you give a damn about the NFL or Saturday Night Live, you know that Peyton Manning ended his career with the Colts yesterday. While Indianapolis grieves the loss of their son, we bring basketball to the Bankers Life Fieldhouse, open 10:30 - 3 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You know, that's probably all Indianapolis has going for it in terms of sports for a while. Oh sure they also have the Indiana Pacers, I love Reggie Miller, he's a lot of fun to watch hoop it up.

So here's the Big Ten tournament. The quick rundown is thus. The winner gets an automatic NCAA bid, the eleven losers are left to be sorted out by their deity of choice. The coach of the winning team joins Jim Delany in a Two-Buck Chuck drinking contest. Five teams (Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Indiana) are doing well enough that they will make the NCAA tournament as at-large entries if they do not win this tournament.

12.) Penn State

Overview: Penn State has had a rough year under their new coach "Guy ToBeReplacedInThreeYears". Penn State finished with more wins in Big Ten play in football(6) than in basketball(4). Tim Frazier played the Big Ten's best 1-on-5 basketball this year averaging (18.6 pts, 4.8 rebs, 6.3 asts). Pat Chambers kept his team fighting through all of their games and if he can convert that effort into production next year, they should improve some.

They make the NCAA tournament if: An Act of God traps the other 11 teams in their hotel rooms.

Their likely destination: Happy Valley to watch the NIT and NCAA tourney on TV.

11.) Nebraska

Overview: For a school where Men's Basketball is a Title IX sport, they did pretty well this year. They finished second to last in the Big Ten with four wins. They also gave a number of teams heart attacks on their trips to Lincoln. Yes, there really is that much corn. It's a lot of damn corn.

They make the NCAA tournament if: Rex Burkhead and T-Magic show up and hang 45 by themselves on the opposing teams.

Their likely destination: Lincoln. It's corn planting season.

10.) Minnesota

Overview: Minnesota got a visit to their star player, Trevor Mbakwe, from Perry the Torn AC Elephant early on in the season. Since then they've tried to re-enact their lot as MSU-lite to middling success. With the departure of Joel Maturi, this is one of Tubby's last chances to impress upon Minnesota fans as to why he should be the coach in 2014. (He's probably safe for the 2012-2013 season).

They make the NCAA tournament if: Tubby uses the magical powers granted to him as a Kentucky head coach to avoid NCAA punishment for bringing his clearly ineligible Kentucky players back to Minnesota.

Their likely destination: NIT.

9.) Illinois

Overview: It's a bad year to be an Illinois coach. The Zooker was fired this past fall and it appears that Bruce Weber is not far behind. Weber's squad underperformed in the way that the stock market underperformed in 2008. For them to salvage a bad season out of this would require winning the whole Big Ten Tournament. This is a zombie team, everyone knows they're dead on their feet.

They make the NCAA tournament if: Weber can summon the mojo of old and motivate his talented players to play like they have seen a basketball before. In short, they're not going.

Their likely destination: NIT.

8.) Iowa

Overview: Fran McCafferty, the new Iowa coach gets excited about basketball and fighting. At 8-10 in the Big Ten, but 16-15 overall, he showed serious improvement throughout the season. Also, purging his inner Bobby-Knight by avoiding technicals and chair slamming would be a pretty good idea.

They make the NCAA tournament if: They can make it to the finals, I don't think they have to win, but getting to the finals is key.

Their likely destination: NIT.

7.) Northwestern

Overview: I am pulling like hell for Northwestern in this tournament. In the 73 year history of their program, they've never been to the Big Dance. If you think about that, 50 percent of American males will live an entire lifetime and die in the amount of time that it's taken Northwestern to make it to the tourney. There is no other goal or objective in Northwestern basketball.

They make the NCAA tournament if: They can cut the cake and beat Michigan on their third try in the 2-7 game on Friday.

Their likely destination:The Big Dance.

6.) Purdue

Overview: Purdue lost Kelsey Barlow mid-season due to team rules violations, etc. Purdue will make the tournament if they win a game or two. They have a lot less to prove than Northwestern.

They make the NCAA tournament if: They beat Nebraska today.

Their likely destination:The Big Dance.

5.) Indiana

Overview: Tom Crean's Fighting Candy Stripers have really enjoyed a resurgence this year now that they are free of the stink of Kelvin Sampson. At 24-7 they're a lock to make the tournament even if they lose to PSU today. Although that might make me rethink inviting them too.

They don't make the NCAA tournament if: They get hired as professional candy stripers in the Canadian Health Care System.

Their likely destination:The Big Dance.

4.) Wisconsin

Overview: Bo Ryan is the most successful Vampire coach in the history of the Big Ten. He finds his pale-like prospects and grooms them for a life of vampirism and shooting three pointers while crashing the boards.

They don't make the NCAA tournament if: Bo goes on a feeding spree and accidently sucks the blood of all his players while they sleep the night before the game. They all turn into vampires and burst into flame after stepping into the sunlight.

Their likely destination:The Big Dance.

3.) Ohio State

Overview: Thad Matta's plan for winning the NCAA championship. Step 1. Bring in NBA talent, go six and a half players deep. Step 2 ??. Step 3: TITLES!!!!! OSU this year is like every other year. Gifted but thin.

They don't make the NCAA tournament if: Jared Sullenger and William Buford get picked up by the Pacers while they're in town for the Big Ten Tournament

Their likely destination:The Big Dance.

2.) Michigan

Overview: John Beilein has his system in place and it is working Beiutifully. They'll face Northwestern in the second round where Northwestern is Shurna-ed to get their revenge after Michigan took the two regular season games in overtime.

They don't make the NCAA tournament if: All of the players contract HerpesGonoSyphilAids.

Their likely destination:The Big Dance.

1.) Michigan State

Overview: Michigan State has a bit of soul and line-up searching to do after losing Brandon Dawsen with a torn ACL the other day. Expect MSU's first game against Iowa/Illinois winner to be close because Tom will be playing with the line-up all throughout the game. I expect Izzo to put more effort than usual into winning this tournament this year.

They don't make the NCAA tournament if: Nothing. They're in.

Their likely destination:The Big Dance.

Prediction: Ohio State over MSU in the final game. I don't think Matta will crush the NCAA tourney, but it seems very Matta to go out, win the Big Ten tourney and then lose in the first round of the tourney. I think this year will be no exception.

Hat Tip to Green Thoughts for some of the serious parts of this preview.

Dan Roushar: Wizard or Alien? Exhibit A, The Unbalanced Line

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 23:56:36 GMT

After the loss at Notre Dame there were plenty of people wondering if Dan Roushar was in over his head. Roushar didn’t have his best day in South Bend and afterwards he completely threw the baby out with the bathwater as it regarded the Unbalanced Line. I was hoping as the season wore on that MSU would wheel that back out again, but they never did.

The Unbalanced Line

Before we can really nitpick apart whether or not Roushar was hasty in throwing this formation away, we need to talk a little bit about what it is. According to Wikipedia, “Usually refers to an offensive formation which does not have an equal number of linemen on each side of the ball. Done to gain a blocking advantage on one side of the formation; typically one tackle or guard lines up on the other side of the ball. For example a common alignment would be TE-G-C-G-T-T-TE.” In short, a line is unbalanced when the center aint so center anymore.

Pictorially

For the purposes of these and all future MS Paint Hack Job in the rest of this post Green means Senator Cousins, Blue means running/fullbacks, Purple means Wide Receivers and Red means Offensive Linemen. So in the Roushar Unbalanced Line package, he lines up Guard-Center-Guard-Tackle-Tackle-Tight End-Tight End, or G-C-G-T-T-TE-TE if you’re into the whole brevity thing. According to an article designed to talk chalk on ESPN!!! with Bob Davie *sad face* he talks about the offensive line and shows off some unbalanced line formations. Notice anything missing? Right, the instance of a formation where there is only one guy to the left of the center.

Not an Unbalanced Line

In this formation, this is not an unbalanced line because all of the Offensive Linemen type gentlemen are lined up symmetrically to the center with two on either side of him. The guy furthest out on the right of the line is a Tight End and is eligible to catch passes in this diagram. So very key to make sure we’re not incorrectly ID-ing Unbalanced Lines in the future. This one was for the Mrs.

So why run an Unbalanced Line? You’re not going to run for eleventy yards on every play.

The first and most important reason is confusion. I distinctly remember a defensive player asking after last year’s Fall Practice whether or not it was even legal for them to line up five to the left of the center? Legal? Yes. Advisable? Apparently not.

In the example above, the issue for the defense is they have no idea how the Offensive Line is assigned to block out the play. They cannot shift all resources over to covering the glut of offensive linemen because then they could get beat in misdirection to the left. Also, if you’ll recall, MSU was not very strong at run blocking this year. I’m cool with DANBALL using confusion to mask a weakness.

A Few Plays From the Notre Dame Game, Which Sucked.

I diagrammed this play on the old site in a throw away post that 14 people read. If you were one of those 14 people, sorry, I’m trotting this bit back out as part of a larger picture.

Play 1

The offense lines up in the Unbalanced Roushar going G-C-G-T-T-TE-TE. The fullback Anderson is lined up to the Strong side, B.J. Cunningham is split wide, Edwin Baker is the running back. Notre Dame is lined up in a 3-4 with the two inside linebackers lined up deep(presumably to give themselves more time to diagnose the play.

As the play develops, you see it’s going to be a run to the strong side. Rock runs up to take the Rock and pound the Rock in the House that Rock Built. The Offensive Line has not gotten great push so far. The ball snapped at the 30 and that’s where the Offensive/Defensive line battle is still taking place.

Notre Dame’s OLB(Lynch I think it was) comes around unblocked and has a clean run at Baker. Meanwhile the guys who stayed home to engage the horde of Notre Dame defenders are overwhelmed. Had the play got into the Second level, Celek would have been in good postion to block someone, Burkland was just kind of lost out there. (It was his third game, so that’s not entirely ridiculous.)

The guys who stay home end up losing the line of scrimmage and the ND defenders are able to hold down the fort long enough for Lynch to run the play down from the backside and Baker ends up taking no gain on the play.

What would have helped here?

Whoever was playing just left of Center(it’s hard to tell in these pics sometimes.) either needed help or needed to have someone stay home to seal off the play from the backside. As many of you know, Baker was not MSU’s strongest runner this year, so putting him in a situation with that much traffic was not going to emphasize his skillset, which was more of a one-cut and go runner. Also in the last pic you see three guys blocking number 83 from ND, that’s a fail. Plain and simple.

Play 2

Same Line formation. The fullback(Anderson) lines up directly behind Cousins this time though. Notre Dame in their base 3-4, MLB’s lined up deep again.

The play snaps and the play runs… left? Makes perfect sense, there’s no one watching the left, so obviously you want to use your weakness to attack their strength. Blake Treadwell(Center) takes on their DE. The OLB swings out WAAAY wide to open a gap for his Mike buddies to come through between Treadwell(Center) and McDonald(Guard left of center).

The good news, Baker makes it out of the first level blocking. The bad news is that number 42 is coming unblocked and has all day to get to Baker.

Cunningham sees 42 coming and pulls off his block from the photo before. Which of course leaves his guy to prevent Baker to avoid getting the corner. It’s hard to tell, but after Baker got by someone, our Offensive Line didn’t turn around to block that guy out of the play. Which is frustrating.

What would have helped here?

This play looked closer to working for big yards than it’s result would indicate. Despite the fact that France and Foreman are clearly blocked out of the play, if everyone hold their blocks, this play had BIG Potential. I guess it would have B1G Potential.

Play 3

You know the Drill. Roushar unbalanced formation for MSU, 3-4 with two high Mike’s for ND.

The play snaps and it’s going… left. DAMMIT DAN. You’re trying to get away with misdirection in a set that doesn’t really support it. Roushar’d.

The blocking is setting up really well on this one if everyone can hold their blocks.

Unfortunately, McDonald, who was playing Left of Center couldn’t hold his block and Anderson has to stop to double team McDonald’s guy, so Baker’s lane doesn’t collapse.

Baker is able to get out a little ways and ends up getting four on the play, which isn’t too bad. It’s a successful play according Heck’s New Math.

So What Went So Wrong?

A few things actually went so wrong. The first is that there are two other examples of where Roushar ran left instead of right. It’s like he went to all of this trouble to construct a throwback to the College Football game prior to the invention of the forward pass and didn’t trust his linemen to execute. This is akin to using math to determine you must go 70 miles an hour to jump a motorcycle over the Grand Canyon, then deciding in the moment it’s safer to go 8 mph, because you have more control and you don’t trust math. If you’ve put a good chunk of Spring and Fall ball putting this package in, you have to trust your players to execute.

Second, there’s no way in hell he should have trusted his players to execute this scheme. These screencaps are filled with missed blocks, overblocking and people not holding their blocks long enough for the play to develop. Run blocking for the 2011 Spartans was a liability that didn’t resolve itself until the back half of the season. I’m sure this was one part Roushar learning what his guys can do and one part gradual improvement.

Finally, if Rock Baker had Le’Veon Bell’s vision, he would have rushed for 2000 yards this year. Baker throughout his career at MSU ran to where the hole was supposed to be and not where the hole actually was. So to compensate for that you’d want to run him to the weakside, but that’s not what this formation was built for.

Pictorially

A move from this to

this

would prevent the play from getting run down from the backside as easily. It unfortunately rules out any possibility for a forward pass, which is a newfangled twist to this old-fashioned play.

I don’t think this should have been thrown out completely. I think it should have been saved for later in the season when MSU really needed some good yardage on a 3rd and short and was ok with picking it up all cheaply and such. Any single 3rd down and short conversion failure in the Big Ten Title game comes to mind. Bielema’s mind would implode at something he’s never seen before, it would be the saddest little supernova ever.

Dan Roushar. Wizard or Alien?

I’d say inconclusive. Finding the deep magic spells hidden in a book in some grotto in Olde Europe was a neat trick. In all of the variants I found of this online except Roushar’s the Guard left of Center gets some sort of help. Add to that the fact that this Line had not yet figured out how to block their way in a situation like this AND Baker was not the best runner in traffic and I’m kind of left to wonder why he decided to try the Unbalanced Line to begin with. Vague memories of LSU doing this a few years ago are coming to mind.

In a way this play formation summed up all that you loved and hated about Roushar in his first year. Brilliant ideas executed averagely or even below-averagely at times. Obviously the execution will need some clean-up in year two to show the kind of progress we’re all hoping to see.

Shaw Lane Spartans: Our Legacy, Our Mission, Our Us

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:25:16 GMT

A Spartan warrior is in his home, preparing for war. He girds himself in armor, packs essentials, and mentally hardens himself for the journey and battle ahead. When the last of his preparations have been made, he turns to his wife. She presents him with his shield, and says “With this, or upon this.”

According to the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, Spartan warriors were expected to either return from battle with their shield in hand, victorious—or carried upon it, dead. If a warrior returned without his shield, it meant he must have thrown it or abandoned it while selfishly fleeing; he would be executed or banished for his cowardice.

The shield represented much more than an individual’s protection. Spartan phalanxes depended on shields to protect not only their wearer, but their neighbor in the formation. As Wikipedia says, “Thus the shield was symbolic of the individual soldier's subordination to his unit, his integral part in its success, and his solemn responsibility to his comrades in arms.”

Throughout the proud history of Michigan State athletics, the most successful teams have always shared this total commitment to team success. MSU has won multiple D-I National Championships in football, men’s basketball, and hockey; it’s the only program in the country that has. That’s a proud legacy we Spartan fans and alumni need to remember, protect, and hold sacred.

At A Beautiful Day for Football, Jim and I had a space where we could occasionally vent our spleen about Spartan pigskin. But as Jim dove deeply into film review and analysis, the blog grew. We came to realize our little home had no elbow room for anything else: no community, very little discussion, and worst of all no space under the umbrella for hoops, puck or any other Spartan athletics.

Shaw Lane Spartans represents much more than a facelift; it’s an entirely new site with an entirely different mission. SLS provides forum space for our fellow Spartans, and the identities carry over into the comment section of every post. We’re looking for more contributors (see Jim’s intro post for details), hoping to improve our current football coverage and vastly upgrade (or create from whole cloth) our coverage of other sports.

Rather than an echo chamber for the voices of two individuals, Shaw Lane Spartans represents our collective contributions to the Spartan nation. We want to uphold our solemn responsibility to our comrades-in-arms. We want to honor the legacy of the Spartan teams and fans that came before us, and help carry it forward to the next generation of Spartan fans and alums. We want to be an integral part of the success of Spartan athletics, and we want you all to join us in the phalanx.

Here’s your shield.

Movin’ Right Along

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:26:19 GMT

Movin' right along in search of good times and good news,
With good friends you can't lose,
This could become a habit!
Opportunity knocks once let's reach out and grab it (yeah!),
Together we'll nab it,
We'll hitchhike, bus or yellow cab it!
(Cab it?)

Welcome to our new home. This has been a project a few months in the thinking and a few weeks in the doing. The idea to move to an independent website was actually fourth on my offseason “to-do” list. Items One, Two and Three are as of yet untouched. I wanted to move to an independent website for a few reasons which I’ll bore you with after we get you settled.

Getting Settled

There are a few ways that you can get involved with the site right away.

Register to become a member of the site

Update: I'm a crappy salesman. Registering for the site gets you the ability to post in the forums. Also, if you're interested in being a contributor it'll be a must. It’s free. We keep our data collection to a minimum. E-mail,username, password and display name are all that are required. We will not sell your personal information to anyone, ever. I’m still working on a Privacy Policy, but some things can wait until summer. If you’re really worried about me misusing your information hit the ‘Contact Us’ e-mail up in the menu and let me know about it.

Update your RSS feed

The RSS subscription process is a bit different than it was on the old site. To subscribe here, you click on the RSS button next to where the blog says “With This Shield Or Upon It…”. This will take you to a pop-up screen. Copy and Paste that address into your RSS reader of choice. Or just use this link: http://www.shawlanespartans.com/DesktopModules/LiveBlog/Handlers/Syndication.ashx?mid=497&PortalId=0&tid=56

Update #2: Some people have reported that the RSS feed looks weird when click to subscribe in Chrome. If it does try to paste the address bar info into your RSS reader anyway. If that doesn't work, flip me an e-mail.

Follow the Shaw Lane Spartans Twitter Account

My kids are adorable little koala bears(cute from a distance, but might kill you up close), but that’s not what you want to read about when you sign up for my twitter feed. If you want straight unadulterated(my heart says steamy, but not really) Spartan talk, follow us on Twitter at our new account. We’ll keep the personal chatter to a minimum there.

We have a Facebook Page too

You can find it at this link. I have my own opinions of facebook, but lots of people still use it. And if everyone told me to jump off a bridge, I may well do it.

To Bookmark this Page

- In Windows, hit Ctrl + D to add this page to your bookmarks.

- On an Apple, you hit ⌘ + D to add this page to your bookmarks.

Interested in becoming a Contributor?

Send me an e-mail. There are plans in the works to make simple blogging something everyone can do just by registering for an account, but for now I’m keeping things tightened down a bit. I am on the look for daily contributors, subject matter contributors and the occasional poster who can kill a post but is a very important person in real life. If you think this is you, hit me at the e-mail link above.

Why make the jump?

First, the Blogger platform, it’s rigid and doesn’t lend itself well to true user interaction, the format is very much “I blog, you react or don’t.”. I wanted to move to a platform that encouraged more user interaction and this website gives us that opportunity. Adding contributors is easy to do administratively and we have created a forum for people to talk about MSU, sports or whatever they want. The best part, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what this new framework allows for us. There are hundreds of thousands of ways we can modify the site to allow for better user interaction.

Second, there’s something to be said for the idea that any content uploaded to this site belongs to it’s proprietors and isn’t sitting out somewhere in the Google Cloud. It’ll end up in the Google cloud anyway, but there’s something comforting about knowing that the modicum of control I have over what happens to this site and it’s content are solely in my less technically competent but more concerned hands than the Google in the Sky.

Finally, here comes the hubris. I just wanted to try my own hand at a site. As many of you either know or have surmised, I’m a web developer by day and a blogger by night, there’s nothing technically challenging about putting a site like this one together. I spend lots of time assisting people with their data-driven analytics and trying to make the green profit bars bigger than the red expenditure ones, it’s nice to work on a site that’s just for MSU Sports Blogging. There’s not mountains of dollars to be made, it’s a sports blog for crying out loud.

So that’s it. Tomorrow, it’s back to pumping out content instead of site notes, announcements, etc. As for the future here, expect more deep dive football content in the summer and fall. That’s going to be the centerpiece of the blog going forward. The goal of this new site though is to be an excellent MSU Sports community that happens to have picture pages and deep-dive football analysis on the blog. Thanks for your readership so far and I look forward to building this site with all of you.

Go Green,

Jim

Delvon Roe & The Fine Print of NCAA Bylaws

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:04:00 GMT

Yesterday, a fire burned hot, tall and bright to allow Delvon Roe to suit up for the final home game against OSU this weekend. He'd be conferred all Senior Day privileges of kissing the S, helping box out Jared Sullenger and that hilarious hug between Tom Izzo and a dude 11 inches taller than him. Immediately, Roe threw water on the fire tweeting:"Lol I love my followers u all r great. It's not about me lets worry about wrappin up this big10 title OUTRIGHT!!N let the NCAA do there job." Hollis later got out the fancy china to have a talk with us over twitter about the NCAA's non-involvement in the decision for Delvon not to play.

One of two things REALLY happened here. A decision for Delvon not to play was reached by Izzo, Hollis and Roe and no NCAA waiver was requested. This is possible, the decision for Delvon to leave basketball didn't appear to be easy, he might just not want to reopen old wounds or a host of many other reasons(loss of focus on the game, sacrificing a valuable Roe minute in what will be a tightly contested game, etc).

Izzo loves his kids, Hollis is a showman, I won't call him a PT Barnum of Athletic Directors, but the thought crossed my mind. If Roe is trying to get into acting and isn't a showman, he best think his career choice through. The NCAA said, "No, but we're gonna say no like when you try to hire a head coach and they say no. There's no offer and thus no refusal." We're going to say no because ~~we're the Extraordinary League of No Fun~~ it would contravene our bylaws.

So which bylaw would he be violating?

