Injuries and redshirts

Injury update: Roderick Jenrette played his ass off on Saturday vs. Michigan, easily the best game of his career; his coverage helped to stymie Tate Forcier... Unfortunately, late in the game he broke his foot and he was certainly missed on the last drive of regulation when scUM tied it up.

QB Kirk Cousins rolled his ankle pretty good vs. the Yellow Bellies, and you could see him limping around during the game. Keith Nichol played his best game as a Spartan in relief; but, Cousins will be fine.

Redshirtin': Sophomore wideout Fred Smith and junior OL Antonio Jeremiah will be redshirted. Both haven't lived up to expectations and other talent has moved up the ladder. Speaking of that, true frosh Blake Treadwell played on the defensive line vs scUM for a significant time period. His redshirt is G-O-N-E, at least for now.

Michigan State Spartans favored by 4 at Illinois

The early line out of LSVC in Las Vegas is that your Michigan State Spartan gridders are a 4-point favorite at woeful Illinois this weekend. Iowa is favored by a TD at home over scUM. Ohio State is favored by 16 at home over Wisky. Minny is favored by 4.5 at home over Purdue. Northwestern is favored by 23 at home over Miami-Ohio. Indiana is a 6.5-point underdog at Virginia.

Oh yes, maybe after Michigan State's resounding victory at home over scUM, where we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat -- despite pounding the little yellow men all day -- is clearly the dawn of a new era. No, these ain't yer Same Old Spartans. Time to continue the momentum this weekend against an Illinois team running a similar offense as scUM. It was nice to see the Spartan defense dominate the line of scrimmage (such as holding scUM to under 30 yards rushing is a nice feat), and also nice to see very solid play at QB from Keith Nichol and the Spartan offensive line. The most complete effort of the season for the Big Green vs. scUM in a game they HAD to win.

The AP axed scUM from its Top 25 this week:

RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Florida (54)	4-0	1486
2	Texas (1)	4-0	1416
3	Alabama (5)	5-0	1404
4	LSU	5-0	1290
5	Virginia Tech	4-1	1200
6	Boise State	5-0	1185
7	USC	4-1	1108
8	Cincinnati	5-0	1004
9	Ohio State	4-1	994
10	TCU	4-0	940
11	Miami (FL)	3-1	931
12	Iowa	5-0	823
13	Oregon	4-1	676
14	Penn State	4-1	564
15	Oklahoma State	3-1	563
16	Kansas	4-0	513
17	Auburn	5-0	428
18	Brigham Young	4-1	403
19	Oklahoma	2-2	370
20	Mississippi	3-1	357
21	Nebraska	3-1	333
22	Georgia Tech	4-1	311
23	South Florida	5-0	238
24	Missouri	4-0	215
25	South Carolina	4-1	200

Dropped from rankings: Houston 12, Georgia 18, Michigan 22, California 24

Others receiving votes: Wisconsin 157, Houston 142, Georgia 115, Stanford 50, Utah 31, Michigan 25, Boston College 12, Notre Dame 9, Pittsburgh 3, Arizona 2, West Virginia 2,

Roster update for MSU vs CMU

As of Wednesday morning, there are no changes in the depth chart from the season opener vs. Montana State to this weekend's contest against Central Michigan. Doctor Mark Dantonio stated the quarterback situation as a "status quo," though certainly the coaches hinted that Cousins was a little more efficient with his arm, via accuracy and strength, than Kirk Cousins. ES says expect Cousins to start again but both with plenty of playing time. As for Joel Nitchman, coach stated he was " day to day" with a sprained knee. But, it seems as if he is probable to doubtful, "He may not be able to practice much this week, but he may be able to be an emergency guy or he may not. We'll see on that." ES says watch for junior John Stipek and redshirt frosh Ethan Ruhland to step in.

Kickoff is set for noon, with the game on ESPN2. Temperature for now is forecast for 76 degrees and sunny.

Michigan State 44, Montana State 3

Congrats to our opening, 44-3 whitewashing of Montana State. Yeah.

OK, we didn't learn much today -- which is why the ES traveled and spent the weekend at Disney World. But, from the stats and info from his Brudda, we learned the following: offensive line needs to run block better - it was a perceived weakness entering the fall, and vs a FCS team, it is confirmed. The longest run of the day was from Caulton Ray, with a 20 yarder. He was 12-71 (5.9). Our two freshmen studs, Larry Caper (7-34) and Ed Baker (8-27) sufficed but were nothing special.

Most of all, what we learned is that we need to STOP DROPPING PASSES. What's going on? The stats looks good, but official stats should also count dropped passes. According to my bro, we must have dropped 6-10 passes today, and it resulted in truncated drives. Blair White was 9-162, and BJ Cunningham was 3-62. What was more significant was that opponents (Mont St) could not keep Dion Sims off the field - and he caught 2-32 and 1 TD as a true frosh. He's a stud.

