Catching Up With Catching Up

Writing and previewing all the B1G bball games that MSU plays is hard to do.  Even if they have not played in nearly week.  MSU should go into Iowa and crush them.  Though Iowa played Indiana down to the wire.  A lot of writers are calling this a must win.  Including The Only Colors and Joe Rexrode.  Sure it's a must win, but you can win other games too.  Let's say MSU looses this game, what if they run the table the rest of the way?  For MSU to win this game, they need to run and out athlete Iowa.  With that, they need to keep the turnover machine low.

That is for you guys to discuss. 

I wish Will Gholston took advice from whomever gave Taylor Lewan advice because Taylor is coming back.

With regards to players going to the NFL. It is a good net benefit for MSU to send players to the NFL, especially if they play.  I can see Sims having the best pro career out of Bell, Gholston and Sims.  Regardless, it has to be a good selling point to recruits that MSU is sending them to the NFL. Although, winning 11 games and going to the Rose Bowl would have helped too. 

I have been thinking about writing a lengthy MSU v. UM nfl draft article.  I PROMISE to get it up this weekend. 

Weekend Recap

So I didn't watch as much college football as I normally would with the Tigers playoff game against the Yankees.  I did catch all of the Spartan game and did watch a portion of the UM game, until you know, it was apparent that game wasn't turning around for the Illini

- The Wolverines certainly appear to be the team to beat in Legends division.  The offense is firing on all cylinders at this point after games against Purdue and Illinois.  Even though those are not the strongest teams in the conference, these are the games you need to put points up in and get all the mojo going.  Those previous two weeks were the perfect games leading up to the MSU game.  Toussaint finally got going along with Robinson the pass game game looked solid enough and the confidence could not be higher for the Wolverines. 

- On the other end of the spectrum are my Spartans.  In a rain soaked game the Spartans managed a measly  16 points against an exceptionally mediocre, though leading the Legends division, Iowa Hawkeye team (back handed compliment of the week).  I don't really have a lot to say but I will.  Early on, Bell got moving pretty well, the defense looked like they were ready to play and the Spartan's appeared to be on their way to rolling the Hawkeyes.  Unfortunately, that did not happen.  Maxwell missed a few passes, one in particular was sailed over Burbridge in the endzone.  Burbridge maybe could have done more to wiggle open, but without a doubt, had Maxwell thrown that ball into his body, that was a touchdown.  Of course, there was the end of the first half botched field goal.  After a couple nice plays to get the ball into FG range, all things brokw down.  Players were running on the field, some were running off, Bell tried to clock the ball, then the half was over.  In a way, that play has summarized the Spartans play so far this year.  Some great plays, followed by a mess, and then hoping Bell can carry us.

Getting to a bowl game at this point looks like it will be a struggle.  I have to imagine the MSU team is very deflated coming into UM and there is no doubt that the Wolverines are ready.  Right now, that looks like it will end up being an ugly game. I said we should go 4-2 for the secong half, already we are are 0-1.  We need this win against UM.

 

(Just because its hate week.  Bite me.)

MSU vs. Iowa re: Abortion or not?

So here we are, the halfway point.  MSU has gone 4-2 (1-1) up to this point. I think that finishing the second half at 4-2 would equal a satisfactory season.  Especially if one of those 4s was over UM. But up next?  MSU has their old? nemesis.  One of the best games I have ever been to at Spartan Stadium was 2009 against Iowa.  That was the first college football game I took my dad to. I am not sure he knew what to expect.   It was a night game and a sold out crowd of 75,000.  We entered Spartan Stadium a bit early to see the band and the team enter.  About 2 minutes in he yelled that there was so much energy, I responded with "WHAT?!?".  That was a fun/loud game.

OFFENSE:  Burbridge had a coming out party last week to the tune of 134 yards.  Burbridge very well could be the saviour of this passing offense, this week could establish that.  However, the Iowa defense has been coming along lately and they seem to have a team that was built to stop our offense.  Up front, they can take the blows of a big back like Bell.  So what should we look for?  Well I think the MSU team is going to look to establish the run as they always do.  Off of that they will run some juke plays off of a run formation.  This offense has been so predictable it is necessary to run some flea flickers, half back option passes, double fakes.  Anything to create a little wrinkle, but not too much because we want this next week: 

 

DEFENSE:  They need to continue what they have been doing. Williamson showed a lot of speed as a safety and could be the guy from here on out.  Anything that helps the corners over top.  On too many pass plays this year, a safety has blown a read and left the corners way too isolated.  That wont happen this week.  Another change has been Taiwan Jones over Chris Norman.  Norman, right now is more of a bruising presence.  In past years he has shown more speed, as I wrote about in our position breakdowns.  Now Jones is stepping up and showing that speed.  This position will depend on the team.  I expect Norman to get more PT against the big RB that Iowa has.   Right now Gholston needs to flip a switch and I fully expect that.  Look for two sacks from Gholston and a hand-full of plays in the backfield. 

On the whole, this is a game MSU has to win or it could be a season we need to abort.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  Sometimes you make mistakes and you need to correct those.  I hope that all the flaws MSU has shown they are learning from.  They certainly showed some fire in the second half against Indiana.  There cannot be any player expecting to roll from here on out.  Personally, I feel fairly optimistic about this game and that is mostly due to Brubridge.  I am a huge wide reciever fan and believe they dictate a game more than any other skill position.  He could be our guy.  If he is, we win.  Look for a Burbridge touchdown in the rain along with a lot of power from Bell.  Call it 24-14 MSU.  

(you're welcome Pat for the title)

Quick and dirty

Just how I like my three things.

1:  Cousins.

Kirk needs to have a good game.  This Iowa defense isnt as good as years past but still is very capable of causing turnovers.  Kirk needs to not play like he did last year.

2: Stopping the run.

MSU  needs to stop the Iowa running backs from doing that.  Running.  This will force Iowa to pass more.  That might not be a good thing because McNutt is a sick sick receiver. 

3: Score points.

Our offense has been a bit off track.  It certainly didn't look spectacular against Minnesota.  We need to score points, a close game here and we could very well lose.  To score points, I see MSU taking advantage of their tight ends more than in any other game with a lot of passes up the middle.  Sims has a broken wrist and is playing with a cast on.  I sure hope he doenst play a lot becuase it cannot be easy to catch a ball like that.  Linthicum is more than capable of catching the  ball.  Along with that.  MSU has been saying all week that they are gonna pound the ball.  Look for that too, but mostly to set up play action passes.  If we can break a couple runs early, were gonna score on a 40 yard bomb later.

Prediction:

Everyone that I read, so mostly MSU bloggers are calling for a close game.  That seems very logical.  But that is something that I lack.  We will go 27-17.  That sounds close but I think MSU is going to control this game.  Look for Jerel Worthy to be in beast mode.  Also, as mentioned above, I like the play action set up in this game.