#2 Buckeyes favored by 6 over #9 Spartans; weird stats on 14-3 slaying of Gophers The Enlightened Spartan: #2 Buckeyes favored by 6 over #9 Spartans; weird stats on 14-3 slaying of Gophers

Sunday, December 01, 2013

#2 Buckeyes favored by 6 over #9 Spartans; weird stats on 14-3 slaying of Gophers

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
RKTEAMRECORDPTS
1Florida State (58)12-01546
2Ohio State (4)12-01462
3Auburn11-11437
4Alabama11-11333
5Missouri11-11315
6Oklahoma State10-11248
7Baylor10-11100
7South Carolina10-21100
9Michigan State11-11037
10Stanford10-21034
11Clemson10-2853
12Oregon10-2843
13Arizona State10-2765
14LSU9-3720
15Oklahoma9-2660
16Louisville10-1625
17UCF10-1572
18Northern Illinois12-0547
19UCLA9-3473
20Duke10-2402
21Wisconsin9-3266
22Fresno State10-1215
23Cincinnati9-2167
24Texas8-3149
25Texas A&M8-4121
  • 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:

MINNMSU
1st Downs1715
3rd down efficiency
8-200-8
4th down efficiency
1-20-1
Total Yards249324
Passing125143
Comp-Att
9-2510-20
Yards per pass
5.07.2
Rushing124181
Rushing Attempts
5031
Yards per rush
2.55.8
Penalties3-142-15
Turnovers32
Fumbles lost
11
Interceptions thrown
21
Possession38:4121:19