Notably, #24 Michigan State is a very early 3-1/2 point favorite over the #23 Wolverines next week in the game of the year in EL. Indiana is favored by 7 at home over Minnesota. Nebraska is favored by 7 at home over Northwestern. #22 Wisconsin is favored by 7 at Iowa. Penn State is favored by 10 at home over Illinois. And, #4 Ohio State is favored by, gulp, 31 at Purdue.
As for yesterday... Wow. The ES heard a bit of the game on the radio, but looking at the statistics from the Spartans' 42-3 punishment of Illinois was impressive. At a place that claims itself as the originator of the first collegiate homecoming, the Illini faithful likely should have waltzed passed Memorial Stadium, as it was the sight of an embarrassing whipping courtesy of Michigan State. As written by the Daily Illini, "It was a few plays here and there that slowly peeled the lid off this game and let all the ugliness out." An ugly homecoming at Illinois. Beautiful.
The Spartans finishing their last six possessions with TDs? Wow. A goal-line defensive stand turning into a 99-yard TD drive? Well, golly! Cook 15-of 16 for 208 yards with 3 TDs. Langford with 104 of Michigan State's Pound-Green-Pound 269-25 rushing yardage advantage. The vastly-underrated but oft-important statistic of domination -- third down conversion -- was, 14-of-16??? Is that a typo? And, nearly double the possession time (39 to 21 minutes). My God. Wow. And, the defensive stats are even more impressive. Giving up just 128 total yards (25 on rushing). Total of 477-128 total yards. Ouch. This is a defining performance that should finally vault MSU into the top 25 (posting update: MSU is in the AP Poll at #24, see bottom of this post). Stats are below.
| MSU | ILL | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Downs | 29 | 8 |
| Total Yards | 477 | 128 |
| Passing | 208 | 103 |
| Rushing | 269 | 25 |
| Penalties | 5-34 | 7-66 |
| 3rd Down Conversions | 14-16 | 3-10 |
| 4th Down Conversions | 0-0 | 0-1 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 2 |
| Possession | 39:06 | 20:54 |
Associated Press Top 25 - week of Oct 27, 2013
| RK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
| 1 | Alabama (55) | 8-0 | 1495 |
| 2 | Oregon (3) | 8-0 | 1432 |
| 3 | Florida State (2) | 7-0 | 1390 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 8-0 | 1317 |
| 5 | Baylor | 7-0 | 1223 |
| 6 | Stanford | 7-1 | 1189 |
| 7 | Miami (FL) | 7-0 | 1149 |
| 8 | Auburn | 7-1 | 1022 |
| 9 | Clemson | 7-1 | 1007 |
| 10 | Missouri | 7-1 | 873 |
| 11 | LSU | 7-2 | 818 |
| 12 | Texas A&M | 6-2 | 811 |
| 13 | Oklahoma | 7-1 | 791 |
| 14 | South Carolina | 6-2 | 701 |
| 15 | Texas Tech | 7-1 | 579 |
| 16 | Fresno State | 7-0 | 510 |
| 17 | UCLA | 5-2 | 489 |
| 18 | Oklahoma State | 6-1 | 483 |
| 19 | UCF | 6-1 | 464 |
| 20 | Louisville | 7-1 | 417 |
| 21 | Northern Illinois | 8-0 | 290 |
| 22 | Wisconsin | 5-2 | 262 |
| 23 | Michigan | 6-1 | 199 |
| 24 | Michigan State | 7-1 | 166 |
| 25 | Arizona State | 5-2 | 133 |
- Dropped from rankings: Virginia Tech 16, Nebraska 25
- Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 132, Georgia 24, Brigham Young 22, Texas 22, Ole Miss 21, Virginia Tech 20, Oregon State 17, Florida 14, Washington 6, Minnesota 4, Ball State 4, Arizona 2, Duke 2
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