Video: Spartan Band practice march to stadium

Wanna get fired up... well... So here was ES and Big Bob heading onto MSU campus to hurl the pigskin, just three days before the season opener. And, the Spartan marching band shuts down the streets in its practice entry to the Stadium... "Go State, Beat the Broncos." Beautiful, 300+ strong band all jacked up - with a nice crowd watching.

Gets da ES all fired up for football on Friday!

MSU ranked #13 by coaches to kick off 2012 season

The Spartans start out the 2012 season with the coaches giving Michigan State gridders a preseason #13 ranking, right behind #8 Michigan and #12 Wisky.  Nebraska is #16 and Notre Dame is at #24.  Coaches love that big Spartan Defense as well as our coach, the Doctor Mr. MD.  GO BIG GREEN!

RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	LSU (18)	0-0	1403
2	Alabama (20)	0-0	1399
3	USC (19)	0-0	1388
4	Oklahoma	0-0	1276
5	Oregon	0-0	1258
6	Georgia	0-0	1061
7	Florida State	0-0	1055
8	Michigan	0-0	1023
9	South Carolina	0-0	981
10	Arkansas	0-0	948
11	West Virginia	0-0	833
12	Wisconsin	0-0	743
13	Michigan State	0-0	717
14	Clemson	0-0	598
15	Texas	0-0	549
16	Nebraska	0-0	501
17	TCU	0-0	499
18	Stanford	0-0	497
19	Oklahoma State	0-0	476
20	Virginia Tech	0-0	461
21	Kansas State	0-0	398
22	Boise State	0-0	271
23	Florida	0-0	250
24	Notre Dame	0-0	166
25	Auburn	0-0	66

• Others receiving votes: Washington 64, Louisville 46, Georgia Tech 35, Cincinnati 32, Texas A&M 28, Baylor 23, Utah 22, Mississippi State 21, SOUFLA 12, NCSTATE 11, Louisiana Tech 10, Brigham Young 10, Virginia 9, Houston 7, Southern Miss 6, Rutgers 5, UCF 5, Tennessee 3, Missouri 3, FLAINTL 3, Northern Illinois 2, TEXASTECH 1

MSU in perfect spot to win Big Ten football title; Media gives Mich the nod

Those pesky rodents down the road received the nod as the favorite to win the Big Ten title this year.  MSU was picked behind the Wolvies for second in the Legends division (similar to last year's pick of the Spartans behind Nebraska).  That's perfect - what wins championships?  DEFENSE, and all noted that Michigan State has the best defense returning to the Big Ten for 2012.  Love the USA Today quote from James Ferentz, the starting center at Iowa, said it was a nightmare to prepare to play the Spartans. "I think they are incredible," Ferentz said.

That game down in Ann Arbor looms large as the potential for the Legends title.  The Spartans have won four straight in the series, and have completely shut down that little scat-back of a QB, Denard Robinson, in each of the past three years.  Shall the Spartans make it five in the series?  The ES thinks so.  Nebraska was picked third in the Legends.

Other than that, not much news from the Big Ten media day, other than JOHNNY ADAMS and WILLIAM GHOLSTON noted as players to watch in the Big Ten this year. 

Spartan Fan/Spirit Day? Arrgh!

While the Doctor, Captain Kirk, and the rest of the Spartan clan were engaging the faithful in a happy day of expectations, the ES wuz busy working on his dissertation... but happened to fall into the celebation from a distance.  This is what it looked like today, from Harper's brewpub downtown:

Phil Steele disappoints on #28 Michigan State

Reading Phil Steele's writeup of his #28 Michigan State Spartans was one of the more disappointing reads of the preseason previews; although he is accurate in his assessment by position, he uses a negative connotation about MSU, unlike his love of the scUM mystique.  Just starting with the cover -- a scUM player (Robinson), a Ohio $tate player (Williams), and a Nebraska player (Crick).... even though Steele picks MSU in a tie in the Legends Division with Nebraska. 

But, his analysis of the Spartans sez this by position, fairly accurate:

• QB: "Cousins should be one of the Big Ten's best"
• RB: "This is one of the deeper RB corps in the country"
• OL: "With a deeper overall unit MSU could top last year's production"
• DL: "This looks like the Spartans' deepest and most complete DL since at least '07"
• LB: "With the loss of the top 2, however, this unit will be down a few notches"
• DB: "This group is equal to last year in terms of experience and 6'2' Tony Lippet could be a big upgrade at CB if he stays on defense"
• ST:  "may drop a few notches"

Forecast:  "This year MSU has just 12 returning starters and play five road games vs. bowl teams. Despite that 7-1 mark in Big Ten play they were only +39.9 yards per game.  MSU also benefitted from three net close wins and had just 7 starters lost to injury.  This is probably the strongest team that Dantonio has fielded but the above factors make it tough to match last year's 11 wins."  He ranks Michigan State #28 overall, although he has them in a tie for first in the Legends Division... ????

