The 6-1/3-0 Michigan State Spartans, fresh off their blanking of Purdue, and will likely crack the Top 25 when the polls are announced,  are an early 13 point favorite at 3-3/0-2 Illinois according to the early Vegas line.  Iowa is favored by 3 home over Northwestern; Nebraska by 8-1/2 at Minnesota; Ohio State by 14-1/2 home over Penn State.

The Spartans shutout Purdue, 14-0, in what was the ugliest performance from Connor Cook this season.  Michigan State's defense gave up a few big plays between the 20s, but did not allow Purdue to get any closer than the 25 yard line all game long - that is ZERO red zone opportunities for the Boilermakers.  The Spartan defense gave up just 226 total yards, just 66 rushing yards on 34 attempts (1.9 average).  Max Bullough's stat sheet lit up like a XMas tree: 10 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 forced fumble (returned for a TD), 1 sack, and 1 QB hurry.  Nice.

Spartan RB Jeremy Langford looked very good, running for 131 yards on 24 carries (5.5 average).  State had 182 yards on the ground.  The offensive line opened up some nice holes all game long.

As for our QB, Cook wasn't close to having an INT... he wasn't close to hitting on half of his throws.  Cook looked terrible and consistently missed wide open receivers on third down.  Heck, even though the Spartan offense looked good on its only TD drive, a 9-play 73 yard drive in the 4th quarter, Cook didn't throw the TD pass... it was WR Tony Lippett throwing the pass on an end around.   Cook was 13-of-25 for 107 yards.  Before that final drive, Cook had just 33 yards passing on the day. The ES would give Cook a "D" grade for his performance on Saturday.  Two steps forward, one step back for Cook.

	PUR	MSU
1st Downs	14	21
3rd down efficiency	5-15	5-13
4th down efficiency	1-1	1-1
Total Yards	226	294
Passing	160	112
Comp-Att	14-25	14-26
Yards per pass	6.4	4.3
Rushing	66	182
Rushing Attempts	34	41
Yards per rush	1.9	4.4
Penalties	3-30	2-14
Turnovers	2	0
Fumbles lost	1	0
Interceptions thrown	1	0
Possession	28:59	31:01

Statistically, MSU's defense is certainly the best in the nation. Through Oct 19 games, this is where Michigan State ranks nationally:

Category,  Rank,  Statistic
Total Defense, #1, 228.0 ypg
Rushing Defense, #1, 59.1 ypg
Passing Yards Allowed, #4, 168.9 ypg
Team Passing Efficiency Defense, #1, 88.41
Scoring Defense, #4, 13.6 ppg
3rd Down Conversion Pct Defense, #3, 27.3%
First Downs Defense, #1, 13.4 pg
Time of Possession, #4, 34:11

The ES has gotta print the Big Ten standings, with Michigan State on top of the Legends through the first three Big Ten games.

Big Ten - Legends	CONF	OVERALL
* - Michigan State	3-0	6-1
Nebraska	2-0	5-1
* - Michigan	2-1	6-1
Iowa	1-2	4-3
Minnesota	1-2	5-2
Northwestern	0-3	4-3
Big Ten - Leaders	CONF	OVERALL
* - Ohio State	3-0	7-0
Wisconsin	3-1	5-2
x - Penn State	1-1	4-2
Indiana	1-2	3-4
Illinois	0-2	3-3
Purdue	0-3	1-6

And, here are some nice photos by the ES of Saturday's victory over the Boilermakers.  After the first quarter, it stopped raining and turned out to be a beautiful, 55-and sunny fall game.  Indeed, the weather was nicer than the Spartan offense....

Second quarter backed up on our 10...


 Second quarter struggles...


 Beginning to see some sunlight...


 Third quarter defense bends bud doesn't break...


 4th quarter lineup for our only offensive TD...