Luckily, the NCAA provides a summary of it's Regulations right there on the internets. I'll save you the trouble and just quote liberally since the NCAA should have no problem making it's policy on Student-Athlete Participation, clear, right? Riiiiiight.

Ethical Conduct - It's not salient, but clause A made me laugh out loud.

a.) You must act with honesty and sportsmanship at all times so that you represent the honor and dignity of fair play and the generally recognized high standards associated with wholesome competitive sports. [NCAA Bylaw 10.01.1

I have no idea what kind of Orwellian jackass wrote clause A, but he/she/they/aliens should be flogged publicly with a whip of nine tails as a complimentary theraputic healing activity to promote wholesomeness of the soul and the self. Also, unless Delvon Roe's Hobbled Knee is actually the name of his Speakeasy, he's in the clear here.

Amateurism – All Sports.

a. You are not eligible for participation in a sport if you have ever

(1) Taken pay, or the promise of pay, for competing in that sport. [Bylaw 12.1.2]

(2) Agreed (orally or in writing) to compete in professional athletics in that sport.

Exception: Prior to collegiate enrollment, in sports other than men's ice hockey and skiing, you agreed to compete on a professional team provided the agreement did not provide for more than actual and necessary expenses and you did not receive more than actual and necessary expenses. [Bylaws 12.1.2 and 12.2.5.1]

(3) Played on any professional athletics team as defined by the NCAA in that sport.

Exception: Prior to enrollment, in sports other than men's ice hockey and skiing, you competed on a professional team provided you did not receive more than actual and necessary expenses. [Bylaws 12.1.2 and 12.2.3.2.1]

(4) Used your athletics skill for pay in any form in that sport. [Bylaws 12.1.2 and 12.1.2.4]

Exceptions:

(a) Prior to collegiate enrollment, you accepted prize money based on place finish or performance in an open athletics event from the sponsor of the event and the amount of prize money did not exceed your actual and necessary expenses to participate in the event; or [Bylaws 12.1.2 and 12.1.2.4.1]

(b) After collegiate enrollment, you accepted prize money based on place finish or performance outside your sport's playing and practice season and during the summer vacation period in an open athletics event from the sponsor of the event and the amount of prize money did not exceed your actual and necessary expenses to participate in the event. [Bylaws 12.1.2 and 12.1.2.4.2]

b. You are not eligible in a sport if you ever have accepted money, transportation or other benefits from an agent or agreed to have an agent market your athletics ability or reputation in that sport. [Bylaw 12.3.1]

c. You are not eligible in any sport if, after you become a student-athlete, you accept any pay for promoting a commercial product or service or allow your name or picture to be used for promoting a commercial product or service. [Bylaws 12.5.2.1 and 12.5.2.2]

d. You are not eligible in any sport if, because of your athletics ability, you were paid for work you did not perform, were paid at a rate higher than the going rate or were paid for the value an employer placed on your reputation, fame or personal following. [Bylaw 12.4]

Well there it is, in section c. Roe has been auditioning for gigs and has even been in a movie called AWOL. He's represented or does work for the Okemos Talent Agency(that annual trip to the mall was good for something!). An argument could be made for or against d. as a higher rate of pay but I think it would be inconclusive either way. An argument could probably also be made for b. NOT THAT (b). but it seems to apply to athletic agents as opposed to Big Fancy Movie Star Agents.

The Russell Wilson/Brandon Weeden/Drew Henson Argument

So why was it cool for these guys to play Pro Baseball and then be college QB's in the fall? They accepted their money as professional baseball players so they were eligible to play College Football. So if Delvon Roe had left college and become a Professional Competitive Eater or a Professional Golfer, it'd be cool for him to suit up on Saturday.

A One-Day Retirement Clause

It's too late for this and won't help Delvon Roe for Sunday, but would it really be such an awful idea to have a One-Day Retirement Clause? All of the professional sports are allowed to sign guys to one day contracts so they can retire as a member of "their team". In just the list above, there are two exceptions to six rules, would it really be so unwieldy to add a One-Day Only Retirement Clause? Update 3/2 9:34AM: The idea being allow the person to dress with the team, warm-up, be a player in every sense except actually playing the game. This was implied, but it was late when I finished the post and I think it needs to be spelled out. After all, this isn't corporate tax law or anything.

As far as Delvon goes, don't feel sorry for him. Delvon Roe is a great kid who seems to have found acting makes him happy. There are worse fates to befall someone than realizing your original goal was really just a waypoint to a different path. Hell, some of us should be so lucky as that. While there might be a sting for him not playing Sunday, he has a whole career of proud memories to look back on as a Spartan. He's welcome home anytime he likes.

Here's Your Shield, R.J. Shelton

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:03:00 GMT

The Spartans picked up their fourth commitment Sunday from Wisconsin running back R.J. Shelton. Most of the recruiting sites haven't yet evaluated . Only 247 has a rating for him -- 3 stars. It also looks like the Spartan coaches got out ahead of other programs. MSU was the first B1G program to offer Shelton, shortly thereafter he was noticed and offered by Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. It appears that Bielema personally called Shelton to try to keep him instate, but MSU's early interest seems to have paid off.

Shelton has good size (5'11" and 185 lbs), and he is listed as running the 40 in 4.5 seconds. That seems about right; he looks like a 4.5 guy in his video:

The immediate reaction is to see Shelton as the next Edwin Baker, as they move in a similar way. If you look at this next video of Baker (at the 1:15 mark), you can see that Baker was bigger and more powerful in high school. He may also have been faster -- according to Scout he ran the 40 in 4.4 seconds.

Shelton was only a junior in his video, so some physical improvement seems likely. Nonetheless, Shelton already shows some excellent talent and athleticism. He's another guy who makes you realize that it's too early to panic about recruiting. After all, how can anyone be upset about taking a running back with competing offers from Iowa and Wisconsin?

Shelton's commitment should wrap up the running back recruiting, between Shelton and Holmes the Spartans have secured a speed/power back combo. The Spartans now have 5 young guys who could step in for Caper after 2012 or Bell should he leave early for the draft.

Here’s Your Shield, Jalyn Powell

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:02:00 GMT

The Spartans have picked up their 3rd commitment from Ohio safety, Jalyn Powell. Powell attends Warren G. Harding high school, home of former Spartan DB Chris L. Rucker. Once again, it looks like the Spartan coaches have jumped ahead of most of the recruiting services, so the information on Powell is limited, and in some cases conflicting. Only 247 has a rating for him, and they consider him a 3-star guy. Otherwise, Scout says that Powell received offers from Michigan, and West Virginia, and that Ohio State is showing interest in him. All of the other sites, however, list MSU as his only offer.

Powell has great size for a safety (6'1" and 185 lbs.). If you believe ESPN, which is the only site that has a 40 meter time for him, he seems to be a little slow (at 4.86 seconds). But folks, you tell me if you believe this guy is slow:

In this video, Powell looks like the best athlete on the field. There are several moments where he makes everyone else look like they're standing still. On defense he shows some pretty good instincts and he brings the lumber when he tackles. I have to say, this is some of the best highlight video I've ever seen. That makes Powell one of the most exciting prospects I've ever reviewed.

Powell is being recruited as a safety, but to me he looks like a guy that could excel at many other positions, including wide receiver, linebacker, and running back. He fits the mold of a Dantonio safety and will be a great addition to the class of 2013 for the Green and White.

Golden Gopher Recap, the Combine and Junior Day

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:01:00 GMT

So, that happened. MSU was due for a brain fart of a game and they had it. They were lucky to escape with a win and that Brandon Wood found his superhero cape just in time. Keith Appling had a rough game, Sophomore is Greek for "wise fool". Draymond "B1G Player of the Year" Green had 17 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals in the win.

In my first eerily accurate basketball prediction, ever. A broken clock is right twice a day, even I guess.

MSU is on a tear right now that could rip small planets in half, but these numbers suggest that Minnesota will not be an easy out. Search your feelings using your best Jedi technique, you know this to be true.

Four Factors

Gross.

So what kept MSU in the game? Getting and converting lots and lots of free throws, which you knew. Also, MSU's turnover percentage was ridiculously good. Finally, Minny got all Cameron Fry at the end of the game instead of all Ferris Bueller. Izzo, "The only thing I would give this team credit for is, if you’re in a championship-type run, you’ve got to steal a game somewhere. … I feel very fortunate to win it but proud we found way to win a game we didn’t deserve to.” Truth.

The NFL Combine

The Combine starts today for MSU players. You can follow the athletes live-tweeting the experience of traveling to the combine, BJ Cunningham "Detroit got real life birds flyin around in the airport" and Kirk Cousins, "The Grand Rapids airport has to have one of the slowest security lines in the country for the # of ppl passing through. 20 min wait at 6 AM". Was that a complaint Mr. Cousins? Today is indeed a special day.

The Little Brother Blog has a rundown of who reports when and when their drills will be. Today's arrivals will be Edwin Baker, Kirk Cousins, B.J. Cunningham and Keshawn Martin, but they don't workout until Sunday. Follow John Kreger on twitter for twittable combine updates.

A Word on the Upcoming Junior Day

If you follow recruiting at all, you know UM filled up half their class with top 250 players last weekend. If you're a bit high strung about recruiting, you know that MSU has a junior day coming up this weekend and Mark Dantonio will not be present for it.

Here's my take. At the beginning of every Roland Emmerich movie(The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, Independence Day), some small and insignificant event happens that foreshadows the impending Ice Storm of Doom. Brady Hoke got a huge jump on closing out his class of 2013, which is not a huge deal, but this gives him more time to work on the class of 2014, etc. Dantonio will be in LA this weekend, doing something for the Nike Coaches tour, whatever the hell that is. So not only will MSU not have a committ-a-palooza with the overpriced food, water and beer like Hoke had, they likely will not have a single commit. MSU rarely takes commits when Dantonio isn't around. It's a long haul from here to Signing Day and MSU will get theirs, but, if MSU recruiting starts to get snuffed out by UM and OSU in the coming years, people will point to things like this as a reason why.

Bonus Bits

Additional postgame dissection from Green Thoughts, The Only Colors and Hey, Joe! The Munn Minute has a post on how nice ND's new arena is.

Film Review Outback Bowl: 4 Offensive Questions

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:00:00 GMT

This is part two of our Outback Bowl Film Review. You can read part one of our review here and Heck's fantastic film review over on The Only Colors.

1.) Senator Cousins threw seven picks in thirteen games and three from the start of the fourth quarter in the Outback Bowl. What happened?

Well, the obvious suggestion would be that he was pressing, although he threw the first pick down only 16-14 with 11:21 left in the game. The way MSU's season went most games were only half over at this point.

Cousins Pick 1

MSU lines up in the shotgun and Georgia lines up in their 3-4 and shows blitz from the defense left or a slightly delayed blitz from defense right. The blitz ends up coming from the area in yellow. This is probably as good a job as Georgia did masking the blitz all day.

The play snaps and the defense right starts dropping back into coverage while two blockers on the left come completely unblocked. Obviously, Cousins is all "Oh Balls!". The left side of MSU's offensive line was expecting the blitz to come from the defense right and so they're left with no one to block.

Bell can't block both defenders, I mean he probably could if he was all hulked out and pissed like he is in the first quarter. Seriously, he can't block both guys. Foreman isn't blocking anyone, but doesn't look around to see if the blitz is coming from the other side.

Bell picks his poison, but ultimately he was just trying to make Cousins feel better about the fact that he had less than two seconds to get rid of this ball. Cousins is about to get smeared by number 19.

He throws the ball to what looks like a B.J. Cunningham who is in single coverage and has gotten himself some separation.

But the safety makes a great play and jumps the route and runs the other way with the ball. Which sucks.

Cousins Pick 2

MSU lines up in a Two Tight End I formation. Georgia has got nine in the box. MANBALL is about to ensue. right? RIGHT?

Wrong. The play snaps in some "Oh sir, you've bested me with your trickeration" fashion, Linthicum and Sims take off on verticals downfield. Cunningham runs a wheel route past the sticks.

Both Tight Ends are deep into the secondary and it looks like here comes another catch on Linthicum's already amazing 115 yard day.

I means seriously, Linthicum is stupid open. Except Alec Ogletree does his best Woodson imitation and leaps up in the air to tip a ball that he really had no business getting to.

He tips it down and it's a Fat Guy Interception. I'd try to screencap it, but the glory of a Fat Guy Interception is not meant to be beheld by viewing instrument less ornate than that of the simple human eye.

Cousins Pick 3

MSU is in it's 5 WR package and Georgia lines up in a 3-4 Over. The blitz comes from defense right this time. The corner actually gets sent on a corner blitz, but because he's a few yards off the line of scrimmage it comes as an unblocked but slightly delayed blitz.

The play snaps and he begins his attack.

He's still coming while his friends are trying to kill Kirk. Note, if Keshawn Martin, WR at the top-right of the screen cuts his route short there's a good chance this isn't a pick. Number 9(also top-right) is in man coverage on Cunningham. He still would have been short of the sticks but would have had a great chance to make a play.

Bell is open out in the flat but Cousins heard all of you guys screaming at him in the first half and knows that he should not throw short of the sticks.

Nichol is open way downfield, but Cousins got pressured into a bad throw and throws to his most reliable target, Cunningham.

2.) Nichol touchdown.

MSU lines up in a 5 WR shotgun set. Georgia lines up in it's 3-4. Georgia is guarding the endzone fiercely as evidenced by the three deep safeties right on the goal line.

The play snaps and Georgia brings four, the remaining four that are up on the line pick a man and drop into coverage.

The red represents the actual routes run by the Wide Receivers. In a moment you'll see this was obviously a designed clearout for Nichol from the outset.

Here the yellow routes are what MSU ran and the red routes are what the respective routes by Georgia defense was. The concern that Keshawn Martin caused for the Georgia D is what allowed Nichol to get open. Martin ran right at the deep middle safety and dragged both the safety and his linebacker into double coverage. Cunningham who ran the quick out, had the job of taking his guy out of the play, which left Nichol in single coverage in the endzone. Nichol can outmuscle a safety because even his muscles have muscles.

3.) Safety Play

Keshawn Martin has the red line over him. He is about to be safetied for safety's sake.

The blitz is coming from the area in yellow. That is a lot of blitzing. Sugar jets!

The play snaps and Cunningham starts on his route. The red route was the route he ran, the yellow route would have probably prevented a safety. It would have caused Boykins to square himself in the wrong direction, which would have given Martin time to at least get out of the endzone.

Instead Martin catches the ball two yards behind the goal line. ROUSHAR ALIEN HYPOTHESIS COMES NOW: If Martin can slip the tackle on Boykins, this is a minimum of a 40 yard gain. Likely six points. Number 9, Ogletree in the middle of your screen has a good angle, but is an inside linebacker and is likely not going to beat Martin in a footrace. Your next best angle belongs to All-American Safety Shawn Williams. Alas, instead of a well-disguised home run ball, Georgia gets two points.

I only bring this picture up because I want to show how hard Martin got hit. He's like three inches short of breaking the plane and doesn't make it out.

In fact, he got hit so hard he got knocked clean backwards for another yard loss on top of that. So that sucked.

4.) Brian Linthicum catches a 50 yard pass to set up the tying Touchdown.

Two things happened on this play that made all the difference. Georgia sent six on the blitz and it didn't get home. Thing number two is that in the still above, Linthicum had not yet caught the ball and Travis Jackson was a few yards downfield. I'm not saying that's an illegal man downfield, I'm just saying maybe be a bit more careful about that in the future.

I really wanted to do a workup on how and why Linthicum had 7 grabs for 115 and what gave him that success in this game. Unfortunately, there really wasn't a typical play to chart on the matter. 115/7 is 16.3 yards per grab. He had two catches in the neighborhood of that a 17 yard pass from Cousins and an 18 yard pass from Martin, but his other catches were for -1,3,23,50 and 5 yards. So his day seemed to be largely feast or famine so it's difficult to use that as a framework to describe the whole day.

5.) I can't make this BieLOLema up.

I swore those were the Dr. Dre's Beats, but instead they're Bose. And as every audiophile jokes, "No highs, no lows, it's Bose". Crappy headphones and a pair of Officer Barbrady aviators. That's bi-winning!

Summation

Prior to the Outback Bowl all I heard from a couple of the Georgia bloggers that I follow is how afraid MSU should be of Georgia's D. It's absolutely true, their defense was excellent in getting Cousins to turn the ball over three times for the first and only time in 2011 and holding Bell to his lowest YPC of the season. For as much as I made reference in the MSU D vs UGA O post about how well MSU's D played, UGA's D did an equally impressive job.

The Offense as a result had kind of a feast or famine day and Dan Roushar got to wheel out his inner OC alien which always makes the denizens of Zerfgnax happy. In rewatching this game, we are going to miss Kirk Cousins next year. In spite of having a poor game, he had the poise and confidence to get in there and win MSU the game. People who think Maxwell will be an immediate upgrade will be lucky if they're right, as will we, the fans.

This is a great building block win for going into 2012. Georgia was a young and talented team who got the jump on MSU early and couldn't quite hang in there to close out the game. MSU beat a team when the two teams were on equal footing. It was a great way to close out the career for so many deserving seniors and set up our future seniors for their bowl game success.

A Quick Word on Recruiting's Hokeamania

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:08:00 GMT

Yesterday, if you follow recruiting, you know Brady Hoke picked up six(6)! Rivals top 250 commitments. Getting six commitments in one day is the stuff of walking down the street and finding an unattended four pack of 120 Minute Dogfish Head. Getting six top 250 commitments is like having a stranger bump into you with a case of it and say "I don't like beer and I hate myself even more. Have this." It's a Champaign and Zookers kind of day.

If you're a Spartan recruiting fan, days like yesterday probably bring out your inner Kevin Bacon. Days like yesterday are tough because then every Michigan honk who just knows recruiting and has a selective memory will find you in the office and say ridiculous things. You can look at them and retort "Scoreboard", after all they had no problem doing it to you when UM basketball swept Izzo last year.

As fans of MSU, it would be stupid to pretend like these things don't matter. They do. Is it worth acting like Hoke has already won the recruiting season? No, absolutely not. Of the six commits, only Wyatt Shallman and Kyle Bosch reported Spartan offers. As an offensive tackle, Bosch was a big miss at a position of great need. He was reported to have visited MSU seven times and when that happens, closing is a must. Shallman was a DE/TE type from Detroit Catholic Central which is a pretty MSU/UM neutral school, we need those too.

Of the remaining four, two, Jourdan Lewis and David Dawson go to Cass Tech which means two things. 1.) They are not coming to MSU, they will go out of state before MSU. 2.) Their odds of contributing to a team in any meaningful fashion are low. Of the other two, Chris Fox lives in Colorado. I don't know if MSU even recruits Colorado . Taco Charlton is another TE/DE type out of Ohio. I think he'd have gotten an MSU offer as the year wore on, that's just me though.

I said several weeks ago that 2013 is the year I expect to see two eleven win seasons start to translate into recruiting success. The evidence of that success showed itself in the closing days of 2012 with the signing week commitments of Demetrious Cox and Monty Madaris. The early commitments of 2013 include a bruising running back in Gerald Holmes and our Middle Linebacker of the Future in Jonny Reschke. Both are players at a position of need who play Dantonio-style football.

The recruiting season is far from over, in fact, with 350 days left until Signing Day, it's just beginning. If you're jumping off the ledges now, you should stop following recruiting and just start watching games only. After all, that's where MSU has been winning lately.

Isn't that all that matters?

Bonus Bits

Munn Minute has your Nanook Saturday Night Recap in which all things come up Milhouse. Green Thoughts has light speculation on MSU Hockey's NCAA tourney chances. The Only Colors has an Ode to the Spartan Defense.

Border Battle MSU vs Wisconsin

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:57:00 GMT

Who: Those stinking Badgers!

Where: Breslin, 7pm.

TV/Radio: ESPN/94.9

Badger Bits

Bo Ryan is an enemy of the State.
Bo Ryan and Tom Izzo are the two longest reigning coaches of the Big Ten.
Bo Ryan hates your freedom.
Wisconsin is ranked 5th according to KenPom
Bo Ryan once sent a guy to dunk on his own mother because she didn't call him for a couple of weeks.
Wisconsin leads the nation in tall white men 3 point shooting percentage. True fact.

Bo Ryan's coaching style was developed when he was locked in a cabin out in the woods from when he graduated college in 1969 until landing a job with the University of Wisconsin as an assistant in 1976. During those seven years, he was in complete seclusion excepting for the occasional trip into town for some beers, some laughs and the occasional tuggle. He had only one piece of media for his entertainment and coaching study and it was this film.

Very quick character break: This is actually really cool. I'd love to watch some of these for State.

Ryan sold his soul to the devil sometime in 2001 when he accepted the job as the Head Coach at Wisconsin. He has spent his time since blowing up kittens and electrocuting puppies.

My partner in crime, Ty, writes a series for his blog The Lions In Winter called the Watchtower. The watchtower takes the statistical tendencies of Offensive and Defensive coordinators and pits them against each other. Of all the teams in the Big Ten, there are not two teams more well-suited for this kind of review. ~~I'd love to do it using some KenPom magic, but, alas, I do not get paid until friday.~~ Screw it, Wisconsin hate is a special kind of hate.

Advanced KenPom Analysis

We have moar green on our screen than Wisconsin does on theirs. So that's nice.

Keys to Victory for MSU

Score more than 60 points
Get transition baskets
Don't let the white guys kill you with three balls.
Don't let Wisconsin out rebound you too badly.
Bring a gun to this knife fight.

Keys to Victory for Wisconsin

Be aware of how much time is on the clock. ZING!
Stop MSU's transition baskets
Score more than 60 points
Get some white guy three-ballin' action.
Summon your inner Satan, Bo Ryan.

Very Rudimentary KenPom Analysis

MSU's one trouble area is that they turn the ball over on offense at 20.5% clip, which is good for 9th in the Big Ten. As luck would have it Wisconsin is the worst in the conference at forcing turnovers at 15.2%. Anytime you're worse than Nebraska basketball at something, you're pretty bad.

Wisconsin ranks 10th in the conference at shooting the three so the whole Wisky three-ballin' their way back into the game looks like less of an issue than usual. MSU is also defending the three really well holding their opponents to 27.9 percent from 3pt land.

