Michigan State & their chances...

[djbirmingham11]

http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/cfb/44655/pff-connor-cooks-qb-rating-improved-v-blitz

There are the blitz numbers. I also thought he played a great game against Michigan (He threw for 328 and a TD). I guess we will have to agree to disagree there. Iowa did not blitz that much. Our receivers were not open and so the extra time holding the ball allowed them to get pressure. Plus he could barely throw the ball in that game with his shoulder.

 

[scfanblue]

Thanks for the stats. Interesting it as gathered from him testing single coverage and lofting the ball for the receivers to adjust to. Iowa did bring heavy pressure albeit almost 99% of the time on 3rd down. I really though this throwing was off against UM more so than Iowa. Maybe it was due to UM corners being better in man coverage.

 

[GO!Bucks]

No, OSU ran it's O. Hell, as a percent of the plays run, OSU passed the ball more in the MSU game than it did in the UM game. OSU's read option, the offense it's run all season, was ineffective v MSU because MSU was destroying OSU at the line of scrimmage. Now we can argue that OSU didn't have a plan B when plan A wasn't working.

No, you CLEARLY do not know what you are talking about. On that point we can agree

 

[scfanblue]

What I am tired of already is the talk about MSU playing with and beating Alabama because Ohio State did it last year. Of course Alabama can be beat, however, last year has nothing to do with it nor does Cook's stats or how Calhoun is going to shut down Henry talk. Alabama is NOT the same team as last year and things have been very quiet in Tuscaloosa right now. I am telling you that Saban knows this is his last chance for a long time to win another because he is losing his staff. Alabama seems to be the team not getting any respect right now.

 

[CaliforniaGreen1]

What I am tired of already is the talk about MSU playing with and beating Alabama because Ohio State did it last year. Of course Alabama can be beat, however, last year has nothing to do with it nor does Cook's stats or how Calhoun is going to shut down Henry talk. Alabama is NOT the same team as last year and things have been very quiet in Tuscaloosa right now. I am telling you that Saban knows this is his last chance for a long time to win another because he is losing his staff. Alabama seems to be the team not getting any respect right now.

Alabama's getting no respect? Vegas has them as 9 1/2 point favorites to beat State, and as the favorite to win it all. As far a predictions, I've seen more picking Bama to win the national championship than all 3 other teams combined. That shouldn't be confused with MSU coaches, players and fans believing they can beat Bama - they should feel like they can, and I don't think that's based on OSU beating Bama last year. Saban will rebuild his coaching staff - he's always had coaches moving on, and always succeeded.

 

[scfanblue]

Saban is going to hire new coaches but it will be no where the same staff he has had on his defense. They have been with him almost 12 years.

 

[Lake Tahoe Spartan]

Saban is going to hire new coaches but it will be no where the same staff he has had on his defense. They have been with him almost 12 years.

Yes, Staff continuity is important. However, Michigan State just made it to the college football playoffs after losing Narduzzi. As long as Saban is their Bama will be great.

 

[scfanblue]

I agree.

 

[jbannan]

Smart has been gone for ten days and that is a time for staff planning. He is recruiting for Georgia and will be back for the week of game preparation. This may be a factor, but not a big one. Cook's health will determine whether MSU wins or not. He will be the key for MSU. A side note: U of M out rushed MSU by 4 yards. MSU lost double digit yards on the last series and this gave U of M the edge. It was only the 4th time the rushing leader did not win the game.

 

[eric2015]

No, you CLEARLY do not know what you are talking about. On that point we can agree

OK, what "magical" plays did OSU run in the UM game that they shelved for the MSU game?

MSU destroyed OSU at the LOS. That's why OSU had 132 total yards of offense. Hell, the game would have been a shut out if MSU didn't turn the ball over twice.

 

[GO!Bucks]

I wouldn't call 18/39 pass completions carving up... And UM enjoyed a huge yardage advantage in special teams yardage (+200) which put us on shorter fields and MSU on longer fields more often than not. That give a little clear picture of the game. Even with that, MSU won because of a miracle play..

