THE RIP PIECE:UM vs MSU

How many you got?

Anyways... I am a conflicted Michigan State fan... or should I say Michigan fan? More and more the Michigan is leaving me and Michigan State is taking hold. See, I grew up rooting for Michigan my whole life, then I went to Michigan State for college and that expensive piece of paper on my wall says, "Michigan State University" so going into this game I was really conflicted because I did not want MSU to ruin UM's undefeated season, but I know if MSU plays to their potential every game they could win the Big 10. But enough about that, lets set the atmosphere. How does it sound to be 46 degrees (F not C) at 8 a.m. in the rain hanging out with 100,000+ of your closest 'friends'? It's a blast... especially since 6 months from now 46 degrees will result in people wearing t-shirts. Although, the UM fan standing on his truck talking smack getting hit with beer cans/bottles must have been cold and lonely. Please note that this individual was calling attention upon himself and was rewarded with it; mean while everyone else remains friendly, except for the altercation we saw after the game as well... but that was with a sour loser UM fan telling MSU fans to F off... he was quickly put in his place and that was broken up rather quickly by some more sober citizens.

But needless to say, the things that D loved most about East Lansing were out roaming around... How I miss East Lansing.

78,000 + were in attendance to watch MSU dominate UM. Yes dominate, with 14:49 to play in the 4th quarter the score was 20-6 in favor of the Spartans. MSU's defense put pressure on Forcier, who found himself on his back more often than a prom date. It was very impressive yet so very aggravating because Michigan State has beat itself the previous 3 games. Now its time to call out names... I told you, Dwyer, that MSU looked to be better than UM vs a common opponent (and I don't care about that injury stuff of the ND WR). MSU hit ND harder than UM hit ND all game long and it showed in this game. MSU's first possession against UM looked to be another let down... throwing an interception that UM turned into 3 points. State responded by a 10 minute drive that finished by my boy Larry Caper from Battle Creek (my old stompin grounds) welcoming #8 from Michigan to East Lansing....




From there on out, MSU fumbled a few times... but the defense stepped up and gave the offense more opportunities which they capitalized on. State has a lot of issues with turnovers and it continued in this game. Wisconsin turned 3 T.O.s into 21 points on the Spartans last week. Needless to say, East Lansing was rocking going into the 4th quarter; but then that's when MSU became conservative and protecting against the big play. MSU began to give up so many short passes and next thing you know, UM is on your 10 yard line... Every one's... I mean EVERYONE in the stadium rooting for MSU had their stomach in knots and fully believing that "here we go again" feeling of blowing yet another game. Overtime came and the Spartans won the toss, elected for defense first... which stepped up like they had for 3 quarters of the game and got the T.O. Michigan proceeded to stuff MSU on their possession, so on 3rd down, I believe Caper was suppose to to just get the ball in position for the kick, when he was able to pound his way 23 yards for T.D.

Michigan State's veteran defense finally showed up to play this year. The offense has been one dimensional all year until this game; it looks as if MSU has found its swagger again (talking about from last year). I mean lets be real here, is there a team out there more skytzo than MSU? All and all, I beleive this team is better than last year's 8-3 team even without Ringer. They just need to get out of their own way. MSU held UM to 28 yards rushing... the conferences best running team only had 28 yards vs MSU (where was this in Madison WI last weekend?) MSU has possession for nearly 40 minutes compared to 20 minutes for UM...
Yards: UM 251, MSU 417
Ryds: UM 28, MSU 197
Pyds: UM 223, MSU 220
T.O.s: UM 2, MSU 3
Penalties: UM 2-15, MSU 8-94
Needless to say, it was quite the emotional roller coaster for every fan. Now both teams need to go undefeated from here on out and I will be happy... and so will you, because EVERYONE hates Ohio State.