Thursday, July 29, 2010

NBCSports.com: MSU #6 in Big Ten

Another listing out today as we inch nearer to opening kickoff 2010. NBCSports.com has its top 25 and its Big Ten projections. This is tantamount to the SI cover jinx, and dooms Warren St. John's Crimson Tide, as no BCS champion has ever repeated; moreover, the last team to successfully defend its SEC title was Tennessee in 1997-98.

The ES cain't see MSU finishing below Purdue - good thing we meet this year, in Spartan Stadium on November 20.

25. LSU

Big Ten

BIG TEN CONFERENCE
1. Ohio State*
2. Wisconsin*
3. Iowa*
4. Penn State*
5. Purdue*
6. Michigan State*
7. Michigan*
8. Northwestern*
9. Illinois
10. Minnesota
11. Indiana

* indicates bowl-eligibility

Sporting News ranks MSU #50

Sporting News has Michigan State at #50. It claims: "Here's the Big Ten sleeper, America. Ohio State is off the schedule, and nonconference play includes three home games and a date in Detroit with Florida Atlantic. Nine wins are in play for the Spartans."

SN ranks the top 100 teams, and here is how MSU's opponents are perceived, compared to Sagarin at the end of 2009:

2010 Opp........ ’10 SN...'09 Sagarin
Western Mich..NR*.......125
Florida Atl........NR*.......114
Notre Dame......29..........48
N. Colorado.......NR*......177
Wisconsin..........8............23
at Michigan.......71...........81
Illinois...............94...........94
at N'western....40...........61
at Iowa.............13............9
Minnesota........98............64
Purdue..............39............75
at Penn State...32............10

*NR = not ranked in the Sporting News top 100.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Sagarin sez: MSU 73.4

The ES went through the final 2009 Sagarin Ratings for our 2010 opponents, and found our average Sagarin opponent has a 73.4 rating; our 2010 opponents tallied 78 wins against 70 losses a year ago.

2010 Opponent
'09 Sagarin '09 W '09 L
Western Michigan 125 5 7
Florida Atlantic 114 5 7
Notre Dame 48 6 6
Northern Colorado 177 3 8
Wisconsin 23 10 3
at Michigan 81 5 7
Illinois 94 3 9
at Northwestern 61 8 5
at Iowa 9 11 2
Minnesota 64 6 7
Purdue 75 5 7
at Penn State 10 11 2

73.4 78 70

Monday, July 26, 2010

Michigan State Spartan Football 2010 Previews Galore

OK, there will be some significant changes coming to this website prior to opening kickoff of 2010. ES has had some major life changes, all of which are in the realm of higher education and college sports. More to come later...

But for now, here are some season previews below on our Michigan State Spartans, if you haven't seen them already. I have the Phil Steele issue (5th) and the Sporting News (7th) -- both are ho-hum yawners, as they don't provide any excitement on the potential for us to move up the ladder board. Everyone says the same thing with concerns: replacing Swenson at PK, our offensive line and most especially defensive backfield. Everyone thinks we'll throw for about 6,000 yards this year, and that our running game will be better but not great, and our defense up front will be stout, especially with Jones, Gordon, and Norman plugging the holes.

Scout.com ranks Kirk Cousins as third best QB in the Big Ten.