As for which QB is better? I have to go with my bro's opinion from personally witnessing game action and he said that Keith Nichol (9-18-0-135, 2 TD) looked to perform "a little bit" better than Kirk Cousins (10-17-0-183, 3 TD) and "seemed better in control of the offense."

Overall, Mich St outgained Mont St. 493-160. Just obliteration, as expected.

Montana State will receive at least $650,000 for traveling to East Lansing, enough to pay nearly a third of its annual football budget.

MONST - MSU

FIRST DOWNS................... 12 29
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 62 175
Rushing Attempts............ 28 40
Average Per Rush............ 2.2 4.4
NET YARDS PASSING............. 98 318
Completions-Attempts-Int.... 13-26-0 19-35-0
Passing Touchdowns.......... 0 5
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 160 493
Total offense plays......... 54 75
Average Gain Per Play....... 3.0 6.6
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 7-55 5-46
PUNTS-YARDS................... 9-335 2-114
Average Yards Per Punt...... 37.2 57.0
Net Yards Per Punt.......... 28.6 51.5
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 1-11-0 5-58-0
Average Per Return.......... 11.0 11.6
Possession Time............... 29:19 30:41
Third-Down Conversions........ 2 of 14 7 of 13
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 2 of 2 0 of 0
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 1-1 3-4
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 0-0 3-22

OK, and then I saw the defensive stats and WTF - Greg Jones was a hoss, with 14 tackles, including 2.5 for loss:

53 Jones, Greg        5    9   14  2.5/16   .   .     .      .    .   1.5/11   .
11 Hyde, Marcus       2    4    6     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     .

Link here for video of the matchup


Of those 92 who voted in the ES' poll of margin of victory, only 28% said that MSU would win by 36 or more. 40% said by 20-29 points, 18% said 30-35 points. 6% said 10-19 points, and 1% said 1-9 points. Four people said Montana State would win.

QB Flip Flop, MSU Favored by 41 over Montana State, Statewide Media Previews

Grinz over at Mlive predicts that Michigan State definitely has a flip-flop situation at QB, and Kirk Cousins is getting the nod to start over Keith Nichol based on Cousins paying his dues. The two are co-equals. "Cousins will get the start against Montana State out of deference to the dues he has paid to the program and Nichol will get about as much playing time. Nichol will start what is shaping up as a difficult game against Central Michigan and Cousins will go in off the bench."

The ES still can't find a line on the Michigan State - Montana State game, though our loyal poster spartanpride notes one offshore bookie has the Green as a 41-pt favorite (still can't find it). Florida was noted as a 73-point favorite over FCS/I-AA Charleston Southern by Danny Sheridan, though that line is no longer posted.

The Lansing State Journal has their annual preview, and they predict Michigan State to finish with Iowa tied for 3rd and an 8-4/5-3 record. The Freep's preview has multiple reporters picking MSU either 8-4 or 9-3, and anywhere from 2nd to 4th. The Detroit News picks MSU to finish third, with its team preview out on Thursday.

When the game kicks off, MSU will no longer be among the NCAA elite that have never scheduled out of the Division down to 1-AA/FCS. Currently, the only five NCAA teams to schedule only D1-A: Michigan State, Notre Dame, USC, UCLA and Washington.

ESPN tools around Michigan State

ESPN Big Ten Blogger Adam Rittenberg was shuffling around the Skandalaris Center and the Duffy Daugherty football building yesterday, and managed to produce several blog postings about Michigan State. Not much earth shattering information out of it for us Spartan fans, but a nice article on Trevor Anderson. Anderson stuck around East Lansing this summer to train with his Spartan compadres instead of heading to Georgia for a camp called "Defensive Line, Inc." with former Atlanta Falcons player Chuck Smith. Rittenberg posts about the quarterback battle between Kirk Cousins and Keith Nichol, and the delicate nature of handling the psyche of who will eventually be the backup. And, if you haven't had a chance, read the blog posting about MSU's fall camp by QB newbie Andrew Maxwell.

Second scrimmage: The Cousins and Caper show

The LSJ has a brief writeup of yesterday's scrimmage, the second of the week, and the ES broke out the statistics below to make it easier to follow. Highlighting the performance on offense was improvement from Kirk Cousins, which just tightens the QB race back up with Keith Nichol. TE Dion Sims made big plays, and RB Larry Caper has seemingly taken the lead with a productive 4.9 yards per carry average yesterday. And, you gotta love it when our LBs are our leading two tacklers. Said the Doctor, "I thought the offense played and executed better... The quarterbacks threw the ball effectively, and the offense ran the ball better, especially in third-and-short situations... Defensively, the guys up front know what they're doing, so they play fast and there aren't many missed assignments. We're 16 practices into camp and the guys are playing at game speed." Statistics from Friday's scrimmage:

Quarterbacks:

• Cousins: 6-13-119. 1 TD, 1 INT.
  
