Is it just me or is Michigan State not THAT good...

[HuskerNationNick]

I don't know 14th in rushing yards per game, 92nd in passing yards per game, and 431 running plays compared to 257 passes says we have a run first mentality. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

Like I said, if you are fine with Beck's play calling, the so be it, but I am not. His play calling has been mediocre at best. His decision making has been below mediocre. I don't care to see Beck as our OC next year.

 

The thing with stats, they can be skewed to make any statement look favorable.

[HuskerShark]

I've been telling people that this game could end up with a score of 6-3 at the end. I hope that we can go in and establish the run game against a stout defense which I believe is the premier defense in college football this year. They are extremely tough, and I look forward to watching how the team responds. If the defense can continue to stuff the run and play physical, and the offense can string some drives together and avoid turnovers, I think we are in great shape to come out of this game with a huge win.

[ladyhawke]

This is going to be a gritty dirty ugly game. MSU has a tough defense but hopefully our defense will play like they did against Michigan. We have to be just as prepared for this game and the rest of our games this season as we were for Michigan in the Big House. If we don't prepare we lose.

[NUinID]

I just hope BP shows his team every sound bite from espn about MSU. Was watching the BCS show earlier and herbstreit, Palmer and pollock already have MSU in the CCG. Absolutely no mention of them even playing anyone else this year.

 

I don't know if we win, but I think they play well.

[VectorVictor]

...and it looks like folks didn't learn their lesson after predicting blowout wins against UCLA and Minnesota this year.

 

Hope karma doesn't bite us in the ass like it did the past two times fans went full derp and started predicting blowout wins...

[Kiyoat Husker]

I think it will come down to turnovers and scoring defense. Michigan State has the edge in both of these categories if you look at the whole season. I think our current team is better than our statistics, though, and we should match up pretty evenly. Should be a great game! another low-scoring nail biter. Ball security will be the name of the game. We win, of course.

[gorp512]

I am hoping this is the game Ameer goes completely bananas.

[EZ-E]

I remember our game in 2011 with them and how predictable they are on offense. You can literally call every play before it happens from your seat in the stadium.

[Red is Power]

Let's keep in mind they had a bye week too. It won't be easy

 

I would rather have a team riding high on two consecutive emotional wins w/ solid D performances than a bye week.

 

 

2011 Michigan State was a team riding high on two consecutive emotional wins. Didn't turn out well for them.

 

But we are NEBRASKA.

[Red is Power]

I remember our game in 2011 with them and how predictable they are on offense. You can literally call every play before it happens from your seat in the stadium.

 

I remember the one play Cousins threw a costly pick in the 1st qtr to Lance Thorell who ran it 25 something yards into MSU territory which turned into points via all rushing plays TM/Burkhead 7-0 NU. MSU never recovered after that.

[Red is Power]

...and it looks like folks didn't learn their lesson after predicting blowout wins against UCLA and Minnesota this year.

 

Hope karma doesn't bite us in the ass like it did the past two times fans went full derp and started predicting blowout wins...

 

Nobody is predicting we'll blow out MSU. Didn't you know? Bo Pelini coached teams get better down the stretch in November. We got this.

[Red is Power]

For some reason, they never scare me.

 

Same here. For me they still have a lot to prove. Like beating a quality opponent for one.

Do they play one this year?

 

NU? After we beat tOSU in CCG?

[tschu]

Michigan State is very good but they don't look good. They seriously are late-2009 Nebraska - they win ugly. They have the best defense in the country (literally, they do) and we're throwing an injury-depleted, freshman-led offensive unit at them. We should absolutely be a little worried.

[Scratchtown]

Seems to me like the best offense they have seen so far this year is Indiana which also sports one of the worst defense' too. Their SOS is worse than ours. This seems all too much like 2011 matchup when we dominated Sparty 24-3. I'm thinking we will see a similar outcome only this time the Huskers will be able to finish the year unscathed. I think our trend of beating Michigan St will continue. Bo will have their offense figured out it'll be up to our players to "execute" the game plan which they have done so impressively the last two weeks. I think defensively we will be able to do things MSU's offense has not seen that along w/ 90,000+ screaming fans... this isn't the big house where all the noise goes into the sky. Let's make MSU feel the noise.

 

I am leaning towards a win at home. TA throws for one, runs for one. Ameer runs for 120 yards and comes up big in the 4th quarter again to break it open 27-10 final. Turnover free game for NU. What say you?

 

I am always less nervous about games when the QB isn't mobile. Still its not that their offense is good, its the Defense. I see this being a 10-7 kind of game

[Mavric]

Two years ago they had a decent offense that we totally shut down (187 total yards). Their only three points came after an INT where they had a 7 play, 17 yard "drive" and kicked a FG. They held our offense in check pretty well be we kept feeding Burkhead enough to get a fairly easy win.

 

Last year they had a totally one-dimensional offense but we still couldn't stop Bell running the ball (188 yds). Fortunately for us, Martinez totally took over the game. He ran for 205 yards - against a defense giving up fewer than 100 yards total per game - and eeked out a victory.

 

This year they really don't have much offense of any kind. They are 100th in the country in passing. They are 86th in the country in total offense. They are 60th in the country in scoring but if you take away their defensive scores they'd probably be closer to 100th. I didn't think they'd score a lot against our defense even when we weren't playing very well and if we keep playing like we have the last seven quarters, they won't have much success.

 

The problem is our own offense is suddenly in neutral. We haven't been doing the little things to keep drives alive. And, while we have a couple guys with big-play potential, we don't have anyone who's stepped up and made an explosive play with any regularly (excepting the Hail Mary, but that's in a somewhat different category). This is the biggest place where we miss Martinez - someone who can go the distance any time they touch it and can instantly ignite an offense. We also haven't been very good at putting long drives together - the only time against Michigan that we crossed our own 40 yard line and scored was the game-winner. We had three such drives against Northwestern but the third one took everything we had.

 

And we've been terrible at protecting the ball. We've turned the ball over 11 times in the last four games. Michigan St. feasts on that. The are T-14 in the country in fewest turnovers. We are T-81. They play ball control offense, field position and wait for you to make a mistake. Their defense is likely to return the turnover for a TD and even if they don't their offense can get some cheap points.

 

If we can avoid giving them easy scores, we'll have a good chance. But with what I've seen from our offense the last three games, I'm not really sure how we're going to score on them. Their defense might have been helped by playing some bad offenses but we're in that boat too at the moment. And they've done it for several years in a row now so it's not a fluke. I haven't seen an Over/Under line on this game yet but even if it's 20 points, I'd probably take the under.