Big Ten Board (Beta)

Next year's game against TSUN will be our bowl game and I think Meyer pulls out all the stops and wins it. That should knock TSUN out of the conference championship game AND probably the Rose Bowl. Sweet.

Well, if he's proven wrong, hopefully he can show as much class as you did in your post. Jack ass.

Figures that this was written by a buckeye fan.

I'm not dismissing Michigan State at all. I love Mark Dantonio. They've had 2 of the best years in the history of the program the last 2 years. They gotta get over this little brother thing, though, and get over the hump. Beat Georgia and come see me. Seriously.

In regards to MSU basketball, Izzo gets big results usually. But let's call a spade a spade. The last 3 seasons -- on the whole -- have been disappointing. They underachieved all year before redeeming themselves in 2008-09 and 2009-10 by getting to the Final Four. My God they were preseason No. 2 last year and never played anywhere close to that level in any game the entire season.

It's just not as smooth as it once was for Izzo and the Spartans. They are very good. But they aren't elite good -- that was shown against UNC and Duke, trailing each by double digits most of the way.

I'm not sure I'm not saying anything that isn't fair comment here. Does anybody who is NOT a MIchigan State fan dispute anything I've said here or in the Chat about MSU football and basketball? I want somebody who doesn't have Spartan or Green in their ID name to tell me exactly what I've said that's off base.

Then again, maybe I'm an idiot. I dunno.

Hey Steve- I'm a Spartans fan but I'd like to think I'm fairly objective in my assessments of their BB and FB programs.

Yes- the 2010 MSU BB season was an unmitigated disaster. Experienced players underperformed and the team lacked many of the qualities Izzo preaches. However, to say the 2008 and 2009 teams underachieved until the tournament is missing the point - the regular season in college BB is totally irrelevant; the tournament is the only time where it matters. Teams that are able to win and advance when it matters are considered elite. Izzo and MSU may need to win one or two more national championships to be considered an elite program by your standards, but that does not mean they underperformed in the 2008 and 2009 seasons. To the contrary, Izzo did some of his best coaching in those 2 years.

As far as predictions go on the FB side, you're entitled to your opinions like everyone else. No one should get upset if you picked UM, OSU or Wisky over MSU. It's nothing more than an educated guess. MSU consistently has the 4th/5th best talent/depth in the best years, which means they need to pull off 1-2 upsets each year to win the division/conference. I'd like to think that with a coaching staff is top 3 (assuming Narduzzi stays) in the B1G they will continue to trend toward the top of the league every year. As the 2009 season indicated, MSU's margin for error simply isn't as large as it is for some other programs with better talent - and I have no problems with that.

Rather than lose sleep over what individual analysts think about the program, I'd rather focus on enjoying the actual competition and making my own assessments.

The last 3 seasons have been a disappointment? What?!? 2 B1G championships, 1 NC runner up, another Final Four, and yes, last season was a disappointment. Maybe Buckeye fans are used to bowing out early in the tournament after being in the top 4 in teh polls most of the season, but Izzo understands that your ranking on Feb 28 isn't the end of the year. 2008-2009 31-7, 15-3 conference, outright B1G season champs, runner up against UNC. 2009-2010 28-9, 14-4 conference shared B1G champs, Final Four appearance. 2010-2011 you have a point, it was disappointing.

BTW UNC and Duke want nothing to do with MSU come March.

good points everybody!!

MSU basketball was a disaster by their standards last year, but they look like the spartys of old this year. They are coming together as a team and I don't think they would be down by 20 in the second half against UNC and Duke earlier this year.

MSU football has enjoyed a solid run, but they are downplaying the lose of a 3 year starter at QB. The defense returns, but I see a drop in their defensive ranking due to the offense having more 3 and outs forcing the defense onto the field more than they had to be with Cousins at the helm.

Okay - this is good. You've provided analysis that Steve wasn't able to or chose not to. Michigan is good. Full Stop.

The debate is around if Michigan is good enough in 2012 to dismiss the MSU game as a given. I believe that the answer is 'no' given that MSU's defense will be awfully close to as good as this year & in past years ('09 & '10) Robinson has been nicely contained by the MSU D. I dont see that changing drastically, but if I'm off base here I'd love a dissenting opinion as to why.

On the other side of the ball, I expect MSU to have a better time running the ball all RB back & an improved o-line) but take a step down at QB (alrhough maxwell will be in year four in the program and was an elite 11 QB) and receiver is a very real area of concern.

MSU specialists (punter & kicker) return in tact.

At the end of the day, this will be a great game and it could go either way, but MSU seems to have more depth.

While I disagree that @Neb is tougher than vs MSU, I think we can find common ground in thinking that it will be a very good game.

Where your analysis falls short however, is comparing a freshman run-first quarterback under a first year head coach to a fourth year pro style junior under an established head coach. Andrew Maxwell is no Braxton Miller in terms of his ability to throw the ball. Of course, he's no BM in terms of running with it either!