Michigan State moves up to #11, favored by 14 over Minny after dismantling NW

Spartans ARE OFFICIALLY GOING TO INDY for the Big Ten Championship... and so is the ES!

#11 Michigan State is an early 14 point favorite over Minnesota in its season finale - Kickoff is noon; on BTN. Nebraska is favored by 3 at home over Iowa; Ohio State is favored by 12 at Michigan; Northwestern is favored by 3-1/2 at Illinois; and, Indiana is favored by 20-1/2 at home over Purdue. 

And, yes, our Spartans moved up to #11 in the AP Poll. 

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Alabama (56)	11-0	1496
2	Florida State (4)	11-0	1444
3	Ohio State	11-0	1375
4	Auburn	10-1	1294
5	Missouri	10-1	1202
6	Clemson	10-1	1196
7	Oklahoma State	10-1	1177
8	Stanford	9-2	1002
9	Baylor	9-1	976
10	South Carolina	9-2	960
11	Michigan State	10-1	929
12	Oregon	9-2	731
13	Arizona State	9-2	690
14	Wisconsin	9-2	684
15	LSU	8-3	642
16	Fresno State	10-0	619
17	UCF	9-1	588
18	Northern Illinois	11-0	470
19	Texas A&M	8-3	429
20	Oklahoma	9-2	386
21	Louisville	10-1	383
22	UCLA	8-3	300
23	USC	9-3	262
24	Duke	9-2	135
25	Notre Dame	8-3	68

• Dropped from rankings: Ole Miss 24

• Others receiving votes: Georgia 15, Cincinnati 10, Texas 10, Ole Miss 7, Arizona 6, Nebraska 6, Minnesota 5, East Carolina 1, North Dakota State 1, Vanderbilt 1

COMPLETE DOMINATION

Wow, what a butt-kicking of Northwestern yesterday.  The ES is giving hisself credit:  a 30-6 final; the ES guessed 31-3... nicely done ES!  On offense, the Spartans had career days out of Jeremy Langford on the ground (25-150, 6 yards a pop) and QB Connor Cook through the air (16-24, 293 yards, 0 INTs and 2 TDs).  Just a methodical dissection of the Wildcat defense all day long.

Defensively, MSU manhandled the Wildcats, and gave them a consistently very long field to play on.  While NW managed 19 yards and 319 total yards, the reality is their starting field position was poor for much of the game, thank you to Mike Sadler.  Northwestern gained only 85 total yards in the second half.  Wow.   Darqueze Dennard and Kurtis Drummond played lights-out, total lock down corners all day long for the Spartan secondary.  It was incredible to watch.   You could see NW wear down as the game wore on.  Here are the NW drives for the second half... Nada.

NU       3rd N25  Punt           7-29   3:00
NU       3rd N25  Interception   6-25   1:21
NU       3rd N48  Downs          6-20   2:50
NU       4th N35  Interception   1-0    0:05
NU       4th N16  Punt           3-7    0:56
NU       4th N40  Downs          8-13   2:10
NU       4th N24  Interception   3-1    1:24

Here are the final stats for the game.  Another impressive effort out of the Big Green.

MSU	NW
1st Downs	20	19
3rd down efficiency	4-12	4-15
4th down efficiency	0-1	1-3
Total Yards	464	319
Passing	293	239
Comp-Att	16-23	27-46
Yards per pass	12.7	5.2
Rushing	171	80
Rushing Attempts	40	26
Yards per rush	4.3	3.1
Penalties	4-30	2-15
Turnovers	0	3
Fumbles lost	0	0
Interceptions thrown	0	3
Possession	31:39	28:21

Bowl projections look terrible for B1G Ten

Wow, based on the projections by BTN's Tom Deinhart, the ES isn't so bullish on the Big Ten's chances in bowls.  This game by MSU really can make or break whether or not MSU plays in a premium bowl, or a toilet bowl. Right now, Deinhart has the Spartans in a toilet bowl.

Here is what the ES thinks with his prediction of a, gulp, ugly 3-6 Big Ten result:

BOWL GAME	MATCHUP	PROJECTION (ES PREDICTS)
BCS title game, Jan. 6	BCS No 1 vs. No. 2	Ohio State vs. Alabama (LOSS)
Rose Bowl, Jan. 1	Big Ten vs. BCS/Pac-12	Northwestern vs. Oregon (LOSS)
Capital One Bowl, Jan. 1	Big Ten vs. SEC	Wisconsin vs. Georgia (LOSS)
Outback Bowl, Jan. 1	Big Ten vs. SEC	Michigan vs. Florida (LOSS)
Gator Bowl, Jan. 1	Big Ten vs. SEC	Nebraska vs. Ole Miss (WIN)
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, Dec. 28	Big Ten vs. Big 12	Iowa vs. Baylor (WIN)
Texas Bowl, Dec. 27	Big Ten vs. Big 12	Michigan State vs. Texas (LOSS)
Heart of Dallas Bowl, Jan. 1	Big Ten vs. C-USA	Illinois vs. Rice (WIN)
Little Caesars Pizza, Dec. 26	Big Ten vs. MAC	Minnesota vs. Ohio (LOSS)

Prime Time BTN = Anything BUT Prime

OK, so the Big Ten Network is promoting its "Prime Time" matchup football schedule this fall, including a Friday, Aug 30, welcome of Western Michigan to Michigan State. 

