College Football returns!!!

After a long hiatus, the college football season has returned! After last year's experiment in the blogosphere, I think this will become a consistent football blog for the remainder of the year. I'll try to keep the following schedule for updates:

Saturday Nights/Sunday: MSU game recap along with big picture Big Ten news.
Tuesday: Football 101 - Explanations of MSU's schemes and more technical observations past the normal "our pass defense sucks!"
Thursday: National news - noteworthy musings from around the country such as the rankings, Notre Dame's latest exercise in futility, and potential bowl game lineups later in the year
Friday: Preview of the upcoming weekend's game...read with a beer because I'm turning it into a drinking manifesto.

Let's get to it.

MSU vs. Western Michigan University (East Lansing, MI)

Final Score: 38-14

In true Mark Dantonio fashion, the Spartans put up 297 yards of rushing in the home opener. Since Coach D took over, that is the second highest rushing total since Dantonio's first game against UAB in 2007. This should be an extremely welcome surprise, considering where the yardage came from. Sophmore Edwin Baker, who became the no. 2 option behind Larry Caper last year, and true freshman man-child Le'Veon Bell both eclipsed 100 yards each. In fact, Le'Veon Bell is the first freshman in MSU history to run for over 100 yards in his first game. That's quite an honor if you're familiar with the names TJ Duckett and Lorenzo White.

Other positive notes include Keith Nichol (above) making a name for himself at WR after switching from QB, the three new starters on the Offensive line seeming to enter their new roles smoothly, and Dan Conroy earning the starting kicker spot. However, there are a few things that left Spartan fans shaking their heads.

MSU Receivers dropped 6 passes during the game, in similar fashion to the Brian Hoyer era. I counted 1 from Nichol, 2 from Cunningham, and at least 1 from Martin. This is an anomaly considering the veteran WR corps returning for MSU that finished second in the conference in passing last season. The primary concern for many heading into this season was the play of the MSU pass defense, which looked improved, but only slightly. It's a complicated question to look at, so check back on Tuesday for Football 101 for my take on it. Western QB Alex Carder 220 yards, but it took him 49 passes to do so.

Overall, the Spartan faithful should be happy with the weekend's results. The team has looked improved, to some extent, at every position except for kicker. Can't blame that last part - Brett Swenson holds every Spartan kicking record there is. However, this team's true potential won't be known until they face a strong opponent when Notre Dame comes to town on the 18th.

Next game: @ Florida Atlantic (Ford Field, Detroit, MI) on September 11th.