Around the Big Ten

[hack]

Then there's the school of thought that he should be put out of the game with a bit of his own medicine. I would have preferred that to have happened in the second half of the game last year. You can't say he deserves better, and you can make the argument that it's a form of protection for your own players. I don't think that's what Hokeattison is going to try and do, tho.

[whodean]

M should be more concerned with Sparty's D punching them in the mouth (figuratively) than any sort of retaliation, those linebackers and rush ends, heck, they have two of the best CBs in the conference too...

[hack]

Let's not get silly about it. Last year was Borges' worst game plan of the year by far and it still took a defensive score late in the game to salt the game away. And now their best defender's gone and they lost their QB and top two WRs. That MSU defense is going to be very good, but it can't spend 60 minutes on the field against a team that will hit them probably harder than any other they'll face this season. If Michigan's coaches and players do their job those defenders will be sucking wind midway through the second half.

[WM Wolverine]

I really like MSU's defense and Dantonio is a good defensive coach. Points will be hard to come by, so M's defense is going to need to slow down Bell and their new QB. 24 points might win this game.

[hack]

Agreed. MSU's lost an entire passing game: all the returning WRs had 6 catches or less last year, if I read the numbers right. Bell's gonna see 8 in the box until the new QB and WRs prove they can do some damage. Mattison I'm sure would be horrified to give up more than 24 to that kind of offense, and I certainly don't expect that M could put up more than 24 on that defense.

[JRB]

It bears keeping in mind that Andrew Maxwell is probably the most highly-touted QB recruit Michigan State's signed since Drew Stanton(Rivals four-star, top 250 player), and he's entering his third year in the program. He should have a good grasp on MSU's system, and it's not as if MSU's offensive system asks the QB to win games all by himself.

With what Michigan State's accomplished the last couple of seasons, and with Ohio State officially out of contention this year, I think you have to consider Michigan State among the top two or three in the Big Ten this year. Excellent defense and a good running game travel well and can take a team a long way, and the Spartans might get an early momentum boost if they can knock off a rebuilding Boise State team in the opener. Sports Illustrated had Michigan State #8 in the country in its preseason preview. That might be a little high, but to me, it's not off by much.

[*JD*]

We should have a grasp on what kind of QB Maxwell is by the time he gets to A2.

As for Ghoulston, were it baseball, you know he'd be getting beaned. Were it the NHL, we'd send Probert out there. It's college football so I think giving him something on par to him trying to break Denard's neck is going to be pretty tough. A chop block is the only thing I can think of and they'll be watching for that.

I'd prefer just to see us run over him and beat spartie by 14+.

[hack]

Fully agree -- MSU is a conference contender this year. But, again, new QB and no meaningful experience at WR. In the context of the entire year, that's OK -- you get some experience along the way, and the conference champion is probably going to be a 1- or 2-loss team. In the context of October 20, however, I think there's a reasonable shot that that day might qualify as ``experience along the way'', so to speak.

[THE_WIZARD_]

and this is why UNL won't beat MSU. Nebraska can't block an ISO to save its life. It's a coaching problem. So UNL has to run into MSU's strength.

Ent...NU beat MSU 24-3 last year and really it wasn't even that close. NU played it close to the vest the final 20 minutes. How are the two teams THAT much different this year outside of MSU not having a senior QB? I know the game is in EL...but c'mon man.

[entropy]

Wiz... Look at who MSU played before neb. They were emotionally spent

[THE_WIZARD_]

So what. Big deal. You play in a major conference you better be ready every week.

[Wild Hoss]

Wiz... Look at who MSU played before neb. They were emotionally spent

Agree...that game was a clear outlier when comparing the two teams in 2011. They beat three teams that defeated Nebraska (Michigan, Wisconsin and NW, the first two who hammered us) and didn't lose to anybody that we beat. Lost the rematch to Wiscy by 3 points.

That said, they have road games at UM and Wisconsin in the weeks before we go there. We have @tOSU, @NW and Michigan leading up to it, whereas in 2011 we played Minny the week before.

[THE_WIZARD_]

If you can't get up emotionally to play against Nebraska in their house in their inagural B1G season then I say they are just a bunch of pussies then.

[iam416]

I'm looking forward to Nebraska's trip to Columbus. And with the dumbass B10 schedule, OSU will have scoreboard for 4 years!

[Wild Hoss]

If you can't get up emotionally to play against Nebraska in their house in their inagural B1G season then I say they are just a bunch of pussies then.

One could argue that we fell victim to the same phenomena the next week in a lackluster performance against Northwestern at home.