ES:  My problem with the forecast is the framework provided by Steele is one of the glass being half empty instead of half full:  why is ypg, close wins, and lack of injuries seen as a negative?  This is Dantonio's style, to play tough on defense and give his teams a chance to make plays and win.  Spartan fans will (hopefully) see this year in and year out... and also celebrate the victories to match. 

Notably, in every other BCS conference where he picked a #1 team or a tie at #1 in a conference division, Steele ranked them in the Top 25 (except the Big Least with Pitt) :  SEC (Alabama #1, Georgia #9), ACC (#5 Virginia Tech, #10 Florida St), Pac-12 (#4 Oregon, #17 Southern Cal), Big East (#25 South Florida, #27 Pittsburgh), Big 12 (Oklahoma #2), Big Ten (#12 Nebraska, #15 Ohio St, #23 Wisconsin, #24 Penn St). 

Steele projects Michigan State to play Florida in the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day.  He has Cousins as his #6 QB, Baker as his #7 RB, Martin as his #51 WR, Cunningham as his #65 WR, Linthicum as #24 TE, Foreman as his #7 OG, Conroy as #16 PK, Worthy as #2 DT, Norman as #43 LB, Adams as #33 CB, Robinson as #17 FS, and Martin as #15 PR.  Never in my years reading Steele have I seen as many Spartans listed so highly. 

As units go, Steele has MSU QBs at #23, RBs at #6, DL at #25, ST at #6.  Steele blew it not including the Spartan WR corps or the DBs in his top 25 -- clearly they deserve a nod. 

Bottom line: the ES despises being lumped into the same category as Pittsburgh and not being given a nod for its talent... but, this just means that Dantonio has lots of work to do to give Michigan State the respect after so many years of underachieving.  That starts with 2011-12. 

Michigan State football ranks top 25 nationally entering 2011

With the spring game 2 days away, and it looks like sunny skies with 65 weather (beauty!), I need to post how the Big Green Machine ranks looking toward the fall.

Mind you, the ES will post a more extensive listing here by Mid-May, but thanks to my bro out in Chi-town, he notes MSU's national prowess (despite our being thumped by 'Bama). And, yes, this is all football, NOT men's hoops:

It's nearly May - we're 4 months and 5 days away from opening kickoff for MSU. Here's a quick glance of preseason rankings via a quick google search:

www.bleacherreport.com - MSU #10 (2nd in B1G behind Nebraska, #1 Oklahoma)
collegefootball.about.com - MSU #14 (4th in B1G behind OSU, Nebraska and Wisc, #1 Oregon)
collegefootballcafeteria.com - MSU #13 (3rd B1G behind OSU and Wisc, #1 Oklahoma)
fftoolbox.com - MSU #25 (B1G behind everyone, #1 'Bama)
espn.com - MSU #16 (3rd in B1G behind OSU and Wis, #1 Oklahoma)
nationalchamps.net - MSU #12 (2nd in B1G behind OSU, #1 Oklahoma)
sbnation.com - MSU #10 (2nd in B1G behind Nebraska, #1 Oklahoma)

Our first game is against Youngstown State (no, that isn't a typo) on 03 September.

Rewind: Izzo interview pre-season of 2010-11

Just added fire and inspiration.... Here is an interview just prior to the season on the Spartan hoops team via ESPN:



Hey, a season is an eternity. Many things happen, within and without a coach's control (grades, family, environment, legal issues, NCAA, eligibility, etc)... but, it is worth reviewing the preseason inflation of the team to remember what expectations were before the season imploded... Here are some key quote from the $3.5 million-man, from last October/November, just before season tip-off.:

"With depth and talent, it’s not quite the talent we had with the 2000-2001 teams, we had 4-5 pros and I don’t know how many we’ll have on this team…”

“But the key word you said is with injuries, and injury-wise, I don’t know how far we can come back but right now, we are injury free… but the time we missed over the summer, it is tough to tell how much damage that will do until the year really gets started… but I do think that the chemistry has been great, we have the ability to go big go small play different styles….. but, no excuses, if coach doesn’t screw ‘em up, it should be a pretty good team.”

Again, the ES says, Spartans... is it IN you?

