Thump. MSU favored by 4 TD over Minnesota. MSU chances for Indy are still good.

Well, that sucked didn't it?  In its 24-3 loss on Saturday, Michigan State just didn't show up on offense vs Nebraska in a repeat of their poor performance against Notre Dame earlier this year. Captain Kirk looked lost in his worst performance of the year, and the offensive play calling was even more lost with a vanilla gameplan sprinkled with gimmicks at consistently the wrong time - just a pathetic, anemic performance by Spartan offense.  The offense never gave the resolute Spartan defense (holding Nebraska to just 270 total yards) a chance.  Hell, the MSU defense played pretty well for much of the day... but ain't no team gonna win many games with its offense scoring 3 points.   The defense showed up, and the offense had a hangover from last week's sensational win over Wisky.  Don't get me wrong -- give the Huskers defense some credit for wearing on and tearing up the Spartan offensive line -> but when the MSU offense needed to make plays, they couldn't make a good call, a sharp pass, a serviceable block, or a damn catch.  The Spartan offense went out of their way to make it easy for the Nebraska defense. 

Michigan State dropped to #15 in the AP, #16 in the USA Today, and #17 in the BCS standings. What I can't figure out is how scUM is ranked ahead of the Spartans... again, this is a Michigan team that, yes, beat Notre Dame, but has no other quality wins on its resume.  Sigh, it must be that mystique rearing its ugly head again.

Michigan State ain't out of it folks.  What is amazing is the Wisky loss to Ohio State, the JoePa win, and the Iowa loss to Minny.  If the Spartans can sweep their favorable schedule and Nebraska stumbles on the road at either JoePa or at scUM, MSU could head to the Big Ten title game against JoePa or Wisky. Right now, JoePa has a two game lead over the field in the Leaders division; the Spartans and Huskers are tied at 3-1 atop the Legends.

The Spartans are early 28-pt favorites over Minnesota this upcoming weekend.

Here is the recent BCS standings:

BCS Standings
RK	TEAM	RECORD
1	LSU	8-0
2	Alabama	8-0
3	Oklahoma State	8-0
4	Stanford	8-0
5	Boise State	7-0
6	Oklahoma	7-1
7	Arkansas	7-1
8	Oregon	7-1
9	South Carolina	7-1
10	Nebraska	7-1
11	Clemson	8-1
12	Virginia Tech	8-1
13	Houston	8-0
14	Kansas State	7-1
15	Michigan	7-1
16	Penn State	8-1
17	Michigan State	6-2
18	Georgia	6-2
19	Arizona State	6-2
20	Wisconsin	6-2
21	Texas	5-2
22	Auburn	6-3
23	Georgia Tech	7-2
24	West Virginia	6-2
25	Southern Miss	7-1

ES Game Day Predictions: Michigan State at the Friggin Irish

MSU Spartans at Notre Dame Irish

South Bend, IN.  3:30 pm.

Rankings:  MSU #15 (AP, USA Today), #28 (Sagarin).  Notre Dame #53 (Sagarin).

TV:  NBC

Line:  ND favored by 5

Weather: 68 degrees, sunny.

Picks:  NBC Sports: MSU 24-23.  CBS Sports: ND 31-21. ESPN/Schlabach: ND.  ESPN/Rittenberg: MSU 27-24.  ESPN/Bennett: MSU 31-28. Bleacher Report/Rymer: ND 27-24.  Scout/CFN:  ND 38-34.

ES pick:  MSU 27, ND 21.
Stat of the week:  Worthy, Pickelman, and a stingy MSU defense holds ND to less than 100 yards rushing, less than 400 total yards. MSU has won 10 of 14 and will continue its dominance at Spartan Stadium West with another resounding, defensive domination.

Don't Look, Ma! Brutal Hits, No Pads in Aussie Footy