Sweeter words have never been said. And, the ES now is officially a supporter of Instant Replay in college football.
OMG. Where does one begin? Let’s start with ESPN Game Day. Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler – the ES hopes last night’s Spartan victory finally turns you into a believer about Michigan State football. I’d love to stick last night’s game ball up Herbstreit’s "the-only-way-Spartans-can-win-is-with-a-miracle" butt, stick it right where the sun don’t shine. As MSU safety Trenton Robinson said "it is just the ultimate in disrespect." Screw your 326-lb Wisconsin offensive line… we got Smash Mouth Spartan defense!!!! DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS.
The Spartans are for real. This is a new era. Spartan history says we don’t win these close games, Spartan history says we blow it… Nope, not any longer. We are now seeing a Dantonio-led Spartan team that consistently comes up with big (shall I say HUGE) plays when they need it most, a team that plays all 60 minutes to the last second. We, the Spartan Nation, have earned this victory and earned this new era after decades of heartbreak. Screw ESPN and everyone consistently writing off the Spartans.
Last night’s sweet 37-31 victory over frigging Bucky Badger was maybe the most important victory in Spartan recent history – at least dating back to the 1999 Saban-era win over Michigan. But, this is big big. Bigger than big. MSU is now in the driver’s seat for the Legends Division title with a 6-1 overall mark and a 3-0 record in the Big Ten. Noone – NO ONE -- gave MSU a shot with a Murderer’s Row of Ohio State-Michigan-Wisconsin-Nebraska. Talk was “if MSU can go 2-2, they can have a good year.” Well, let the ES share with the national pundits that Michigan State is 3-0. Murder’s row? Who is murdering who anyway? It’s turned out that, the Spartans are the murderers. Why? Because DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS. The Spartan defense is absolutely smash-mouth vicious, relentless, as it was again last night. BRING ON NEBRASKA.
Wow, what an amazing, thrilling, fun game – one of the greatest Spartan games ever, and certainly one of the best in the ES’ 43 years on this GREEN earth. Michigan State, after spotting Wisky with an early 14-points, came back to hit Wisky right in the mouth, beginning with defense (a safety nonetheless), and outscoring the “vaunted” Badger offense 31-3 before holding on for a last-second Hail Mary victory. Indeed, other than the first eight minutes and last eight minutes, MSU dominated the game. That’s right. Michigan State pushed Wisconsin all around the field, and that “great” Wisky quarterback, Russell Wilson, was terrorized throughout the evening by a bruising Spartan defense. Wilson had just 30 yards rushing, and completed 14-of-21 for 223 yards, and 2 bad INTs (as a result of Spartan pressure). Spartans sacked Wilson three times, but beyond that had heat on him all game long, forcing errant throws due to unrelenting pressure. DL Jerel Worthy? Pure muscle, pound for pound a total stud. He wrecked Wisconsin’s O-line play after play after play (he finished with 3 tackles, one for loss, and a QB hurry). LBs Max Bullough, Chris Norman, and Denicos Allen? Just in the right place at the right time all evening long, especially on third downs.
The Doctor, Mark Dantonio, yet again, showed Wisky coach Brett Bielema how to coach. Brilliant use of time outs before the end of the first half, giving the Spartans an opportunity to block a punt… which worked, and which resulted in a TD. MD’s call for a double reverse in the second quarter could not have been more timely, and helped to jump start the Spartan offense. Yet, Kirk Cousins almost gave the game away, playing scared late in the fourth quarter, not risking errant throws and instead taking several sacks. Cousins, who finished 22-of-31 for 290 yards, was sharp most of the game and threw 3 TDs and converted on a critical 2-pt conversion with a beautiful catch by BJ Cunningham. This was Cunningham’s best game of the year, coming up with timely catches all game long to keep drives alive – he finished with 6 catches for 102 yards and a beautiful 35-yard TD catch from Cousins in the 2nd quarter.
The Spartans had arguably their best offense of the year, and it was timely.
How good was the Spartans’ offense? They led in time of possession, with 31:31, and converted on 8-of-16 tries (50%). Spartan FB LeVeon Bell got the bulk of the work after the Doctor realized early that Ed Baker wasn’t big enough to move the ball. It was a good move going to Bell, who ended up with 87 yards on 16 carries (5.4 average), and several nice runs up the middle to keep the chains moving.
Special teams? Not special all season, but my-oh-my did it come through last night. MSU blocked a FG, blocked a punt for a TD, and allowed only a long of 25 yards for UW kick returns. Even Spartans punter, Mike Sadler, had a good game – other than one shank, he had several critical punts that pinned Wisconsin deep or hung up long enough to allow only short UW returns.
