Green and White

Woody' - It gonna be an interesting Eastern Div. race in the B1G as you know...

Watching MSU and the Buckeyes go head to head in Indy last Dec was a treat and I came away impressed with your D-line and especially with Ryan Shazier and Roby on your D. IMHO, your 'corners' needed to step up a bit more in that game, and it became more apparent as the game progressed. Watching Braxton and Hyde work as a tandem on execution of the running game was very, very impressive to say the least. I'm pretty sure Urban will have worked on Braxton's passing skills and should even be more effective this year.

Now, for MSU, we've lost our Jim Thorp Award winner in D.Dennard, along with D. Allen, Max, etc. on D... and a significant portion of our O-line... but... Dantonio and crew have a proven track record of building a 'team' from 2*'s and 3*'s. What you might see this year is continued improvement with Cook at QB, greater depth at WR, further use of our TE's, and giving JLang a bit more rest (with utilizing R.J. Shelton (and others)). I think you'll see more yds. put up by Cook and an improvement in his pts./game and efficiency %. I really want to see D. Terry at QB during the Spring Scrimmage this Sat. as see how he has progressed and how he can fit into the packages that Dave Warner commands.

If Narduzzi can shore up the 'D' effectively before the Oregon game, it should be fun watching the Eastern Div. this fall. Also, you can easily see where Coach D's aspirations have turned to more of a National Stage in recent interviews. If both our teams can stay relatively healthy, it again should be a heluva WAR !!!

I agree it is worse and a fine and suspension is forthcoming. Does he have a history of this kind of outburst?

FWIW, when I was at the the B1G Tourn. (United Center) last year, McCaffery did a similar antic when we played Iowa. He couldn't take MSU coming from behind in the last 7 min. and went nutz on the refs, started throwing his jacket at things (lost his money clip on the floor) and had a hard time being restrained by his coaches. Izzo started to walk over to the Iowa side and discuss McCaffery's antics with the refs, but seemed to realize this guy can meltdown at any moment and become quite unstable... We were seated near the Iowa bench and saw the whole thing unfold.

Hopefully there's enough motivation out there to eek out a Buckeye victory.

 

Continued respect for B1G

End the season on a high note

Become the only team to win in all BCS Bowl venues in the BCS era.

Possibly show that the Silver Bullets (defense) haven't left (I really hope this one happens)

For me, the 'key' to this game will be if Urban can quickly forget the disappointment of the B1G Championship and (as you mentioned) motivate his staff and lead his team to a victory over Clemson. This is going to be a very, very interesting game to watch on Fri. Good Luck to the Buckeyes!!!

MSU is the real deal, and they have been the real deal. At least most learned it eventually.

Landlord - well put! Coach D. (and his excellent coaching staff) have put together the MSU team with mainly 2, 3 and some 4 star recruits. It's been a pleasure to see the Spartan team develop over the past few years into what it is today. It may not be pretty at times, but the relentless 'heart' of this team is displayed every weekend. That same 'heart' came together today for the Huskers on both sides of the ball. Something is tellin' me good things are in store for our conference! ........... Go Green !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember as a kid watching the 87 Rose bowl, good win, that year 3 Michigan based teams won bowl games. It's been a while Spartans but this was a good solid win with what I will call the best defense in the country not just stat wise.

Thanks for the kind words Michiganball... sometimes we need to put aside the 'rivalry' and simply appreciate the accomplishments our teams give our respective Universities that we love so much! Interesting note, while I was at the B1G Championship game in Indy, I saw a UMich student in the massive SRO crowd at Lucas Oil Stadium. While I quietly watched him (not conversing too much with the Buckeye or Spartan fans) I could easily sense how much he wanted to be there and experience 'the moment' of that great environment. I only speak for myself, but we all need to build on this day and relish in the Spartan and Husker victories for the tangible benefits that can be gained. Coaching is the key to success as you so very well know. I wanted so much to see Bucky and the Badgers get over the hump for their seniors and go out on a high note... sadly it didn't come about this year... We now need tOSU to perform well and secure another BCS win! ................... Go Green !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Rose bowl in at least a decade.