• Nichol: 7-14-54. 0 TD, 0 INT.
  

Running Backs:

• Caper: 14-68. 1 TD (7 yards). 4.9 ypc.
• Ray: 16-37. 2.3 ypc.
• Baker: 14-32. 2.3 ypc.
  

Receivers:

• White: 3-66.
• Sims: 2-38. 1 TD.
  

Defense:

• Jones: 10 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack.
  
• Gordon: 8 tackles.
• Rucker: 1 INT, 1 TD.
  

QB/RB battle results, MSU #18 says NBC, ESPN gives cautious praise

Let's reflect on this past week's preparations by your Spartan gridders, with just 15 days left until we take on the Montana State Bobcats.

Obviously, the two main spots gaining all the attention are in the Spartan backfield - and a Monday scrimmage gives a better line on who may get the nod to start the season. It looks that Keith Nichol took the early lead in the QB race. Nichol completed 17-of-26 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns,; his counterpart, Kirk Cousins, hit 13-of-30 throws for 127 yards, two TDs and one interception. Stats may not be anything, but there's a wide disparity between the two here. At RB, sophomore Ashton Leggett led all rushers with 91 yards on 10 carries, including a 63-yard TD run (sans the long run, Leggett was 9-28, or 3.1 average). AJ Jimmerson had 38 yards on 10 carries, and Caulton Ray had 15 carries for 29 yards. Freshman TE stud Dion Sims had seven catches for 60 yards, and wideout Keshawn Martin caught five passes for 85 yards and a TD. Chris Rucker (who dropped about everything thrown his way last year) had four catches for 90 yards. On defense, linebacker Adam Decker was a standout with eight tackles. Along the line, Tyler Hoover had six tackles (two for losses) and recovered a fumble.

Over at MSUspartans.com, they posted an update late Thursday in advance of a Friday scrimmage, with comments from Cousins, Nichol, Joel Nitchman, and DL Coach Ted Gill.

THE PUNDITS ARE OUT - NBC LOVES MICHIGAN STATE

The Associated Press will release its preseason poll tomorrow, Saturday, Aug. 22. Over at NBC Sports, they list Michigan State #18 ("Dantonio’s program has an opportunity to take the next step — maybe even a giant step"), thusly, lowering expectations of the annual Spartan dispatching of their beloved #22 Irish on national TV. LSUfootball.net has published its final preseason compilation of preseason rankings, and lists MSU at #32.

Over at ESPN, they've got a preseason prognostication of Michigan State's postseason plans, with Bruce Feldman pitting MSU vs Kansas State in the Insight Bowl, and Mark Schlabach listing MSU vs Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl... Adam Rittenberg slots MSU in the Outback Bowl. All three would be a step DOWN for the Spartans this year. Rittenberg is the most prolific blogger on the Big Ten over at ESPN, and he also lists MSU at #4 in his conference power rankings: "The more I look at the Spartans' depth chart, the more I like their chances this fall... if Michigan State solidifies its offensive backfield, look out." And, can you say "team"? Michigan State is picked by most to finish either #3 or #4 in the conference, including by Rittenberg, yet the Spartans have only two players on the Big Ten's First Team All Conference, which ranks them tied with scUM for next-to-last.

Dion Sims impresses Big Ten Network, Dantonio

One big positive out of the Big Ten Network is the ability to catch a glimpse of practice sessions, and today was Exhibit A as the BTN took a glimpse at Michigan State under 90-degree weather. It was a sweat box.

From some of what the ES saw, on offense pass protection seemed pretty good, but the Spartan defense -- particularly the 'backers -- were able to tee off on the running game, plugging the holes effectively. There was a particularly nice roll out right by QB Keith Nichol as he dodged out of the pocket, and threw across his body with great strength and accuracy, and hit a streaking receiver across the middle.

The Doctor was interviewed... and what was telling were the particular names he mentioned. He singled out Brandon Denson for his work ethic and the whole LB corps as a strength. He mentioned he expected to have a 3-RB rotation of 100+ carries by each this fall. As for the new recruits, two seemed to stick out: Chris Norman and Dion Sims who are "getting a lot of reps."

The BTN crew chimed in with their thoughts, and agreed there seemingly was no difference between Nichol or Kirk Cousins at QB. BTN commentator Howard Griffith was very impressed with Spartan receivers, and noted the teams' potential "to put a lot of points on the board." Both Griffith and Gerry DiNardo were impressed by the pair of true frosh RBs, Ed Baker and Larry Caper... although DiNardo feels Baker has the edge. The pair "looked good catching the ball and picking up blitzes." Hopefully, they can run well, too...

Finally, when asked about "under the radar" players, DiNardo mentioned Lansing native Micajah Reynolds as an OL that may be able to get some quality playing time. Griffith and Dave Revsine both drooled over Dion Sims at TE that he "was special."