Michigan State Sucks, Period

I didn’t want to write anything about last night’s game in East Lansing, but damn, the Spartans suck.   I could see the end coming at the end of the first half.  Notre Dame had the ball and was trailing 31-14 (or something like that).  The Spartans had three timeouts.  They didn’t use a timeout until there was a deadball situation and about 30 seconds on the clock.  They didn’t go for the jugular – and they know damn well they don’t know the first thing about closing out games.  They barely did it last year.  The Spartans ran for over 200 yards last night, but couldn’t run for first downs in the fourth quarter with a 17 point lead – even after a downpour.  Last night’s game was a comedy of errors and the coaching staff took their foot off the gas.  With a 260 pound running back, the Spartans lost one possession when QB Drew Stanton fumbled on an option play.  They lost another possession when they threw the ball on 3rd and 3 (or something like that).  It was one of the worst displays of game calling and execution that I’ve seen.  Notre Dame did all that they could to win and State did all they could to lose.

Last year, I wrote that the Irish weren’t nearly as good as people thought they were heading into their bowl game against Ohio State.  They weren’t.  I also thought they could lose six games this year.  They probably “should” have lost last night (whatever, they won – so, you could say they “should” have won).  ND’s schedule only has one or two more challenging games before USC.  Purdue and UCLA may be challenging, but there is no telling which team will show up.  The luck of the Irish has held at Georgia Tech and at Michigan State.  ND will probably cruise through to the USC game.

I suspect, however, that this year the Irish will get thumped out in Southern Cal.  I also suspect they’ll get thumped in their bowl game.  If the Irish get to the end of the season with the blemishes being blowout losses to Michigan and USC, their national appeal will get them invited to a BCS bowl where they will be overmatched and get absolutely smoked by a team like LSU or Auburn or West Virginia or fill in the blank.

Michigan State will probably crumble and lose 6 of the remaining games on their schedule.  Since the Spartans are exclusively a first half team, they cannot be expected to beat a team they cannot knock out in the first 30 minutes.  The only teams left on their schedule subject to such a knockout are Illinois and Indiana.  I expect losses to Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota and Penn State.