Wow !!! Spartan Nation is gonna burn a 'couple more couches' in EL this evening !!! We're all pinching ourselves for bringing home the Rose Bowl and getting that important BCS win for our conference... Did you see Coach D's eyes in the post game interview on how much this meant to his program? Great time to be a Spartan! To look back, I took my family to Ryan Field and braved the 5 Deg. F temps and 25 mph winds off the lake to see us win the Legends, then had the opportunity to see the B1G Championship in Indy and saw two great teams battle it out (The tOSU fans were great (maybe a little too much spiked KoolAid b4 the game ) but everyone was respectful and experiencing the O-H-I-O chant go around the indoors stadium was impressive to say the least. I also want to give a shout out to you Huskers for skinning the Dawgs today and knocking down the SEC a few notches. The baton is now passed to you Buckeyes ... good luck! Go Green !!!

If Tom Izzo was coaching this talent they would have won

Woody' - I know I shouldn't say this but I was actually pullin' for UMich to come outta there with the National Championship... but as ND said 'it just wasn't to be...' Too much experienced talent for Louisville that UMich couldn't overcome. Maybe, Izzo could have been a factor but we'll never know... Anyway, KUDOS to UMich, tOSU, Spartans and Indiana for giving us a BB season to remember for quite some time!!! Now, we've gotta start working on getting our football teams back into the NC spotlight this fall (major priority !!!).

Nice win! Very impressive.... Miles has your team playing hard and you certainly deserved that hard fought win in the B1G Tourn. tonight. Looking forward to seeing your team play Fri. night vs. tOSU. at the UC !!! As you can imagine, it's a great place to watch a BB game... or better yet... the 'Hawks this year!

As everyone commented, MSU got lucky (can't say that too often this season...) and pulled out a win for the B1G! What impressed me most was the way Conner Cook (redshirt fresh.) handled himself under fire. Certainly he has a arm and is a bit more athletic than Max. During the week it seems Cook was also relegated to working with the 2nd string offense in prep. for this game. The kid really seemed to spark the offense/defense when we needed it the most and he came thru with quite a bit of composure.

Spartan Nation just might have had a look into next year if Coach D. can gives the kid an honest chance at the QB position.

Good luck to the Huskers against the 'Dawgs'!!! I'm lookin' forward to seeing Taylor give Georgia some pain!!!

You mean Michigan beat Kansas - at least that is what one of my students tonight said in class and local radio guy on the drive home said.

 

It was MSU. Michigan played some Horizon league team.

Speaking of the Horizon League, Youngstown beat Georgia lol

Don't laugh too hard, Valpo is about to come beat us in pretty embarrassing fashion.

mrandyk - Keep the Faith! Just think what It'll feel like when your team makes it to the 'Big Dance' again... The transition from football won't be so tuff !

We are going to get one conference win this year, and it had better be Iowa.

As Woody' mentioned, the B1G conf. season is gonna be fun to watch! I'm really impressed the the tandem of Appling and the freshman Harris. MSU seemed 'dead' on the court in Germany, but tonight they played typical MSU bball again.

After calming down a bit, I have to admit that that was one helluva game to watch! Congrats to the Huskers for having the moxie to come back after some horrible calls by the officials and pull out a thrilling win in the final seconds. What impressed me the most is watching Martinez come back after the 3 picks and simply will his team to the end zone. He is a stud, and you're blessed to have a kid like that working his tail off for you every week!

I was also impressed that Pelini could keep himself under control will all the flags that were being thrown. All I can say it that the calls by the refs was 'consistently'..... BS for both teams.

Good Luck for the remaining conf. schedule and represent our division well in Pasadena!

PS.: Pls come back with the Roses this year... the conf. needs to start developing its respect again!

Detroit does not = Chicago.

 

No way is there a Husker fan base like 2 weeks ago.

I agree Foppa that EL does not = Chicago in fan base or in things to see or do but still, East Lansing is simply a nice college town... only a couple of miles from Lansing, Mich. There are lots of sports bars, resturants (a nice Sushi resturant is 'Sansu' next to the campus), etc. We're also a bit of a drive from Detroit.

The MSU campus is quite spread out, and kinda gives you a Forest Preserve like experience with the Red Cedar River meandering thru the campus. Spartan Stadium underwent a $10M upgrade for the sound and Videoboard and to see/hear/feel in person is a dramatic improvement from last year.

View from usual visitors section (this weekend Spartan Stadium will prob. look like a christmas tree as sd'sker mentioned above! LOL...):

Student Section on right:

There prob. will be a 'sea of Red' in Spartan Stadium on Sat. and with the way the economy is going come and spend lots of 'green' !!! We need it...