389 passing yards is carving a secondary up... if you cant see that dont know what to say to you

 

[GO!Bucks]

OK, what "magical" plays did OSU run in the UM game that they shelved for the MSU game?

MSU destroyed OSU at the LOS. That's why OSU had 132 total yards of offense. Hell, the game would have been a shut out if MSU didn't turn the ball over twice.

If you think they ran the same offense against MSU that they did against UM then you have no clue as to what you are watching.

What you think Elliot was pissed off because they did run the same offense? Talk about being clueless.... you really dont have any clue do you?

 

[GO!Bucks]

OSU's staff was scared of the "No Fly Zone."

Uhmmmm MSU is ranked 69th in Team Pass Eff. Defense.... they only 'No fly zone' they have is the one related to insects....

 

[scfanblue]

On Thursday, we will have all the answers to the statements made on this thread.

 

[eric2015]

If you think they ran the same offense against MSU that they did against UM then you have no clue as to what you are watching.

What you think Elliot was pissed off because they did run the same offense? Talk about being clueless.... you really dont have any clue do you?

OSU ran 45 freaking plays. Elliott had 12 rushes. In other words, Elliott touched the ball on 27% of OSU's plays. That's about his season average.

If your freaking O could have managed more than 5 first downs, Elliott would have had his normal amount of touches.

Face facts, MSU's DL destroyed the OSU OL. Maybe if your boys can manage more than 5 first downs next year in East Lansing, whoever is you starting RB will get more carries.

 

[PharmD Blue]

OSU ran 45 freaking plays. Elliott had 12 rushes. In other words, Elliott touched the ball on 27% of OSU's plays. That's about his season average.

If your freaking O could have managed more than 5 first downs, Elliott would have had his normal amount of touches.

Face facts, MSU's DL destroyed the OSU OL. Maybe if your boys can manage more than 5 first downs next year in East Lansing, whoever is you starting RB will get more carries.

I don't often agree with a bucks fan, but you are absolutely right here. He has no idea what he is talking about. Football IQ doesn't seem to be a strong suit for many sparty fans.

 

[GO!Bucks]

OSU ran 45 freaking plays. Elliott had 12 rushes. In other words, Elliott touched the ball on 27% of OSU's plays. That's about his season average.

If your freaking O could have managed more than 5 first downs, Elliott would have had his normal amount of touches.

Face facts, MSU's DL destroyed the OSU OL. Maybe if your boys can manage more than 5 first downs next year in East Lansing, whoever is you starting RB will get more carries.

Yet a continue of your mindless rant. Yes, Elliot had 12 carries which is about half what he normally gets.

Elliots first carry came on the second drive with 1 carry on a 6 play drive... that's not they typical OSU offense at all. He then got 9 carries on the 3rd drive (still in the first quarter) that resulted in an OSU touchdown. He accounted for all of the yards on that scoring drive with the exception of a 3 yard pass to Vanette. On the ensuing drive he got 1 carry. The next drive 0. The next drive 0. The opening drive of the 2nd half he got 1 carry. The next drive 0. The next drive 1 carry. Final drive 0.

So, if you think that Elliot getting 2 carries in the second half is OSU running its offense you are dumber than a bag of hammers

 

[scfanblue]

Fellas!!! This is a UM blog. Hilarious we have MSU and OSU going at it on here. The Spartans did beat the Bucks on the field though clear and clear even though OSU is easily the better team on paper. It took an absolute miracle of Christ for them to beat UM and it was not coaching like some of them claim. The idiot punter flipped the ball into the air and had he fallen on the ball then MSU would probably be in the Rose Bowl on Friday. But he didn't and they won the game. They were screwed against Nebraska but they should have never had put themselves in such a position to begin with against a crappy Nebraska team. Got to give Sparty credit. The stars are aligned for this bunch this year.

