stlspartan

Yeah, we should be like Michigan State fans. Stupid, ignorant, and unable to handle success. Ouch.

Back in the 80's Hayden Fry used to run pick plays against us in every game we played against them, with a guy running wide open after his defender had been leveled by a tight end. They never got called for it so I guess nothing ever changes. I'm okay with Iowa now - but I'm still pissed at Fry.

I mean no offense jumping in here with my team lucky enough to escape with the win. Also, I was very happy to see that the teams were mostly friendly, helping guys up, etc. The bad spot - was a really bad spot. It looked like it should have required a measurement. The punt downed at the 1; the ball was very close to crossing the plane - so I guess there wasn't enough evidence to overturn it. The fair catch signals given by returners on both sides were not by the rule book. But the announcers said that officials tend not to be very strict about it. The MSU returner was pretty clearly just standing there - but the tackler didn't light him up either so it wasn't mean spirited. There were a couple that I thought went the husker's way (don't kill me): The overthrown touchdown pass MSU threw early in the game was called out of bounds at the back of the end zone. I've watched it frame by frame and am convinced it was a catch. But it was very very close with the toe of his foot in bounds and his heel over line, so I can't really complain about it. The offensive pass interference called on MSU on a sideline route was plainly a bad call. It appeared as if the receiver pushed the defender at the end of the route, but if you watch in slow motion the defender falls away because he was holding onto the receiver's jersey and lost his grip - no push off at all. If anything the defender should have drawn the flag. In the end, there were some close and bad calls - but the game felt felt pretty fair.

I thought that the Spartans left a few big plays out on the field - overthrows, etc. but it pales in comparison to all the turnovers. If MSU is to stand a chance against Ohio State they can't have an overthrow here and a drop there. Nebraska's offense was surprising given that the line was entirely injured. Oh - and Abdullah is REALLY fast. I couldn't believe how quick he can get to the corner. I guess I've never seen the movie Fear and Loathing - I seem to recall having seen Where the Buffalo Roam. I might have pretty high standards for F & L because the book had me in tears all the way through.

Is that image of the convertible from Fear and Loathing? Can that possibly be the Oakie in the back? I so loved that book. Thanks for the replies. As I said the trip was great - finally got back to STL this pm. I was going over it in my head and I'm making good progress visiting all the B10 stadia. The only ones left for me are Minnesota (never wanted to go to the homer dome) and Penn State (love to go there - sister and brother-in-law both went to grad school there). Of course there's no Maryland and Rutgers yet - but I'm not getting a B10 vibe from those two like I get from Nebraska. Who knows, maybe it just takes time. Oh - and for the record, the only place where I've ever felt less than welcome was Ann Arbor but Ohio State gives visiting fans seats that are unimaginably bad - better to stub-hub a trip to the shoe. Nebraska and Iowa have topped the list of niceness with Indiana close behind.

Memorial stadium is very cool; sort of reminds me of the galactic council chamber. The fans in section 29 were fun and super friendly. The odd cabbage onion meat roll thingy was tasty. You have a great atmosphere - it was rocking... Happy to get out of there with a W. Good luck the rest of the way.

I had the exact same dream last night.

I can see where the OP is coming from. MSU hasn't been winning against Nebraska and winning is a habit. With that said, I like our chances this year and I'm looking forward to my first trip to your stadium. The weather report is looking near-perfect so it should be a fantastic game.

If the MSU defense has a weakness, it's giving up scores on the first drive and in the 1st half overall. If Nebraska gets in the position of coming from behind in the 2nd half, they had better pack a lunch.

Two years ago, I recall MSU coming out as flat as I've ever seen them and sleep-walking through the entire game. Check me if I'm wrong, but Cousins threw terribly, which was not normal so don't take 2011 at face value. Last year, of course, the O struggled all year and never really pulled it together but a lot of that has been corrected. I'm not going to judge this game by the last couple and I'm feeling even more confident than I did two years ago (see what that got me). The Spartan D has improved each of the last two years and now have 2 NFL caliber corners that will play man-to-man all day, allowing for strong run support and a creative pass rush. The offense is much better than last year and the start of this year - on the verge of being good. The skill players seem to be playing well and the line looks strong. Nebraska is pretty nicked up. This had better be our year because I'm driving up from St. Louis and I have no intention of spending 14 hours on the road just to watch us lose again to Nebraska.

The roughing the kicker call didn't look like acting on the kicker's part to me. You might claim that he could have come down standing but I don't think he could have and the important thing is that he popped right up to watch the play and didn't seem to be feigning injury at all. I was expecting "running into" but as others have said, perhaps there is an "airborne" clause in the rule.

I think that the premise is not which team would you expect them to beat, but which teams would have a decent shot at. Having watched the Stanford - Oregon game, I'm thinking that there would be slim chance against Stanford and almost no chance against Oregon. Interestingly MSU starts against Boise next year in E. Lansing. I'm already looking forward to sitting down for that.

Any year that the conference champion is not OSU or UM will be declared a "down year" for the B10. It won't matter if the title is won by the '72 Dolphins, they'll still be 2nd rate. From reading the board, especially early on, I've had the feeling that folks in Nebraska hadn't quite gotten a good read on the current state of the conference. Wisconsin & MSU have been on the rise in football, and pretty dominant in basketball. UM has been out of the basketball business for a decade or so and struggling in football for quite a while as well. OSU was doing pretty well - but everyone knew it was going to be a rough year for them. Even before the Tressel firing. Actually - seeing MSU and Wisky vying for their respective divisions is pretty expected. Nebraska was the big unknown this year. My thinking was that the conference is a mine field and that the Huskers would get tripped up a couple of times. My biggest surprise was that MSU didn't show up for the game in Lincoln at all. I had always had that penciled in as a loss - but not that kind of loss. I'll be at Spartan Stadium next year and expect an entirely different sort of game (just so you folks don't get the impression that MSU will always be a walk-over). The one advantage that MSU will have in facing Northwestern is that MSU knows all about tough games in Evanston. I'm pretty sure the team will show up for that one.

There is < 0% chance any of this rubs off. Everybody in the country with a TV set knows what's going on. The big confusion now from the media throwing everybody from PSU under the bus together. The average non-sports guy on the street probably thinks JoePa was the ringleader in a pedophilia club by now.

The better teams in the conference have been able to bottle up Denard and turn UM into a pocket passing team. With that done, it's all Xs and Os - no magic.