Official Why We Beat MSU Thread

Anyone see Jason Seahorn and Tom Luigenbill (sp?) on espn picking this game? Seahorn picked Michigan State and Luigenbill picked up to win with a heavy dose of option football. I think option football bodes well instead of running right at them. "Option" Gholston on the end of the LOS and make him make a decision on how that play plays out.

 
Spartan Fan said:
bshirt said:
Giant Moose said:
ladyhawke said:
I glanced over at one of the Michigan State message board (can't get in unless you register) and thought it was interesting that one of the threads was Unbelievable delusion going on over on Nebraska free board Are we delusional or are they over confident? But then further down it said: Will Nebraska run the Option? Will MSU defend it well? This will be an interesting game. I really hope our boys play the same way they did in the second half of the Ohio State game. I was listening to 1620 the Zone yesterday and they were talking about a type of game where the team can give a sigh of relief after having played two really hard games. Kugler said he didn't think the game against NU will be MSU's 'relief game' (I forgot what official name he gave this type of game) He thought it would be the next one where they play against Minn. I hope it is this game. I hope they come into Memorial Stadium full of themselves, overconfident and then make mistake after mistake after mistake and our boys come out shining.
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MSU's free board is the Red Cedar Message Board at SpartanTailgate.com. It's where most of the best (and worst because it is tRCMB) discussion takes place.
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Thanks a lot!!

It'll be a TERRIFIC game.

GBR!!
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You sort of have to take the Red Cedar Message Board (spartantailgate.com) with a grain of salt - even if you're a MSU fan. The whole spectrum of fans is there, including the "fringe." It can be very entertaining.
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Oh sure, I get that. I enjoyed swinging by and reading some of the posts. Most of them are on the money and Spartan fans sound a lot like ours. Just more proof the Big10 is.....GREAT!

GBR!!

 
Why we win:

​


  • Cousins may just as well wear concrete cleats to the game Saturday. Won't affect his mobility a bit. Pelini has absolutely DEMOLISHED immobile QB's throughout his career... see billdozer15's QB graveyard for proof.
  • The supposed strength of MSU, their rushing attack, has been quite underwhelming. They're currently ranked 77th in the nation, which is good for DEAD LAST in the Big 10. Yeah, that's right, they're even behind Minnesota in that particular category. So, basically, their supposed heralded line and vaunted running back duo does not scare me.
  • As good as Cousins is, from what I've picked up just this week from Sparty fans visiting our board, he makes some mind-numbingly poor decisions at the worst time for Michigan St. Here's hoping we can take advantage of one (or several) of those moments.
  • Bo and Co. will have three full weeks to iron things out since the Ohio State game. Trust in them to have our boys ready to play, especially defensively.
  • We seem to have our rock on the other side of the secondary, a 6'3" solid tackling man named Stanley Jean-Baptiste. Having another guy we trust to play corner besides Fonzie could do TONS for this defense.
  • Speaking of the defense... They looked serviceable at the very least last weekend. Minnesota didn't score their points until after we had the game securely in hand (and perhaps had a let down of sorts, especially with the backups in).
  • This team came out and played with their hair on fire last weekend. Another quick start would be absolutely huge vs. Sparty.
  • Our offensive line has taken a lot of steps forward this year, and as by products of that, A) Our offense has looked good and B) I no longer wish to behead Barney Cotton and carry said head around on a pike as a warning to future O-Line coaches.


Why we could lose:

​


  • By contrast. their passing offense is good for 3rd in the Big 10, at 43rd nationally. They're behind only Iowa and Wisconsin moving the ball through the air. Cousins has tossed for 1607 yards and 11 TD's to only 4 picks. He's probably neck and neck with Wilson for the best passer we have seen all year (he is the lesser if you're asking which is the better QB).
  • This appears to be setting up as another "good on good" matchup for us, with the better of our two units, the offense, squaring off against the better of their two, the defense. Their defense, especially their line, is outstanding. However, when you look at the other matchup, our D vs. their O, I'm afraid at the moment we lose that battle. Our defense has shown flashes the last two games, but hasn't put together a complete game. Give me the 1st half of the Minnesota game and the 2nd of the Ohio State game, and you might have something. Things could change if our defense starts clicking. Also, the last time I thought a game was "good on good" was Ohio State, and we all saw how that started...
  • Which leads me into my next point... for whatever reason, our boys seem to come out flat a lot of the time. It is a recurring theme at times under Bo.. Remember back to that first year ('08) when we were down to OU 35-0 before you could blink? We also came out uninspired again Mizzou that year, but those are a bit unfair because those were just far superior teams to our rebuilding one. But it happened again the next year, to Texas Tech, and of course this year to Ohio State. As many have alluded to, a fast start is perhaps the best thing we could do to fight our way to a win.
  • Hate to say it, but we seem to have a record of falling just short and choking during big games:


