Victory 4 MSU

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?

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

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.  

Read the rest of this entry »

Florida Atlantic University… what can I say? Not a whole lot without doing a bunch of research I found out. I have heard that they are returning an obscene amount of starters, which is good for them. I also know that the Spartans are playing a 2-for-1 with them. MSU travels to Boca Raton in 2010 for the opening of the Owls’ new 30,000 seat stadium, which is expected to break ground in the Spring of 2009. For those who don’t know, Boca Raton is a city of approximately 90,000 located about 50 miles north of Miami on Florida’s Atlantic coast. It appears to be a very charming city, at least on wikipedia and google images; perhaps a nice spot to vacation in September of 2010. A little sidenote: that’s also the year that we start our home-and-home series with West Virginia, which should be fun.

The Owls return again to East Lansing in 2011 to finish the series. I’m hoping the Floridians enjoy early Autumn in Mid-Michigan as much as we are sure to enjoy their beaches and warm weather. I’ve only been to the Gulf coast, so maybe I’ll make it down there to check out the East side. So, how about their football team? Will their 2008 team improve upon a promising 2007 campaign? Click through to find out…

Read the rest of this entry »

August is finally here and we’re less than a month away from the kickoff of the 2008 Spartan football season. Fall camp starts soon, and you can smell the anticipation in the air. This week was all good news for the Spartans: the football team got another commitment from an elite prospect for the ‘09 class; Dantonio is getting some national attention for his recruiting success; two former Spartans have signed to play professionally; a new coach has joined the football team; and a few other tidbits about the upcoming football and basketball seasons are included in this week’s Spartan Roundup. So sit back, relax and enjoy being a Spartan while catching up on the latest…

Read the rest of this entry »