 

[eric2015]

Yet a continue of your mindless rant. Yes, Elliot had 12 carries which is about half what he normally gets.

Elliots first carry came on the second drive with 1 carry on a 6 play drive... that's not they typical OSU offense at all. He then got 9 carries on the 3rd drive (still in the first quarter) that resulted in an OSU touchdown. He accounted for all of the yards on that scoring drive with the exception of a 3 yard pass to Vanette. On the ensuing drive he got 1 carry. The next drive 0. The next drive 0. The opening drive of the 2nd half he got 1 carry. The next drive 0. The next drive 1 carry. Final drive 0.

So, if you think that Elliot getting 2 carries in the second half is OSU running its offense you are dumber than a bag of hammers

OK, genius, if Elliott was so effective, why did they stop using him? Elliott had 33 yards on 12 carries (2.8 ypc).

And I repeat, if OSU managed any sustained drives, Elliott would have had 25 or so carries. OSU punted 9 times, and as I pointed out to you, managed only 5 first downs. The only reason the game wasn't a shut out was due to MSU turning it over twice. Once inside its 10.

 

[eric2015]

I don't often agree with a bucks fan, but you are absolutely right here. He has no idea what he is talking about. Football IQ doesn't seem to be a strong suit for many sparty fans.

Ok, go slowly here so I'll understand.

OSU had 45 offensive plays. 27% of those plays were Elliott's runs. OSU normally averages about 77 plays a game. 27% of 77 would be 21. Elliott normally gets the ball on about 29% of OSU's plays. 27% v 29%. Not much of a difference, is it?

How would Elliott not have had 20+ rushes if OSU had sustained drives the way it managed all season long?

How is it wrong saying two to one time of possession, 5 first downs, 6 three and outs and 9 punts had more to do with Elliott not getting his touches than play calling? Can't hand off the ball to Zeke (or whatever his first name is), if the offense is on the bench.

Of course, WTF do I know? Fifteen years playing the game. Forty years of watching the sport. Hundreds, if not thousands or hours watching film. I'm sure Buckeye boy knows more than me. I mean, what I saw in Columbus was MSU physically dominating OSU. Perhaps a "smarter" person saw it differently.

 

[GO!Bucks]

OK, genius, if Elliott was so effective, why did they stop using him? Elliott had 33 yards on 12 carries (2.8 ypc).

And I repeat, if OSU managed any sustained drives, Elliott would have had 25 or so carries. OSU punted 9 times, and as I pointed out to you, managed only 5 first downs. The only reason the game wasn't a shut out was due to MSU turning it over twice. Once inside its 10.

You go ahead and believe your own drivel. I will side with what Elliot said publicly, the fact that Meyer agreed with him. Between those two they have forgotten more football than you will ever know

 

[CaliforniaGreen1]

"OSU is easily the better team on paper."

I'm really not sure how you can conclude that from either the head-to-head game or the season. OSU put together a great game against UM, but they really hadn't shown they were even a playoff team most of the season. OSU played two ranked teams all year and went 1-1; MSU played four ranked teams and went 4-0. As for the UM game, MSU played that game without 3 of their 4 DBs that started against OSU and Iowa (including starting two true freshmen at safety) and their OL was also as banged up as they were all season in that game.

 

[DrCorona]

So I think it's safe to say that MOST M fans are anti MSU. However, if you could guarantee me that the Spartans would lose the title game I kinda of would prefer to see them take down Bama. I like the idea of Bama & the SEC's aura of invincibility coming to an end nationally. If a B1G team can take down Bama for the 2nd year in a row, while it would come from another rival team that I dislike, it does bode well for our conference in the long haul. Still, verrrry tough to root for the heated rival.

What say other M fans?

 

[Tigers2349]

So I think it's safe to say that MOST M fans are anti MSU. However, if you could guarantee me that the Spartans would lose the title game I kinda of would prefer to see them take down Bama. I like the idea of Bama & the SEC's aura of invincibility coming to an end nationally. If a B1G team can take down Bama for the 2nd year in a row, while it would come from another rival team that I dislike, it does bode well for our conference in the long haul. Still, verrrry tough to root for the heated rival.