2008: Va Tech (our big noncon game), Mizzou, Texas Tech (Joey's OT pick was painful to watch), OU
2009: Va and Tx Tech again and the Texas part 1
2010: Texas part 2 and again in the Big 12 title game against OU.
2011: Wisconsin
Every time we seem ready to take the next step... we tend to not be able to get out of our own ways, and fall on our faces.
Overall, lots of good and bad. I tend to see things through my red tinted glasses, so I think we have as good a shot as anybody would at knocking off a hopefully drained Sparty team this weekend. I have to admit, though, that what scares me most is not anything Sparty can do... it's trends we have seen our team display in the past. The coming out flat and coming up short in big game bits worry me... a fair amount.

 
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Why we win

smp_sparty_point.jpg


Why we lose

Lil_Red.jpg


 
dudeguyy said:
Why we win:

​


  • Cousins may just as well wear concrete cleats to the game Saturday. Won't affect his mobility a bit. Pelini has absolutely DEMOLISHED immobile QB's throughout his career... see billdozer15's QB graveyard for proof.
  • The supposed strength of MSU, their rushing attack, has been quite underwhelming. They're currently ranked 77th in the nation, which is good for DEAD LAST in the Big 10. Yeah, that's right, they're even behind Minnesota in that particular category. So, basically, their supposed heralded line and vaunted running back duo does not scare me.
  • As good as Cousins is, from what I've picked up just this week from Sparty fans visiting our board, he makes some mind-numbingly poor decisions at the worst time for Michigan St. Here's hoping we can take advantage of one (or several) of those moments.
  • Bo and Co. will have three full weeks to iron things out since the Ohio State game. Trust in them to have our boys ready to play, especially defensively.
  • We seem to have our rock on the other side of the secondary, a 6'3" solid tackling man named Stanley Jean-Baptiste. Having another guy we trust to play corner besides Fonzie could do TONS for this defense.
  • Speaking of the defense... They looked serviceable at the very least last weekend. Minnesota didn't score their points until after we had the game securely in hand (and perhaps had a let down of sorts, especially with the backups in).
  • This team came out and played with their hair on fire last weekend. Another quick start would be absolutely huge vs. Sparty.
  • Our offensive line has taken a lot of steps forward this year, and as by products of that, A) Our offense has looked good and B) I no longer wish to behead Barney Cotton and carry said head around on a pike as a warning to future O-Line coaches.

Why we could lose:

​


  • By contrast. their passing offense is good for 3rd in the Big 10, at 43rd nationally. They're behind only Iowa and Wisconsin moving the ball through the air. Cousins has tossed for 1607 yards and 11 TD's to only 4 picks. He's probably neck and neck with Wilson for the best passer we have seen all year (he is the lesser if you're asking which is the better QB).
  • This appears to be setting up as another "good on good" matchup for us, with the better of our two units, the offense, squaring off against the better of their two, the defense. Their defense, especially their line, is outstanding. However, when you look at the other matchup, our D vs. their O, I'm afraid at the moment we lose that battle. Our defense has shown flashes the last two games, but hasn't put together a complete game. Give me the 1st half of the Minnesota game and the 2nd of the Ohio State game, and you might have something. Things could change if our defense starts clicking. Also, the last time I thought a game was "good on good" was Ohio State, and we all saw how that started...
  • Which leads me into my next point... for whatever reason, our boys seem to come out flat a lot of the time. It is a recurring theme at times under Bo.. Remember back to that first year ('08) when we were down to OU 35-0 before you could blink? We also came out uninspired again Mizzou that year, but those are a bit unfair because those were just far superior teams to our rebuilding one. But it happened again the next year, to Texas Tech, and of course this year to Ohio State. As many have alluded to, a fast start is perhaps the best thing we could do to fight our way to a win.
  • Hate to say it, but we seem to have a record of falling just short and choking during big games:

2008: Va Tech (our big noncon game), Mizzou, Texas Tech (Joey's OT pick was painful to watch), OU
2009: Va and Tx Tech again and the Texas part 1
2010: Texas part 2 and again in the Big 12 title game against OU.
2011: Wisconsin
Every time we seem ready to take the next step... we tend to not be able to get out of our own ways, and fall on our faces.
Overall, lots of good and bad. I tend to see things through my red tinted glasses, so I think we have as good a shot as anybody would at knocking off a hopefully drained Sparty team this weekend. I have to admit, though, that what scares me most is not anything Sparty can do... it's trends we have seen our team display in the past. The coming out flat and coming up short in big game bits worry me... a fair amount.
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Wow.....nice post!

