This week, not much movement or reason for movement in the top 10.. If not a reason, we won't make moves just to make moves...

But, below that, its a soup sandwich trying to shift and change based upon teams win margins, home / away games, losses, etc... Up, down all around..  the rankings look to be shaking out.. I think things will stabilize in about 2 more games..
 
My Beloved Spartans sink.. If they can beat Indy, Iowa and Wisconsin,  I’ll put them back in.. Only time will tell.

My Ballot and work sheet are below.

SpartyMSU Ballot - Week 5

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Oregon Ducks	--
3	LSU Tigers	--
4	Florida St. Seminoles	--
5	Georgia Bulldogs	--
6	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
7	West Virginia Mountaineers	--
8	Kansas St. Wildcats	--
9	Texas Longhorns	1
10	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	-1
11	Clemson Tigers	6
12	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
13	USC Trojans	-2
14	TCU Horned Frogs	--
15	Stanford Cardinal	-2
16	Florida Gators	-1
17	Nebraska Cornhuskers	2
18	Louisville Cardinals	--
19	Oklahoma Sooners	-3
20	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	2
21	Mississippi St. Bulldogs	-1
22	Oregon St. Beavers	1
23	UCLA Bruins	2
24	Washington Huskies	--
25	Northwestern Wildcats	--
Dropouts: Michigan St. Spartans, Virginia Tech Hokies

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Opinions from the Bleachers on the Ohio State game…  And grading the Spartans…

The Football team did play better, yes they did.. Even if they are extremely predictable.

While in the stands, Its clear for this blogger, what plays MSU will most likely run.  And if its that evident to me, then sure as Buckeyes are round,  Ohio State and everyone else sure did too…  It was pretty obvious, and some of the choices were less than what I would have hoped for, from my Pre-Season selected Divisions winners…

Play calling: “D-“ :  Mr. “O” Coordinator Dan.. you need to have more than one running back, Bell can’t carry the entire load.. He is good, and sometimes great…  But lets rotate others in…

And sure as heck need to rotate in other receivers. And if receivers don’t catch, sit them and rotate in others… Where is Arnett ?? Mix up plays, a reverse, screens, slants, end around… Something please.

Gotta Give the Defense unit an solid “A-”..    Spartan Defense did its job.. no question.

Chris Norman is a beast.. Will Gholston wonder whats up with him ? He had 4 tackles, but he doesn’t seem to be the impact player he was last year.  Regardless of William the entire unit is looking good but not great...  Gholston is  not a Top 20 draft pick, Like I thought he would be… 

 Johnny Adams has gotten beat deep by Notre dame, eastern, and Ohio State…

“D” Line: Plug the gaps a bit better.. And  I would wish they would rush and go after Braxton more..  …

Kurtis Drummond and Denicos Allen very good so far, Max Bullough is king…. But they can do better.  I thought they would be better and farther along by now… But clearly they are the best unit out there.

Special teams rated only a “D”, the kick out of bounds didn’t help, the missed FG was a kick in the pants. Conroy has missed one in every game so far. Those missed 3 points were significant when MSU loses by only one point…

“O” Line: “D+”  From my seats, Maxwell was under pressure all game, I saw him ditch the ball a couple times, was sacked twice.  Adding insult to injury: sophomore Center Travis Jackson broken his right leg and injured right MCL. He’s done…  On top of that OL Fonoti is still out when he was hurt the Notre Dame game..  Both of these injuries will be huge to overcome.

Receivers.. “B-“  There was improvement from the last two games..  gotta give credit for improvement. QB Andrew Maxwell completed 22 of 42 throws for 269 yards. Very impressive bull dozer TD from Keith Mumphery . He caught and broke 5 – 6 tackles for a score.  STUD !
As a unit.... They are looking better, but not great. Where is Arnett ?

Le’Veon Bell:  “B”.  He had 17 carries, for 47 yards, the whole team only had 49 rushing yards all day.. that’s odd, very odd for the Spartans. They been tearing it up on the ground.. and now they get limited..??  What sup with that..  Need to get others in the rotation.