Jeff Sagarin ranks MSU #44; Joe Paterno is a Dough Boy

Jeff Sagarin's rankings are out for 2009 college football preseason, with MSU ranking a measly 44th. After reviewing the Big Ten composite schedule, the ES was able to make some generalizations about schedule strength, and names Joe Pa as 2009's NCAA Dough Boy for scheduling four creampuffs in 2009. He and the Nittany Lions should be ashamed.

MICHIGAN STATE (#44)
--------------------
Montana State (#148)
CMU (#87)
@ Notre Dame (#48)
@ Wisconsin (#33)
Michigan (#35)
@ Illinois (#63)
N'western (#61)
Iowa (#27)
@ Minnesota (#69)
WMU (#88)
@ Purdue (#57)
Joe Pa (#8)

BIG TEN SAGARIN RANKINGS
------------------------
Illinois (#63)
Indiana (#95)
Iowa (#27)
Michigan (#35)
Mich State (#44)
Minnesota (#69)
N'western (#61)
Ohio State (#5)
Joe Pa (#8)
Purdue (#57)
Wisconsin (#33)

Lowest Sagarin Ranking of non-conference Big Ten opponents:

FCS/1-AA - Delaware State (#200) at Michigan
FBS/1-A - New Mexico State (#144) at Ohio State

Highest Sagarin Ranking of non-conference Big Ten opponents:

Southern Cal (#1) vs Ohio State
Oregon (#10) vs Purdue
California (#15) vs Minnesota
Missouri (#18) vs Illinois

Biggest Sagarin Mismatches (Joe Pa wins the 2009 Dough Boy Award)

Joe Pa (#8) vs Eastern Illinois (#177) - 169 rank difference
Michigan (#35) vs Delaware State (#200) - 165
Ohio State (#5) vs New Mexico State (#144) - 139
Joe Pa (#8) vs Temple (#125) - 117
N'western (#61) vs Towson (#174) - 113
Ohio State (#5) vs Toledo (#113) - 108
Michigan (#35) vs EMU (#141) - 106
Mich State (#44) vs Montana State (#148) - 104
Joe Pa (#8) vs Akron (#111) - 103
Illinois (#63) vs Illinois State (#158) - 95
Iowa (#27) vs Arkansas State (#119) - 92
Joe Pa (#8) vs Syracuse (#97) - 89
N'western (#61) vs EMU (#141) - 80

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.
  

MSU #27 in preseason USA Today Poll

The inaugural USA Today Poll is released, and MSU is on the outside, looking in, at #27. Florida is #1 (shocker), Ohio St #6, Joe Pa #8, Iowa #21. The Top 9 is a yawner. What is interesting is the non-BCS teams: Boise St, TCU, Utah, BYU... all in at #16 and below. Newcomers: Ole Miss #10, Okla St #12, UNC #20, and Oregon State #25 are up and coming programs that have about 40 years of average-to-bad football (like Michigan State) preceding them.

Welcome back Nebraska, #22. Look forward to ruining your party on Sept. 19, #23 Notre Dame.

USA Today (August 7, 2009)

1. Florida (53) 0-0 1,466
2. Texas (4) 0-0 1,386
3. Oklahoma (1) 0-0 1,358
4. USC (1) 0-0 1,321
5. Alabama 0-0 1,134
6. Ohio State 0-0 1,126
7. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,020
8. Penn State 0-0 988
9. LSU 0-0 917
10. Mississippi 0-0 889
11. Oklahoma State 0-0 861
12. California 0-0 711
13. Georgia 0-0 707
14. Oregon 0-0 694
15. Georgia Tech 0-0 559
16. Boise State 0-0 542
17. TCU 0-0 461
18. Utah 0-0 404
19. Florida State 0-0 371
20. North Carolina 0-0 293
21. Iowa 0-0 257
22. Nebraska 0-0 236
23. Notre Dame 0-0 194
24. Brigham Young 0-0 178
25. Oregon State 0-0 165
Others Receiving Votes
Kansas 138, Michigan State 136, Texas Tech 114, Cincinnati 90, Pittsburgh 64, West Virginia 55, Rutgers 51, Miami (FL) 46, Missouri 44, Illinois 38, Clemson 30, South Carolina 18, UCLA 14, Auburn 12, South Florida 11, Nevada 11, Kentucky 9, North Carolina State 7, Wisconsin 6, Arkansas 6, Northwestern 5, Southern Miss 4, Wake Forest 4, Arizona 3, Boston College 3, CENTRL MICHIGAN 3, East Carolina 3, Colorado 2, Maryland 2, Navy 2, Tennessee 2, TROY 1, Minnesota 1, Michigan 1, Houston 1.