Finally, MSU is just monstrous on the boards this year checking in at 1st and 3rd in the Big Ten on offense and defense respectively. Wisconsin checks in at 7th and 5th on offense and defense rebounding.

Summary

Two typical strengths of Wisconsin are atypically weak for Wisconsin this year and more of a strength for MSU than usual this year. Where MSU struggles in turning the ball over, Wisconsin is super craptabulous at forcing turnovers. I had originally and lazily predicted a four point victory, but on paper I had no idea how absolutely well MSU is playing.Now I am predictiing incorrectly based off of KenPom data a nine point victory.

Prediction: MSU 58 Wisconsin 49.

Huge, huge dap to the Mrs. She chopped both these pics and had a teething and crying baby on her back most of the time it was happening. My wife is the most capable human being alive.

A Thank You Note To Mark Hollis

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:54:00 GMT

In 2000, I served as a member of MSU's RHA. As such, I attended many meetings to combat problems like student binge drinking at tailgates(Might as well have tackled world peace). At one of these meetings, Clarence Underwood attended. He walked in quietly and sat down next to me. He wore a name tag, after all in 2000 they had just invented the internet and so he wasn't instantly recognizable. He struck up a conversation with me and so I eventually asked him the question on my mind.

"When is MSU going to play Florida State?"

Allow me to take this chance to remind you, I hadn't followed football at all until fifteen months prior. So I had no idea about Nebraska coming in here and blowing the doors off of MSU a few years earlier, etc.

He laughed politely and even more politely said, "Never son. We're not ever going to have Florida State come here." We talked some more about things not sports related after that, sat through an excruciating meeting about I can't remember what and parted as friends.

Were it 2010 when I was a whippersnapper in student government and I had bumped into Mark Hollis I suspect that conversation would have gone a little differently. I'd have said "When is MSU going to play Florida State?" Mark Hollis would have said, "Florida State? Why would you want to play them? Let's play LSU, in India, while being cheered on by a pack of wild tigers."

After a weekend like this one, with victories at Ohio State in basketball and a very well played split with Michigan. It feels important to say thank you to Mark. While I haven't seen eye-to-eye with him on every subject (it's starting to feel very difficult to bring my kids to a football game sir) the places he is taking Michigan State are very special.

To use football as an example(this is primarily a football blog after all), he's scheduling quality opponents. MSU plays Boise State, West Virginia, Alabama and Miami of Florida in the next ten years at Spartan Stadium. Three of those four have won BCS bowl games since the beginning of 2010. All the while, he's renewed our more or less lifetime contract with Notre Dame until the robot revolution occurs and is firmly in place.

On top of giving students and alumni the games they want to shell out their money for he's made coaching hires that win games. Hollis and Izzo hired Dantonio back in late 2006 to replace John L Smith. Dantonio has already tied for a Big Ten Championship in 2010 and was a blocked punt away from repeating in 2011. Hollis and Izzo hired Suzy Merchant and she went on to win the Big Ten title last year. Jake Boss Jr. was hired in 2008 by Hollis and won the Big Ten title in baseball in 2011. Tom Anastos was hired in 2011 after a long stint as the CCHA commissioner, many outside of the MSU circles laughed at the hire. Anastos is 6-2-1 against the top 10 this year in a year that was meant to be a rebuilding year. If you're a newly hired coach at MSU, you have a GREAT chance to succeed here.

He also kept the patron saint of MSU sports here. I cannot state strongly enough how flustered it seemed like Tom Izzo was back in 2004. Yet, when Dan Gilbert came and backed the money truck up to the Izzo residence in 2010, Tom's good friend Mark Hollis helped provide Tom the space, time and probably dollars needed for Izzo to declare himself a lifer in East Lansing.

I'm as excited about watching MSU sports as I have been in years. It's the coaches who are winning the games on the court, on the field, on the ice, on the playing surface of their sports choice. It is important to stop and say thank you to Mark Hollis and his staff for adding winning without destroying cupcakes only.

Back to sports. Who's next?

Here's Your Shield, Gerald Holmes

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:53:00 GMT

The Spartans have received their first commitment for the 2013 class in the form of Gerald Holmes, a running back from Flint, Michigan. Holmes is very much under-the-radar, at this point. None of the recruiting sites have rated him, yet, and he only has offers from Central Michigan and Toledo. The only other data available on Holmes is about his size. He is approximately 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 lbs, which suggests that Holmes is slated to become the successor to Larry Caper or Le'Veon Bell.

In fact, there are moments in his high school video highlights when Holmes looks a little like Caper and a little like Bell. Here's Bell as a senior in high school (unable to embed video, unfortunately), and here's Caper as a senior in high school:

And here's Holmes' as a junior in high school:

We can see that Holmes is not quite as big as either Bell or Caper, yet. In his senior year Bell was listed as approximately 6'2" and 215-220 lbs (currently he is listed as 6'2" and 237 lbs.) and Caper was listed as 5'11" and 215-220 lbs (currently he is listed as 5'11" and 223 lbs.). But Holmes is only a junior in high school, so it's quite possible that he could grow a little taller and that he could add some weight in the next 6 months or so before he enters his senior year.

In the videos we can also see that Holmes is probably in between Bell and Caper in terms of speed. He looks faster than Bell but not quite as fast as Caper. When you consider that guys like Monty Madaris and MacGarrett Kings looked a little faster in their senior year highlights relative to their junior year highlights, it's possible that Holmes could get closer to playing at Caper's speed by his senior year. Of course, we'll have to wait for Holmes' senior year highlights to come out before we can re-examine his speed.

We can also see that in terms of power, Holmes runs more like Bell. He doesn't get brought down by arm tackles and there are even moments where he tries to hit tacklers before they hit him (check out 1:37). Holmes is not yet as punishing a runner as Bell; in Bell's video we can see that many tacklers just bounced off of him and in many cases they just get out of the way. But Holmes is pretty physical. Holmes also moves a little like Bell. He has a similar array of moves, including a nice spin move (at about 0:50).

One concern I have about Holmes is that in a lot of the highlights he's running outside the tackles, kind of like Larry Caper. In the Big Ten he'll find he doesn't have the speed to do that -- perhaps even Caper is struggling with that. A bigger concern may be that we can't tell if Holmes can do all the little things well, the way Bell was able to do right away as a freshman. As the video below points out, Bell was able to contribute right away because he was good at running, catching, and blocking. I should note, though, that Holmes does make some nice catches and blocks in his highlights. But it's hard to know from highlight videos if he can do everything consistently well.

So the upshot is that there's a lot to like about Holmes. There is a good possibility that he could end up around the same size as Caper and perhaps even Bell, and there is a good possibility that he'll end up slightly less speedy and agile than Caper. If so, he should eventually end up with at least 3 stars and perhaps even move up to 4-star territory. On the other hand, there is always the possibility that he could struggle to add size and speed, and that would pretty much mean that he ends up a 2-star recruit.

So now the Spartans have recruited 3 running backs in the last year, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them go after another big back. They are well stocked with the smaller, quicker running backs (Nick Hill, Nick Tompkins, Marcus Horne), but they'll be losing Larry Caper this year and Le'Veon Bell the next year (if he doesn't leave early for the draft). The only big back they have coming in is Holmes, so adding one more big back could be in the offing.

Michigan State Fans These Days Don’t Know What They’re In For

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:52:00 GMT

I was in jail.

Michigan State University police station, actually, waiting for a transfer to Ingham County Jail. I had let a fix-it ticket for my Honda’s busted exhaust turn into an actual ticket while saving up for a new exhaust, and then the old exhaust fell off completely while driving downtown which drew the attention of the local constabulary and it turns out I had a warrant from the unpaid ticket and . . . yeah.

This was in the Hazy Period of my life. I was as done as I was going to get with college but hadn’t yet bothered to spin the numbered wheel of The Game of LIFE or add people-pegs to my little plastic car. I was taking stock of that decision, or lack thereof, when a fresh-faced lad sporting a blue cardigan and khakis was seated next to me.

I asked him what he was in for. “Rioting,” he said.

I asked him what in the hell he’d been rioting for.

“I . . . I don’t know,” he said. “I’m from Connecticut. I thought . . . that’s just what we do here.”

* * *

Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about the student sections at Michigan State. The Izzone is bigger than ever, packing the lower (and part of the upper) bowl, but instead of making the Breslin an impenetrable fortress of intimidation the Izzone picks their spots. They make noise, sure, but they save themselves for big games and big situations.

The southeast corner of Spartan Stadium doesn’t fill up anymore, despite MSU not losing at home since October 2009. Think about that: this fall’s class of Michigan State juniors have never witnessed Michigan State lose at football, yet AD Mark Hollis is openly considering shrinking the student section.

The students are passing up no opportunity to add salty words to their chants, because ha ha why not? FIRST DOWN, BITCH! That’s clever and funny! As Jim mentioned earlier, they also have no problem wheeling out the “Little Sister” chant to against Michigan, because apparently being a girl is worse than being a boy. Besides, we can’t be each other’s little siblings. If students are going to be sexist idiots, they should at least make sense and call Michigan “Big Sister.”

What’s wrong with kids these days?

Part of it, as Hollis said, is cultural. His twelve-year-old doesn’t ever “sit down for two hours and do anything.” But if college kids can’t pay attention to their football or basketball team establishing itself at the top end of national awesomeness, then we might as well give up on humanity now because nobody will ever pay attention to anything ever again.

Part of it is a trend across all sports: going to a game used to be the ultimate populist spectacle. Entering Spartan Stadium meant joining a seething mass of humanity, the lower bowl a cauldron filled by the bloodthirsty hoi polloi. Now, sporting events are more like joining a fancy club with steep dues. The kind of people who go to games are the kind of people who can afford to drop hundreds, or thousands, on tickets and concessions and apparel—and frankly, those people are less likely to stand up and holler from kickoff to gun.

Those are also the kind of people who can afford to send their kid to Michigan State. Tuition keeps going up, and every year the percentage of (highly profitable) out-of-state and international students grows. More and more kids from Connecticut are showing up expecting nonstop multi-sport Spartan domination . . . and nobody screams their lungs out with joy when they get what they expect.

I don’t mean to suggest that students who aren’t from Michigan can’t be Real Spartans. In my experience, how green your blood is depends entirely on how green your heart is—what Michigan State means to you personally.

But of my Spartan friends, many are legacies; their parents moved from wherever to the Lansing area and stayed here. Coming to Michigan State meant establishing themselves as independent adults—and the potential to reach a standard of living much higher than they were raised in. In turn, they taught us to be Spartans and hate Michigan and all that good stuff. When my eldest child started school, I found to my delight kids still display partisanship by chanting, “Michigan, State! Michigan, State!” and jabbing a thumb down (or up), then up (or down) in time with the words, just as I did when I was a kid.

For me, the success of Michigan State athletics, and the rivalry between the two schools, was expressed constantly around me in the home and at school and at church . . . it absorbed the entire community. Nick Saban’s last season here, the amazing 9-2 Citrus Bowl year, seemed as close to glory as Michigan State was ever going to get. Crowds packed Spartan Stadium to the brim, and the team started calling their home “The Woodshed” because they almost never lost there.

Now they actually never lose there.

When I see current MSU students from parts unknown on Twitter with “Proud future Chicagoan” in their bio, it makes me wonder. Coming from money elsewhere, heading for money elsewhere, stopping here to party in between . . . how much can Spartan triumph possibly mean? Who cares about taking pride or being classy when they can just show up drunk and have fun and leave halfway through to go drink? Or, hey better yet, just leave the paid-for ticket in their pocket and keep playing another few hours of flip cup?

For this generation of Spartan students, going to a top bowl game or beating Michigan or going to a Final Four isn’t a jumping-up-and-down screaming, fandom-defining moment, it’s just what we do here.

* * *

The final part of it rests squarely on the shoulders of the power brokers in college sports. Mark Hollis, Jim Delany, and the NCAA as a whole, I’m looking at you. How can students think football games are special when they don’t mean anything? How can you expect thousands of college kids to show up and scream their brains out as Michigan State puts it in cruise control against FAU or Chicago State for the umpteenth time?

When I rant and rave about “diluting the product,” this is what I mean. College athletics has stretched itself to the breaking point. Universities and conferences are desperately trying to board the TV money train while their arm is shackled to the boring old concrete pylon that is a century of amateur college athletic tradition. That money train is pulling away, and either they need to let it roll away, or break out of their college handcuffs once and for all.

Here's Your Shield Tres Barksdale

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:51:00 GMT

Note: Leo is in the kitchen working on the Gerald Holmes post. Have you ever tried to make a Baked Alaska? Sheesh.

MSU announced yesterday that has accepted Tres Barksdale as a preferred walk-on for the class of 2012. Barksdale is ranked a two-star prospect by Scout and unranked by the other two recruiting services. He was a Georgetown Hoyas football commit(they don't award scholarships in football), so expect an angry phone call from Kevin Kelly about poaching commits. (Not really.) As a senior Barksdale snagged 32 catches for 411 yards and 5 Touchdowns. Interestingly, as a sophomore he had 38 grabs for 578 yards and 5 Touchdowns. That likely means doesn't mean anything, I just thought it was interesting.

Barksdale goes 6'2" and 183. So in case you were worried Dantonio forgot he likes wide receivers who only shop the big and tall section, he hasn't.

A Predictor of Future Success is YOUtube

This video was compiled across his last three years of high school from 2009-2011. What's to love about this kid? He does a nice job after the catch slipping the initial tackle and getting a few extra yards. He does well catching passes in the middle of the field. His hands are good in this highlight video, but you don't build a three year highlight video and show him flat out dropping a pass. Obviously he's missing elite speed and that's why he had no FBS offers. He's getting caught from behind or losing ground whenever he gets into a breakaway situation.

Obviously he redshirts this year, whether he sees the field at MSU or not is a matter of time. Still, the thing that makes good football programs into great football programs is a healthy walk-on program.

Bonus Links

Six Spartans were invited to the combine yesterday. Edwin Baker, Kirk Cousins, B.J. Cunningham, Keshawn Martin, Trenton Robinson and Jerel Worthy all received invitations. Worthy and Baker were late additions because juniors aren't included in the first round of invitations. Notably absent was Brian Linthicum, if you're a team that uses your Tight Ends to disguise pre-snap play calls and then throws to your Tight End, you best be looking at this guy. Niners, Pats and Lions I'm looking at you.

Trenton Robinson reports a cop for his potty mouth.Greg Jones proposes to his girlfriend right after winning the Super Bowl, which on the list of manly ways to propose is pretty close to the top. KJ talks tempo-free over on the Only Colors. The Georgia Leather Helmet Blog talks about yesterday's film study on the MSU defense.

Film Review Outback Bowl: 4 Defensive Questions

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:50:00 GMT

Meta: I'm retooling film review a bit. I'm going to go back over the box score and try to figure out a few things that could use further explanation and highlight those plays rather than rewatching the game over and over trying to find things that jump out at me. It should make for more cohesive posts that will occasionally miss an excellent or important play but help tell the story of a game better.

Bonus: If you didn't check it out on Friday, Heck at the Only Colors did an excellent chart of an offensive drive.

Question #1: The MSU Defensive Unit had 16 Tackles For Loss. Wha' happened?

When I asked a couple Georgia Bloggers if there was anything they wanted me to look at when reviewing the game the single question that came up from all of them was "Did our guys look conditioned?" I'm not sure I can answer this totally because I don't know what "Ahnold Georgia" should look like. However! I can show you this play which occurred in the middle of the second quarter which helps explain the simply gaudy TFL number from a passing perspective.

Here MSU lines up with in a 3-3-5. Denicos Allen and Chris Norman are right up on the line of scrimmage. It appears that MSU will rush five. Right on the yellow line in the back are Bullough and Isaiah Lewis. Lewis is up short covering the slot receiver for a quick throw.

Norman takes a step back and Bullough a couple steps forward. Now Norman is no longer the imminent blitzer but it could be Bullough or Norman. From a pre-snap read perspective it's no longer obvious.

Norman backs out of the blitz and now Bullough appears to be the blitzer.

Except now Bullough takes a couple steps back and now all MSU has managed to do is really create confusion about who's coming and when. Which is a good thing for MSU fans and sad panda if you're an UGA fan.This is a zone blitz, check out Heck's excellent post on how Zone Blitzes work over at the Only Colors.

The play snaps and MSU only sends four. Rush, Drone and Gholston as the down linemen and Denicos Allen as the helping blitzer.

Johnny Adams plays tight on his guy. Bullough starts running to cover the flat. Although being well behind the LOS the slot receiver seems like Murray's best read for picking up the first.

But here's where the play goes kasplodey for Georgia. The red arrow points to Denzel Drone, who played DT only in our 3rd and long package this year. He's double teamed by the Center and Left Guard, which whenever a 260 lbs dude is taking on two 320 pounders that's bad. This leaves Gholston one-on-one with the Right Guard and Allen to take on the tackle.

"HAI GUYZ, I'M OPEN RIGHT NOW!" William Gholston is turning the corner on Mr. Right Guard.

Lewis hands his guy off to the deep coverage and comes up to cover the flat and now it's just a matter of time. Gholston comes around and sacks Murray for a loss of six.

So really, three things happened on this play that directly attribute to it's success. 1.) Narduzzi does a great job dialing up pre-snap confusion in the Zone Blitz.The appearance is that the blitz will come from the offensive left, then the middle, then it actually comes from the right. 2.) The UGA blocking is less than ideal, a 262 lbs DT should not occupy 2 320 lb guys so effectively. This leaves Gholston in 1:1 coverage against the right guard. 3.) Murray misses what was probably his second checkdown after the RB when that WR would have had a chance to make the move. MSU fans, this is the Cousins throw you all hate. If Murray makes that throw good chance UGA moves the sticks even still.

Again, this time on a run play

Georgia lines up in a Shotgun /Offset I type formation. MSU is its typical 4-3. There are six people on the Georgia offensive line, this is important!

The ball is snapped the entire line rolls left while the H-Back stays home to seal off Rush from the backside. Which creates a six on three situation with the defensive linemen.

Number 68, Georgia's Right Guard takes Anthony Rashad White on in a single blocking situation, the Right tackle makes a beeline for the linebackers to get out into the second level. The remaining four offensive linemen are occupied with Worthy and Gholston.

White SMASH! White knocks his guy to the ground while Worthy fights through a double team to get into the backfield.

By the time Crowell really gets moving he's pinned on his left by Worthy and his right by White.

So the verdict here. MSU's Defensive Line kept consistently eating the UGA's Offensive Line's lunch. In both of the plays above the Offensive Line had superior numbers 5 OL - 4 DL in the pass play and 5 OL -3 DL! in the run play and still MSU's guys were getting through their blocks and blowing the plays up.

I remember reading in the run up to the Outback Bowl about how restaurants cried when they knew that UGA's O-Line was coming to eat because the guys averaged almost 330. I also remember thinking big people don't necessarily mean good people. I think the above two plays really illustrate that point.

2.) What was with all of the long bombs for Georgia, doesn't MSU know how to defend the pass?

Aaron Murray finished the Outback Bowl 20/32 for 288, 2 TD's and 2 picks. If you take away his three longest completions, he finishes 17/29 for 95 yards, 1TD and 2 picks. You can also very likely wipe the other touchdown off of the board since the other touchdown drive contained a 53 yard pass in it. So with the exception of the 193 yards on three passes, Murray's YPA was 3.28. Holy shit. That's mind blowingly good by our ~~pass~~ whole defense.

Of course, the 3.28 number doesn't matter because they DID complete three passes for 193 yards. Here Tavarres King lines up in the slot and takes it to the house.

King cuts up like he's going to run a shallow corner route, Trenton Robinson starts sliding with him and all is well.

Except then King cuts a hard left and turns it into a skinny post route, T-Rob gets caught flatfooted and King gets high and mighty as he blows by T-Rob.

Now King is behind both safeties and this isn't a B-Dubs commercial.

Trenton Robinson just got juked out of his pants and you don't get safety help when you're the safety. It was a very athletic play by King to make the cut and get open while Robinson was flatfooted.

The 60 yard bomb in the first quarter

Two things happened here, King had two steps on Darqueze Dennard, That's important. Second and even more important, King was 45 yards down field when he caught this ball. NFL QBs do not always make this throw. That's throwing the ball 50 yards to a moving target perfectly. The basketball equivalent is taking a three from three feet behind the line. You can play defense, but if a guy can make that shot, you can't defend it.

The other long pass play was a blown tackle by T-Rob and Dennard not tackling well in space. T-Rob did not have the best game. Dennard gets a pass because while UGA picked on him plenty, he picked back, twice.

MSU never corrected for giving up the deep ball in this game, they just worked to get to the QB faster. Given all the breaking of the Offensive line in the rest of the game, this is a strategy that both seems sound and obviously worked.

3.) The play that saved the game for MSU.

There were many, but this one in my opinion was the most important. It was 2-0, but the Dawgs were driving and MSU's offense didn't look helpless yet, but they were about to. Momentum was well onto the Dawgs side and they were going to go for it on 4th and 1. They had already been stopped on 2nd and 1 as well as 3rd and 3. Surely, MSU didn't have another stop up it's sleeve, did it?

Again, Georgia doesn't even pretend like they might throw and MSU doesn't even pretend like Georgia might either. MSU with 10 in the box. Adams in single coverage(aka having a smoke and a pancake) since no throwing will happen here.

The play breaks and the right guard #68 pulls to assist in the run left. The "linebackers" which consist of 3/4ths of our secondary and Bullough just hanging out waiting to see what happens.

The direction of the arrow doesn't really signify anything directionally, it's just to show how ridiculously the left side of Offensive line was getting pushed back. Orson Charles and the left tackle are already two yards behind the line of scrimmage before the ball has even been handed off. Since the play is a run left that's really bad in pass protection this would be fine.

Malcome could bounce outside, but to go left would completely destroy his momentum since Charles is now almost four yards behind the LOS. Malcolme instead tries to sneak out in the gap between Charles and the LT. That gap was being filled by Trenton Robinson.

Instead, Malcolme ends up tripping on his own Offensive Lineman's foot and falling down. There was a good chance he'd have been stopped by the waiting Trenton Robinson, but we'll never find out.

