Kiper under the pillow says: "Spartans are Undervalued"

So, here's da ES, sleeping in this morning, and with the radio under my pillow... ES starts to stir around 9:30 am.  Spin that dial to listen to something other than NPR or the BBC...and, there is Mel Kiper ALL OVER THE SPARTANS.  Just my luck.  He's just salivating over Baker, Cousins, Cunningham, Martin.  Barking out praises to Worthy, Robinson, Allen, the "pedigree" of Bullough.  Concerned about the O-line.

Kiper's one-liner:  "THE SPARTANS ARE EXTREMELY UNDERVALUED."

Love it, but maybe he should keep to the NFL Draft?

It should be noted Kiper and that other chum on ESPN radio picked Nebraska over Wisky in the Big Ten title game.  But, Kiper really hedged his bets on the Big Green - "so many offensive threats"... Nice!

The glass is half full: Michigan State must beat Wisconsin

If you watched the Notre Dame game, with a tear in your beer at the end, you could take away that the Spartans' QB, Kirk Cousins, couldn't make the play in the end that QBs need to make to win games.

You could say that this is the Same Old Spartans, pissing away another game in typical Green & White fashion, outplaying a team on the road with nothing to show for it.

You might also conclude that this is a Spartan defense that is nothing short of a sieve.

But, other than the defensive secondary hemorrhaging, the ES would disagree. Maybe I'm getting older, but the ES sees the glass as half-full instead of half-empty.

Captain Kirk had arguably one of the most amazing games by a Spartan quarterback in recent memory. For most of the game, he was unstoppable, with laser-like precision. Spartan receivers caught the ball time and again (for once), making big play after big play. Unfortunately, the worst two passes of the game, and his career, were his last two. Still, football is a TEAM game, and Captain Kirk made more plays than the entire defense COMBINED.

The positive: we've found our quarterback. He learned a lesson the hard way, but Kirk Cousins (23-35-1-302) was smoking hot, completing 10 passes in a row at one time and 8 another time in the game. Just on fire.

The ES puts the blame of the ND loss squarely on the defense. Trenton Robinson looked COMPLETELY LOST and he was burned multiple times for TDs, especially on the TD to Floyd when Robinson twiddled his thumbs in the secondary instead of rolling over to cover the deep ball when Floyd passed Eric Gordon. It was pathetic. Time to pull Robinson out of there. The secondary played better as the game went along, especially when they started to play bump-and-run... but still didn't make enough big plays; this is a DB corps that completely lacks confidence at this point. If the Spartan defense had done their part, knowing the Irish were going to throw the deep ball and making more than one play (Chris Rucker's knock away in the 4th quarter was the only good play on a deep ball all game), the Spartan offense wouldn't have to feel like it needs to do more than its part, and have all the pressure to bail the defense out time and again.

Now, the Spartans travel to Wisconsin. MSU (1-2) defeated Montana State, and lost to CMU and Notre Dame. Wisconsin (3-0) beat Fresno State in 2-OT, beat Northern Illinois with a late TD, and whipped Wofford.

Defensively, Wisconsin is giving up 164 yards a game rushing (ranked #91) and 169 yards per game passing (ranked #31) - That's 334 yards per game total on defense, ranked #55 in the country. Certainly, the Spartan offense can take advantage. Its air attack of 296 yards per game leads the Big Ten and is #14 in the nation; the 127 yards per game on the ground is #81 nationally, but at 423 yards per game (#38), the MSU offense should have the advantage here and should be able to move the ball on a defense that is eerily similar to the Irish defense.

On offense, Wisky is rushing for 199 yards per game (#32), and passing for 226 (#56); their total offense of 425 yards per game is #32 in the country. This is the problem: MSU's inability to stop the opponent passing game. Wisconsin has only given up 2 sacks this year, so it will again be a stiff test for Spartan's to get to their QB with pressure (MSU pressured Clausen better as the game wore on and had 2 sacks). MSU's rush defense is giving up just 87 yards per game on the ground, and held up fairly well to ND and Armando Allen... but Wisky is more deliberately a run team, and I suspect you'll see a more balanced attack out of Wisconsin this week. Wisconsin fumbled six (yes 6) times in their cakewalk over Wofford last week... that hopefully will be a better advantage to the Spartan defense.

Most importantly - MSU defense needs to start making plays, and getting timely turnovers. They need confidence a la Otis Wiley, and make some plays in the secondary. The time is NOW.