QB: “B+”:.  Maxwell completed 22 of 42 throws for 269 yards. But, he looks as if he is taking more control, and seems to have a better focus.. that’s my opinion from row 54… He is looking much better.

Still One Man's opinion... As a team:  THEY CAN DO BETTER.. Where is the fire of last year ?

Usually I don’t call out the officiating, since games are won on the field of play, but the missed calls on Ohio state holding (4 times I saw), the blown fumble call that was on its way for Spartans 6 points.  Did we get the placements form the NFL ?

Lets add some important context:  YOUTH.... the Spartans have only One (1) senior starting on the Offensive side of the ball, Two (2) seniors total for that unit.  And on “D”, 2 seniors starting, and 3 more on the depth chart. This is a relatively young football team,. This is good for next year.. not so good for this year…

The predictability thing has to be solved.. They need more plays, more screens, more trickeration.

Rose Bowl is still in sight..  but, Spartans have to win out… they can afford no more losses…

Hope thety beat Indy, win against Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin !
Can't tell right now...

Sparty On ..!!

See my ballot work sheet below.  A bit confusing this week… But, we sorted it out, the conf. calls were a bit heated.  There were votes for the Ohio Bob Cats, and others...

-Alabama is still #1….
-LSU should not have let Auburn be that close, so you’re out of #2 spot.
-Middle stayed the same pretty much, a couple bye weeks, and no big shakes or unexpected     results.
-The Sooners pooped their pants in Norman….
-Clemson couldn’t put Florida away.. big scoring game… Close….
-Notre Dame kicked the ass of both Schools in the State of Michigan…
-I am liking Rutgers, Mississippi State, and Oregon State…
-Side Note: MAC schools are looking good this year, CMU and WSU both won BIG away games.

SpartyMSU Ballot - Week 4

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Oregon Ducks	1
3	LSU Tigers	-1
4	Florida St. Seminoles	--
5	Georgia Bulldogs	2
6	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
7	West Virginia Mountaineers	1
8	Kansas St. Wildcats	8
9	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	6
10	Texas Longhorns	--
11	USC Trojans	--
12	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
13	Stanford Cardinal	--
14	TCU Horned Frogs	--
15	Florida Gators	2
16	Oklahoma Sooners	-11
17	Clemson Tigers	-8
18	Louisville Cardinals	--
19	Nebraska Cornhuskers	3
20	Mississippi St. Bulldogs	--
21	Michigan St. Spartans	-1
22	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	--
23	Oregon St. Beavers	--
24	Virginia Tech Hokies	1
25	UCLA Bruins	-4
Dropouts: Arizona Wildcats, Arkansas Razorbacks, Michigan Wolverines

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Sure they won… But it was the ugliest game I have seen in many years..

Michigan State          23
Eastern Michigan     7

The score does not indicate how TERRIBLE the Spartans looked.   I counted 7 dropped passes..

VERY concerned about the team. What I thought was going to be another significant winning season.. bordering on 11 -1 again.. Looks more like we’ll be lucky to escape the Big Ten gauntlet with a couple victories.. and if the Spartans continue to play like this, Lord help us in Ann Arbor..

I can’t vote them this week in the top 25.. they looked more like the mediocre 50ish.... 

And now comes the Buckeyes come to town… Unless something changes..” Holy Dropped Pass Batman…”

 



Look at the Stats... Spartans should have been up 45 - 0.. they played BAD...
Only 1 Sack against EMU...
Passing: 16 for 29...
2 Fumbles...

This was supposed to be a game for clean, focus on skill sets and fundamentals..

                                    EMU      MSU

FIRST DOWNS...................        8       21
  Rushing.....................        1       13
  Passing.....................        6        8
  Penalty.....................        1        0
NET YARDS RUSHING.............       46      269
  Rushing Attempts............       29       44
  Average Per Rush............      1.6      6.1
NET YARDS PASSING.............      137      159
  Completions-Attempts-Int....  13-26-0  16-29-0
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS...........      183      428
Fumbles: Number-Lost..........      1-1      2-1
Penalties: Number-Yards.......     4-40     3-30
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD..    0-0-0    0-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD.    0-0-0    0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards...........        0        0
Possession Time...............    25:28    34:32
  1st Quarter.................     7:17     7:43
  2nd Quarter.................     6:25     8:35
  3rd Quarter.................     6:32     8:28
  4th Quarter.................     5:14     9:46
Third-Down Conversions........  2 of 14  4 of 14
Fourth-Down Conversions.......   0 of 2   0 of 0
Sacks By: Number-Yards........      0-0      1-9

Sparty On !!!