What say other M fans?

Any true Michigan fan should revoke their fan card for ever rooting for hated Dantonio and the Spartans. The SEC is nothing bad, but Douchtonio and the Spartans are everything to hate!!!

It would be a little different had Lloyd Carr not underachieved every year outside 1997 and MSU did not have such a great basketball program too, but they do and it flat out ruins college athletics for me.

Roll Tide.

I think Alabama wins 34-13. If MSU wins, it will make me throw up multiple times as I cannot stand seeing them be so great in football and basketball while Michigan has never had their turn to be great in both at the same time and Lloyd Carr's legacy would be ruined as Lloyd Carr underachieved every year outside of 1997 and Douchtonio already has had 2 seasons (2013 and this one regardless of how it ends) that are far better than anything Michigan did under Lloyd Carr outside of 1997. God help us Wolverine nation if MSU somehow happens to win the NC which I do not think will happen, but it is a possibility. And if that possibility happens, it will forever tarnish underachieving Lloyd Carr's legacy, even though it was underachieving enough as is, despite seeing things could be much worse.

It was bad enough to see MSU basketball have a run from 1999-2001 while Michigan football was a 3-4 loss team under Lloyd Carr. Now MSU football threatens to do somewhat of the same which is taking me to the tipping point to stop watching college athletics for a while if Michigan doesn't start dominating in football overall like never seen before in the modern era.

 

[PharmD Blue]

Any true Michigan fan should revoke their fan card for ever rooting for hated Dantonio and the Spartans. The SEC is nothing bad, but Douchtonio and the Spartans are everything to hate!!!

It would be a little different had Lloyd Carr not underachieved every year outside 1997 and MSU did not have such a great basketball program too, but they do and it flat out ruins college athletics for me.

Roll Tide.

I think Alabama wins 34-13. If MSU wins, it will make me throw up multiple times as I cannot stand seeing them be so great in football and basketball while Michigan has never had their turn to be great in both at the same time and Lloyd Carr's legacy would be ruined as Lloyd Carr underachieved every year outside of 1997 and Douchtonio already has had 2 seasons (2013 and this one regardless of how it ends) that are far better than anything Michigan did under Lloyd Carr outside of 1997. God help us Wolverine nation if MSU somehow happens to win the NC which I do not think will happen, but it is a possibility. And if that possibility happens, it will forever tarnish underachieving Lloyd Carr's legacy, even though it was underachieving enough as is, despite seeing things could be much worse.

It was bad enough to see MSU basketball have a run from 1999-2001 while Michigan football was a 3-4 loss team under Lloyd Carr. Now MSU football threatens to do somewhat of the same which is taking me to the tipping point to stop watching college athletics for a while if Michigan doesn't start dominating in football overall like never seen before in the modern era.

msu so great?? Lol. Yes, they are having a terrific run. No argument. But how many national titles, in either sport, have they won recently?? Now let's talk about "so great".

 

[DrCorona]

Any true Michigan fan should revoke their fan card for ever rooting for hated Dantonio and the Spartans. The SEC is nothing bad, but Douchtonio and the Spartans are everything to hate!!!

It would be a little different had Lloyd Carr not underachieved every year outside 1997 and MSU did not have such a great basketball program too, but they do and it flat out ruins college athletics for me.

Roll Tide.

I think Alabama wins 34-13. If MSU wins, it will make me throw up multiple times as I cannot stand seeing them be so great in football and basketball while Michigan has never had their turn to be great in both at the same time and Lloyd Carr's legacy would be ruined as Lloyd Carr underachieved every year outside of 1997 and Douchtonio already has had 2 seasons (2013 and this one regardless of how it ends) that are far better than anything Michigan did under Lloyd Carr outside of 1997. God help us Wolverine nation if MSU somehow happens to win the NC which I do not think will happen, but it is a possibility. And if that possibility happens, it will forever tarnish underachieving Lloyd Carr's legacy, even though it was underachieving enough as is, despite seeing things could be much worse.