I stayed with family up in Kenosha, just across the Wisconsin border. We took the Metra down to the game, so we were at the mercy of the train schedule. We watched the whole bumbling, fumbling, stumbling mess of a game until about 7:20 to go in the 4th quarter when we had to leave to catch the last train going north at 6:11. So we watched the worst part of the game, but missed the great comeback and all the drama at the end. I sat about four rows behind 007 (he's in one of my pics of the stadium), so I would have been right there at the corner when the team came off the field, joining in the celebration. The trains on the weekends suck, and I'm not happy.

 

Kenosha is a fine little town. We ate at Frank's, the oldest continuously-operated diner in America. We shopped at Tenuta's, a great Italian deli with tons of authentic stuff from the old country. We had fun with family and the drive was pretty easy, but missing the last few minutes of the game kinda ruined the whole trip.

 

Northwestern fans are great. We were welcomed, we talked with several before the game, and we had a fine time talking about the aftermath on the train. There were several NW fans at Frank's the next morning when we went in for breakfast and we chatted with them as well. I will definitely make the trip up there again in a couple of years.

 

Ryan Field is fine, I guess. It's not the kind of facility we're used to in the Big 8/Big XII, but it's OK. I think a lot of college stadiums are like this place. I'll reiterate everyone's assessment - it's like a glorified High School stadium. I didn't use the pisser so I don't know what the amenities are like, but it's damned easy to get in and out of. Their scoreboard might as well not have a screen - it's so small you can't see anything. It's like trying to watch a 19" TV from clear across the room.

 

The field is grass, but it held up really, really well. So well that we were trying to find out if it was grass or turf. We looked around our section, and for rows and rows and rows we couldn't find any NW fans. We really took over that stadium. I'm guessing it was 60/40 Huskers/Wildcats. Funny stuff.

Knapp' - I thought I recalled you grew up in DesPlaines? If so, when did your family move to Kenosha?

Yea tough game Green and White, MSU would be absolutely scary if they had a decent QB, that D is a monster and a low score game was a given. Good luck with the rest of the season, till next year!

Michiganball - You can only imagiine how we feel about the lack of any offense with our team. As you said, what a waste of a good defense... Very, very sad for MSU this year...

See ya at the Breslin!

MichiganMan/Michiganball - it's tough to say it but 'congrats' on the win... Tough, typical game for both of us... DRob came thru for you on that last series and sealed the deal. I have to admint you guys are quite a bit classier than one of your fans who posted last night on RCMB. If anyone every questioned the rivalry between MSU and UMich, and they had a chance to read that post (with all the MSU responses) it would become clear as to why we are locked in this eternal battle.

The game next week in Lincoln is going to be fun to watch.

Best advice in Chicago? Have your concealment license. Do I need to post links with all the violence going on there. Have a native of the land to direct you around so that you do not accidentally wander into a bad part of town. When some one walks up to you and says " Hey let me talk at you!" Slowly pull up your shirt and say go ahead from there. That is all.

It's fun reading the posts on needing a 'concealment license' to walk the streets of Chicago... Yes, some areas of the West, and South Sides are quite tough as you can imagine, but 'Downtown Chicago', State Street, Michigan Ave. is usually safe if you plan your trip and be sensible! If you look for trouble, you certainly will find it... It's no different than most any other Big City as you can imagine!

As tschu mentions above, Evanston is on the North Side of the City and is very, very nice... travel along Lake Shore Drive (LSD) and check out the numerous mansions along the Lake. NW is simply located in a 'Top Shelf' area of Chicagoland. I've lived in the Chicagoland area (South West Suburbs) my whole life and know most of the areas to avoid. As always, if you're not familiar with the city simply travel with a group and have fun! Ask the locals of the area, your hotel staff, etc. what spots to avoid and what areas are safe.

Chicago is an exciting, dynamic, relatively expensive city which can offer you most anything you can imagine in the way of sights, history, resturants and entertainment... Just be sensible... hmmmmm, didn't I say that before???

I emailed my nephew (NW grad) and he came back this morning with the following info. on 'public parking' on the NW Campus. for anyone planning on driving up:

"Regarding the NU parking situation, there is definitely parking on campus, and NU provides several shuttles (i.e. school buses) that take fans to and from the stadium, free of charge. I'd recommend any of the northern-most parking lots just because it'll mean less time getting to and from the game. I think there's one on Sherman or Noyes, but don't quote me on that. The lots are all off of Sheridan Road. Hope this helps!!!"

