YES!
There are few things better in life than a convincing win from your alma mater on the gridiron. That was exactly the case yesterday, as our Big Green Touchdown Machine dispatched Bowling Green in easy, simple fashion. The ES wuz surprised at how well the MSU defense played - and there were certainly some pluses and minuses.
Looking to next week: MSU is favored by a TD over Western.
Beyond all of this - WOW - the B1G Ten (11-3 in week one) looks by far to have the best conference top to bottom in the land. Maryland beating Texas… in Texas???? Who dominated in the Big Ten? Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, MARYLAND, Michigan, Penn State, Iowa. Even Purdon’t (loss to Louisville) hung around. Wow. This was easily the greatest opening weekend of college football in what remains of my memory. Big Ten schools that struggled: Nebraska, Northwestern, Illinois, Minny, and of course, Rutgers (loss).
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| A fairly full house on a beautiful Saturday for football! |
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| Ahem. Pretty! |
The ES breaks down our win over Bowling Green:
Biggest surprise: The defense. Other than the bomb on BGSU’s first drive, the Spartan defense controlled the game. First downs: MSU won the battle, 25-9. Only 9 FDs! And, MSU gave up just 212 total yards, 67 on the ground - 2.8 average per carry. The defense was stout - surprisingly very good.
Best play: In the third quarter, with MSU up 21-3, LB Chris Frey busted around the right end, threw the tackle aside, and hit the BGSU quarterback straight up. It was - WOW - a great, athletic play. Almost a safety - that was when you knew the game was over.
Biggest disappointment: LJ Scott. If Coach D doesn’t make LJ carry a football around campus all week - and sleep with it - then he should be fired. Scott had a fumble on the one yard line - a NO-NO -and then BGSU’s only TD was off another Scott fumble. That guy needs to get a GRIP. He has too much talent to be afflicted with fumble-itis.
Best stat: MSU 8-of-15 on third downs. This was a real problem area for MSU all season last year. No problem against BGSU - MSU looked comfortable on third downs for the balance of the game.
Not on the bandwagon: Felton Davis (#18) made some GREAT catches. He also dropped a few. He can’t drop those passes if we are going to beat Michigan or Ohio State. You wanna keep those dreadlocks? Fine, CATCH THE BALL.
On the bandwagon: Chris Frey (#23) and Jake Hartbarger (#2). Frey was flying around the field (5 tackles), as the field general of the defense he looked good! Harbarger punted a 57 yarder that had great hang-time… that can be a potential deadly weapon in tight games.
Crowd: It was 12 o’clock on a Saturday. The regular crowd shuffled in. There was an old man sitting next to me. Bitching about tonic and gin. It was GREAT to see the usher (for 50+years) up in section 125, and of course, Dieter. About 71,500+ - pretty good for Bowling Green.
A comment from my Italian friend, Joe: “First half sloppy offense, too many fumbles, second half they pulled their shit together like I expected:”
Total Yards: 465-212, another Spartan victory. Stats are what they are:
Team Statistics (Final)
The Automated ScoreBook
Bowling Green vs Michigan State (Sep 2, 2017 at East Lansing, Mich.)
| Team Totals | BGSU | MSU |
| FIRST DOWNS | 9 | 25 |
| Rushing | 3 | 13 |
| Passing | 6 | 11 |
| Penalty | 0 | 1 |
| NET YARDS RUSHING | 67 | 215 |
| Rushing Attempts | 24 | 46 |
| Average Per Rush | 2.8 | 4.7 |
| Rushing Touchdowns | 0 | 1 |
| Yards Gained Rushing | 78 | 244 |
| Yards Lost Rushing | 11 | 29 |
| NET YARDS PASSING | 145 | 250 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int | 10-31-1 | 22-36-0 |
| Average Per Attempt | 4.7 | 6.9 |
| Average Per Completion | 14.5 | 11.4 |
| Passing Touchdowns | 0 | 3 |
| TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS | 212 | 465 |
| Total offense plays | 55 | 82 |
| Average Gain Per Play | 3.9 | 5.7 |
| Fumbles: Number-Lost | 0-0 | 4-3 |
| Penalties: Number-Yards | 4-20 | 4-25 |
| PUNTS-YARDS | 8-369 | 6-294 |
| Average Yards Per Punt | 46.1 | 49.0 |
| Net Yards Per Punt | 44.2 | 40.7 |
| Inside 20 | 3 | 3 |
| 50+ Yards | 2 | 3 |
| Touchbacks | 0 | 2 |
| Fair catch | 1 | 3 |
| KICKOFFS-YARDS | 3-161 | 6-367 |
| Average Yards Per Kickoff | 53.7 | 61.2 |
| Net Yards Per Kickoff | 34.0 | 41.5 |
| Touchbacks | 1 | 1 |
| Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD | 1-10-0 | 3-15-0 |
| Average Per Return | 10.0 | 5.0 |
| Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD | 5-93-0 | 2-34-0 |
| Average Per Return | 18.6 | 17.0 |
| Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD | 0-0-0 | 1-38-1 |
| Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD | 2-76-1 | 0-0-0 |
| Miscellaneous Yards | 0 | 0 |
| Possession Time | 21:59 | 38:01 |
| 1st Quarter | 5:06 | 9:54 |
| 2nd Quarter | 4:13 | 10:47 |
| 3rd Quarter | 5:19 | 9:41 |
| 4th Quarter | 7:21 | 7:39 |
| Third-Down Conversions | 2 of 13 | 8 of 15 |
| Fourth-Down Conversions | 0 of 2 | 0 of 0 |
| Red-Zone Scores-Chances | 1-1 | 4-5 |
| Touchdowns | 0-1 | 4-5 |
| Field goals | 1-1 | 0-5 |
| Sacks By: Number-Yards | 0-0 | 1-10 |
| PAT Kicks | 1-1 | 5-5 |
| Field Goals | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| Points off turnovers | 10 | 7 |