So the play gets stuffed and MSU gets the ball and downs. They preceed to spend the next 8 possessions going three and out so it's not like they had no desire to let Georgia win. MSU's offense tried VERY hard to lose this game and that's why their picture pages will be so much more interesting.

4.) Should Richt Have Set Up The Kick On Third Down In The First Overtime?

Well. No. At least in the hindsight is 20/20 sense. Statistically though I think deserves a deeper look. NFLAIDS would say yes a kicker should always make his field goals from 42 yards. For Walsh, the story was a bit different though. He was 5/10 on the season at this point on field goals of 40-49 yards and 14/18 inside of 39 yards. To get inside of 39 yards would have only required getting the ball inside of the 22! They took the second down play to setup the field goal from the 23!

While a 40 yard field goal is not immeasurably different from kicking a 39 yard one there was a risk here. MSU had held UGA to 1.3 yards per carry all game long and had held them for negative or no yardage on 16 of their 37 rushing attempts to that point so their odds of no gain or a negative play were 42 percent. With the exception of the three long bombs, MSU had contained Murray to 3.28 ypa in the game. Georgia would have had to go big or go home.

Conversely though, Murray was 5/7 in the fourth quarter so your odds throwing the ball were actually not too bad. As it happened, these were not Murray's instructions.

Doesn't exactly scream pass, does it?

So it's clear that Richt never had any intention of going for a TD. In the end, the odds of Walsh making a 42 yarder were 50 percent which aren't bad. The odds of rushing on 2nd or 3rd down for positive yardage were pretty poor, only 58 percent. The odds of getting a first down aerially were not good either with Murray averaging only 5.6 ypc excepting for the Bombing of the MSU Secondary. If Murray completes a six yard pass it's 3rd and 2 and you're right back where you started with running the ball being a risky proposition.

Very long story in a sentence, Richt was put in a bad situation by only getting 2 yards on first down. At 2nd and 8 it was an uphill climb no matter how he went. The kick was certainly a safer option in terms of turnover control. It just didn't work. Which yay!

The Verdict

MSU's defense was outstanding despite giving up 23 points. Georgia had no success moving the ball in any controlled fashion, it was all boom or bust. With lots and lots of bust. If you're an UGA fan and made it this far I would say any concerns you had about your O-Line's conditioning are founded. Next we move on to the Offense, I suspect that will not be as fun to watch.

Monday Morning Hot Links

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:49:00 GMT

Yesterday afternoon, the Men's hoops team knocked off Michigan basketball 64-54 at the Breslin. An excellent win against a Michigan team who has been solid at home and kind of flaky on the road this year. Beilein is doing good things in Ann Arbor. Chris Vannini says about the Michigan State win.

While the Izzone chanted "little sister" as the final seconds counted down, don't expect "order to be restored," as it were. As I said before the game, this U-M program is still on the upswing, as is MSU (18-5, 7-3). The rivalry won't be like the old days, but this was an old-time performance by MSU.

Quick Soapboxing. I hate the "little sister" chant. It's inference of course being that being little sister is worse than being little brother. The little brother chant is juvenile, arrogant and priggish and you only hear it from the crappy Wolverine fans. The little sister chant is priggish, unoriginal(it's derived from the "little brother" chant) and sexist. Don't give the wolverines the satisfaction of making our fan base unoriginal and sexist.[/Soapboxing]

Update: In rereading you might get the impression I was picking on Vannini for pointing that out, I wasn't. I only pick on him about recruiting.

How did MSU win so well? It never hurts when Draymond "Rickety Knee" Green outrebounds the entire Michigan "We did not want to dirty our hands getting boards" Basketball team. 16-15. So the remainder of the boards picked up by MSU, 23 more to be exact, could be applied to drop the whoopings as necessary.

That wasn't all the good news though in terms of beating our friends down the road, the Lady Spartans knocked off the Lady Wolverines 65-63 in Ann Arbor yesterday. Porsche Poole was in beast mode as she dropped 23 points, grabbed nine boards and had five assists. Good win for the women as they improve to 14-9 and prepare for postseason action.

But wait, there's more... The Michigan State icers swept Ohio State on OSU's way to a ten game winless streak Hockey rankings confuse me, I do not understand how OSU could lose or tie eight straight prior to last weekend and still be ranked 10th. The wins sounded pretty convincing and prevented Spartan tailspin.

Update 2: Just found a new blog out there called the The Munn Minute. They obviously are not covering golf. Stop by and welcome them if you're into Hockey.

Football News. Congratulations to Devin Thomas and Greg Jones on winning their first of hopefully many Super Bowl rings. That was a doozy of a game was it not?

Gerald Holmes a big bodied running back out of Flint Carmen-Ainsworth committed to MSU as the first member of the class of 2013. He chose MSU over an offer from Central Michigan writes the Little Brother Blog. I've said for a while that unless Darien Harris sticks at RB MSU has no big backs after Bell. That changes with Holmes "commit". A more substantive "Here's Your Shield" later.

Are you missing football already? Tomorrow we have the Outback Bowl defensive film review coming up, c'mon back for that. Today head over to College Football Zealots and check out the 2011 Exit Survey I did for them.

Friday Morning Hot Links

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:47:00 GMT

Outback Bowl Film Study: The Only Colors has it. The always excellent Heck Dorland does an outstanding job breaking down a third quarter drive in MSU's comeback win against Georgia in the Outback bowl. Required reading if you miss MSU football.

Divination, Tea Leaves and Real Estate Speculation: The class of 2012 was officially signed, sealed and delivered to MSU this week. If you want an excellent and quick overview check out the Little Brother Blog's write up on 2012 MSU Defensive Recruits and 2012 MSU Offensive Recruits.If something a little more official is your bag, MSU Spartans, has all the quotes about athleticism, change of direction and toughness you could want to read. If you want the super deep dive on MSU recruits hit that link for all of the write-ups we did this week. It's lame to link your own stuff in a links post, but there are some people who only read on the weekends. Chris Vannini points out that making predictions for the class of 2012 is not possible. He also hates freedom, joy and puppies. However, he wisely points out that a retrospective recruiting ranking would be more accurate. Luckily, if you're interested in such a thing, it exists. Spartan Nation examines a retrospective ranking of the class of 2008.

Urban Warfare(Pt. 2)

This is not 'Nam, Urban. This is recruiting, there are rules.

Bret Bielema thinks that Urban Meyer is "OVER THE LINE!" So, he's going to have Alvarez talk to "the league office. I don't know maybe have them forfeit the match." The point I was trying to make in yesterday's post was if you want to say the B1G has a Gentleman's Agreement, fine.When people don't adhere to that agreement, they are not gentlemen. That's fine too. But to publicly complain that decorum has been broken but no actual rules were violated makes you look less gentlemanly. Also, the reason so many villains are southern gentlemen is because they do their dirty work behind closed doors.

I'm done talking recruiting until camp season or the next commit.

The BasketBOWL is Sunday and MSU really needs a win. Luckily Draymond appears to be ready to go. I wouldn't count on him at full strength. No previews are up on either side yet. Go Green. Beat the Wolverines.

Recruiting Wars, McJimbers and the Gentleman's Agreement

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:46:00 GMT

Earlier in the week, an article was written on Cantonrep.com titled "Buckeyes-Spartans Recruiting War Heating Up". In it, the author goes on to make Pat Narduzzi sound like an angry ex who felt he's been cheated out of things that rightfully belong to him. Further, Narduzzi goes on to talk about a gentlemen's agreement which existed between Dantonio and Tressel that involved leaving recruits unpoached.

Actual photographic evidence of when this agreement was made. Tressel, McJimbers and Dantonio

Normally, this wouldn't be cause to write a post, Narduzzi makes Dantonio look like Matt Lauer in front of a mike so you can't take him too seriously. However, this all came up yesterday again in the introductory press conference for the new recruits. In a Detroit News article titled "Mark Dantonio says recruiting committed players 'unethical'" It contains transcript from yesterday's press conference referencing the Urbaning of former MSU commit Se'Von Pittman.

It didn't sit well with the Spartans coaches and a few days ago defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi spoke about a "recruiting war" beginning.

On Wednesday, the feelings hadn't changed, though the Michigan State coaches were careful not to single out any team or coach.

"I would say it's pretty unethical," Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. "You ask people for a commitment, you ask for people's trust, ask for people to make a commitment to you, but then you turn around and say it's OK to go back after somebody else's commitment. That's a double standard.

"Everybody's got a job to do, there's a lot of pressure, but we're all grown men and we're trying to do a job, just like society today in every respect, whether it's a reporter or doctor or lawyer or somebody else. People are gonna try and do their job, they're gonna do what they have to do to get it done sometimes."

Look, I get that we're all pissed Meyer stole Pittman, but this seems over the top to me. Complaining about the poaching of an admittedly marquee recruit during your Signing Day PC seems petty. Pittman would have been a valuable addition to this class, but MSU will do without him as well.

I've never believed that Dantonio lives by this uber-ethical recruiting code as it pertains to committed kids. He may well have had a Gentlemen's Agreement with Tressel but both OSU and MSU fans can agree the greatest evil of the Big Ten lives in Ann Arbor. For Dantonio regarding committed kids, I've had the feeling that he'll put in a call and if they say no then he lets it go. Coincidentally, this is exactly what Meyer said yesterday.

"Sometimes they say, 'How can you go recruit a young guy committed to another school?'" Meyer said. "You ask a question, 'Are you interested?' If they say, 'No,' you move on. If they say, 'Yes, very interested,' then you throw that hook out there. If they're interested, absolutely [you recruit them], especially from your home state. Is it gratifying to take a guy from another school? Not at all."

Something tells me the process of saying no to Urbz goes a bit more like this though.

I want to have Se'Von Pittman play football here. Call him and see if he's interested.

No Urbz. No Dice.

Deploy the hookers and coke, ask if he's interested now.

No Urbz. No Dice.

Cars and tats?

No Urbz. No Dice.

Offer my heartfelt allegiance and this Simpsons Yo-Yo

Se'Von Pittman is on the phone.

What's always surprised me most of this adherence to an ethical code is that it is so counter to Dantonio's on the field attitude. On the field, Dantonio will gamble the whole game on a trick play because he knows he has a chance to play on the assumptions of others that a FG will be a FG and a punt a punt. Why does it surprise him so that someone would be willing to do the same thing in recruiting?

The class of 2013 needs to be man-by-man one of the strongest at MSU since he came here in 2007. MSU has enjoyed the on-field success of an elite program the past four years using elite recruits from the class of 2009 and 2010. The classes of 2011 and 2012 are solid and 2012 is not far off from 2010 from a rating perspective, but if we want to continue having eleven win seasons and playing for Big Ten titles MSU needs to recruit at it's 2009 and 2010 level consistently.

In short, if Dantonio needs to ask a second time if a recruit means "No" when he calls, that's fine with me. Given the Urbaning of the Big Ten it's going to become part of what's necessary to win in November.

Here's Your Shield, Demetrious Cox

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:45:00 GMT

It's raining 4-stars in East Lansing! The Spartans just received a commitment from Pennsylvania safety Demetrious Cox, who is a consensus 4-star recruit. This is a really big one for the Spartans. If we added up the ratings for all the recruits, it's quite likely that Cox might be the highest rated recruit this year, or perhaps tied with Aaron Burbridge. Cox is generally considered a top-20 safety, and Scout actually ranks him the 8th best safety in the country. Cox also received offers from just about everyone. Some of his top offers include: Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, and Wisconsin.

Cox does possess good size for a safety (6'1" and 190 lbs.), but like Madaris his speed is unclear. Rivals has him running the 40 in 4.48 seconds, while ESPN has him running it at 4.71. Scout also says, "Cox is not a player who is going to light up stopwatches" and rates his backpedal speed as an "area for improvement." But on the other hand, ESPN also says, "Cox is a really explosive athlete with terrific play speed, sudden change-of-direction and the ability to be a homerun threat in space." It's hard to tell what's going on here, so let's look at some video:

First of all, we can see that Cox did just about everything for his team. He played quarterback, safety, and punt returner (anything else?). His speed looks pretty good in this video. He's not a 4.3 guy, but he looks like he has good speed, and most importantly he plays fast. He plays with confidence and aggressiveness, especially when he's taking on the role of a running back. There's not much video of him at safety, but the few clips there are show that he seems to have good instincts. He seems to be near the action and looks like a solid hitter. He also has the ability to go up for the ball, so he should be able to challenge taller receivers.

Since Cox appears to have played a lot of positions in high school, I suspect he'll be a little raw at safety as a freshman. Moreover, safety is one of those positions that requires some tactical awareness to play well. You just don't see many freshmen safeties. So as highly-regarded as Cox is, I think he's not going to get much playing time until his second year in the program and at that point he probably still won't be a starter -- unless his athleticism and instincts turn out to be too outstanding. Regardless, the secondary looks to be set for several years.

This may just about do it for the 2012 class, unless Dodson, Johnson, or Jackson commits. We had to wait a long time for these final commits and it's been worth it.

Here's Your Shield, Monty Madaris

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:44:00 GMT

I had my doubts for a minute there that the Spartans were going to get anyone else this recruiting season, but it looks like the suspense was worth it. Today, the Spartans received a commitment from Ohio wide receiver Monty Madaris. Folks, Madaris is an exciting pick-up. All of the recruiting sites (except Rivals) consider him a 4-star recruit and they all consider him a top-60 receiver. Scout rates him the highest, ranking him the 26th receiver in the country. Madaris also had some pretty solid offers from places like Boston College, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Florida State, Illinois, Michigan, and Nebraska. So basically, he's good.

Madaris has excellent size for a receiver (6'2" and 190 lbs.), but there seems to be some concern about his speed. None of the sites have a 40-time recorded for Madaris and Scout lists his speed as area for improvement. The only 40-time that is available come from one of his videos, which says he runs the 40 in 4.5 seconds.

Actually, whether his speed is a concern or not depends on which of his videos you watch. In one video, his speed does seem to be less impressive and then there is this one:

In this one Madaris looks like he possesses all the tools to be a great receiver. He looks athletic. For a 6'2" guy, he looks quick and elusive; he is able to put moves on tacklers and has the burst to get by them. When he gets to the second level he shows great top-end speed. He also shows the ability to go up and win jump-balls and shows some grit, diving into the end-zone. I am hoping that this video is from Madaris' senior year and the other video I saw was of his junior year. That would show some serious development on his part.

Madaris' commitment wraps up the Spartans' wide receiver recruiting. The Spartans picked up four wide receivers in this class, including two 4-star guys. Aaron Burbridge is the most likely of the four to see playing time as a freshman, but to me, the Madaris in this video looks like someone that could compete for some playing time. We'll have to see. Even if he doesn't play as a freshman, Madaris should eventually become one of the Spartans' best receivers.

Spartans Headed To The League

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:43:00 GMT

As many of you are already aware, this could be the Spartans' best draft performance in recent memory. So I have decided to begin providing a weekly update on ABDFF of how various Spartans are doing in relation to the NFL draft. Folks, these are exciting times. The NFL draft process is young and there is already a lot of good news about the Spartans. Let's start with a list of Spartan seniors and early departures.

42 Todd Anderson FB 6-2 265 SR Napoleon, Mich. - Napoleon

85 Garrett Celek TE 6-5 252 SR Cincinnati, Ohio - LaSalle

8 Kirk Cousins QB 6-3 205 SR Holland, Mich. - Holland Christian

3 B.J. Cunningham WR 6-2 215 SR Westerville, Ohio - Westerville South

67 Joel Foreman OG 6-4 315 SR Highland, Mich. - Milford

88 Brian Linthicum TE 6-5 245 SR St. Louis, Mo. - Clemson

82 Keshawn Martin WR 5-11 189 SR Inkster, Mich. - John Glenn

75 Jared McGaha OL 6-6 298 SR Powell, Tenn. - Powell

7 Keith Nichol WR 6-2 220 SR Lowell, Mich. - Oklahoma

69 Blake Pacheco DL 6-1 264 SR Salinas, Calif. - Monterey (Calif.) Peninsula College

96 Kevin Pickelman NT 6-4 288 SR Marshall, Mich. - Marshall

73 Arthur Ray Jr. OG 6-3 299 SR Chicago, Ill. - Mount Carmel

39 Trenton Robinson S 5-10 195 SR Bay City, Mich. - Bay City Central

16 Chris D. Rucker WR 5-9 178 SR Detroit, Mich. - Detroit Country Day

20 Kyle Selden P 6-5 199 SR Waterford, Mich. - Our Lady of the Lakes

47 Adam Setterbo FB 6-3 245 SR Spring Lake, Mich. - Spring Lake Senior

81 Brad Sonntag WR 5-8 176 SR Saginaw, Mich. - Nouvel Catholic Central

57 Johnathan Strayhorn DT 6-0 272 SR Detroit, Mich. - Oak Park

4 Edwin Baker RB 5-9 210 JR Highland Park, Mich. - Oak Park

99 Jerel Worthy DT 6-3 310 JR Huber Heights, Ohio – Wayne

So far, most of the news is about the seniors. And you would expect that since we have all these "senior-related" events going on: the Senior Bowl, the East-West Shrine game, and NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.

Nevertheless, let me just just briefly start with Jerel Worthy. As everyone knows, Worthy has been considered a first-round pick most of the year. He's still considered a first-rounder by most mock drafts. But at one point, guys like ESPN's Todd McShay had him going in the top 15, and now most mock drafts seem to have him going in the bottom half of the first round. I think that once the NFL Scouting Combines get going, Worthy will get his chance to impress and move up into the top 15.

Then we have Kirk Cousins, who seems to be making a big splash at the Senior Bowl camp. About a week or two ago, Mel Kiper Jr. was suggesting that Cousins could go by about the 5th round of the NFL draft. Now we're hearing people (like Sporting News' Russ Lande) talk about Cousins going as high as the 2nd round. That's crazy! Oh no it isn't. I've said it before, Cousins has played at times like a first-rounder -- particularly during the B1G championship game -- and it was only a matter of time before others saw what Spartan fans saw this year. If Cousins does end up going in the second round, don't be surprised to see a significant boost in MSU's quarterback recruiting, as soon as next year.

Then there's BJ Cunningham. In case you missed his touchdown at the East-West Shrine game, here it is. Other than that, there's not much else...except if you think it's a big deal that ESPN's Todd McShay was raving about Cunningham! McShay thinks Cunningham was the best receiver at the practices and that he could end up going in the third round of the draft.

Finally, there's Brian Linthicum, who is playing in the Senior Bowl. According to Tony Pauline at SI.com, Linthicum has been impressive at the Senior Bowl practices: "Brian Linthicum (TE/Michigan State) has really impressed all day. He looked very athletic during opening drills and has made several impressive catches in full scrimmage."

Worthy, Cousins, and Cunningham have garnered most of the early attention, but here's a quick list of some related items:

- Keith Nichol made a nice grab (video) at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.

- Kirk Cousins, B.J. Cunningham, Keshawn Martin, Edwin Baker, and Trenton Robinson have all been invited to the NFL Scouting Combine.

- Trenton Robinson was interviewed by the Detroit Lions.

- Unfortunately, there's not much news on other guys I expect have a good chance to get drafted, guys like Kevin Pickelman (injured), Todd Anderson, and Joel Foreman. But hopefully, these guys will get invited to the NFL Combines, soon.

Leonidas writes on his own blog What Is Your Profession?. In addition to asking what your profession is he has begun writing to cover recruiting for ABDFF in his spare time. You can hit him up at noble.leonidas@gmail.com.

The Modest Price of Succe$$

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:42:00 GMT

Do you remember when everyone was freaking out about Narduzzi leaving for Texas A&M? A&M was going to bring in the money truck and that would be that. It would have involved doubling Duzzer's salary, allegedly, to pay him equally to the A&M offer.

Well, the check is here and it's time to pay up.

Normally this is the part where I would come in with the populist rage and expect to continue the pace of success MSU football has enjoyed without this newly instituted manadatory "donation". That's not what this post is going to be about though, this post is going to be about how this "donation" has become a part of most major college football programs. In this ESPN article from 2006!!, they talk about 50 yard seats at Florida going for $12,000 a season a seat. All of a sudden an extra 500 looks pretty reasonable by comparison. Some other schools that participate in this "mandatory donation" program are Florida, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Alabama, LSU, Michigan and Nebraska.

Why is it important to keep up with the Joneses? Well, for starters in this article written a few weeks ago the following point gets made:

The average Bowl Subdivision assistant made nearly 11% more in 2011 than he did last year, USA TODAY's third survey of assistant coaches' compensation finds. Since 2009, the average pay for FBS assistants has increased to more than $182,000 from just over $155,000 — an 18% jump.

I don't recall what the salary of an assistant coach who is not the recruiting coordinator, offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator is, but it was below that $182,000 dollar mark last I checked. (The number 155k is what's in my mind). Michigan State had a better W-L record of all but seven teams in 2010-2011. Boise State, TCU, Alabama, LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma State and Stanford. I believe of those seven teams Alabama and LSU have mandatory football donations. Oklahoma State has T. Boone Pickens, Stanford is a private school, Oregon has Phil Knight, BSU and TCU aren't BCS schools.

If you're curious how much the cost of your season ticket is going up, you can find out right here. Mine are going up 50 dollars per seat. At an average of 51 dollars per ticket per game, MSU is now squarely competing with the Lions for your season ticket buck. I attended several games with a Lions season ticket holder last year who sat in the endzone in the 100 sections for 58 dollars a ticket. Luckily you save money on the 8 dollar beers.

While it might seem I'm against this uptick in costs, I am in fact for it, conditionally. I mean look at the MSU home schedule in 2012. Boise State, Notre Dame, EMU and the fighting Mike Harts, OSU, Nebraska, Iowa and Northwestern, that's a fantastic home schedule. There will be a number of memorable games there. And who wouldn't want to add MSU to a list and have it look like this: Florida, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Alabama, LSU, Michigan and Nebraska. As college football programs go, that's a pretty damn elite echelon.

The only problem is that for me as a fan, this moves the needle on program success from a nice-to-have to must-have. If MSU fans are going to pay Alabama-like ticket prices, it's not unreasonable to expect Alabama-like success. I have every faith that Mark Dantonio can deliver, but it bothers me a bit that I feel like he has to.

