OK - reality is that MSU won 45-7, should have won 100-0, and the Spartans were not that impressive... which means this was the worst CMU team I have ever seen. Chips were dreadful. As for MSU, yes, Cousins looked... bad. He missed 3-4 wide open recs, including Sims and Cunningham each without any Chip within 15 yards. But he DID hit Caper on a beautiful wheel route in the 3rd for a TD. As for the O-Line. They stink. The interior of the off line is the biggest, major concern for this team to have any chance; injuries are affecting the play, and it shows. Without a decent O-Line we are a 7-5 team. It showed today, 100-0, 45-7, or whatever, we are in a bind along the front. As for the DEFENSE, well defense wins championships, and from front to back left to right, this is the best Spartan defense since 1988. Mark my word, best defensive UNIT in years.
Actually, the MSU defense was in CMU QBs face all game long. Radcliff could have taken a sack, but instead stupidly threw the ball and it was returned for a pick-6; CMU was 2-12 on third downs, and hit only around 1/3 of their passes -- because of lots of pressure from Gholston, Pickelman, and Worthy. How many, 4, 5, 6 passes were broken up at the line of scrimmage? The ES argues that sacks (or lack thereof) don't equal quality of D-line. MSU was all over CMU. 4 INTs, all thrown off the back foot by both CMU QBs because MSU d-line was in their face. The Spartan d-line was strong in this game. Lack of sacks may not show it, but the Green was dominant up front on defense, totally. Very impressive. MSU gave up just 21 yards rushing and only 91 yards passing demonstrate the major impact of the d-line.
Now, the Spartan Offense has some explaining to do, as far as all the missed open passes by Cousins, and only one run longer than 16 yards - against a bad team. But, we did win big time...
CMU MSU
FIRST DOWNS................... 8 23
Rushing..................... 3 9
Passing..................... 5 12
Penalty..................... 0 2
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 21 197
Rushing Attempts............ 18 47
Average Per Rush............ 1.2 4.2
Rushing Touchdowns.......... 0 3
Yards Gained Rushing........ 42 208
Yards Lost Rushing.......... 21 11
NET YARDS PASSING............. 91 284
Completions-Attempts-Int.... 12-33-4 20-30-1
Average Per Attempt......... 2.8 9.5
Average Per Completion...... 7.6 14.2
Passing Touchdowns.......... 1 2
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 112 481
Total offense plays......... 51 77
Average Gain Per Play....... 2.2 6.2
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 3-0 2-0
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 3-26 4-20
PUNTS-YARDS................... 7-266 3-87
Average Yards Per Punt...... 38.0 29.0
Net Yards Per Punt.......... 35.3 12.3
Inside 20................... 1 0
50+ Yards................... 0 0
Touchbacks.................. 0 1
Fair catch.................. 1 1
KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 2-132 8-535
Average Yards Per Kickoff... 66.0 66.9
Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 45.5 45.2
Touchbacks.................. 0 0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 1-30-0 4-19-0
Average Per Return.......... 30.0 4.8
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 8-173-0 2-41-0
Average Per Return.......... 21.6 20.5
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 1-28-0 4-75-1
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0
Possession Time............... 21:55 38:05
1st Quarter................. 7:06 7:54
2nd Quarter................. 6:38 8:22
3rd Quarter................. 4:04 10:56
4th Quarter................. 4:07 10:53
Third-Down Conversions........ 2 of 12 6 of 15
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 1 1 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 1-1 6-7
Touchdowns.................. 1-1 5-7
Field goals................. 0-1 1-7
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 0-0 1-4
PAT Kicks..................... 1-1 6-6
Field Goals................... 0-0 1-1 Football notes:
1) Alabama is the #1 team in the nation by a mile, Oklahoma friends and family are high on glue if they think they are in the same league as the Tide. After watching the 38-17 crushing of AR-Kansas, methinks noone is near the southern elephant.
2) Minny losing to N Dakota State. Wow. Ain’t it great the Gophers have a brand new stadium to stink up?
Hoops on the Carrier 11-11-11?
Nice update by Katz/ESPN on the details for hoops on the USS Vincent, though the ES notes the idea first appeared publicly from the ES, when he tossed out a lie in March 2003 about a potential FOOTBALL GAME on an aircraft carrier a full year before any conception of a hoops game on a carrier..