It was bad enough to see MSU basketball have a run from 1999-2001 while Michigan football was a 3-4 loss team under Lloyd Carr. Now MSU football threatens to do somewhat of the same which is taking me to the tipping point to stop watching college athletics for a while if Michigan doesn't start dominating in football overall like never seen before in the modern era.

I love your passion Tiger!! I share MUCH of your thoughts. And while it screams jealousy (I hate to admit that).......so be it.

Again, my ONLY caveat is that if you could GUARANTEE me the Spartys lose the title game, then I could almost be happy to see Bama go down. While I do enjoy a lot of SEC ball (have traveled to The Swamp, Cocktail Party, Auburn, S.Carolina, Baton Rouge, Knoxville & met a lot of great fans), I hate the arrogance of Bama & some of the SEC slappies chatter down there. You never really remember the title game losers in any sport anyway. Example is the empty feeling we have with our hoops runner ups from 2013.

But your point to regarding fanship is a strong one. I do contend that it DOES mean for the most part you want your heated rival to lose EVERY game. Bottom line, give me Clemson or Oklahoma as your National Championship winner!

 

[Tigers2349]

I love your passion Tiger!! I share MUCH of your thoughts. And while it screams jealousy (I hate to admit that).......so be it.

Again, my ONLY caveat is that if you could GUARANTEE me the Spartys lose the title game, then I could almost be happy to see Bama go down. While I do enjoy a lot of SEC ball (have traveled to The Swamp, Cocktail Party, Auburn, S.Carolina, Baton Rouge, Knoxville & met a lot of great fans), I hate the arrogance of Bama & some of the SEC slappies chatter down there. You never really remember the title game losers in any sport anyway. Example is the empty feeling we have with our hoops runner ups from 2013.

But your point to regarding fanship is a strong one. I do contend that it DOES mean for the most part you want your heated rival to lose EVERY game. Bottom line, give me Clemson or Oklahoma as your National Championship winner!

I do not get why you could hate Alabama so much. Sure there fans are arrogant, but they really do not hate Michigan and are not at all a hated rival. OSU and MSU are the enemies and their fans hate Michigan like no other.

Alabama needs to curb stomp MSU or we will have to wait another 11 days until January 11 in agony fearing the nightmare of them winning the NC. If Alabama beats them which I think they probably will, then we do not have to worry in agony until January 11.

 

[mgoblu]

All you hear about is msu. stopping d henry, the longer the game goes he gets better, he does have a very good off. line. nobody talks about bama's def, which is very good, msu is going to have a rough time scoring points on these boys. as I said before, game is over at half time. I say 45 to 6 bama. GO BLUE.

 

[CaliforniaGreen1]

All you hear about is msu. stopping d henry, the longer the game goes he gets better, he does have a very good off. line. nobody talks about bama's def, which is very good, msu is going to have a rough time scoring points on these boys. as I said before, game is over at half time. I say 45 to 6 bama. GO BLUE.

Will this be a better prediction than your MSU/UM game prediction?

"I don't see how sparty is going to win, they barely win against these teams they play.when you are the no. 2 team in the country you better play like it, this is going to be the best def. that they have played all year , are they going to pull a rabbit out there ass, I don't think so blue 31 msu 13."
mgoblu, Oct 15, 2015

 

[mgoblu]

I was wrong once, but they did pull a rabbit out there ass.

 

[GO!Bucks]

"OSU is easily the better team on paper."

I'm really not sure how you can conclude that from either the head-to-head game or the season. OSU put together a great game against UM, but they really hadn't shown they were even a playoff team most of the season. OSU played two ranked teams all year and went 1-1; MSU played four ranked teams and went 4-0. As for the UM game, MSU played that game without 3 of their 4 DBs that started against OSU and Iowa (including starting two true freshmen at safety) and their OL was also as banged up as they were all season in that game.

