Victory 4 MSU

Michigan State 24, Illinois 14

Michigan State left Chambana at 3-3 after a dominating performance against a struggling Illini team. For perhaps the first time this season, both the offensive and defensive lines took control of the game and ensured an easy Spartan victory. The win was costly, however, as both Glenn Winston and A.J. Jimmerson succumbed to the ‘turf monster’ and Keith Nichol and Larry Caper both got a little dinged up.

Injuries

Unfortunately, Winston will undergo season-ending knee surgery on Thursday to repair his torn ACL. Just when he was finally starting to put it all together. Prior to this game Glenn had mostly tried to run through tacklers, even if there was a gaping hole to the left or right; but in this game something clicked, and he finally started displaying the vision and patience required to be a feature back. Winston was gashing the Illinois defense and special teams, using not only his raw power, but an elusiveness that had previously been neglected.

If this had happened last week he may have qualified for a medical redshirt, but it is my understanding that if a player is active after the 5th game of the season they become ineligible. However Spartan fans should have hope that he will return next year to punish defenders, as I am sure he will.

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35-14

I was there. The final score was 35-21, but everyone knows we won by three touchdowns. From the moment Blair White broke that tackle I knew the Spartans would prevail, but those folks in Ann Arbor tried their hardest. The replay official even got in on the action, scoring 7 points for his beloved alma mater. Now wolverines everywhere think they can score a touchdown just by looking at a pylon. Maybe the field crew at Spartan Stadium should use something else to demarcate the endzone, just in case.

The funny thing is that the “cheaters and best” believe they are the rightful owners of the Paul Bunyan trophy; that it is only in East Lansing temporarily and will quickly be returned to Ann Arbor. To turn a clever little jab against them:

Oh weasel, no.

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Is it Saturday yet? This is one of those games that defines college football. It will be the 72nd meeting between Michigan State and Notre Dame, and the Irish have the lead in the series 44 – 26 – 1. The Spartans first played the Fighting Irish in 1897 in South Bend and lost that game 34-6. In fact, the Spartans lost the first eight games of the series before getting their first win in 1910 in East Lansing. (The first eight were all played at Notre Dame) However, Michigan State fans should not be upset by this because it was this rivalry that put MSU on the map in the national college football scene. This rivalry also aided the entrance of Michigan State into the Big 10 conference. So, thank you Notre Dame; and as a sign of our appreciation, please visit us in East Lansing Saturday for a good, old-fashioned beat down.

MSU has owned the Irish this decade, going 8-3 in the last 11 matchups; and the visiting team has won each of the last six years. 2005 in South Bend was the thrilling 44-41 Spartan victory in overtime and 2006 was the colossal 40-37 meltdown in East Lansing which single-handedly got John L. Smith fired. In 2007 the Spartans defeated the Fighting Irish 31 – 14 in South Bend under the watch of new head coach Mark Dantonio, giving the Irish their first ever 0 – 4 start in school history. They went on to a horrific 3 – 9 record; also the worst in school history. Have they improved enough this year to make a game of it?

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This Saturday will be the first meeting between the Spartans of Michigan State and the Florida Atlantic Owls of the Sun Belt Conference. The Owls have experienced a meteoric rise in the college football world since becoming a division 1-A program only four years ago. Under the instruction of head coach Howard Schnellenberger the team went 8-5 in 2007 and defeated the Memphis Tigers of C-USA in the New Orleans Bowl. For a more detailed look at FAU check out my Opponent Overview of them right here.

Let’s take a look at what they’ve done so far in 2008 and look ahead to our matchup Saturday. The Owls kicked off their ‘08 campaign in Austin, Texas against the Longhorns in front of 98,000+ fans. There was a bit of talk coming from the upstart Owls prior to the season opener, and surprisingly the best bulletin board material came from coach Schnellenberger himself. In a FAU student newspaper the coach was quoted as saying “Texas always has been a very polished team that has great talent, but they aren’t tough. They aren’t a physically tough team.”

The Longhorns apparently took offense to this and displayed just how tough they are, slaughtering the Owls 52-10. Texas was also able to stifle the potent Owl passing game while starting two freshmen at safety in their very first collegiate game. The first half may have been a wake-up call to the Texas secondary as they allowed 226 yards through the air, but they shut it down in the second; allowing only 53 total yards to FAU. Click through for this week’s matchups.

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Yesterday truly was a “beautiful day for football” in East Lansing. Mostly sunny (maybe too sunny; I got a nice burn), temperature in the low 70s with a cool breeze and a delicious cupcake to dine on as our opponent. I really expected more of a fight from the Eagles after their 52-0 dismantling of Indiana State the previous week, but as the game unfolded it became clear that our players were simply bigger, faster and stronger than the opposition. As they say, talent trumps everything else, and the Spartans had more of that on the field Saturday.

This game was a chance for the team to regain some confidence after a crushing loss last week to a very good Cal squad. Just a reminder: we lost to Cal by only 7 points (38-31) after playing a below-average game, committing more penalties than usual, having some controversial calls go against us and having to play 2,000 miles away in a hostile environment all on the very first game of the year. This same Cal team then went on to destroy Washington State 66-3 in their house. Now, WSU may be a mediocre Pac-10 team, but they are still a quality, division 1-A, BCS opponent and the Bears completely embarassed them in their own backyard. After the Eastern game and knowing what the Bears did to Wash St, that 1st week loss isn’t looking nearly as bad as it seemed immediately following the game.  

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