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

[alexhortdog95]

Look, you visit the MSU boards and news topics and whatnot and every single one of them are saying they're going to steamroll right over us. That makes me think that at least some of that sentiment is going to be manifest in the players.

I really do hope they count us out. It's great motivation for the Huskers.

That's a good point. To put it best,

"Everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the face."

 

[Redux]

Here is why I am worried. Remember The Minnesota game a few weeks ago. Yea I do.

That Was a pretty decent team we took lightly at their house.. mSU is a pretty decent team coming to our house that nobody should take lightly. We needed a signature win on the year, well heres our chance.f

 

[QMany]

They have their best offense and defense in recent memory. They are catching Nebraska with half of their offense hurt and a defense that hadn't been Blackshirt worthy until recent. Still, the line only opened at 3.5.

Steamrolled? They must know more than Vegas.

 

[SpartanMacks]

Can you name a defense that has faced a far more rigorous offensive slate and still performed at an elite level? Sure the stats are skewed by played some meh offenses, but a lot of these offenses were putting up points before MSU shut them down. I don't really care if our #1 ranking is legit or not, fact is that this is a really good, physical defense with few glaring weaknesses. For those bringing up the Notre Dame loss - the D held them to 220 total yards and 17 points. They also didn't have a scoring drive that was not assisted by a Pass Interference penalty (some of which were dubious at best, and many occured on 3rd or 4th down). That loss was squarely on the offense.

People love to pull up the Indiana game and us giving up 28 points as proof that we struggled against the only good offense we played. I just want to refute that through a couple of points.

- 3rd play of the game was a 64 yard TD run by Coleman who was untouched. After that play, we held Indiana to 28 yards on 26 carries. We make adjustments.

- Indiana's last TD was with 2 minutes left and the score was 42-21. If that's not considered garbage time, I don't know what is. Furthermore, it was off an interception (tipped ball IIRC) where they started on MSU's 37 yard line, playing against mostly the 2nd string.

- A fumbled catch on a punt gave Indiana the ball at the MSU 41 yard line, leading to a TD.

I'm not trying to make excuses, but the defense didn't exactly struggle against an opponent that is scoring 43.1 PPG and racking up 527 YPG. If you take out the MSU game they're scoring more like 45 PPG and 549 YPG. So effectively, MSU held them to 62.2% of their scoring average and 63.9% of their yardage average. And that's against that crazy hurry-up scheme that almost every defense struggles heavily with.

Not really sure how much more the MSU D has to do to gain any respect. The rushing yards allowed per game (43.44) are nearly 35 less than the #2 rush D Louisville (78). The YPC is almost a full yard less (1.62 vs. 2.55). Did Louisville play rushing offenses that are twice as good as anyone we've played? It's not even like the MSU offense is blowing teams away so that they have to pass to keep up. On top of the gaudy rushing numbers, we're number one in the country at holding opposing QBs to a 90.3 QBR, so it's not even like people are avoiding rushing because they can light it up through the air.

I'm not saying that any of this makes MSU undefeatable. The special teams are meh, the offense is still a work in progress. Nebraska has a surging defense and home field advantage. But I don't know how you can watch this MSU defense and tell me that they're not legit. By either the statistical test or the eye test.

 

[The Dude]

Not really sure how much more the MSU D has to do to gain any respect.

To be fair, MSU's D has the respect of basically anyone who isn't entirely delusional or batsh#t insane.

 

[Saunders]

They have their best offense and defense in recent memory. They are catching Nebraska with half of their offense hurt and a defense that hadn't been Blackshirt worthy until recent. Still, the line only opened at 3.5.

Steamrolled? They must know more than Vegas.

Defense yes, offense, no.

 

[SpartanMacks]

They have their best offense and defense in recent memory. They are catching Nebraska with half of their offense hurt and a defense that hadn't been Blackshirt worthy until recent. Still, the line only opened at 3.5.

Steamrolled? They must know more than Vegas.

Defense yes, offense, no.

2011 had the best skill positions on offense with 6 NFL picks (Cousins, Baker, Bell, Martin, Cunningham, Sims) and a couple other guys who made it as UDFAs (Garrett Celek, Chris McDonald). 2013 though is BY FAR the best offensive line of the Dantonio era. They've been putrid for the last couple of years due to injuries (and i'm sure you can relate this year). Cook is developing, Langford is coming along nicely, and the WRs are finally coming into their own. It's not our best offense but probably one of our more consistent ones.