Agree with almost everything. Totally agree our offense vs their defense is good on good. But their offense, while nothing great (at all) still has been far better than our defense (still seems hard to believe this is Bo's defense).

Yes, we've come up short in lots of our big games the last several years. But we've won some big ones too (Missou & Okie St last year, OU in 2009, gotta include Ohio St this year down 21 in the 2nd half vs a fine defense).

I really, really love the spirit our offense has that has stormed back to win three games for us this year. They won't panic or give up, that's for sure. Really, again I agree this game hinges on our defense. Unlike the last couple of years we don't need a superb game from the blackshirts to win, but we do need an average game from them. 50/50 if they can hack it. Even vs an average offense that MSU is.

I'm going with a small Lincoln edge. We win by a FG 31-28.

GBR!!

 
So we win Because:

1) They lost to Notre Dame

2) Ohio State Stuffed their offense

3) Michgan Offense is Denard only running the ball, easy to plan for, we have Martinez and Burkhead, a better offense.

4) Wisconsin gave up a Safety, Blocked Punt for TD and a Hail Mary. Not a luxury Nebraska had

5) We are at home

6) We are getting better and our D is more likely to improve than there offense.

This is why we win so I will not engage in why we lose ............. for this thread. Kool Aid Should Not be Messed With

 
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mnhusker said:
So we win Because:

1) They lost to Notre Dame

2) Ohio State Stuffed their offense

3) Michgan Offense is Denard only running the ball, easy to plan for, we have Martinez and Burkhead, a better offense.

4) Wisconsin gave up a Safety, Blocked Punt for TD and a Hail Mary. Not a luxury Nebraska had

5) We are at home

6) We are getting better and our D is more likely to improve than there offense.

This is why we win so I will not engage in why we lose ............. for this thread. Kool Aid Should Not be Messed With
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Well said. MSU had quite a bit of luck on their side again Bucky.

 
Pressure. There has to be pressure on Cousins from the 1st snap. I don't think our secondary has been playing that bad, but I think if Cousins has time and gets comfortable, he's good enough to tear them up. Keep the pressure up on D and stay with the same gameplan offensively as we had against Minnesota.

I think we've got a good shot this weekend. :power

 
Rocketsocks said:
robsker said:
Fair enough. Have we improved from the beginning of the season? I do not think so. Better in some areas, the same in most, worse in some areas. And... NU has not played more than 2 -2.5 quarters in any game this season... sleep-walking through 1.5-2 quarters of each game. I see no improved intensity. No improved assignment football. No better tackling. No better ability to shed blocks. Better in terms of lesser penalties. Better in terms of play calling on O. Better in terms of fumbles and drops (but regarding dropped passes maybe not much better). Worse in terms of pressure on the QB. The various other elements of the teams performance will be a further smattering of some better, most about the same, some worse.

So... at best, NU is stagnant this season... neither improving nor getting worse. Relative to last year, NU is worse.
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I notice a lot of your posting is kind of debbie downer. What do you like about this team? Do you think it can get better? Are we going to lose most of the rest of our games?
Click to expand...
I really like the potential that the offensive players that are fast and shifty provide us. Specifically, Jamal turner, Kenny Bell, Ameer Abdullah --- and while we have not seen tons of braylon Heard or Aaron green yet... they sure seem to have some serious upside. These guys are all young and wow... much can be done with them. Aslo... and in a connected way... I think that Beck as OC may be OK --- it is early still, and perhaps I am projecting what I want to see rather than seeing what is there... but Beck's play calling is getting better and he may be equipped to utilize the speed guys on the team mentioned above.

I am a guy who loves watching anyone who plays all out, hard core emotional, focused football. If the team does that and loses, no problem... all I want to see is heart out there and effort. This is why i am, as you say, a "Debbie downer" on this team currently. I have followed NU since I was a student there 30 years ago --- and the thing that I have so loved, enjoyed , and respected about NU is how hard they always played --- up until the recent years... where the effort, the intensity is not there.

Back to what I like... I like guys who play all out... Rex Burkhead, Quincy Enunwa, Eric martin, Cam, David,... an array of others. So I like a great deal about this NU team. But they need to get better prepared. As you can tell, I am not impressed with this coaching staff... most of what bothers me about this team stems from what should be fixed by this staff... and has not been.

You ask, can we get better? I am not sure. Certainly if NU was better fundamentally and focused and played with passion every play --- well NU would get much better. That said, will they play focused with passion every play? Thus far... not even close. We can only hope so in the future.

 
Michigan State's defensive line looked real strong against Wiscy. They played really well last Saturday so it will be interesting to see how they match up with us Saturday and to see if they bring that same game they showed against Wiscy to Lincoln.