As SkerChicago mentions above, if you haven't been to Chicago try to make it a long weekend. Some great sights, dinner cruises on the Lake, bars, music, museums, ethnic resturants, etc. etc.

what are the best price/view seats? sideline, endzone, ?? high low?

TRIPP - Ryan Field is quite small and most every seat has a good view of the field. Seems the tkt. price is going to be a little $$$ so you're going to have to shop around.

I have an email into my nephew (recent NW grad.) and asked him to comment on the best place to find parking near Ryan Field. I'll relate this info. once I hear from him if you want.

Looking at Google Maps of the NW stadium - there is a small parking lot and an even smaller parking lot, a practice field and a baseball field near the stadium. the whole complex is crammed into a neighborhood. I would not try bring a car around there.

Creed - you're correct in that the main parking lot is 'REALLY small'... Ryan Field is truly crammed into the Evanston neighborhood, but you can park on the streets around the stadium. Just be prepared to take a bit of a hike to get to the stadium. Even if you do get to park in the main lot, getting out is next to impossible do to it being locked into the narrow street system. Taking a bus, taxi, or riding the purple line 'L' are other alternatives.

That being said, the campus is very, very nice (as you can imagine) on the Lakefront. If you have the time, a fall walk around the campus is a nice way to get a feeling for this private university...

Having been on several trips 'back in the day', I never really had an issue with any place that I went to. We went to Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State, and Oklahoma. I think the comments about the only place being really obnoxious was Colorado, and I don't even think that really started 'til the 'rivalry' heated up and they got 'good' toward the end of the 80's/early 90's. From that point on, it seemed like that wasn't the place to go. Understand, too, that I'm talking about the days of the Big 8 when I made those trips. Haven't really had much opportunity since I got married to make those types of trips. (Married fifteen years this past May.) But I do know that the stories about K-State got markedly worse after Snyder got there and they started to become 'good' in football, kind of the same as what happened in Colorado.

 

I just think, in the general scheme of things, that at most places you're going to have good and bad experiences, depending on the people you meet. However, the # of experiences that were bad out of Wisconsin seems to be about on the level of the number of bad experiences that were had in Colorado typically. I tend to agree with the concept of the fanbases really not 'getting it' in regards to respect and acting like you've been there if you haven't had sustained levels of success in the past. There's just something about being there over time that I think starts to mature a fanbase.

Missouri in the 2000's was trying to compete with Colorado fans. I would put my Wisconsin experence right up there with both of them. Classless A$$ hats. I was really happy with both the OSU fans & the Mich St fans. I even shared my outside beverage bottle that I had brought in with a couple of really good Mich St fans (I usally don't share inside the game) They came back to our tale gate spot & had a few beers with us & even talked a little smack about this years game & how they get their revenge.

 

The fans that kill me the most are the Iowa fans. They would rather lose a whole season just to have NU lose a couple of games.

I had heard from a few people that went to Mizzou for the games in the late 90's/00's that it was getting bad, almost as bad as K-State. Heard enough stories about K-State after Snyder got there that could've 'curled your hair' so to speak. Just stupid stuff that amazes me fan bases even think about doing. I think I was fortunate to go to those places when I did.

 

Glad to hear that OSU and MSU fans were pretty nice. Guess my impression has been that those two tend to be the ones that we'll tend to get along with better. At least one we'll see on a yearly basis.

When you come to East Lansing this year I'm pretty sure Husker fans will be treated well. If you can stay away from the student sections you should have a fine time. There is always good banter goin' on between the respective fan bases, but the only time things got a little rough was when I was stuck in Section 105 (Visitors (Iowa game)) and fights broke out. We were a little down this year after the ND game but there were no real issues with any of the fan bases, and ND had a wonderful evening at our expense !@#$%...

I'm also sure you're going to have fun at Ryan Field (very small and dated, but still nice) and from my friends who have attended NW they're really looking forward to the meeting...

This is a good policy. The coaching staff/athletic department already have enough on their plates without having to send in people to scout other games and work out contract deals with ESPN for the rights to the games.

I believe I read somewhere that the tOSU game films were also sent to the MSU staff on 'late' Thr. Only gave Dantonio and his staff one day to review and prepare... I think all the things that was going on lead up to going public and making it known that this must not go on for the rest of the conference! There should be a stated timeframe (ie. 72 hrs. before game time, etc.) vs. 'reasonable timeframe' that game film should be exchanged between competing Universities.