 

[SpartanMacks]

Not really sure how much more the MSU D has to do to gain any respect.

To be fair, MSU's D has the respect of basically anyone who isn't entirely delusional or batsh#t insane.

Excellent reasoning!

Well not really. Now anyone who doesn't agree that MSU's D has to have respect is lumped in with delusional or insane people. Still, you've committed a logical fallacy and used a rhetorical device to hammer your point home so it really doesn't mean much.

MSU's defense will demand respect if they shut down our rushing offense. We're the highest ranked one they've faced all year so far. Until then, no conclusions can be made except that they have shut down some of the worst offenses in college football in games to this point.

Agreed. FWIW, Indiana's rushing offense actually averages more YPC than you (5.36 vs. 5.15) and has two more TDs (23 to 21). Not a big difference.

 

[Red is Power]

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.

Like last year?

Good luck.

LOL this made my day. Thank you.

 

[Red is Power]

Not really sure how much more the MSU D has to do to gain any respect.

To be fair, MSU's D has the respect of basically anyone who isn't entirely delusional or batsh#t insane.

Excellent reasoning!

Well not really. Now anyone who doesn't agree that MSU's D has to have respect is lumped in with delusional or insane people. Still, you've committed a logical fallacy and used a rhetorical device to hammer your point home so it really doesn't mean much.

MSU's defense will demand respect if they shut down our rushing offense. We're the highest ranked one they've faced all year so far. Until then, no conclusions can be made except that they have shut down some of the worst offenses in college football in games to this point.

Agreed. FWIW, Indiana's rushing offense actually averages more YPC than you (5.36 vs. 5.15) and has two more TDs (23 to 21). Not a big difference.

So our offense is similar to Indiana's but not quite as good. That's what you're saying? So, I'll take 24 points and at the same time, I don't think your anemic offense will be able to put up more than 17 on our defense in Lincoln.

 

[dutch91701]

They give up points. Coincidentally, points are how football games are decided.

 

[Landlord]

So our offense is similar to Indiana's but not quite as good. That's what you're saying? So, I'll take 24 points and at the same time, I don't think your anemic offense will be able to put up more than 17 on our defense in Lincoln.

Goodness. Their offense is better than ours in conference play from a statistical standpoint. Theirs is also healthy, whereas ours is missing several key impact players.

Our offense over the last few weeks is nowhere close to Indiana's.

 

[Red is Power]

So our offense is similar to Indiana's but not quite as good. That's what you're saying? So, I'll take 24 points and at the same time, I don't think your anemic offense will be able to put up more than 17 on our defense in Lincoln.

Goodness. Their offense is better than ours in conference play from a statistical standpoint. Theirs is also healthy, whereas ours is missing several key impact players.

Our offense over the last few weeks is nowhere close to Indiana's.

That will change when we dominate MSU. This will be TA signature game and the one huge win so far this year for us.

 

[SpartanMacks]

Not really sure how much more the MSU D has to do to gain any respect.

To be fair, MSU's D has the respect of basically anyone who isn't entirely delusional or batsh#t insane.

Excellent reasoning!

Well not really. Now anyone who doesn't agree that MSU's D has to have respect is lumped in with delusional or insane people. Still, you've committed a logical fallacy and used a rhetorical device to hammer your point home so it really doesn't mean much.

MSU's defense will demand respect if they shut down our rushing offense. We're the highest ranked one they've faced all year so far. Until then, no conclusions can be made except that they have shut down some of the worst offenses in college football in games to this point.

Agreed. FWIW, Indiana's rushing offense actually averages more YPC than you (5.36 vs. 5.15) and has two more TDs (23 to 21). Not a big difference.

So our offense is similar to Indiana's but not quite as good. That's what you're saying? So, I'll take 24 points and at the same time, I don't think your anemic offense will be able to put up more than 17 on our defense in Lincoln.

I'm refuting the statement that you're the best rushing O we've faced to date. And our anemic offense is averaging just as many PPG as yours in conference play. For how much you guys talk up your offense (and I don't doubt that you have some explosive playmakers, i've seen them do damage) how come you only put up 17 points and under 300 yards on Michigan?

 

[walksalone]

Plainly put, if Abdullah, Imani, and Newby are able to run on the MSU Defense, Nebraska wins...

That is, unless Beck pulls a Watson...