To 400 Wins, May There Be 400 More

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:40:00 GMT

Two days after my wife and I got married, we took our honeymoon. The first night after arriving we sat down to dinner and I offered a toast. "To two happy days of marriage, may there be two more." It was meant mostly as a joke and approximately 4.3 percent seriously in that we should not take a moment of our marriage for granted. Last night after Tom's four hundredth victory at Michigan State I tweeted, "Congrats to Tom. What a wonderful 400 wins, let there be 400 more." It was in honor of that toast, previously an inside joke to me and the Mrs., that I framed the tweet that way.

For Izzo, it's easy for me to look back on last night's milestone and remember a time where maybe the toast "To 200 wins, may there be 200 more." would have seemed premature. Indeed, as he approached win number 200, this from the State News.

Coach Tom Izzo will have a chance to notch his 200th win as MSU's head coach against Iowa on Wednesday.

Izzo, who is in his ninth year on the job, was asked if he'll be around for another 200 wins at MSU.

"No, I won't be around that long," he said. "I'm not saying that I'm done tomorrow, but I don't see guys going 25 to 30 years at the same place very often.

"I think coaches wear out their welcome. I don't think that's a negative, I just think that's the way it is."

Izzo seemed discontent with Michigan State at the time and perhaps we were a bit discontent with him too. At the time he was a couple of years removed from his last final four and Izzo was 10-8 on the season with an NCAA tourney bid no sure thing. He had his crack at the big time but had not yet converted it to guaranteed long-term success. It would be easy for someone to decide they could walk away and move to more fertile recruiting grounds, but that's not who Izzo is. Izzo is the kid from Iron Mountain who can jam out on the accordion.

Four short years passed which included the improbable 2005 tournament run and he notched win number 300. A more contented Izzo said:

"I wanted to tell the crowd I still have 600 wins to go to catch (all-time leader) Bobby (Knight)," Izzo said with a smile before adding he might quit at 339 to keep Heathcote No. 1. "The thing that pleased me most was having all the guys come back. More than the wins, I'm happiest that we've never backed down from playing a tough schedule."

Then in 2010, MSU alum and Dan Gilbert brought in an armada of money trucks to East Lansing and offered Tom Izzo a job. Gilbert's offer of 5 years and 30 million dollars was something that MSU or any college basketball program could not match. Izzo is a competitor and my boy Ty wrote a piece on his blog about how even though Izzo loves MSU he has the itch to slay the Balrog.

No one would have blamed Izzo a bit for leaving. The old cliche says opportunity rarely knocks twice but here for Izzo it had. The Cavaliers had MSU alum Gilbert at the helm and a chance to retain one of the most physically gifted players to play the game, LeBron James. In a parallel universe, Izzo has led James to the NBA finals and lost (James even chokes in parallel universes). Izzo knew this was his last chance to leave East Lansing for the pros and he had a decision to make.

Izzo decided that day that he was "a lifer". There will be no NBA titles for him and no dealing with overpriced crybabies. Instead, a life full of graduating young men who go on to play in the NBA, a fanbase who is honored to have him as their coach and celebrating milestones of racking up victories by the hundreds and NCAA tournament wins by the dozens.

As our friends out at State College bury their legend this week, it's important to me that we take a few minutes to celebrate ours. Even if 400 wins isn't among the most special accomplishments Izzo could count on his trophy shelf, it's coinciding with the events in Pennsylvania serve as a reminder of how lucky we are to have Izzo and what a steady hand he's been at MSU. While the idea of Tom coaching another seventeen years to get another 400 wins seems a bit unlikely I raise my figurative glass and toast to 400 wins, may there be 400 more.

Weekly Wednesday Wrecruiting Wrap

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:39:00 GMT

Commitments, We Has Them.

- Safety Mark Meyers decommitted from Toledo over the weekend and committed to MSU! Should you be excited about a kid who decommitted from Toledo to play at Michigan State? Eh, not as excited as you should be if Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu signed up to play ball at MSU, but his film is respectable.

The kid looks like he has a lot of experience playing centerfield in a zone defense. How convenient for a team like ours that tends to run exactly that kind of pass coverage.(Narduzzi used to say our base defense was quarters, but it's been less distinctly so since Wheel-Route-A-Palooza in 2009.)

His offer sheet is less than spectacular, his next best offer being Toledo. Since Toledo's HC left to go die at Illinois, Illinois showed interest but had not yet offered. Same for Nebraska. Based off of the video above he seems to have good ball-hawking skills(plus), good speed(plus) and plays in read and react defense(huge plus). Some areas he'll plainly need to work on before seeing the field at MSU are, his read and react doesn't seem to be THAT good. His 40 is plainly not the advertised 4.46. He's a solid late-season pickup at a position of need.

- Defensive Tackle David Fennell of Portland, Oregon will be joining MSU next fall as our first Oregonian recruit that I can recall. His father, Dave "Dr. Death" Fennell is in the CFL Hall of Fame. Should you be excited about a kid who literally has no other offers? In this case, yes. Usually, no. Here's why.

The kid pretty much lives in Beast Mode. Get up in the morning. Beast Mode. Have a glass of milk. Beast Mode. Knock over other High School kids. Beast Mode. Based off the video above, he seems to get good push, slips blocks well, can move his guy around as needed. What could he improve? He seems to overpursue a bit. That's really all I got on him. This will be another in the tradition of Keshawn Martin, Le'Veon Bell, Darqueze Dennard type players.

Scholarship Count

MSU has one, MAYBE, two scholarships left. More on this in a skosh.

Official Visits For This Upcoming Weekend

Marcus Horne - RB(Uncommitted) - Horne is a kid that MSU is probably looking to take with a greyshirt. A greyshirt is when a kid pays one or more years of their college while they wait for a scholarship. Think of it like walking-on, except you're really a preferred walk-on, except you're more preferred than a preferred walk-on.

Kid has very good speed although not elite. Size-wise he's about the same size as Tompkins, our 2012 RB. Honestly, I think he gets a full-ride offer if we didn't already have another back with this one-cut skill set.

Terrell Jackson - DT(Uncommitted, Formerly Committed to Duke) & Jaleel Johnson - DT(Committed to Iowa, loosely) - It's difficult to talk about Jackson without talking about Johnson. Expect the recruitment to play out roughly like this.

Johnson is the preferred candidate between Johnson and Jackson. Johnson took his official to Iowa this past weekend and had a great time, but will still take his official to MSU. Jackson as of right now does not have an MSU offer. Jackson received an offer from Iowa late yesterday.

So, in summary. MSU will get Jackson or Johnson. Iowa will get Johnson or Jackson. Jaleel Johnson is deciding where he and Terrell Jackson will be going to college. Johnson will go to either MSU or Iowa and Jackson will go to the other.

Jackson Footage

All I could find was a video of a different Terrell Jackson. This one was 5'11" and 170.

Jaleel Johnson Footage

Either will do. I'd prefer Johnson because he is already more built at almost 280 where Jackson is smaller. Also, Iowa fans hate MSU football. They hated us before we beat them at Iowa in 2011 despite Ferentz's 3-1 record against them at the time, they hated us for stealing David Barrent even though they stole Cedric Everson from us on Signing Day, they hated us having Keshawn Martin pass on them down three scores at home even though Marvin McNutt did the same thing to us last year.

So if they're going to hate us let's have it be because we flat out stole one of their commitments, eh?

JaMichael Winston, DE(Committed to Arkansas) - I don't know why the hell this kid is listed as committed, he's taking more official visits than many uncommitted kids. Frankly, he's smitten with Clemson and not coming here. Here's some video anyway so you can covet what you can't have.

The kid is lightning quick, but he looks pretty damn pedestrian at shedding blocks. When he actually gets blocked, which is rare.

Other Notes

- Monty Madaris will decide between MSU and Cincy. I'm thinking Cincy honestly. More on this after his decision.

- Kyle Dodson took his official this past weekend and was the subject of some Izzone chanting when they weren't picking on Robbie Hummel. A funny story on this after Signing Day.

- JP Holtz decides tonight between MSU and Pitt on Pittsburgh TV. As Mike from The Little Brother Blog said, you don't decide on local TV to pick the out of state school.

Best Guess to Round Out The Class

- Jaleel Johnson DT, Monty Madaris WR

Meta Note: Starting effective immediately, Leonidas from What Is Your Profession will be taking over as recruiting guru for A Beautiful Day For Football. Recruiting is one of his passions and strengths as an MSU blogger and we're damn glad to have him. More elaborate intro when his first post goes up.

Kirk Cousins Will Be A Success on Sundays

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:38:00 GMT

In a happy coincidence of random awesomeness, new MSU blog "On the Banks of the Red Cedar" wrote about this very topic yesterday, so go check it out.

It feels bold to predict Kirk Cousins success in the NFL, after all, most mocks have Cousins going somewhere between the late second and the early fifth. He finished 30th in overall passing efficiency in 2011 and 13th among players who will be candidates in the 2012 NFL Draft. His best apparent analog really seems to be Ricky Stanzi who was an efficient and careful QB by his Senior Year. Stanzi was drafted in the fifth round in 2011 and didn't take a live snap in the 2011 NFL Season(he did miss chance due to injury though in late November).

Physically, Cousins has most of the traits you need to play the position. At 6'3" and 205 he is tall enough to play the position and injury has never been an issue for him. At 205-210 he's big enough to take a hit and wasn't seriously injured during his time at Michigan State. Is there another way to examine his deep arm than this?

That throw was about 60 yards and while there was a dude about to hit him in the face just before release and I get the sense he has another five to ten yards in his arm. This is adequate but not elite distance. The "Big-Armed" Quarterbacks in the League can throw 70 to 80 yards. I mention arm strength first because it is the most unchangeable asset in a Quarterback's development at 23 years old. So arm strength: Adequate, but not elite.

Cousins has some things he does really well in the passing game. He sells the playaction pass as well as anyone in college football. *Cousins also has a knack for audibling into the right play. He reads coverages really well pre-snap and can make tight throws into tight spaces if he's made the right read on the play. This also exposes one of his shortcomings as a passer, which is of course that he locks onto his pre-snap read and throws to them whether they are open or not. So Student of the Game: Very Good.

*- I found this google Cousins Play Action Pass. Some people have the Dumb real fierce.

In terms of accuracy, this is a number we can actually measure! In 2011, Cousins passer efficiency dropped from 150.7 to 145.1. He had a drop-off in yards per attempt from 8.36 to 7.91 and threw the same number of picks as in 2010 at 10 on the season. So did he get worse? No, not really. His yards per completion dropped from 12.5 in 2010 to 12.41 in 2011 which IMO is negligible and despite having thrown the same number of picks he threw five more TD's. He also threw 81 more times despite having played in only one more game which averages out to an additional four more attempts per game 26 in 2010 to 29.92 in 2011. While it might be foolish to assume that Cousins improved in this arena, it would be fair to say that he did not regress. The argument could easily be made that with MSU's diminished run game in 2011 that Cousins was responsible for being more accurate in better pass coverage. Accuracy: Hard to tell how this will measure up to pro guys, but certainly very good at the collegiate level.

Schematically, Cousins has a huge advantage that only Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson have in front of him. Cousins plays and has played in a pro-style offense for three years now. One could even argue that Luck is the only one who has this since Wilson had a disappointing cup of coffee at Wisconsin. While the NFL is finally starting to acknowledge the Spread as a friend, not foe taking snaps from under Center is still a very big deal. Especially for a guy like Cousins who is apt to get happy feet when he feels pass rush pressure.

This familiarity with taking snaps from under center has served Brian Hoyer well in his capacity as back up to King Brady. As an undrafted rookie he beat out a field of QB's to win the sole backup job to Brady. In 2010, the Pats didn't even seriously audition anyone else and in 2011 they brought in Problem Child Ryan Mallett to challenge Hoyer for the job. Hoyer remains the number two even today. This familiarity with throwing the ball from under center will give him an advantage over most of these other QB's who will have to learn to make their reads from under center.

This advantage that only Cousins and Luck have is what will put Cousins in a position to succeed in the pros if he is given time to develop. They've played NFL offense for a couple years already.

So What Would Cause Him To Fail?

- Getting tossed onto a team where he ends up the immediate starter.(Very Unlikely) Teams who would fit such a bill: Redskins, Seahawks, Browns. The odds that a guy drafted as a 3rd rounder or beyond would get a chance to start his rookie year are pretty slim. I wouldn't worry about this a whole lot.

- Getting put on a team where he is going to sit behind a young well-paid or franchise QB. (Packers, Colts with either Luck or Manning, Saints, Eagles, Chargers, Falcons, Giants, Rams, Lions, Jaguars, Vikings, Carolina,Titans) In either of these scenarios playing time would really be an issue for him.

Where should I root for him to land?

In no particular order:

Chargers - I know I said above that he doesn't want to land with the Chargers, but, the Bolts gave Rivers the keys to the team when they sent LT over to the Jets. Rivers has pretty much gone on to not lead his team to victory and he can be kind of a jerk. Coach Norv Turner and GM AJ Smith are on their last legs in SD. Cousins could be uniquely positioned in a 2012-2013 regime change. I don't like his odds here, but it's better than somewhere like Carolina.

Steelers - Big Ben has always seemed kind of, eh, as a QB, but he finds a way to win. Great out of the pocket, big arm. Charlie Batch is the backup there, but he's like 600 now, so it'd be a good place for Cousins to win a back-up job and proceed from there.

Cowboys - Romo is a great QB on paper and not so good at closing the deal in games. The patience for him is running thin. He needs to start winning or else. Drafting the best QB has not really been a high priority for Jerry Jones since Aikman. He pretty much goes out and buys someone in free agency or he drafts a mid round QB like Cousins and promotes from within.

Jets - The depth chart is favorable. Sanchez obviously isn't going to be Sanchize. So there's a crack at PT in a year or two. But God, I wouldn't wish being drafted to the Jets on someone I don't like.

Broncos - Yep, I said it. The Broncos. Tebow caught everyone napping this year and I do not think the Broncos continue their success in 2012. It would be a ripe situation for a young QB to take over in 2013. Cousins needs to impress Elway to pull this off.

Dolphins - I think the Dolphins go QB before they get to Cousins, but if they haven't I could see him getting snatched up. The Fins just hired the Broncos OC so this too would not be a bad spot for Cousins. He'd get a developmental year because with an all-new staff the Fins won't be in a huge yank to win games this year.

Notice a trend here? For an optimal crack at success, Cousins needs to land somewhere that wouldn't ask him to start his first year and that he also wouldn't be expected to sit behind an entrenched starter for the next five years.

Cousins Will Succeed Regardless of Who Takes Him

Cousins couldn't be landing in a more optimal situation for him as a mid-round QB. He's not Captain Swaggerballs, so I don't know that a first round NFL Game 1 Starting Job would be best for him anyway. He'll get a year or two to learn the offense whereever he goes. He has the physical tools to succeed at the next level, but they are not so plentiful that he can skate by on them. He has the added advantage of having taken many snaps under center which puts him ahead of many rookie QBs. He's never been short on right attitude or smarts, the only thing I see jeopardizing his career would ending up on a team full of "me first" asswipes like the Jets or Redskins.

Couple of Weekend Game Highlights First

- B.J. Cunningham had two catches for 26 yards including a nice TD grab on a 17 yard hitch in the East-West Shrine Game on Saturday.

- Keith Nichol had one reception for 37 yards in the NFLPA Bowl. Here are some highlights below, I'm pretty sure Nichol's catch is in the middle, but, it's a pretty craptastic video so I'm not really sure.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

Confirmed Visitors from This Weekend

- Kyle Dodson, Aaron Burbridge, Tyler O'Connor, Monty Madaris, Jamal Lyles, Riley Bullough, MacGarrett Kings, Kodi Kieler, Mark Meyers. More about this on Wednesday.

- Mark Meyers and David Fennell committed to Michigan State on Sunday Afternoon. Leonidas over at what is your profession has the goods on Meyers and Fennell. Either of these guys fits the bill of a Dantonio "late in the recruiting process" guy like Le'Veon Bell or Keshawn Martin. Fennell had zero offers prior to his MSU offer, but read Leonidas article on him. No one thought Meyers would qualify, but he has and you should peep his film too. I'm going to skip doing a write-up on both guys for the time being in favor of doing an en masse write up around Signing Day.

The More You Know: MSU and the H-Back Position

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:37:00 GMT

A week or two ago I wrote extensively about MSU and the Disappearing Fullback however, upon further review that writing was incomplete. What I had truly described was Michigan State's usage of Linthicum as an H-Back or rather Roushar's increased usage of the H-Back throughout the season. First, a little H-BackGround!

"The modern two-tight end set was developed by Joe Gibbs and his Redskins staff in the early 1980s. It was created as a countermeasure against 3-4 defenses in general and Lawrence Taylor in particular. Gibbs discovered that an extra tight end on the line of scrimmage was in better position than a fullback to stop Taylor and other elite blitzers. It also forced Taylor to align wider, thus lengthening the distance between him and the quarterback. Gibbs soon learned to use the second tight end as an all-purpose blocker: that extra tight end (usually Don Warren, back in the day) might go in motion before the snap to unbalance the offensive line, or he might slip into the backfield as a fullback or sneak into pass patterns. The modern H-back was born." via Tomahawk Nation

The thing is if you google about the H-Back, you won't really find very much. The H-back is not very common in the pros because it requires someone who is capable of receiving, run blocking and pass blocking. It's rare to find someone who has that set of abilities at a competent NFL level. An easy reference to know whether a Tight End is being used as an H-Back is this handy dandy cheat sheet.

1.) Are there two Tight Ends on the field?

- If Yes, Proceed to Step 2.

- If No, then no, there is no H-back.

2.) Has this person gone into motion?

- No. They are still like the statue of David. The Second Tight End is being used as a TE.

- Yes. Bingo, this is an H-Back Usage.

Still, the original post correctly described an increased reliance on the H-Back. Given Roushar's success with it late in the season and the staff's penchant for picking up 6'6" 240 lb TE's out of high school, I don't see this going away. The mismatch created by putting a 6'5" 250 lb TE out in the slot a second before the snap is going to occasionally give any defense a hard time. Next week, I'll be doing a film review of the Outback Bowl, I suspect what we'll find is that Linthicum started getting used more as an H-Back as part of the Second Half Adjustments.

To me this raises the question of why Paul Chryst(one of CFB's most widely regarded minds as an OC) and Dan Roushar(the most reviled MSU Coordinator since Narduzzi in 2009 LOLOLOLOL) are two of the only people using this position when it allows the type of flexibility it does. I'm not saying that Roushar == Chryst, just an observation.

The Rivalry: Why MSU/UM Fans Can't Have Their Cake and Eat It Too

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:35:00 GMT

I've felt since 2008 or so that UM Basketball and MSU football have some things in common. Both are being led by coaches that have a plan. Both programs have restored their good name from the muck of mediocrity and to be honest I like both coaches. Both programs have knocked off their hated rivals too many times in a row for it to be an accident anymore. Both programs have risen and have returned to a status that is no longer embarassing but is in fact something to proud of from a university sports perspective.

So that's why it completely chaps my ass to hear some MSU fans dismissing UM's basketball team out of hand. Your UM Brother-In-Law does the same thing to MSU when MSU delivers the beatings on the gridiron. Neither set of fans can have it both ways, either a rivalry is important or it isn't.

If I wanted to whine about how MSU is having a down year, I'd be perfectly in my rights to. MSU returns 1.5 starters in Appling and Green from the 2010-2011 cancer-ridden squad of "me first". As close to a diseased team as Izzo has had in his time at MSU. We could talk about how only five of the guys on the team even averaged more than 5 minutes a game last year. So even with all that UM managed to squeak out a one point win, despite leading the whole game, despite some of the worst late game clock management I can recall from Tom in a long time. All of those things are true.

That's not what happened here though. What happened is that the team who played a better game won. They won. That sucks. I hate it when they win. I hate it even more when we lose because of some pretty iffy gamesmanship at the end. UM fans, feel free to gloat with them braggin' rights, you earned them, until February 5th anyway. But the next time I hear a UM fan talking business about how MSU basketball is going down and how the tide has turned and I ask them about football and get the "Richrod mumble, mumble, mumble" answer, I'm done being nice about it.

Either your team won or they didn't and now the braggin' rights are yours or they aren't with no qualifications. I think this is something on which real MSU/UM fans with respect for their rivals can agree.

Weekly Wednesday Wrecruiting Wrap for January 18th, 2012

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:34:00 GMT

Quick explanation of how the recruiting cycle works at the beginning of this article.

Early Defections & Scholarship Count

Transfers are looking more and more unlikely by the day. If you haven't enrolled for classes at most universities by Tuesday the 17th, you pretty much can't anymore. So if you're in today, you're likely in for the remainder of the semester. Which is cool with me, I like our team.

Still think that MSU has three schollies to go although there would be no shame in quitting while ahead.

Official Visits Lined Up For This Weekend

It's a big thing for Dantonio to have a huge weekend where he gets a bunch of his committed prospects on campus along with a couple of key uncommitted prospects to try and get them to sign up. This year, that weekend is this upcoming weekend. Lots and lots of great prospects.

Riley Bullough(Committed) - Riley Bullough is a LB prospect from Traverse City. He comes from a long line of Bullough's that have attended Michigan State University. They pretty much are the closest thing that college football has to a lineage of family members playing a position. Bullough currently projects as a strongside linebacker and will likely take Denicos Allen's place when he leaves in 2013.

Zach Higgins(Committed) - Zach Higgins is an Offensive Tackle prospect out of Marlington High School, Ohio. Higgins in true MSU Offensive Tackle prospect fashion has already injured himself in a career-jeopardizing sense. The rumor being he tore an ACL and MCL. For a lament I wrote on our Offensive Tackles click here. Anyway, Dantonio honors scholarships, if the injury is recoverable and since 17 year olds are built out of rubber it may well be, you want him here. If it is not, he'll get a medical scholarship. Higgins has impressed when on the field and we can never have enough Offensive Tackle prospects.