FWIW, reported to the media:

"We had tape cut off all week, where they changed the tape, I'm not going to lie to you," Narduzzi said outside the MSU locker room. "They send you tape and they've got it all cut off, and you don't get to see shifts or motions or anything else."

Big Ten teams are required to provide game film to each other before they play, with footage shot by their respective video staffs. Narduzzi said MSU contacted Ohio State's non-league opponents and got film from them.

"A few other teams we talked to that they played, and we compared what they were looking at on tape to what we were looking at," he said. "We're like 'We don't see any of that. We see it on their tape but not on our tape.' So that's something I'm sure the Big Ten office will hopefully take care of."

The response from Urban Meyer was that he knew nothing about the matter... When he asked his video staff they also responded they knew nothing of the matter... Hmmmmmm.....

Does anyone know when tOSU will send their 'un-doctored' game films to the Husker staff this week? Hopefully B/4 Thr. night !!!

So proud of the team! WTG up north and get the win across the border

 

First road game, plenty of progress made and Braxton is tough as hell.

 

Still not good enough. Hopefully the Lbs on the bench and incoming recruits will be impact players next year.

Congrats Woody' on a fine win in EL... As you mentioned, that was a good ol' fashioned B1G game and tOSU deserved to win that close one. I'm really impressed with the toughness of Miller! Seemed he hyperextended the knee once and still came back to finish the game off. Tough kid! Also, your D-line and linebackers contained Bell for most of the day put good pressure on Maxwell to make him 'hurry' his reads. I have to respect Miller for remaining motionless when Gholston was seemingly 'knocked out' on the mis-guided hit by the Sparty back. He seems to be a kid with alot of good character in him, and tOSU has a fine QB and person to root for in the coming years.

What really concers me most about Sparty this year is not the inexperience of Max, not the inexperience of the WR's.... its the O-line play for Sparty! Seems we have another year of patch-quilt line play up front and it shows with the lack of speed and ability to create holes for Bell. Maxwells protection (or lack of it) was evident most of the afternoon. Just isolating on the line play proved how easily it was for the Buckeyes to control the line and force Sparty into long 3rd downs. Not good!

Its going to be fun watching the relationship between Dantonio and Meyer develop in the coming years, this should be interesting! They're two very good coaches, and the intensity between them will only continue to grow.

Again, congrats on a quality win in EL...

Ps. You're correct that the Sparty SS can be a little 'rude', but the rest of the Spartan fans are usually quite respectful (but loud) to opposing fan bases. It sad to see the disrespect aspect has become a part of our culture... and not only in the sports we luv so much... my $0.02 worth

Everyone here was rooting for Sparty. Well, everyone except ND Joe.

 

Thanks NUance... You have to give the ND QB (Golson sp.?) credit for executing their gameplan so well. Seeing him in realtime gives you an appreciation on just how good, how quick, how mobile, how accurate, how intelligent he is calling the game. Very good QB for the Irish...

 

ND Joe... You've got a fine young team there!

 

Thank you G&W, you're the most gracious Spartan I've ever traded barbs with.

 

I think MSU was pretty stout up front but not down the field. They could run with Bell but needed faster longer passes. Particularly Maxwell as a first year QB has to learn when he is going to get hit.

 

That may have been the cliche 'blueprint' on how teams like NU should play Sparty. Rush, play contain on Bell, and try to make Maxwell beat you with his arm.

ND Joe - from what I saw that nite in Spartan Stadium, MSU has a couple of glaring issues on the O-line and WR's... We simply couldn't get space from your DB's. Major issue - we have no real threats this year as wideouts (as we had in the past with Cunningham, K. Martin, Dell, etc.). As you said, Max is going to get killed unless he quickly learns how to read pressure, but if MSU's WR's can't distance themselves from their coverage, it won't matter much.

That being said, the game was still fun to watch and the chants from the ND fans in the 3rd and 4th qtrs. was fun to listen to (well kinda....).

Good luck this year. If your team can remain healthy, you should be sittin' pretty by years end.

I'm going to be glued to the tele this Sat. when UMich plays you in SB. If the Irish can contain a mobile QB like DRob then it proves the Irish are certainly back on track with Kelly at the helm.

Everyone here was rooting for Sparty. Well, everyone except ND Joe.

Thanks NUance... You have to give the ND QB (Golson sp.?) credit for executing their gameplan so well. Seeing him in realtime gives you an appreciation on just how good, how quick, how mobile, how accurate, how intelligent he is calling the game. Very good QB for the Irish...

ND Joe... You've got a fine young team there!