MSU up, up, up the leaderboard - sez pundits and statistics The Enlightened Spartan: MSU up, up, up the leaderboard - sez pundits and statistics

Monday, October 19, 2009

MSU up, up, up the leaderboard - sez pundits and statistics

Here is an early skinny from suite101.com (?) on Michigan State v Iowa this week... as the Big Ten nation begins to shake with excitement for the weekend's prime-time tilt.

Undefeated Hawkeyes Face Another Difficult Big Ten Road Test. You can still snake some tickets to this sold-out affair, if you've got deep pockets.

Over at ESPN.com, Adam Rittenberg moves our Spartans up the conference leaderboard to 4th. Way, way, way back in week four (that's three weeks ago), the Big Green was settling for 9th. Then, we took out the Yellow Bellies.

Statistically speaking, MSU is settling down and is now solidly above average in total offense (#32), and very good in passing offense (#17), is above average in total defense (#44), and is very good in rush defense (#19). Interior play is significant with the Spartan D-line ranked #11 in sacks and its O-line ranked #13 in sacks allowed. Who would've thunk all of that three weeks ago?

Category Nat'l
Rank
Actual Nat'l
Leader
Actual Conf
Rank
Big Ten
Leader
Actual
Rushing Offense 71 136.43 Nevada 292.83 6 Michigan 235.00
Passing Offense 17 280.43 Houston 431.50 1 Michigan St. 280.43
Total Offense 32 416.86 Houston 560.33 3 Penn St. 432.71
Scoring Offense 48 29.29 Texas 42.00 3 Michigan 37.29
Rushing Defense 19 99.00 Texas 35.83 3 Penn St. 75.43
Pass Efficiency Defense 90 134.74 Alabama 83.82 8 Iowa 88.69
Total Defense 44 334.86 Alabama 226.57 5 Penn St. 238.86
Scoring Defense 42 21.57 Florida 8.67 4 Penn St. 8.71
Net Punting 26 37.57 Georgia 44.06 5 Michigan 41.88
Punt Returns 40 10.67 Georgia Tech 24.88 2 Minnesota 19.00
Kickoff Returns 28 24.48 Stanford 32.48 4 Ohio St. 25.96
Turnover Margin 95 -.57 Air Force 2.43 9 Iowa 1.57
Pass Defense 85 235.86 North Carolina 125.17 9 Penn St. 163.43
Passing Efficiency 24 146.28 Florida 167.25 1 Michigan St. 146.28
Sacks T-11 3.00 Southern California 4.33 1 Michigan St. 3.00
Tackles For Loss T-61 5.86 Cincinnati 10.17 7 Penn St. 8.43
Sacks Allowed 13 .86 Oklahoma St. .33 1 Michigan St. .86

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:53 PM

    If Folds could see he couldn't beat Nichol at starting quarterback back then it only suggest Nichols should be the starter over Cousins

    ReplyDelete
  2. If x is better than y, and y is better than z, than x is better than z. No?

    ReplyDelete