Marcus Horne(Uncommitted) - Horne is a RB prospect out of Milwaukee. At 5'10" and 190 he's built very similarly to our already committed Nick Tompkins. Tompkins was promised that he would be the only running back we take in the class of 2012, however, I don't think anyone counted on Edwin Baker leaving the program after this year. Horne was talking a grey-shirt with MSU, but with Baker leaving obviously that changes things a bit. (A grey-shirt is when a kid pays their own way the first year, but then gets put on scholarship as a sophmore or beyond). Horne doesn't have an offer for a full-ride, if he gets one, I think he jumps, if he doesn't, I don't think he commits.

Terrell Jackson(Committed, to Duke) - Terrell Jackson is a DT prospect at 6'3" and 255 he does not meet the requirement needed to Be An Instant Worthy Replacement. Frankly, his offer sheet is kind of eh and if MSU takes him this would fall into the bucket of "might be a reach". He is currently committed to Duke which honestly is nice. I'm a little tired of the notion that MSU doesn't recruit players who are committed. MSU recruits kids who are interested in being recruited, "committed" or otherwise. That's what they should do.

Evan Jones(Committed) - I could copy and paste the description of JP Holtz I did last week, but I won't. Jones is a 6'6", 240 lbs dude who could end up playing a host of positions in college. He will likely end up at Tight End though since Tight End is among our more thin positions in the upcoming year or two. Jones offer sheet isn't stunning, but he also committed very early in the process.

Jamal Lyles(Committed) - Lyles is a DE prospect that will have kind of a similar trajectory to Lawrence Thomas IMO. A big-bodied dude who has the frame to put on a lot of good weight. Lyles is one of two Rivals four star recruits committed to MSU. He will continue to improve our already impressive Defensive Line.

Benny McGowan(Committed) - Here's what you need to know about OG/C prospect Benny McGowan, he is the first Offensive Lineman to ever score over 100 on the SPARQ rating. What is SPARQ? It's Nike's moderately unsuccessful attempt to create a standard scoring mechanism for all positions in football to measure Quickness, Agility, Strength and something else that starts with P and R. The fact of the matter is that you cannot reasonably compare the physical attributes of an offensive lineman and a defensive back. That said, no Offensive Lineman has scored over 100, ever. Except this one. Even in a flawed rating system, that speaks to a positive outlier.

Mark Meyers(Committed, to Toledo) - Meyers is a safety prospect currently committed to Toledo. With the departure of Tim Beckman to Illinois Meyer started waving his commitment around. Currently he is pursuing offers from MSU and Illinois and currrently he has offers from neither. Meyers is coming to MSU in the hopes of getting an offer and if he does, he will be in green and white.

Tyler O'Connor(Committed) - O'Connor is the MSU QB commit for 2012. He has a very nice but not elite offer sheet and selected MSU over Northwestern. It's a damn good thing he did too, he is the NW QB that makes you want to throw a brick through your TV. Accurate with quick feet that can get you a few yards on the ground, he'll provide a nice challenge to Cook in the QB battle of 2014 which is as ridiculous to type as it is to read.

Josiah Price(Committed) - When constructing the two-deeps due to go up over at the Only Colors this week, Price and Burbridge were my picks for kids who will not redshirt in the class of 2012. Burbridge because he'll choose not to, Price because the staff will need him catching passes and playing Tight End. Price is one of the gems of the 2012 class.

Anfornee Stewart(Uncommitted) - What can I say? This kid's recruitment has Keshawn Martin/Le'Veon Bell written all over it. A kid who sends out film after his senior season and gets looks from a bunch of schools.

Rumory Rumor Internet SOPA Rumors

- Monty Madaris will decide sometime this weekend or shortly thereafter. He is rumored to be planning a visit to MSU.

- MSU is getting involved with another 2012 Safety recruit, Jordan Moore, at the 11th hour.

- The kid at the top of MSU's Safety board, Demetrious Cox is rumored to be visiting OSU this weekend.

Best Guess On Finishing Out The Class

TE - JP Holtz, WR - Monty Madaris, S - Anfornee Stewart

It's pretty obvious with how hard MSU has been hitting the safety types in the past week that getting a safety is high priority right now. I don't think the big-bodied kid to replace Worthy is there right now, so MSU will address their most pressing defensive need.

Michigan State Basketball and the Burden of Expectations

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:33:00 GMT

This year in MSU Basketball has been strange. This was the first year that I can remember in a while where MSU was not ranked stupid high in preseason polls. Draymond Green was a drill sargent in a uniform, rallying the kids with the lunch pail work ethic and every other stupid cliche you can think of. Keith Appling was the budding star and after that it was a laundry list of unknown quantities (Gauna, Byrd), underperformers(Payne, Nix, Thornton), fresh faces(Dawson, Trice, Kearney) and a one year rental in Brandon Wood.

In the pre-season there was serious talk about whether or not MSU would even make the tournament. Whispers questioning if this is the year that Izzo's streak in the Big Dance comes to an end. North Carolina didn't just represent a season opener, it was like getting run into a buzzsaw of college basketball's elite as the christening for most of these newcomers. MSU ended up losing to North Carolina by a respectable 12 points and was right there in a 74-69 loss to Duke.

Then the TRULY unexpected happened. MSU rattled off 15 straight victories. For perspective's sake, 15 straight victories has happened three times in the Izzo era. The other two? In the three straight years of final four appearances.

When I went to run the 15-4 number against years prior, I expected to find that this was a fairly exemplary record for MSU at this point in the season. However, this is VERY common under Izzo, the last team not to have a 15-4 record that wasn't the 2010-2011 failboat was the 2003-2004 Spartans.

So why celebrate such an average start for Michigan State? Well, for starters 15-4 is pretty damn good. Second, of this whole team, the only two players who saw more than 12 minutes per game last year were Appling and Green. Appling is growing into his point guard role nicely and shhh... he's only a sophmore, yet distributes the ball better than Lucas. This tracks him nicely on belonging to a very elite group of point guards by the time he leaves MSU.

When a group of young players expected to finish in the middle of the Big Ten have winning streaks in common with teams of the Izzo Golden Era, that's promising. When MSU Basketball knocks off Wisconsin at the Kohl's Center, I get excited. When MSU basketball has lost to three top 20 teams by an average of six points and beaten two other top 20 teams, they're tracking to do what Tom does best. Make deep runs in the tournament.

Last week, the chatter of MSU winning the whole Big Ten began in earnest on the message boards and people started to expect Golden Era Izzoball from this team. That, among other reasons is why losing to Michigan hurt tonight. No one likes to lose to a rival. More importantly, I think MSU fans are not ready to acknowledge Michigan basketball as a real threat again yet. But Beilein is a good coach and seemingly a decent person, he's gonna be around for a while. However, in the one to two year future, this is MSU stubbing it's toe against a quality opponent on the road in the Big Ten.

This is a year MSU was expected to finish in the middle of the Big Ten pack and they may yet do exactly that, but I don't think so. This team has accomplished several significant somethings that many other Izzo teams never did. The best part, most of these guys are just getting to know each other and it's okay to place more expectation on this team than many did to start the season. They have broad shoulders and they can take it. They're going to stub their toe a few more times this year. But the potential is so much greater than I think most of us imagined prior to this year, just wait, Tom and his boys will deliver, after all it's what an Izzo team does.

The Week in Review for Jan 12, 2012

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:32:00 GMT

So last week after the Outback/Arnett/Worthy/Narduzzi/Baker drama, I had wished for some quiet time in MSU sports. That is exactly what happened, and now begins the long hard winter of recruiting and that's pretty much it until Spring Ball. Basketball coverage to be spotty, as I've said many times before, The Only Colors does a much better job. The Week in Review will be a staple during the football lean times until we begin quenching our thirst for football roundabout August.

Johnny Adams

Johnny Adams tweeted to some very happy Spartan fans, "Back in East Lansing for my senior year!!!!!". You can tell he's excited about this because there are five exclamation points at the end. He also wears the number 5. He only had 3 picks this year, maybe next year he gets...5?

Johnny Adams might have saved himself from another five by staying. This five is the fifth round, which is about as high as I could see him being taken at this point. Best of luck to him in the upcoming year, I forsee him bolstering his draft position with a healthy 2012.

Fran Is Real Mad About Something, Maybe Being Named Fran?

Image courtesy of Sports From a Spartan

Fran McCaffery got SUHper pissed and threw a chair in Iowa's loss at Michigan State on Tuesday night. Iowa's 95-61 demolition felt like a throwback to the early 2000's. Indeed, the last time MSU recorded fifteen straight wins was the 2000-2001 season. This was I'm sure in part aided, by Tom's mild rebuke of the Izzone after the old folks showed them how it's done over the holidays.

This rebuke came after a bit of a row about how the Izzone is too involved with their phone during the games and not involved enough with the game. So Hollis celebrated this rebuke, by texting during the game on Tuesday night. Also, why rebuke them prior to the Iowa game. Shouldn't that have been saved for a good opponent?

Speaking of Hollis, You Should Know

Are you a wealthy alumni who has money to spend on going to interestingly located sporting events? No? Are you wealthy? No? Hm. Do you love Michigan State and know someone who is wealthy? Maybe? Ok, then we're finally getting somewhere. There have been more solid rumors recently of a MSU vs. (THAT) USC Basketball game in Greece and a hockey game on an aircraft carrier.

I love what Mark Hollis is doing right now. Make no mistake about it, the recent increased success of MSU Women's Hoops and Football is due in part to Hollis' incredible effort to market and be a champion of Michigan State sports. All while being the lowest paid athletic director of public record in the Big Ten.The man has done and will continue to do great things for Michigan State Athletics. Do you sense a but coming? You should.

I can't say I agree with all of these gimmick games though. Don't get me wrong, they're amazing, increase visibility for the school, attract potential recruits, etc. The athletic department turns a profit, so I shouldn't complain. However, for my own part, don't oversqueeze your fans, students and alumni to support these once-in-a-lifetime events that could start to happen every year. Have these events often enough that they are a part of the MSU brand, but not so often they aren't a once-in-a-lifetime event anymore.

MSU Hockey

At Munn Arena an amazing thing has happened. Michigan State's very own version of Rich Rodriguez has been exorcised in Rick Comley and replaced by Tom Anastos. For a brief backstory, when Anastos was hired the non-MSU blogger consensus was that Hollis had given up on hockey and that if you wanted to talk hockey, you best go find Ron Mason at the Blue Gill Grill on a Saturday night.

All he's done since coming to MSU is knock off three teams in the top 20 and field an 11-9-2 squad. MSU is coming off a three game skid and looks to get their swerve back against #20 Northern this weekend. I've not yet made it out to a hockey game yet this year, but I think it's going to be a must before the season is out. He has the Spartans ranked 18th and is positioning hockey to improve itself the same way Football has under Dantonio.

Other MSU Bullets

Nick Hill wants you to know he's a Spartan for life. Photo courtesy of Chris Vannini's Green Thoughts. I'm pretty sure that sets the record for most manly tattoo on the Spartan football team ever.
MSU Wrestling takes on West Virginia and Indiana this weekend in the hopes of getting back above .500
Women's hoops plays on Sunday afternoon and looks to continue their undefeated big ten season. After their 67-47 win tonight, they are 4-0 in the early Big Ten Season and could improve to 5-0 with a win against Ohio State on Sunday.

Wednesday Weekly Wrecruiting Wrap

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:30:00 GMT

There are a few people who read this blog who aren't real familiar with the recruiting cycle, so I'm going to briefly walkthrough this. If you already know how the actual process of recruiting works, skip ahead a bit, if not I'll keep it brief.

Our example class is the class of 2012 and their timeline goes like this.

Unofficial interest by a school can begin at anytime. Barry Sanders Jr. was receiving recruiting attention as early as the eighth grade.
Throughout high school beginning at any time, students can attend summer camps put on by college football staffs.
Unofficial offers can be made at anytime, typically no earlier than after sophmore year, even for the most talented prospects.
Official written offers can go out September 1st of the prospects junior year. For the class of 2012, this was 9/1/2010.
A prospect can "commit" anytime after receiving one of these written offers.The commitment must be accepted by the staff after being offered by the prospect. However the commitment is not binding by either party until National Signing Day.
An official visit is the one time a school is allowed to fly the prospect and the prospect's family into town to visit the campus. The number of official visits is limited for a school to I believe 56. Typically, regional prospects commit to a school and then take an official visit later. National recruits or VERY highly rated recruits use the Official Visits to make their decision. For the MSU staff, official visits almost always occur after the season prior to National Signing Day. For the 2012 class, this is the period between the Big Ten Title Game and February 1, 2012.
National Signing Day is the first Wednesday in February. Commits receive a National Letter of Intent which they then sign and fax(LOL) back to the football offices.
A commit can enroll early. This means they begin classes the Winter prior to the year their class. For example in the 2012 class, Ezra Robinson and DeAnthony Arnett(transfer) have begun classes, but will not see the field until 2012.

Early Defections & Scholarship Count

With Edwin Baker and Jerel Worthy announcing their departure and Johnny Adams announcing he'll be back for his senior year, I think MSU is done with dealing with early defections for this year's recruiting cycle. Anyone looking to transfer probably would have done so by now.

Currently, MSU has 14 commitments for the 2012 class, I won't be counting Arnett because he is technically a transfer. I think they're looking to take 17 in this class. A team can have 85 scholarship players, unless they're Ohio State for the next couple of years. ZING! 17 is actually the ideal number of players to take in a class because if they all redshirt then you have 17 kids coming in all five years to total your 85 scholarships. Blame JLS for lots of things failure-oriented, this was a trend he started at MSU we should be grateful for.

Official Visits Lined Up For This Weekend

JP Holtz - Holtz was on my wish list I made a few weeks ago because he is another one of those 6'6", 240 lbs DE/TE types that schools like MSU, Iowa and Wisconsin love to stockpile. These kinds of athletes can play TE/DE/DT/OT/OG at the next level. They get brought in and find a position over the first couple years. Previously committed to Pitt, but with offers from Michigan, Arkansas and Penn State, Holtz is a guy you should be excited about if he comes to play at MSU.

Addressing the Other Positions of Need

WR - Seems deep in this class, but it is not deep overall in 2012. Monty Madaris is a player who seems close to making a decision and would fit the MSU offense very nicely. Coupled with our WR commit from over the summer, Kyle Kerrick both excel at WR and Safety. If Madaris commits to MSU expect him to go to WR and Kerrick to Safety.

DT- With the departure of Worthy, MSU is looking to find a big-bodied DT for 2012. I'm frankly skeptical that there is anyone on the radar that fits the bill of a 6'3", 300 Worthy Replacement. Maybe if there's a late decommitment?

OL - We could always use more OL, but again, I'm not seeing anyone who jumps out at me as a likely-to-have player at MSU.

Best Guess On Finishing Out The Class

TE - JP Holtz, WR - Monty Madaris, OL/DL to be named later.

MSU and the Case of the Disappearing Fullback

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:28:00 GMT

Niko Palazeti committed to Michigan State as a fullback on 2/1/2010. This may have been the end of an era for Michigan State's football program. I think Palazeti will be the last four year scholarship fullback to come through the Duffy Daughtery building.

Nothing against the kid, I'm sure he'll do a fine job in the Green and White and looked very good in relief of Todd Anderson in FAU-type garbage time this year. It's just, the Fullback is an endangered species in football in general. Oh sure, they've found niche roles in the biocommunity of college football on teams like Michigan State, but I think even now they're starting to disappear from these teams as well.

Why, might you ask?

I'm so glad you did, even though you didn't really. First and foremost, the game of football has changed significantly since the 70s and 80s. The responsibility of the fullback is two fold. First on a run play, they are supposed to get out and hit a linebacker to provide blocking for the running back. Second, on a pass play, they are responsible for doing one of two things, they can either block for the Quarterback OR they can slide out into the flat and act as the QB safety valve.

Interesting Note: The first offensive play of the Dantonio era was a play action pass to the fullback, Andrew Hawken.

Since the 70s and 80s, the pass coverage responsibilities of the Linebackers have increased substantially since the advent of the West Coast Offense. In the West Coast Offense, it was discovered that more than two dudes can try to catch a pass at one time. So linebackers have gotten faster and smaller. This presents a problem for guys who play the slower and bulkier fullback position as they're responsible for putting a hit on these guys in the run game.

In the pass game, the fullback can still pass block, but again with the smaller linebackers, running backs have been asked to do more in pass blocking and as it concerns running out into the flat to catch a safety valve pass for the QBs you'd want the quicker, faster running backs catching those passes as well.

None of the reasons listed above are the most important though, not for MSU anyway

Running Example

MSU used this constantly in the MSU - Wisconsin Round 1 game.

MSU lines up in a single back, Two TE set. Linthicum lines up left of France.

Linthicum goes in motion, this at the very least does one thing for Cousins. It lets him know whether Linthicum is in man coverage or a zone if the linebacker tries to stay with him or not.

A couple times Linthicum went right back to where he started out and Cousins jumped with glee knowing whether he was looking at zone or man.

Much more often, Linthicum lined up in the fullback spot and now the Single Back Two TE set became a strong I formation with lots of run blocking for the running back. The nice thing is that as soon as Linthicum was set Cousins would snap. This was a really nice way to set up strong run blocking for the RB without tipping our hand run until the last possible moment.

Off Bell or Baker would go for a few yards.

Passing Example

This happened more often as the season wore on, but typically it was Anderson(the FB) "playing" TE. It typically happened in 3rd and short to 3rd and short-medium. Think between 3rd and 3 and 3rd and 5.

MSU starts out in the strong I.

Anderson motions left and lines up just behind Cunningham or whoever.

MSU managed to conceal their 4 WR look out of the huddle up until a moment or two prior to the snap. This forces the opposing defense to adjust prior to the play.

The QB drops back into the shotgun and now a 3rd and 4 has changed from the look of a strong run play into a strong pass play.

So What Does This Mean?

Dan Roushar runs a misdirection offense that relies on concealing the true intent of a play until seconds before the snap. One of the easiest ways to play with the look of a play is to move a TE into the fullback spot a second or two prior to the snap or to move a fullback into a WR spot seconds prior to the snap. The role of a traditional fullback has disappeared on any spread team and is even disappearing in a more traditional offense like MSU runs.

So for my own part, I wish Palazeti and any other fullback to come to MSU the best of luck at the position. I just found myself wondering if he would be the last four year scholarship recruit at the position. We'll see how much more time Roushar spends using this misdirection in 2012.

MSU: The Week In Review

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:26:00 GMT

So um, kind of a lot happened this week in MSU football. In case you have forgotten, MSU won it's first bowl game under Mark Dantonio. It helps when MSU isn't playing the top QB in the NFL draft, with a lost WR corps or four first round defensive draft picks from Alabama. Still, the Spartans needed a monster defensive game, some excellent special teams play and even a bit of luck to cut the cake against Georgia. Georgia is a very good and very young team, and I'd like to avoid playing the 2012 and maybe even the 2013 version of this team.

I said in the postgame write-up and will reiterate here, this game was MSU's season in a nutshell. You had the "road game blues" where the offense couldn't do anything, you had the "Spartan Domination" on offense in the 3rd and 4th quarter, where MSU scored 27 points in the second half to turn the corner. Special teams played well when it counted and the defense, oh, the defense. Thank you. This season wouldn't have been possible without our amazing defense.

I'll be rewatching this game over the weekend and with the help of Ty doing a bit of film review. That should be fun for next week.

Badgerfreude and a tiny bit about Basketball

MSU notched it's first victory at the Kohl's Center since 2001 on Tuesday night. The Badgers had their clocks out of sync and the scoreboard clock expired before the stadium clock. The refs reviewed and decided the Wisconsin player had not gotten the shot off in time. Bo Ryan summoned his rage. He called the refs falcons. He ranted "Falcon, you falconing Mister Falcons!"

Bielema can't tell time. I've decided this is the only way the clock management of a Big Ten Head Coach could be so poor. He called a timeout on 1st and 10 in the third quarter. A timeout that would have been useful with :02 seconds to go in the Rose Bowl when you'll have a shot at the end zone from the 28. Honest to goodness, he really needs to work on this in the offseason.

Perhaps, and this is just me spitballing, they wrote a clause into his Rose Bowl bonus where the bonus is only activated if he runs the shot clock at the following night's men's hoops game. You know, for funsies. All of this clock mismanagement couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.

DeAnthony Arnett

DeAnthony Arnett received his release from Tennessee and will transfer to Michigan State University. Between Arnett and 2012 WR commit Aaron Burbridge, this marks the second year in a row MSU will have the top WR commit in the midwest committed to play for the green and white. I'm currently projecting Arnett as a slot receiver and the heir apparent to Keshawn Martin at the position. Whether he will run all of the fancified trick plays is a different discussion altogether. This is a huge pickup for the Spartans and can only help Maxwell's transition into Cousins job next year.

Jerel Worthy

Worthy announced his plans to forgo his senior season and declare for the NFL draft. Worthy is a projected first rounder and it would be a gamble for him to pass up that kind of money. There are a host of potential DTs ready to step into his place, but his impact will be sorely missed next year. Players leaving early for the NFL is a great thing for Michigan State. Be happy for him. His mom Stephanie made it quite clear Jerel will finish his degree or else... A great situation all around.

Pat Narduzzi

Pat Narduzzi has interviewed for the DC position at Texas A&M and will be offered the job at a rate of pay between 600 - 750k. As I said yesterday, this is not a positive thing for MSU. Coaches leaving for Head Coaching jobs is a great thing, coaches leaving for lateral promotions is not. The fan reactions have ranged from fury to apathy to congratulations. No decision has yet been reached on the part of Narduzzi nor has an apparent public counter-offer been made by Michigan State.

I suspect this will be over by the end of the weekend, maybe even Friday. If MSU loses Narduzzi, expect some upset fans. I just hope these same fans don't complain when ticket prices go up to support the coaching staff in the future. If MSU keeps Narduzzi, it'll probably only be for a couple years until he finds a quality head coaching gig.

Bonus Conspiracy Theory

Narduzzi was "scheduled" to receive a raise to 305k per Hondo in February. Narduzzi withdrew his name from consideration for the Akron gig. Treadwell is making 450 or so at Miami-OH, so one would expect that Akron would be shopping in that price range too. To me this all adds up to the reported 305k actually being higher than that. 2/3rds of a potential salary doesn't seem low enough to cause Narduzzi to say no.

