I have been a college football fan for almost 25 years now and love watching and following the sport. Over the past 25 years if you look at the teams that have either won or made it to the national championship game, they have to have 1 or more of 3 things that have to happen for them:
Well, that brings me to MSU this year - MSU falls into the "Murphy's law does not apply to them". Other then the Nebraska game, everything that can go right has gone right for them. Oregon WR is wide open and drops a sure TD in the endzone, MSU holds on to win. Michigan botches a punt that MSU returns for a TD with 10 seconds left which would not have mattered if Chesson has not dropped a sure 20 yard first down on the drive before. Rutgers spikes the ball on 4th down. Purdue's penalty kills their last second drive. Ohio State coaches have a brain fart and decide to not test MSU's secondard at all despite that being the weakest point. Iowa WR dropping a sure TD on their last drive where the ball just misses by 1/2 a yard. The point is, every team MSU has played has always been 1 play away from giving MSU 4-5 losses this year, just 1 play!
Now for the Spartan's who troll this board - this is not taking anything away from this team. The most amazing quality of MSU is that when they have these openings and opportunity, they just do not miss at all and make the most of it. I have never seen a team that in so many games is one play from being defeated only to come back and win regardless of the amount of time left. As much as I hate to say this as a Michigan fan, this just seems like Michigan State's year in football. A combination of luck, mistake free football, and the ability to capitalize on every mistake just at the right time consistently week in and week out is amazing to me. It's been pretty incredible to watch, and frustrating as a Michigan fan but you can't take away anything from them. Most other teams would like end up with at least 2-3 losses but MSU this year has just had incredible bounces and missed opportunities by other teams go their way.
This team really reminds me of the 2012 Notre Dame team (that could have lost to Purdue, Stanford, USC, and pretty much had lost to Pitt but somehow won) until they met Alabama. The biggest difference though was that Notre Dame was a 1-man team. This Michigan State team has a dominant offensive line (the 9 minute TD drive is one of the most impressive offensive drives I have seen in the past 2 decades) and a an NFL caliber WR/QB combo that will test the Alabama defense through and through so I disagree with odds-makers on favoring Bama by 9 points. I think this game plays right into MSU's hands and while I would hate to see this, I somehow think MSU keeps it close and pulls off an upset in the 4th quarter again
- They are just completely dominant and no other team can match them regardless of any scheme, etc.
- Murphy's law does not apply to them - every opportunity just goes right for them and it just works
- An individual(s) carries them based on just out-of-this-world performance
Well, that brings me to MSU this year - MSU falls into the "Murphy's law does not apply to them". Other then the Nebraska game, everything that can go right has gone right for them. Oregon WR is wide open and drops a sure TD in the endzone, MSU holds on to win. Michigan botches a punt that MSU returns for a TD with 10 seconds left which would not have mattered if Chesson has not dropped a sure 20 yard first down on the drive before. Rutgers spikes the ball on 4th down. Purdue's penalty kills their last second drive. Ohio State coaches have a brain fart and decide to not test MSU's secondard at all despite that being the weakest point. Iowa WR dropping a sure TD on their last drive where the ball just misses by 1/2 a yard. The point is, every team MSU has played has always been 1 play away from giving MSU 4-5 losses this year, just 1 play!
Now for the Spartan's who troll this board - this is not taking anything away from this team. The most amazing quality of MSU is that when they have these openings and opportunity, they just do not miss at all and make the most of it. I have never seen a team that in so many games is one play from being defeated only to come back and win regardless of the amount of time left. As much as I hate to say this as a Michigan fan, this just seems like Michigan State's year in football. A combination of luck, mistake free football, and the ability to capitalize on every mistake just at the right time consistently week in and week out is amazing to me. It's been pretty incredible to watch, and frustrating as a Michigan fan but you can't take away anything from them. Most other teams would like end up with at least 2-3 losses but MSU this year has just had incredible bounces and missed opportunities by other teams go their way.
This team really reminds me of the 2012 Notre Dame team (that could have lost to Purdue, Stanford, USC, and pretty much had lost to Pitt but somehow won) until they met Alabama. The biggest difference though was that Notre Dame was a 1-man team. This Michigan State team has a dominant offensive line (the 9 minute TD drive is one of the most impressive offensive drives I have seen in the past 2 decades) and a an NFL caliber WR/QB combo that will test the Alabama defense through and through so I disagree with odds-makers on favoring Bama by 9 points. I think this game plays right into MSU's hands and while I would hate to see this, I somehow think MSU keeps it close and pulls off an upset in the 4th quarter again