A “dirty team?” After the 13-penalty performance week, the Spartans had ZERO penalties vs Wisconsin. That’s right, none. How about “chippy” or “tough” or “nasty”… but not dirty. Michigan State put that argument to rest last night.
THE DRAMATIC CONCLUSION
Funny, the ES was in the upper deck but came down to the lower bowl on the final Wisconsin drive to watch the thrilling ending. A beautifully called and executed shovel pass from Captain Kirk to LeVeon Bell was timely and set the stage for the final play. The use of time outs by MD and by Bielema was truly a fascinating chess match – only to see Bielema botch it again by calling time out and giving the Spartans a final chance with :10 left. Bielema is such a ding-dong. A beautiful throw by Cousins to Lithincum that could have put MSU into FG range went awry with great Wisconsin defense knocking the ball away. And, the dramatic conclusion…
The ES had to look at the video monitor because Cousins was flushed right and too many fans were in the way. I couldn’t believe Nichol caught it on the deflection… it just fell into his hands. Even from the odd angle, it looked as if Nichol made it and crossed the goalline into paydirt. The ES will never forget, as the official took just 1 minute and ran back on the field to announce the official call. The ES's brother was sitting underneath the press box/suite area, and he said that he turned around and everyone in the suites was going crazy with their arms pointed up, knowing the replay was going to give MSU the win. The referee headed out onto the field, he said, “After further review, it was determined the receiver broke the plane…”
I never heard anything else. The atom bomb that is the Spartan Nation was detonated. The place went completely ape-shit. The Spartan bench cleared onto the field, trampling the referee. OMG it was beautiful. Watch the video below.
Replay officials did a great job, an easy call as video demonstrated without a doubt that Nichol crossed the plane.
One helluva game, what a great day to be a Spartan. I HATE WISCONSIN. Hate them with a passion. I’m glad we kicked their arse. Hope to see them again in Indianapolis, and we can kick their tail again. ESPN Game Day: I hope you never come back – give the Spartans some credit for once… when will you believe? MSU deserved to win that game. Michigan State played better defensively and offensively, MSU played better on special teams, and the Spartans outcoached the Badgers. Sweet, sweet victory!
The Spartan Nation rejoices. Top Ten: welcome the Michigan State Spartans.
Team Statistics (Final)
2011 Michigan State Football
#4 Wisconsin vs #15 Michigan State (Oct 22, 2011 at East Lansing, Mich.)
WIS MSU
FIRST DOWNS................... 23 18
Rushing..................... 11 5
Passing..................... 12 13
Penalty..................... 0 0
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 220 109
Rushing Attempts............ 41 32
Average Per Rush............ 5.4 3.4
Rushing Touchdowns.......... 2 1
Yards Gained Rushing........ 242 150
Yards Lost Rushing.......... 22 41
NET YARDS PASSING............. 223 290
Completions-Attempts-Int.... 14-21-2 22-31-0
Average Per Attempt......... 10.6 9.4
Average Per Completion...... 15.9 13.2
Passing Touchdowns.......... 2 3
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 443 399
Total offense plays......... 62 63
Average Gain Per Play....... 7.1 6.3
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 1-0 2-1
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 6-40 0-0
PUNTS-YARDS................... 3-83 7-266
Average Yards Per Punt...... 27.7 38.0
Net Yards Per Punt.......... 9.0 32.1
Inside 20................... 0 2
50+ Yards................... 0 0
Touchbacks.................. 1 0
Fair catch.................. 1 1
KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 7-455 5-326
Average Yards Per Kickoff... 65.0 65.2
Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 45.9 44.6
Touchbacks.................. 0 1
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 2-41-0 1-36-1
Average Per Return.......... 20.5 36.0
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 4-83-0 7-134-0
Average Per Return.......... 20.8 19.1
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 0-0-0 2-6-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0
Possession Time............... 28:29 31:31
1st Quarter................. 10:16 4:44
2nd Quarter................. 7:41 7:19
3rd Quarter................. 5:48 9:12
4th Quarter................. 4:44 10:16
Third-Down Conversions........ 4 of 9 8 of 16
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 0 1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 4-5 1-1
Touchdowns.................. 3-5 1-1
Field goals................. 1-5 0-1
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 4-27 3-13
PAT Kicks..................... 4-4 3-3
Field Goals................... 1-2 0-0