Make no mistake: Mark Dantonio, are you listening? MICHIGAN STATE MUST BEAT WISCONSIN. A 1-3 start would make for a potentially ruinous season. There is no longer any room for error. Michigan State is the better team - now is the time to start showing it.

Dantonio presser: "you have to get hits on the quarterback"

Some important takes from Dantonio as we head down to kick the Leprechaun's smelly tail...

On the Spartan Defense: "It's important for our defense to get back on track. If you look at this past week, we didn't pressure CMU enough. We couldn't get there, whatever the case was, but we didn't hit the quarterback enough. If you're going to affect the quarterback, you got to hit him more. You've got to do more in coverage. Whatever it is, you have to get hits on the quarterback. So that will be important. I'm sure we'll see screens. I'm sure we'll see all the things that they do."

On Trenton Robinson getting the starting nod at safety over Danny Fortener: "Trenton had an outstanding spring. He makes a lot of plays. He came into camp, a little short on experience. We went with the other guy because of the experience. I don't think Danny Fortener has played badly, it's Trenton has played very well and has been very active. I think he had seven solo tackles and three assists on Saturday. He's an active football player, and he combines speed with that activity."

About the Spartan OL: "Some of it can be traced back to experience both on the (right side) offensive line and at running back. I know that Larry Caper cut back one time where he could have stayed on the outside with it, but that's (a lack of) experience. It's also about experience on the offensive line, getting the right guys up there. You've got to stay on your blocks and everything. We only had 56 plays on offense (against Central Michigan). We ran the ball 30 times for 107 yards. Again, we scored 27 points. We didn't turn the ball over. It was more a fact that we didn't get the ball enough. At the end, they took the clock and didn't leave anything left. "

On what to expect out of the Friggin Irish: " Obviously, Coach (Charlie) Weis is an offensive coach, so they will be very fundamentally sound. They're going to throw it up top. That's the nature of what they've done (in the passing game). They go deep a lot, but they've established the running game as well... Clausen is in his third year (as a starter) now, so he's an experienced quarterback. He knows where to go with the ball, and he gets rid of the ball quickly. They're going to throw it deep... Defensively, Notre Dame has six guys back with starting experience. Jon Tenuta is the defensive coordinator. He was at Ohio State before I had arrived there. He's known as a pressure coach, so he's going to pressure. He's going to play an under front predominantly."

Spartans shakeup DB lineup, choose captains

If you tried the other URL, enlightenedspartan.com, you may have found a bandwidth issue - it is being restored, but if you bookmark this page (the original host), you will always find an ES home.

Of particular note is a shake up in the defensive backfield, where Jeremy Ware, Marcus Hyde, and Danny Fortener have solidified starting spots. The advancement of Ware and Hyde is a particular surprise and demonstrates the depth of our secondary, considering the ES figured on Ross Weaver and highly touted Trenton Robinson as starters. Still, expect lots of plying time out of those two, and add depth with Johnny Adams, Kendall Davis-Clark, and Ashton Henderson. The ES really was impressed at the hard-hitting ability of Hyde when he was inserted into situations last year; he is a solid tackler, and from his safety spot, he can provide great run support when asked.

2009 MSU Spartan Captains are Greg Jones, Blair White, Ross Weaver, and Kirk Cousins. ES wonders if the pick of Cousins will have any impact on the race for starting QB: either helping Cousins, or as a consolation prize for being a backup. It really shouldn't matter.

Punt and kick returners remain "up in the air"

A status report from the Lansing State Journal provided a few wrinkles to the projected starting lineup, particularly at punt and kick returner. The LSJ notes that Keshawn Martin and Mark Dell are the top two candidates at punt returner.... which is good, you need good hands at that position due to potentially being smacked down on a hanging punt and missed blocks, and Martin, Dell, and Blair White are the only players who could catch anything last year. At kick returner, Larry Caper, Ed Baker, AJ Jimmerson, Trenton Robinson and Glenn Winston, are all getting a look. Don't be surprised to see the senior, Jimmerson, back there to start the year as a reward for his years of service... but eventually, for Winston to take over by the ND game after the coaching staff feels he has enough practice and is ready to go.

Also, at LB, the coaches love Chris Norman to add depth to the linebacker position -- and has a bright future for the Green and White. But, the LSJ also reports that sophomore Drew Stevens and redshirt freshman Steve Gardiner are also getting a good look.