After an abysmal game against Notre dame, My hopes for a winless, nay.. even 11-1 season are trashed.

Maybe I was sucking from the Go Green fire hose as I often do.. But, holy crap, they played terrible.

MSU played So-So against Boise State,. face it, Boise State are posers.  And have been for several years.. Boise State gets up for the single big game to start the year, then they play patsies to finish the season .. Maybe a good opponent here and there.. But, not a Top 10 or Top 20 team.. Lets see them play a B1G Ten schedule week in / week out.
 
Truth be told, the Spartans should have won.. And they did.. But, not like I would have hoped, not like they should have.

Then travel to Mt. Pleasant and play the Chips.. Beat them handily. Only to  then lay a huge egg at Home…

3 points against Notre Dame.. Losing by 17.. My.. My.. My .. My..  Not a single TD, and dropped balls, can’t catch.. Through their hands type of offense.. Spartans were sacked 4 times by the Irish..  Only held the ball 4 mins. In the fourth quarter, only 50 yards rushing..  My… My .. My…

I do Love my Spartans, but that was terrible.   

Spartans you are better than that.. you are a much better team that you showed…

So.. here we are on the eve of the game against the next Michigan directional school.. As a Bleacher Coach from the 54^th row....  I suggest a simple,  a very simple game plan.  Let’s practice fundamentals. Blocking, tackling, small passes, pushing their O line back, get in their back field, CATCH the BALL, no penalties, run block, throw with accuracy, etc..   

Spartans will win, and I don’t give a rats derriere if we win only by 3 points. Practice fundamentals..

Pitch and catch.. all day.. nothing fancy this week.. just clean smooth football. The only fly in the ointment is DB Pudge Cotton for the  EMU Eagles.. But, still no great impact..

Prediction.. No surprise..

48    MSU  Spartans

7     EMU Eagles

SpartyMSU Ballot - Week 3

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	LSU Tigers	--
3	Oregon Ducks	--
4	Florida St. Seminoles	1
5	Oklahoma Sooners	1
6	South Carolina Gamecocks	1
7	Georgia Bulldogs	1
8	West Virginia Mountaineers	2
9	Clemson Tigers	3
10	Texas Longhorns	3
11	USC Trojans	-7
12	Ohio St. Buckeyes	-1
13	Stanford Cardinal	3
14	TCU Horned Frogs	1
15	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	4
16	Kansas St. Wildcats	1
17	Florida Gators	1
18	Louisville Cardinals	2
19	Arizona Wildcats	2
20	Michigan St. Spartans	-11
21	UCLA Bruins	3
22	Nebraska Cornhuskers	3
23	Arkansas Razorbacks	-1
24	Michigan Wolverines	--
25	Virginia Tech Hokies	-11
Dropouts: BYU Cougars

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

Let me know your thoughts..

We’re coming back.. SpartyMSU has been busier that a one arm linebacker in the Wolverine backfield…

Still have that glow from the second in a row   11 Win Season, Big Ten Division Champs, and Outback Bowl Champs.. Plus the Basketball team over achieving and making it to the Sweet 16.. 

What a great year it was… And we now embark on preparing our minds, souls, and bodies for the 2012 / 2013 season...  Spartan spring Football game is on the horizon..  April 28th, Saturday 1PM..

Early weather forecast is picture perfect.. Clear skys,  warm sunny 78 degree day !


Hopefully have new Spartan Decorations on the Vehicle.. “Tail Gate Sox".. the newest item on the block..

More to come shortly.. Spring preview.. game by game season early preview.. And much much more..

Sparty On !!