 
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bshirt said:
dudeguyy said:
Why we win:

​


  • Cousins may just as well wear concrete cleats to the game Saturday. Won't affect his mobility a bit. Pelini has absolutely DEMOLISHED immobile QB's throughout his career... see billdozer15's QB graveyard for proof.
  • The supposed strength of MSU, their rushing attack, has been quite underwhelming. They're currently ranked 77th in the nation, which is good for DEAD LAST in the Big 10. Yeah, that's right, they're even behind Minnesota in that particular category. So, basically, their supposed heralded line and vaunted running back duo does not scare me.
  • As good as Cousins is, from what I've picked up just this week from Sparty fans visiting our board, he makes some mind-numbingly poor decisions at the worst time for Michigan St. Here's hoping we can take advantage of one (or several) of those moments.
  • Bo and Co. will have three full weeks to iron things out since the Ohio State game. Trust in them to have our boys ready to play, especially defensively.
  • We seem to have our rock on the other side of the secondary, a 6'3" solid tackling man named Stanley Jean-Baptiste. Having another guy we trust to play corner besides Fonzie could do TONS for this defense.
  • Speaking of the defense... They looked serviceable at the very least last weekend. Minnesota didn't score their points until after we had the game securely in hand (and perhaps had a let down of sorts, especially with the backups in).
  • This team came out and played with their hair on fire last weekend. Another quick start would be absolutely huge vs. Sparty.
  • Our offensive line has taken a lot of steps forward this year, and as by products of that, A) Our offense has looked good and B) I no longer wish to behead Barney Cotton and carry said head around on a pike as a warning to future O-Line coaches.

Why we could lose:

​


  • By contrast. their passing offense is good for 3rd in the Big 10, at 43rd nationally. They're behind only Iowa and Wisconsin moving the ball through the air. Cousins has tossed for 1607 yards and 11 TD's to only 4 picks. He's probably neck and neck with Wilson for the best passer we have seen all year (he is the lesser if you're asking which is the better QB).
  • This appears to be setting up as another "good on good" matchup for us, with the better of our two units, the offense, squaring off against the better of their two, the defense. Their defense, especially their line, is outstanding. However, when you look at the other matchup, our D vs. their O, I'm afraid at the moment we lose that battle. Our defense has shown flashes the last two games, but hasn't put together a complete game. Give me the 1st half of the Minnesota game and the 2nd of the Ohio State game, and you might have something. Things could change if our defense starts clicking. Also, the last time I thought a game was "good on good" was Ohio State, and we all saw how that started...
  • Which leads me into my next point... for whatever reason, our boys seem to come out flat a lot of the time. It is a recurring theme at times under Bo.. Remember back to that first year ('08) when we were down to OU 35-0 before you could blink? We also came out uninspired again Mizzou that year, but those are a bit unfair because those were just far superior teams to our rebuilding one. But it happened again the next year, to Texas Tech, and of course this year to Ohio State. As many have alluded to, a fast start is perhaps the best thing we could do to fight our way to a win.
  • Hate to say it, but we seem to have a record of falling just short and choking during big games:

2008: Va Tech (our big noncon game), Mizzou, Texas Tech (Joey's OT pick was painful to watch), OU
2009: Va and Tx Tech again and the Texas part 1
2010: Texas part 2 and again in the Big 12 title game against OU.
2011: Wisconsin
Every time we seem ready to take the next step... we tend to not be able to get out of our own ways, and fall on our faces.
Overall, lots of good and bad. I tend to see things through my red tinted glasses, so I think we have as good a shot as anybody would at knocking off a hopefully drained Sparty team this weekend. I have to admit, though, that what scares me most is not anything Sparty can do... it's trends we have seen our team display in the past. The coming out flat and coming up short in big game bits worry me... a fair amount.
Click to expand...

Wow.....nice post!

Agree with almost everything. Totally agree our offense vs their defense is good on good. But their offense, while nothing great (at all) still has been far better than our defense (still seems hard to believe this is Bo's defense).

Yes, we've come up short in lots of our big games the last several years. But we've won some big ones too (Missou & Okie St last year, OU in 2009, gotta include Ohio St this year down 21 in the 2nd half vs a fine defense).

I really, really love the spirit our offense has that has stormed back to win three games for us this year. They won't panic or give up, that's for sure. Really, again I agree this game hinges on our defense. Unlike the last couple of years we don't need a superb game from the blackshirts to win, but we do need an average game from them. 50/50 if they can hack it. Even vs an average offense that MSU is.

I'm going with a small Lincoln edge. We win by a FG 31-28.

GBR!!
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Thanks Bshirt. Work was quite boring Tuesday night.

Here's hoping to a perfect world on Saturday, where the defense plays lights out and ACTUALLY BLITZES, we don't have to storm back on offense to win, and Bo and wife are pleasantly surprised to find him regrowing hair on the back of his head after the big win!!

 
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