Congrats to our Michigan State Spartans, B1G Legends Champs in two of the last three years.  MSU is now ranked #9/#10 in the land after sweeping through the Big Ten undefeated, 8-0, winning every conference game by more than 10 points.  The Big Green's 14-3 victory over Minnesota (see thoughts from ES below) sets up for a nice B1G championship game against #2 Ohio State - the best offense in the conference vs the best defense.  And we all know, defense wins championships!

Ohio State is favored by 6 over Michigan State.  This is a Buckeye team that needed a boneheaded call for a 2 point conversion by Brady Hoke to beat Michigan after giving up 41 points.  As the ES recalls, the Spartans gave up just 6 points to the Wolvies and beat them by 23 points. 

Check out the coaches poll, as the Spartans creep up to #9.   Can't wait to see the BCS rankings this evening... ES expects a #9 ranking by the computers.

USA Today Poll
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Florida State (58)	12-0	1546
2	Ohio State (4)	12-0	1462
3	Auburn	11-1	1437
4	Alabama	11-1	1333
5	Missouri	11-1	1315
6	Oklahoma State	10-1	1248
7	Baylor	10-1	1100
7	South Carolina	10-2	1100
9	Michigan State	11-1	1037
10	Stanford	10-2	1034
11	Clemson	10-2	853
12	Oregon	10-2	843
13	Arizona State	10-2	765
14	LSU	9-3	720
15	Oklahoma	9-2	660
16	Louisville	10-1	625
17	UCF	10-1	572
18	Northern Illinois	12-0	547
19	UCLA	9-3	473
20	Duke	10-2	402
21	Wisconsin	9-3	266
22	Fresno State	10-1	215
23	Cincinnati	9-2	167
24	Texas	8-3	149
25	Texas A&M	8-4	121

• Dropped from rankings: USC 23

• Others receiving votes: Miami (FL) 47, Georgia 41, Vanderbilt 18, Iowa 13, Marshall 13, USC 10, Washington 6, Virginia Tech 4, Minnesota 4, Notre Dame 3, Ball State 1

THOUGHTS ON SPARTANS VS GOPHERS:

Two stats that really pop out from the game yesterday:  1) Minnesota getting just 249 yards (and 124 on the ground) but needing nearly 39 minutes to do it.  That's a lot of time for very few yards.  It was the only time this year Michigan State lost the time of possession battle.  What it tells the ES is the Spartan defense bent but didn't break; and actually stiffened near the red zone.  Minny finished 1-3 in the redzone.  And, the Spartans had 11 tackles for loss, including 4 sacks on the day.  Wow.  2) MSU 0-8 on third downs.  A surprising stat that needs to be improved if the Spartans are to defeat Ohio State.     

Yesterday, Michigan State played probably the best team on its schedule this season.  The Gophers are an impressive squad, and David Cobb, who gained 101 yards on 27 carries (3.7 per carry) was the best RB the Spartans have faced all year.  Good timing as take on the Buckeyes!

Here are the stats from yesterday:

MINN	MSU
1st Downs	17	15
3rd down efficiency	8-20	0-8
4th down efficiency	1-2	0-1
Total Yards	249	324
Passing	125	143
Comp-Att	9-25	10-20
Yards per pass	5.0	7.2
Rushing	124	181
Rushing Attempts	50	31
Yards per rush	2.5	5.8
Penalties	3-14	2-15
Turnovers	3	2
Fumbles lost	1	1
Interceptions thrown	2	1
Possession	38:41	21:19