Then they got prison raped by Alabama...

38-0 does excuses away what happened because you were down a few guys....

OSU hammered ND with basically its entire DL out.....

 

[DrCorona]

I do not get why you could hate Alabama so much. Sure there fans are arrogant, but they really do not hate Michigan and are not at all a hated rival. OSU and MSU are the enemies and their fans hate Michigan like no other.

Alabama needs to curb stomp MSU or we will have to wait another 11 days until January 11 in agony fearing the nightmare of them winning the NC. If Alabama beats them which I think they probably will, then we do not have to worry in agony until January 11.

I listen to an internet radio station out of Birmingham Alabama (because they constantly talk College Football, local & nationally & they do it year round). I enjoy the radio sports talk crews but the callers are so damn obnoxious. Seems the majority of the Bama fans respect NOBODY! What can I say, Just rubs me the wrong way. Having said that,
I'm not disappointed MSU went down.

 

[KidHark]

Sparts did not stop Henry. He was a decoy all game long ... and he never complained like some paid off buck we all know.

 

[eric2015]

All you hear about is msu. stopping d henry, the longer the game goes he gets better, he does have a very good off. line. nobody talks about bama's def, which is very good, msu is going to have a rough time scoring points on these boys. as I said before, game is over at half time. I say 45 to 6 bama. GO BLUE.

Pretty good call. 10-0 at half (damn that Cook int), but 38-0 at the end.

Just an FYI, for the star gazers out there, Alabama has signed more five star recruits over the past five years than all the Big Ten teams combined. Hey, MSU laid an egg (damn near every team Bama played kept the score closer), but there is no question, Alabama has by far the most talent in the country. It's been that way since Saban took over. The guy needs to retire.

 

[klemman]

No, OSU ran it's O. Hell, as a percent of the plays run, OSU passed the ball more in the MSU game than it did in the UM game. OSU's read option, the offense it's run all season, was ineffective v MSU because MSU was destroying OSU at the line of scrimmage. Now we can argue that OSU didn't have a plan B when plan A wasn't working.

It was easy to win at the line of scrimmage if you are throwing 9-10 in the box and the other team isn't adjusting, or at least rolling the dice with the one player who has been a consistent game breaker all season in Elliott. I don't take anything away from MSU as they won the game and without Cook. The OSU coaches definitely played not to lose the game. They figured it was best not to make a mistake that could lead to an easy MSU score (the weather factor) and that eventually the MSU QB situation would lead to a Spartan mistake. They were wrong on both accounts. It would have been better if the Buckeyes didn't score some easy short field TDs on MSU mistakes. It would have forced Meyer to take more chances. No guarantee that the final result would have been different, but at least they would have been forced to try.

 

[eric2015]

It was easy to win at the line of scrimmage if you are throwing 9-10 in the box and the other team isn't adjusting, or at least rolling the dice with the one player who has been a consistent game breaker all season in Elliott. I don't take anything away from MSU as they won the game and without Cook. The OSU coaches definitely played not to lose the game. They figured it was best not to make a mistake that could lead to an easy MSU score (the weather factor) and that eventually the MSU QB situation would lead to a Spartan mistake. They were wrong on both accounts. It would have been better if the Buckeyes didn't score some easy short field TDs on MSU mistakes. It would have forced Meyer to take more chances. No guarantee that the final result would have been different, but at least they would have been forced to try.

My question is, other than not making first downs, what did OSU do differently in that game? The run/pass ratio was about the same it was all season. Hell, on a sloppy, cold day, one would have thought OSU would have thrown the ball less, but that wasn't the case.

Like I've said over and over, if OSU had managed to get more than 5 first downs in the game, Elliott would have had his touches. OSU couldn't run outside or inside, and they couldn't pass the ball.