In Review

That Outback Bowl feels like it was a LONG time ago now. MSU had some of it's biggest successes of the Dantonio era and was immediately forced to begin defending it's newfound success. The choices made regarding Narduzzi will help demonstrate how committed MSU is to paying the money necessary to retain an excellent coaching staff. It's a game of inches as Dantonio always says, and MSU needs to win the next couple days to help secure more of these first world problems for 2012.

Looking Ahead: Finding A Worthy Replacement

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:25:00 GMT

"Met Jerel Worthy today, he's approximately two Tyler Hoover's wide. Neat trick." was the text I got from Ty back in 2009 when he went to Meet the Spartans. So we've lost our sparkplug in the middle of the line and we start thinking about who will replace Worthy's production next year.

We should start out by defining what position Worthy actually played. Worthy was a defensive tackle and he played alongside White(who was the Nose Tackle). If Worthy played for the Lions, he would be Ndamukong Suh and White would be Corey Williams. As the DT Worthy's responsibility is to rush the passer on passing downs and stuff the run by stopping offensive lineman from getting out to block linebackers. The DT is the more athletic of the two defensive tackles on the field. You obviously want all of your players to be athletic, but it's more expected of the DT than the NT.

So to best replace Worthy, MSU is going to be looking for an athletic defensive tackle who also has some size. MSU has several candidates and their class status for 2012.

Denzel Drone(RS, Jr) - Drone was talked about in the Outback Bowl pre-game as playing some defensive tackle should White and Worthy tire out. Honestly, I see him standing in as Gholston's backup in 2012. He did a nice job in this position in 2011 and at 262 unless he can put on 30 lbs of quality weight I don't see him contributing in a meaningful fashion at this position.

Tyler Hoover(RS, Sr) - Hoover has battled a back thing for the past couple of years. As I always say, it's a miracle that anyone 6'7 and 290 lbs is ever healthy, let alone healthy enough to play football. I think Hoover would be an OK replacement, but Hoover is not as athletic and would be more appropriate in the NT replacement spot. 6'7" is really damn tall for a guy who has the job of engaging and getting leverage underneath Offensive Guards.

James Kittredge(RS,So) - I don't really know enough about Kittredge to say how he'll do in this position. Here's a video of him hammering a tire, he looks sufficiently angry to play the position.

At 6'4 and 270 he needs to put on some weight too, but these are August 2011 weights and not August 2012 weights.

Damon Knox(RS, Fr) - I think Knox might be one of the best candidates. Recruited and listed as a DE, at 6'4 and 274 his future is at the DT position. Great athleticism and great size.

Micajah Reynolds(RS, Jr) - Reynolds has been a man without a country since he joined MSU. DT, NT, LT he's played them all. His raw athleticism might be enough to put him in the conversation here even though at 6'5" and 320 he's a little bigger than you typically see a DT in the 4-3.

Mark Scarpinato(RS, Fr) - Scarpinato has a bit of the Knox and Kittredge need to put on some weight. At 6'4" and 270 he also is a bit small for the position. Scarp is a high motor guy, that's all I remember about his recruitment. Scarp never stops running, etc. In this regard, he reminded me a lot of Kevin Pickelman, who was a fairly low recruited extremely high motor guy.

Of the dudes listed above, Knox and Kittredge share the best shot at filling in as your Boise State Worthy replacement. Knox in particular has been rumored to be impressing in fall camp, so with some luck he can bear that out. Dantonio's record with taking transfers and helping them do good things(Linthicum, Fonoti) has so far been such that I think Kittredge will do just fine here too.

It's important to remember that it's very unlikely that the next dude will be Worthy: Part Two Even Worthier. If Knox, Kittredge and Scarp all develop into Pickelmans that would be a success more than I think a reasonable fan could hope for. We lost a great one today, but we have lots of chances to find another great one right here in the players we already have.

Growing Pains: A New Problem For MSU Football

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:23:00 GMT

They're a serious problem sometimes.

Jerel Worthy

Worthy has a presser scheduled for 2pm today and is expected to declare for the NFL draft. This is not unexpected as he's been on mock draft watch lists since 2009 and hasn't moved much from the first round since. While it never feels like a great thing for a player of Worthy's caliber to leave early, it IS a great thing if he goes in the first round. When recruiting kids the three best things you can do for them are: make sure they graduate, win a championship and put them in the league. If Worthy has a shot to get drafted for big bucks in the first or even the high second, he should go.

Thank you Jerel Worthy, you are one twitchy young man.

Pat Narduzzi

Narduzzi is rumored to be interviewing in Texas A&M as we speak. This in my opinion is not a great thing. It's rumored his current salary is 230k to be raised to 305 in Feb and that his offer at A&M would be anywhere from 500 to 750. I am absolutely for our coaches taking HC gigs elsewhere. Again, if you are growing the program and the tree that's solid. What I am not for is Narduzzi taking a lateral promotion for double the money.

Is there a chance he stays at MSU? Absolutely. In my opinion though, it's for the solid season in 2012 to provide him an HC gig OR because he's happy in the Midwest and wants to stay. MSU needs to make him feel special right now, whether it's with money, better recruiting tools, etc. MSU needs to make a big show of how much they want him here.

If A&M can roll out 600k for Duzzer, they can roll out 800k. MSU cannot beat them in a bidding war. They can at best hope to keep pace. Another thing to consider here is that maybe Narduzzi doesn't want to be a head coach. I've managed people before. It's difficult, tedious and thankless work and maybe he's not interested. So doubling up salary to do what you love would sound very appealing.

Growing Pains and the Financial Cost of Success

These are new pains for us at MSU and as fans, alumni and a school we need to ask ourselves a few questions. Are we willing to accept having the cost of a top notch football program? Many top assistants are fetching north of 500k in college football. To match the high end of Narduzzi's rumored offer, MSU fans would need to pay a dollar more per ticket per game. To bring the entire assistant staff's salary into line with SEC ranges a 3-5 dollar per ticket per game change wouldn't be off the board.

Next year, MSU plays Boise State, EMU, ND, OSU, Neb, Iowa and Northwestern at home and you can bet that after holding ticket prices steady for the 2011 season there will be a substantial hike next year. Would you be willing to fork over the additional 3-5 dollar per ticket money when it could be on top of a 5-15 dollar per ticket hike already?

College football isn't a game now, it's an arms race. Michigan State has the alumni base and support structure to participate, but it's going to mean changing the way fans think of buying tickets. To participate with the big hitters of college football, it's going to mean opening your wallets as fans. So what's it gonna be MSU fans?

Here's Your Shield: DeAnthony Arnett

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:22:00 GMT

Here's Your Shield can be used for transfers too. AMIRITE?

Last night DeAnthony Arnett announced his transfer to Michigan State. He was rumored to have picked between MSU, UM and ND. Some of the other fans are saying he didn't have a (insert sour grapes school) offer, all schools have fans that roll with sour grapes. Arnett may be eligible to play in 2012 if he is granted a hardship waiver on account of his father's illness, if not he will begin playing football in 2013 for MSU as a redshirt freshman. The health issues of Arnett are such that the hardship waiver should be a lock, but you know, this is the NCAA.

Arnett initially selected Tennessee over an Offer Redeemable At Any School in The United States. At the time he selected UT over MSU, USC and Cal. So... when he thinks to move home to be closer to his sick dad, I'm pretty sure USC and Cal don't really help with that. Arnett said several times during his recruitment he wanted to play in a pro-style offense, so the resurgence of Michigan coupled with the claim of reverting back to the pro-style offense made me a bit anxious he'd be wearing blue. However, the difference between Borges and Calvin McGee was much smaller than the difference between Roushar and Borges this year.

In 2011, Arnett had 24 catches for 242 yards and 2 TDs. He had receptions in seven of 12 games despite playing in all 12. With UT averaging 242 yards in the passing game, I don't know that I'd read a whole lot into it one way or the other. UT's offense was a tire fire finishing 106th in total scoring offense, 104th in total yardage offense and 50th in passing yardage offense. So while this isn't a case of Sammy Watkins coming to MSU, I think he could very well live up to his pre-UT billing.

Arnett is listed at 6'1" and 175 although if he is bigger than 5'11" and 160 I'd be surprised. If you look at him and Keshawn (6'0 and 180), they simply do not look the same. Which is a nice segue into the role Arnett will play. Arnett will be playing the role of 2012 Keshawn Martin. Since Arnett has been a WR all along, I think you will see less of the issues Martin had growing into the position of slot WR his freshman and sophmore years, but he might be absent some of Keshawn's knack for making magical plays.

What Will His Impact Be On The WR Group?

Arnett is another talented but largely unproven commodity for the 2012 Michigan State WR corps. He's seen more gametime than anyone who will be starting in 2012 save perhaps Bennie Fowler. At his size, I worry a bit about durability. He has the shake and bake to shake any corner in single coverage, but I don't know if he has the deep speed to stretch the field on every play. In short, I think he'll be an excellent replacement for Martin in the slot and we're lucky to have him.

The Offseason Road Map

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:21:00 GMT

With yesterday's inebriatingly awesome win we set to the grimy, crappy part of college football. The off-season. In the off-season there will be scandal, there will be boredom, there will be a review of "Death to the BCS"(great book so far, btw).The MSU schedule of events is roughly thus, we'll take a look at the recruiting things in this post.

Recruiting and National Signing Day(Now - First Tuesday in Feb)
Spring Ball(Late March- Late April)
Fall Practice(Beginning of August - August 31st)
8/31 - Boise State and the Smurf Turf Parade comes to town.

Recruiting and National Signing Day

To truly capture what work is to be done here this effort needs to split into two pieces. Efforts to retain/recruit current college and JUCO players and then efforts to continue recruiting High School kids.

Current College Players And Their Odds of Wearing Green and White Against BSU on 8/31

Jerel Worthy(25%)
Johnny Adams(80%)
DeAnthony Arnett(50%)

I think Worthy is gone. There seem to be two camps on him, one that thinks he's a devastating DT because he just manhandles the opposition and another that thinks he has a weird knack for timing the snap count and that's what makes him good. Whether or not his ability to blow up a play is based on a knack for the snap count doesn't really matter. He still does the work. Worthy is a sure top 10 pick barring injury if he stays another year, but we'll see.

Adams potential draft entry came out of nowhere. He's played well this year, but still has gotten an excessive number of penalties IMO. He's gotten them for talking mess to people, PI when he gets burned on a play and I believe penalties for hitting QBs out of bounds. The PI when getting burned on a play is ok in college, but in the pros it's a spot of the foul play instead of 15 yards. I really think he needs to stay another year and clean that up.

DeAnthony Arnett was granted an unconditional release from Tennessee about two hours ago. In his initial decision, MSU finished second to UT, but this was based at least in part because he said he didn't want to play in a spread. Well, UM at least pretends not to run a spread anymore. Arnett will transfer to either MSU or UM, hence the 50 percent, anyone telling you they know which of the two right now is straight lying.

Recruiting High School Kids

Most have calculated 18 spots available on scholly coming into the offseason, this includes the loss of Worthy but not Adams. MSU currently has commitments from fourteen students and if Arnett joins the class that leaves three remaining. I believe MSU looks to take one more in the secondary, one more WR (if no Arnett), one more DL type to replace Pittman and another OL/DL type if the opportunity presents itself.

The picture of who those kids are will change significantly between now and signing day. Be elated at Defcon 5 if those four kids are: Arnett, JP Holtz(DE/TE) prospect, Demetrious Cox(S) prospect and David Perkins(DE). Knock off one level of excitement for each of those kids MSU does not get.

The 2013 Class

So far MSU has zero commitments for the class of 2013, this is not atypical. Usually the first commitment comes between spring ball and summer camps so fear not. A couple of contenders for first commitment in the class of 2013 are Johnny Reschke(ILB), Riley Norman(OT) and Cameron Dillard(OG). All are Michigan prospects and all have shown good interest in MSU. Norman and Reschke already have MSU offers.

To me, the 2013 class will represent just how far MSU has come under Dantonio in Michigan, Midwestern and National Recruiting. With a revived Michigan program, an OSU head coach from the $EC, Notre Dame looking respectable again and a Wisconsin team that has played in the Rose Bowl two years running, the Big Ten is as strong as ever. For MSU to continue it's success in the past two years, it will have to win some of these recruiting battles against the traditional powers. MSU will have continue to capture the high three star kids, but I think getting a Gholston type in this class is a must. One of the things that set MSU's defense apart this year were the two defensive lineman(Worthy and Gholston) who could blow a play up single-handed. Kirk Cousins put the team on his back several times this year. That playmaker is a must.

Enjoy the offseason folks. It should be a great run-up to the 2012 season. Also, if you don't have season tickets and can afford them, you want to get them next year. MSU plays OSU, ND, Iowa, BSU, NW and Nebraska at home. It should be a great season for a team attempting to get it's third consecutive 11-win season.

MSU vs. UGA: Outback Bowl Preview

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:20:00 GMT

Second Half Game Film of UGA-FLA will not be done before the game as a standalone entity. Writing a blog over the holidays is like, really hard work man. The first half is available for your viewing here. You can check out the Q&A with CollegeFootballZealots' Kevin here as well as our replies to his questions, over at College Football Zealots.

Happy New Year Everyone! May 2012 bring merriment, a lack of Mayan-prophesied world destruction and a first bowl victory of the Mark Dantonio era. Georgia is a formidable opponent but perhaps MSU's first foe who did not have a clear advantage over them since Mark Dantonio came to MSU. If you'll recall in the 2007 bowl, MSU played Matt Ryan, in 2008 it was Matt Stafford, in 2009 it was our missing WR corps from Rathergate and in 2010 it was playing an Alabama team where literally half that defense starts in the NFL now. This last run-on sentence looks excuse-y and to a degree it is, but it also helps explain Mark Dantonio's 0-4 bowl record.

Georgia is a very young and talented team. Unlike MSU they are young on both sides of the ball where MSU's defense is young, but their offense is extremely experienced. Like MSU, Georgia lost in their conference title game and let up 42 points to their opponent. Both teams have outstanding defenses ranked in the top 16 in total scoring defense. MSU and Georgia have less respectable, but still very good offenses ranking 37th and 34th respectively. On paper, this game looks to be about as evenly matched as a fan of good college football could hope for.

Georgia Passing Offense vs MSU Passing Defense

UGA's starting offensive line averages 329 lbs. They will have a huge task ahead of them working to give Aaron Murray time to throw. Murray appears to be inconsistent against top 10 passing defenses. He threw for 4TD's and a pick with a 176 passer rating against the nation's number two passing defense South Carolina. He threw for 2TD's and a pick with a 99 passer rating against Florida and a 1 TD and 2 picks with a 72 passer rating against LSU in the title game. I'm inclined to think the Cocks surrendered so much to Georgia because Future Pro Bowler Jadeveon Clowney was still getting situated to college and Stephen Garcia sucked turning the ball over twice for SC.

MSU's defensive line has shown the ability to adapt to an offensive scheme quickly, but not usually until they've surrendered a touchdown on the opening drive this year. They also have a knack for shutting down the run and forcing their opponent to throw. I expect you'll see this tomorrow, the defensive gameplan being to make Aaron Murray win the game under blitzing pressure. The patented Narduzzi double-gap blitz will be deployed early and often. I think MSU forces Murray into a few bad decisions.

Advantage: MSU

Georgia Rushing Offense vs MSU Rushing Defense

Georgia has the 41st ranked rushing attack and MSU has the 12th ranked rushing defense. Georgia has a pair of running backs that MSU should keep a bead on. Isaiah Crowell, the freshman phenom and Carlton Thomas a 5'7" and 163 pound speedster. MSU hasn't really played anyone that small and fast yet this year, so it's a bit difficult to guess how well MSU can handle someone that quick and shifty. Crowell on the other hand, they played someone similarly built and fluid in Montee Ball I think.

The matchup of MSU's run D vs UGA's run game will determine how successful the Georgia offense is. MSU has held it's conference opponents to an average of 75 yards below their season rushing average. If that trend holds, that would mean 95 yards rushing for UGA on the game, that's probably not enough to turn the game for Georgia.

Advantage: MSU

MSU Passing Offense vs Georgia Passing Defense

The game hinges here for how many points MSU's Offense will score. Cousins has been brilliant on the road and terrible on the road. Cousins brilliance will depend on his ability to get a couple seconds to throw, which means that both offensive tackles will need to have a great game. Keeping the linebackers out of the backfield is going to be a difficult task for France and Fonoti.

That said, the short middle of the field was and has been filthy open in the half of the UGA-FLA game I saw. Exactly the kind of stuff that Keshawn Martin and our Tight Ends feast on. Exactly the kind of 5 yard checkdown throw that Cousins will make on the 3rd and 8 that makes the twitterverse explode into a fit of armchair QB rage. I think Cousins makes his reads well enough to throw to the vacated blitzer protection, but if the UGA pass rush can get home, it'll be a long day.

Advantage: Push

MSU Rushing Offense vs Georgia Rushing Defense

Hey, who lost their conference title game and finished one spot ahead of MSU in the total rushing defense? UGA. Guess who has the 75th best rushing game even with the late season emergence of Le'Veon Bell? MSU.

Advantage: UGA

Special Teams

FG - Blair Walsh 19/31 , Dan Conroy 15/21

P - Drew Butler 44.3 , Mike Sadler 39.8 per punt

They have the better punter, although I can't find "inside the 20" punts, which is something Sadler does really well. We have the better kicker. I think MSU has the upper hand in Special Teams, although not in a dominating way.

Advantage: MSU

Overall

UGA is a very, very good and very young team. They were the beneficiaries of an extremely nice in-season schedule not playing the best three teams in the SEC and only playing LSU in the conference title game. They do remind me a bit of the 2010 Spartans with the favorable schedule and great outcome. They will not get crushed like the 2010 Spartans did although I can always dream.

In the UGA-FLA game I watched I saw several missed tackles that were directly responsible for extending drives and overall was left with the impression that MSU might be equally as talented as Georgia, but their ability to play consistent and fundamentally sound football will be the thing that pushes MSU over the top in this one. Add to that the fact that Conroy is automatic inside of 40 yards and only missed one inside of 50 this year minus two bad holds in the YSU and FAU games and I forsee MSU outplaying Georgia significantly in the Special Teams phase of the game. MSU wins this one comfortably.

Final Score: MSU 34, Georgia 21

Behind Frenemy Lines: UGA Q&A

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:18:00 GMT

I wanted to do a Behind Enemy Lines piece this past year with every team we played, but really only got to it once. It is our good fortune bowl-wise that MSU plays Georgia this year though because our friend Kevin over at CollegeFootballZealots loves all college football, but is a Dawg at heart. He agreed to do a few questions with us. You can check out our responses to his questions here and follow him on Twitter here.

Just like MSU, UGA lost the conference title game and got kicked all the way down to the fourth best bowl appearance in it's conference. Does the team appear to have a bit of title game loss hangover?

CFBZ: I don't think they do. Georgia played LSU better than anybody else in the country for one half. Georgia had some great opportunities in the first half that they didn't capitalize on and then in the second half they just got caught in an avalanche and were a bit shell-shocked as the #1 team in the country poured it on like they've done against everybody but Alabama.

Georgia has a very young team. They only have two seniors on the two deep depth chart on defense, they have a soph starting at QB, their leading receiver is a true freshman and their leading rusher is a true freshman. I don't have any inside knowledge but I think Georgia sees this as a chance to cap off a really good year and set themselves up for next year.

Of your 10 wins this year, which would you identify as being UGA's highest quality win taking into account both performance and quality of opponent.

CFBZ: Auburn. Auburn came into the game ranked 20th and had recently beaten #10 South Carolina (before Lattimore got hurt for the season) and Florida. Georgia just thoroughly dominated them from start to finish. Auburn came into the game averaging 191 yards rushing per game and 354 yards per game. Georgia held them to 51 yards rushing and 195 total yards (76 of these yards came on Auburn's first drive). Georgia dominated time of possession holding the ball for over 40 minutes. It was 35-7 at half-time and it was over at that point as Georgia eased off the gas en route to a 45-7 win. Murray threw 4 TDs to 4 different receivers, two RBs went over 100 yards, Jarvis Jones had two sacks, Bacarri Rambo took an INT back for a TD. It was the most complete game Georgia played this year and to dominate a rival like that was very satisfying.

There was some scuttle that Richt was interviewing for the A&M job. While it appears that this was false, do you think there is/was truth enough to even be a little concerned about his future with UGA?

CFBZ: No, I really don't. The A&M thing was all smoke. Richt and AD Greg McGarity seem to have a really good working relationship and getting back to double-digit wins did nothing but cement that. I have no concerns about Richt leaving. He's at Georgia as long as Georgia wants him and as long as he has that fire to coach college football.

Later Georgia self-reported a violation that Richt was paying his assistants under the table (only in the NCAA could paying your employees a bonus being a violation), have either of the two aforementioned things appeared to have any impact on the team leading up to the game?

CFBZ: Basically what happened is the athletic department decided not to pay bowl bonuses to non-coach staff due to economic conditions back in 2009. Richt asked for a list of who would not be getting their bonuses and paid them out of his own pocket.There were some other instances where Richt felt that his coaches compensation was inadequate compared to like positions and petitioned the athletic department for increased compensation but was denied so Richt paid them out of pocket. It should be noted that this all happened under the watch of the former AD Damon Evans (the one that got canned). If anything, I think this would have a positive impact on the coaching staff. I mean, who doesn't want to work for a boss that has your back?

Aaron Murray filed draft paperwork but claims to be not interested in leaving after this year. My question is do you believe him?

I do believe him because I simply don't think he'd be a high pick (probably somewhere in the middle rounds) and I think he's too smart to go pro simply to go pro. I think he's just trying to see where he's at so that he can make an informed decision next season (which will be his red-shirt junior year). Murray has had games this year where he's looked like he can play at the next level but he still struggles with consistency from quarter-to-quarter and from game-to-game and he doesn't have that prototypical QB height that makes him a sure fire first rounder. I'm not sure what his NFL future is but I think he still has a lot to prove in the eyes of pro scouts.

Looking at this game, where do you think Georgia matches up most favorably?