A fairly pathetic schedule to promote.  Really, what is interesting?  Maybe BTN will be lucky to capture a Thunderstorm or Tornado in the Cowboys' 10-hour, 700-mile drive from Cheyenne to Lincoln.  Syracuse at Northwestern - maybe a 2-hour video of a student rendition of the Scopes Monkey Trial.  Vegas at Minny?  Hopefully it snows in August in Minneapolis.   Indiana State at Indiana?  Godforbid, the Hoosiers best shot is if Larry Bird stays retired, football, basketball, whatever.

Good grief.  Save the press release, but enjoy Big Ten football! 

BTN PRIMETIME SCHEDULE (all times Eastern)
Thursday, August 29

• 7 PM – UNLV at Minnesota

Friday, August 30

• 8 PM – Western Michigan at Michigan State

Saturday, August 31

• 8 PM – Wyoming at Nebraska

Saturday, September 7

• 6 PM – Syracuse at Northwestern
• 6 PM – Southern Miss at Nebraska

Saturday, September 14

• 6 PM – UCF at Penn State
• 6 PM – Washington vs. Illinois (at Soldier Field)
• 9 PM – Western Michigan at Northwestern

Saturday, September 21

• 8 PM – Missouri at Indiana

Saturday, October 19

• 8 PM – Wisconsin at Illinois

REGIONAL COVERAGE

Thursday, Aug. 29

• 7 PM – Indiana State at Indiana

Saturday, September 7

• 6 PM – Navy at Indiana

Michigan St favored by 5.5 at Minnesota

Your Michigan State Spartans are early 5.5-point favorites at Minnesota next week. Iowa is favored by 17.5 at home vs Indiana; Wisconsin is a 6.5-point home favorite over Purdue; scUM is favored by 8.5 at Illinois; and, Joe Pa is favored by 14 at Northwestern. Oh, and save the best for last: Ohio State favored by 40 over New Mexico State.

The national polls are out. Here's the AP Poll:

AP Top 25
RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Florida (30) 7-0 1463
2 Alabama (23) 8-0 1448
3 Texas (7) 7-0 1407
4 USC 6-1 1217
5 Cincinnati 7-0 1211
6 Boise State 7-0 1177
7 Iowa 8-0 1148
8 TCU 7-0 1132
9 LSU 6-1 1040
10 Oregon 6-1 933
11 Georgia Tech 7-1 923
12 Penn State 7-1 843
13 Oklahoma State 6-1 768
14 Virginia Tech 5-2 734
15 Houston 6-1 601
16 Pittsburgh 7-1 551
17 Ohio State 6-2 508
18 Miami (FL) 5-2 501
19 Utah 6-1 400
20 West Virginia 6-1 323
21 South Carolina 6-2 270
22 Oklahoma 4-3 210
23 Arizona 5-2 164
24 Mississippi 5-2 142
25 Notre Dame 5-2 135

Dropped from rankings: Brigham Young 16, Texas Tech 21, Kansas 24
Others receiving votes: Brigham Young 80, CENTRL MICHIGAN 76, California 24, Texas Tech 18, Wisconsin 16, Navy 13, Kansas 12, Clemson 11, Rutgers 1

Spartan DBs lickings its chops at Montana State QBs

Last year, Montana State traveled to two FBS schools, was waxed by Kansas State (69-10) and kept tight at Minnesota before falling, 35-23.

In the Kansas State game, on Sept. 6, the Bobcats had just 191 total yards, committed 4 turnovers (2 INTs), and trailed 45-7 at the half. Passing from both Cody Kempt and Mark Iddins was a combined 17-35-2-108. It was a real butt-kicking.

Against Minnesota on Sept. 13, the Bobcats trailed just 21-13 at the half, and 35-16 after three quarters. They outgained the Gophers 356-352 total yards, with 218 through the air. Their big play of the game: a 100-yard kickoff return by Demetrius Crawford with 3:33 left in the first half which kept the game tight. Against Minny, Bobcat QBs were: 16-39-3-218. The Bobcats threw three INTs against Minny: that's a total of 5 INTs against both FBS opponents.

Crawford was their starting tailback (1,314 yards in '08) and he has graduated, by the way - so with their two starting replacements out for the Michigan State game, expect Montana State to be thin and very young at RB... and, thusly, throwing the ball all over the place. The QBs certainly statistically were unimpressive against FBS last year.

The Moral of the Story: the talented and deep Spartan secondary should be licking its chops on Saturday.

Note that Montana State's starting cornerback, Arnold Briggs, tore his ACL in fall camp and is out for the year.