CFBZ: I like the match-up of Georgia's front seven on defense against the Michigan State OL.Georgia's DL has been getting better and better as the season has progressed. JUCO transfer (NG) John Jenkins has really started to make his mark in the second half of the season and Sophomore DE Garrison Smith is another guy that has really started to show up on film recently as he's gotten more playing time. The LB corps has been a work in progress for Georgia this year because of injuries. Alec Ogletree is the best player on Georgia's defense and he broke his foot in the Boise State game (was it a coincidence that the Broncos had 0 points when he was in the game?) and was out until mid-season. Couple that with other injuries, Georgia was playing walk-ons and true freshmen early in the season. Since Ogletree has come back, he and Jarvis Jones have been reeking havoc on opposing teams and back-ups have stepped up since they've had real game experience. If Georgia can make Michigan State one dimensional by stopping the run (which Georgia has done a really good job of this year), it could be a long day for the Spartans.

The other match-up I like for Georgia is Orson Charles against who-ever he is matched up against. Charles is one of the premier Tight Ends in college football. He's too big for a Safety to cover and too fast for a LB. Georgia's OC Mike Bobo sometimes forgets Orson is on the field, but since this might be his last game as a Bulldog I think Bobo will make an effort to get the ball to Orson and if he does it will open up the field for everybody else.

What concerns you most about playing Michigan State?

CFBZ: To be honest, I'm not as concerned about Michigan State as I am about certain areas of the Georgia team. That's not a knock on Michigan State as much as it is the confidence that I have in the talent that Georgia has put together but talent doesn't always win football games (just ask Florida).

The first area is Special Teams. We came into the year with arguably the best kicker/punter combo in the Nation in Blair Walsh and Drew Butler. Butler has been solid this year except for a couple of times where he out-kicked his coverage (can you say Honey Badger?). Walsh on the other hand has been awful. As a soph and junior, Walsh made 40 of 45 FGs. This year he's only 19 of 31 (including a miss in a 3 point loss to South Carolina). Georgia has also given up 4 returns for TD this season. Georgia has been working on Special Teams a lot going into the bowl so I expect coverage to be better but practice isn't going to help a FG kicker who is in a funk. The other area of concern is our offensive backfield but I will get to that next...

Who needs to step up and have big games if Georgia wants to win this game?

CFBZ: The answer here is the entire RB corps. Georgia has done it with smoke and mirrors at the RB position a lot this season. They've had multiple suspension (Crowell, Thomas, Malcome) and injuries (Crowell, Samuel) galore. It looks like everything is now taking shape for everybody to be healthy going into the bowl game. True Freshman Isaiah Crowell is the one who gets all the hype but he's been somewhat of a disappointment to Georgia fans because of his constant nagging injuries and repeatedly asking out of games. When Crowell is healthy, he is a game changer. I'm of the mind-set that he's a 15-20 touch a game back (he's not a workhorse type back like Marcus Lattimore) and if he gets that in this game then he could be trouble for Sparty.

Just when Richard Samuel (who switched from RB to LB and then back to RB this year due to lack of depth at RB) hit his stride against Florida, he was lost for the season with an injury. He should be back for this game and if he can run with the bad intentions that he did against the Gators then he will help to open up the play-action game for Aaron Murray. Another guy to keep an eye on is RS Frosh Ken "Boo" Malcome (he was highly recruited out of HS and had offers on the table from Bama, Clemson, Florida, FSU, Oklahoma, West Virginia, etc). Malcome has struggled to get on the field this year (30 carries for 123 yards) but is currently taking snaps at #1 RB. Maybe a message is being sent to Crowell from the coaching staff but Malcome has been good in the minimal action he's seen in the last three games (Kentucky, GT and LSU) and I expect him to get a chance to run the football some in this game. He's a hard runner and more of an inside the tackles guy than Crowell is. They actually complement each other fairly well.

Between these three guys (and change of pace back Carlton Thomas) if Georgia can establish a running game then Aaron Murray can do what he does best and that's spread the ball around (12 different receivers caught TD passes from Murray this year, 7 of which caught at least 2 TDs) and keep Michigan State's defense off balance.

Finish this thought..... Georgia wins this game if....

CFBZ: If Special Teams takes care of business, Georgia is able to establish a running game and the offensive line (I'm looking at you Justin Anderson) does an adequate job of protecting Aaron Murray.

Know Thy Enemy: Georgia vs. Florida Film Review(1st Half)

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:17:00 GMT

Today we sit down to Know Thy Enemy. I've completely beat to death the past few weeks that the MSU-UGA game should be two teams playing each other in a mirror statistically. That hasn't changed. I was able to get some screencaps on the UGA - FLA game from earlier this year. For those of you who read my Film Review of MSU-Wisky earlier this year. I'm messing with the format a bit. Defensive narrative notes, then picture examples, repeat for offense. I think it flows a bit better.

Florida is a poor man's Michigan State this year. They had the 25th scoring defense, and the 71st scoring offense. Michigan State had the 9th ranked scoring defense and the 38th ranked scoring offense. So while the gap in total production was significant, the trend of a team with a markedly better defense than offense seems reliable. So too is the Weis-ening. Which involves putting the burden of NFL playbook on the QB's shoulders and then yelling at him when things don't work out. Weis ran a pro-style offense at ND and obviously his time in the pros.

Florida runs a 4-3 and is a decent defensive analog for MSU. MSU finished 12th in rushing defense compared to 39th for Florida. In passing defense, Florida finished 10th and MSU finished 12th. So again the pattern of a team that has a strong D that performs very strongly against the pass and well against the run holds true. Both defenses rely on their D-Line to drive their pass defense.

Game Notes(UGA)(per @CFBZ)

Starting Safety Shawn Williams was suspended for 1st half (along w/NG Kwame Geathers).
Starting ILB Alec Ogletree's 1st game back since injuring foot at Boise.
Best WR, true frosh Malcolm Mitchell, also didn't play due to injury

Narrative Defensive Observational Notes

UGA has missed a fair number of tackles. On Florida's opening play of the game, a Georgia linebacker straight whiffs a tackle that allows Jeff Demps to go for 72 yards. At 11:01 to go in the first, UGA's missed tackles allowed for two first downs.
UGA also blitzes a lot. A lot. This is a key feature of the 3-4, but you can count on probably a fourth and fifth on 2/3rds of plays. Interestingly, most of the blitzes I've seen thus far have all come from linebackers. That's a variance from MSU, they do tend to mix it up with some safeties and corner blitzes.
UGA let up a 4th and 19 touchdown. UGA sent the house and Brantley(Florida's QB) somehow got through it. It was a super flukey play, I'll hope for one of those this week.
The middle of the field is open like 7-11. See below.

Oh Dan France, You Are Going to Have Your Hands Full

Dan France. Jarvis Jones. Jarvis Jones. Dan France. This is what Jarvis Jones did to Florida's poor left tackle just a couple months ago.

Jarvis Jones has a red arrow around him at all times. Not a bad idea for the offense if they can swing it between now and Monday.

The ball snaps and Jarvis just straight rushes the QB. The LT drops back into pass protection.

The LT engages Jones and it looks like the FLA RB joins in the fun, but he actually sneaks behind this world collision to try and get open in the flat.

LT engages in some pretty serious hands to the face, but whatever man.

A whopping 3 tenths of a second later, Jones gets his feet wide and gets underneath the LT which throws him off-balance.

Jones shoves LT to his right, your left and does a quick little redirect and then sacks Brantley.

This was a display of athleticism that I think only young Mr. Gholston can really represent for MSU. Jones straight up manhandled this dude. France and Roushar are going to need to figure out an answer for Jones that doesn't involve bringing the RB over to stop the pass rush. We will need to count on our RB and TE's to be open for safety throws.

The Middle of The Field is Open Like 7-11

The Gators go five wide. You see this look on 3rd and 2 all the time MSU fans.

The 3 down lineman and one of the edge rushers go, I believe it's Jarvis Jones stays back in pass coverage. Weirdly the dudes to the left with the red arrows pretty much stand still.

Jones has to pick between one of the two Florida dudes and decides to go with the one to the right, for obvious reasons.

Player cuts to the inside which is filthy wide open, there is literally no one for five yards.

The UGA coverage comes up and SHOULD make a tackle here, but through a combination of using the Umpire for a pick and a kind of eh tackle by the Georgia guy allows the WR to get out long downfield and turn this into a 20 yard pickup.

Narrative Offensive Observational Notes

At the end of the first quarter, 100 percent of UGA's pass attempts had come out of the shotgun formation. This is something I remember from charting the UGA-MSU game in 2009 with Ty after the Lions drafted Stafford. They throw almost exclusively from the shotgun. When Trenton Robinson pops off about the simplicity of the Dawgs offense, I would guess this is what he was referring to. At the end of the second half, they had yet to throw a successful pass from something other than the shotgun.
Isaiah Crowell has really nice vision and MOAR speed than Bell, he is slighter and more likely to go down after the first hit. His running style reminds me a lot of Montee Ball. The primary difference is that Crowell goes down far more often after contact.
In the second quarter, UGA attempted one pass out of the I-Formation on playaction. Murray was sacked.
Murray is not as good as Cousins. He's no slouch either, he's probably the second or third best QB MSU will play this year. I feel it fair to say that Murray is somewhere between .75Cousins and .9Cousins.

Isaiah Crowell: He's Got Talent

Run out of the I-formation

Crowell runs into the pile, which looks stupid until you see the Grand Canyon open out on the other end of the pile.

He comes shooting out, and number 22 for Florida sees that Crowell will read his block and head for the sideline

Here's where this showcases the talent part of Crowell's talent, the DB #14 to the far left disengages his WR target and also heads for the sideline.

Crowell ends up beating both 14 and 22 to the sideline and ends up getting forced out by his own momentum. He had 14 and 22 beat.

Michael Bennett: Nice Catch

None too shabby.

Bonus

I'll work on the second half over the next few days to have ready before the weekend. I was not real impressed with Murray, was very impressed with Crowell and their defense is quick. They're missing two starters I might add. Cousins will need to get the ball off quickly.

Tuesday Thoughts

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:15:00 GMT

Work has been soul-crushingly busy leading up to the Holidays and is over for the year tomorrow. My wife suggested that I do something that I enjoy in the middle of the day today to avoid leaving a trail of end users in my jail-bound wake.

The Defense of Isaiah Lewis

It looks like Dantonio spent a deal of time in today's presser defending Isaiah Lewis' play in the Big Ten Title Game. Despite my twitter barf in the minutes immediately following the game, there's really no defense needed. He had two bad plays in the most critical moments of the game. The one below, eh, he might have been blocked into the punter, but it wasn't obvious. If it should have been called back it's because of the punter's obvious flop, there's no way the refs could have caught the below.

If you'll recall, Lewis was responsible for the interception returned for a touchdown to make the UM game 28-14. Further, he caught Wilson's moonball in the fourth quarter of the MSU-Wisconsin game. These are two I can think of off the top of my head. There are certainly others. No defense needed Lewis nets out as a plus player for MSU by a lot.

Bowl Practices

As with every bowl practice season, there are rumors of position changes. It sounds like Tony Lippett has been practicing at WR this off-season and that will be his position next year. I really hope this is because he is filthy talented at WR and that CB is coming along nicely. The idea of moving our third best corner to WR makes me a bit itchy.

There are rumors that Darien Harris has been playing at RB, this was the position he played in HS. I'm not really sure what to make of that. MSU didn't take a running back in 2011, but like, the Bell, Baker, Caper, Hill logjam will still be right in front of Harris in 2012. By 2013, it'll still be Bell and Hill and Tompkins and others should be making some headway by then. Hopefully, this is some college experimentation in a consequence free environment.

Micajah Reynolds is back at DT with the injuries to Pickelman and Strayhorn. Huge dap to him for being able to play whatever position needs help. I do hope they settle him somewhere soon, he'll be a junior next year, the clock is starting to tick.

The Changing Recruiting Landscape

Seriously, go home and make sure your loved ones haven't bolted for OSU.

Well, Urban Meyer makes phone calls and brings kids to OSU. The Pittman thing, was, crappy. The following will sound a bit like denialism, homerism, etc. That's fine. This is a Michigan State blog, so I write it that way.

Here's the first couple sentences of Pittman's recruiting article from SpartanMag.

"Michigan State landed what can be deemed a surprise verbal commitment from Canton (Ohio) McKinley four-star defensive end Se'Von Pittman on Sunday afternoon. "

When did it hit you that Michigan State was the right choice for you?

Pittman: If you would've asked me this question yesterday, I wouldn't have had no type of answer for you. But just sitting there with my parents (on Sunday) and we just talked about my top five and colleges that best fit me, and my mom kept telling me that she felt Michigan State was and she gave me some reasons and stuff like that, and I agreed. So we made the decision I should commit a couple hours before I committed.

The following is a timeline for the majority of MSU summer commits.

Kid comes to campus (1 to n) number of times and shows off why he deserves a scholly to Mark Dantonio and staff
Mark Dantonio calls kid at some future date and says "Hai there, come on up to MSU, we need to have a talk" Knowing full well what this call will be about the recruit schedules a time, brings parents and comes up.
Kid is given offer and told to go home before committing.
Mark Dantonio follows-up with visit/phone call/handwritten letter/smoke signal/telegraph/box of chocolates.
Kid commits usually soon, one week or less.

I'm not going to graph this, no one wants to see a single bar of me being right on this. It's pretty solid if you follow MSU football recruiting at all. There were several things about this commit that seemed a bit fishy. One, the whole we just talked about it on Father's Day and now I'm committed to MSU thing seems and seemed weird to me. Two, the whole snagging an Ohio kid with a real Ohio State offer thing seemed fishy. OSU would have needed to be down for a couple years for me to feel like we weren't stealing one. Finally, he and Adolphus Washington for months talked about playing together despite Washington showing no real interest in MSU. The writing was on the wall a bit before Meyer became the Mayor of C-bus. Afterwards, Meyer is the Unicron of good midwestern recruits.

Which brings me to my next point. Meyer should absolutely fight to get every Ohio kid he wants that is not going to school at OSU next year. Recruiting committed players to or from schools with coaching changes has always made sense to me. When a new coach enters the equation, they haven't had their shot yet. Still, anyone who coached in the SEC isn't above commit poaching and I think he better be careful he's not TOO successful at it in the 2013 class. If a half dozen schools put elbow grease into negative recruiting it will add up at some point.

Our ~~Struggling~~ Pretty Average Offensive Line

I have to say, the most improved position group from Youngstown State to Wisconsin Part Deux: The Cheese Filled Nightmare was the Offensive Line. The pass protection of our offensive line at year end was a plus and the run blocking improved quite a bit and was probably average. MSU's depth at Offensive Tackle is still frighteningly thin. Interior line has better depth, but loses Foreman next year. MSU returns four starters next year though and this group should pick up right where it left off.

Enjoy the hot MACtion of the bowl games, film breakdown coming soon.

MSU, The Outback Bowl, and some Cobain Angst

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:14:00 GMT

The game should be incredible. Statistically, the only difference between these two teams is what they each had for breakfast this morning. Incredible defenses and good offenses. It could very possibly be a quality defensive 10-7 type game.

I respect the hell out of this 2011 Spartan Squad. I thought their regular season ceiling was 9-3 and I thought all three would be in the Big Ten. A win at OSU? Unpossible! Four in a row against UM. Very Difficult! Getting the monkey off our back at Iowa. Eh. Not very likely. Yet, we did ALL of those things and we played in the first ever Big Ten title game. So it feels cheap to draw my line in the sand on this issue.

Yet, I laid out my Herculean Effort to go to the game a few weeks ago for the game in Indy. I blew out my voice in the concourse leading the Go Green/Go White cheer before kickoff. I like the rest of Spartan Nation had my still-beating heart ripped from my chest with unfathomable sadness. The promise of a good game, while likely, is as of right now an empty promise. Unless I was burning Benjamins to run my furnace, I don't think I'd go to the Outback Bowl.

It's not the Outback Bowl's fault. I wouldn't be excited to go to the Sugar Bowl either. The Cap One Bowl three years out of four does not a good time make. I think this is MSU's best matchup and opportunity to create a competitive and interesting bowl game. Yet, I'm just kind of numb to the whole thing, or was kind of numb until yesterday. Now I'm pissed, again, not with the Outback Bowl.

The Argument

"MSU's fans need to show up so future Bowl Selection Committees don't view MSU as a school who won't support their team."

My blood boiled a bit after reading this argument. Here's a fact. "The Spartans have ranked among the NCAA's top 25 in attendance each of the last 55 seasons, including 19th in 2010, averaging 73,556 fans per game." Well fine, that's home attendance, we'll overlook the fact that the Football team has sucked for probably half of those years. Rexrode dropped this nugget a few days ago: "MSU fans have done well in Florida recently, bringing an estimated 30,000 to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando in 2009 and 2011.A Capital One Bowl exec gushed to me about MSU fan support a few weeks ago, saying it kept MSU in the discussion for that game despite the fact that MSU has been in Orlando in three of the past four years (the Spartans played there in the Champs Sports Bowl in December of 2007)." I was at the Big Ten title game, I feel comfortable saying that was 60/40 in favor of MSU.

We travel. We show up. We support our team. In 2006, when MSU went 4-8 and John L slapped himself out of a job, 70,819 fans showed up on average to all the games. That's 94.4 percent of the stadium in a year where MSU almost lost to Idaho. Don't even get me started on how well supported the basketball team is.

It's cliche and shitty to argue that the bowl system sucks without offering another alternative, but explain to me how this makes more sense than nothing? If MSU's attendance numbers don't speak for themselves, what will? Are we short the requisite number of fairweather fans? If that's the problem, maybe we're better off that way.

Anyway, go to the game if you have the means, it should be a good one. This is not a crusade to persuade people to stay home. This is a complaint that the notion that MSU doesn't travel off these sluggish sales for it's team is stupid and petty. For my own part, I'll be at home, having an ironic Bloomin' Onion party and rooting like hell for my Spartans. But don't question the MSU fanbase, we've been rocking out the NCAA attendance top 25 since before this game was called the Hall of Fame Bowl and we'll continue doing so long after Outback has sold the naming rights to someone else.

The Big East: Ted Kaczynski's Favorite Football Conference

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:13:00 GMT

So the news broke earlier today that the Big East will be adding the following schools to their conference, San Diego State, Boise State, Houston, Southern Methodist University and Central Florida. 2011 has been the year of WTF in the College Football world. From Sandusky to the BCS Title Rematch to Conference Realignment to this:

This is what the Big East thinks of you The Fan.

This move by the Big East is so ridiculous to me because it's so nonsensical and unnecessary. The new boundaries of the Big East ladies and gentlemen.

Kind of looks like the Budweiser logo.

Who could ever forget that thrilling overtime game between Boise State and Louisville. The real rivalry shared by UCF and SDSU? By my approximation this puts the center of the Big East a little east of Tulsa. So congratulations Talequah, Oklahoma, you're the home of the BRAND NEW BIG EAST TITLE GAME!

Self-dubbed the "City Of Firsts" Talequah would be the perfect home for the new Big East Title Game. The weather on December 6th, 2011 is a balmy 32 degrees, well suited from getting away from the 68 and sunny of San Diego in early December. As the home of Northeastern State University Hawks 7-5 Football team, we know a thing or two about mediocre football! Come and shop at Talequah's cozy downtown shopping district.

Felt's Family Shoes, proud sponsor of the Big East Title Game since 2011

Tahlequah has the distinction of being the capital of both the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, according to wikipedia. Which is actually kind of cool.

Big East football is old Uncle Ted's (not that Uncle Ted) favorite kind of football. It's going to survive, even if it means consuming things that no right-minded human should honestly consider. I'm looking at you Central Florida. It's a little crazy, maybe not quite right-minded. But it will survive, oh will it survive. It will fence off 2/3rds of the United States and pick a tiny little town in America as the home of it's title game. It's not above sending the occasional letterbomb to someone who's hurt it in the past. (I mean 27 million dollars to leave. Does the Big East even net 27 million in a season?) And if that let's the Big East give the finger to fans who enjoy College Football, so much the better.

Bonus Links

- What is Your Profession has a little recruiting scuttle to run down.

- There are three new Spartan Blogs in town. Welcome to The Little Brother Blog, Beat ChUMps and Spartan Problems. A lot of Michigan hate, not enough Michigan State in the titles of those blogs. But welcome anyway.

MSU - Georgia: The Outback Bowl

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:11:00 GMT

The Bloomin' Onion Bowl

Michigan State and Georgia will play in the 2012 Outback Bowl on Monday January 2nd, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. To say this was MSU's first choice would be simply untrue, but Georgia is a quality opponent and we have similar strengths. Of course there will be a very real game preview later down the road as well as five questions with College Football Zealots. For now statheads here are some similarities between these two teams.

Well shit, it looks like we'll be playing ourselves. That should be interesting. I welcome the opportunity though to play the SEC runner-up in the Outback Bowl. On paper, this should be a remarkably good game.

Other Bowl Thoughts

Big Ten

- Getting passed up by Nebraska kind of sucks. Orlando four times in five years though wasn't a good fit for anyone, IMO.

- Purdue vs Western Michigan. Watch yer ass, Purdue.

- The Kraft Hunger Bowl - 6-6 Illinois vs. 6-7 UCLA. This should seriously be the worst football game ever.

- The Gator Bowl - OSU vs Florida in the Urban Meyer bowl. Bonus for Charlie Weis being rolled to the game instead of airlifted.

- The TicketCity Bowl - Penn State should not have fallen this far. It's weaksauce for that to happen. PSU will still travel and casual fans will still drink egg nog and watch the game. A 9-3 PSU deserved better as Lloyd would say.

- Speaking of, it's time for the elephant in the room. UM jumping MSU is crap, not because it's U of M, but because it's crap. The BCS is crap, we all know it. If we were in UM's position and vice versa I'd be happy for our team so I can't say all this without some hypocrisy. I was really hoping UM would get Houston. Michigan's losses were to Iowa and MSU. The best two QB's ~~MSU~~ Michigan played?* Iowa and MSU. VT's QB is crap and UM will probably win. Good for the Big Ten, a little bit of a stinger for my rivalry based heart.

The Rematch

I will not watch this game. Not as a trainwreck, not as a point of fascinating failure. The only thing I can do to discourage them from allowing this to ever happen again is not watch. I encourage you to do the same.

* - Thanks to Commenter BeGreen for catching my mistake with the MSU/UM thing.