Wrap Up: MSU vs. Wisconsin

I feel like MSU is becoming the Big Ten's feel-good story.  Most importantly, here's the latest on Mark Dantonio's health:

- Dantonio had been at home all week and was planning to be in the press box for this game
- Thursday afternoon, he was re-admitted to the hospital because of a small blood clot in his leg.  It's fairly common for this to happen and the action was purely precautionary.
- As stated many times by the athletics family, there is NO set time table for return
- That being said, Coach Treadwell said a few weeks ago that "it would take more than one rope" to keep Coach D away from the Michigan game.

Another musing: Dantonio was watching the game on TV.  There were a couple times when the staff was actually talking to him on the phone about some crucial decisions.  On the first 4th and goal from the 1, here's the announcers' dialog:

"Okay so what do you do here?"
"Tough call, you're only up by 3 and you'd like to have 7"
"7 would make it a 10 point lead...so what do you do??"

"I think they should text Mark Dantonio"
"Ok, so Coach Treadwell calls time out to allow an extra 30 seconds for that text message to go through..."

Anyways! back to football.  The one, clear-cut, absolute point that should be taken away from this game: The MSU Defense can and will step up when needed.  They were simply incredible against a Wisconsin team that boasts among the best in the Big Ten at the QB, RB, TE, and OL spots.  Game ball on defense has to go to DB Chris L Rucker, who had his man on lock down the entire game.  He tackled well, had a few deflections and helped make Wisconsin's passing game look medicore.   It should be noted that Wisconsin's offensive line is gargantuan - the average weight is 323 pounds.  Even against that, the DL and LB's of MSU did a great job of containing RB John Clay and limiting QB Scott Tolzien to only 11/25 passing for only 127 yards.

As for the offense, it was a different kind of game than we have seen up to this point.  Although the MSU backfield of Baker, Bell, and Caper (I believe the name "The BBC" is catching on) tallied 184 yards on the ground, the biggest influence of the game came in the air.  Kirk Cousins completed 20/29 of his passes for 269 yards and 3 TD's.  However, he also threw 2 bad interceptions - the first was a poor decision and read by Cousins, the second was actually tipped at the line of scrimmage.  After the fumble by WR Keith Nichol, it's hard to believe that the Spartans won this game by 10 after committing 3 turnovers in the first half alone.

All in all, this is fantastic news for the Spartans.  Going into the season, there were 4 "benchmark" games on the MSU schedule: vs. Wisconsin, @ Michigan, @ Iowa, and @Penn State.  One is in the books.  The game at Iowa will be tough, as always, but the matchup against Penn State looks a little more winnable this year - Penn State has failed to impress in any game this year.  As for the Michigan game, it'll pit #17 against #18 at 3:30pm on ABC next Saturday.

Smash Right Through that Line of Blue!!!

AND SO IT BEGINS (Part 2)

Here's part 2 of the preview of Big Ten season.  Yesterday's post covered OSU, Indiana, and Iowa.  Today is the Cheeseheads, both teams from the land of Lincoln, and the team of a million lakes...or something like that.

Wisconsin Badgers
Mushroom, mushroom, snake, a snake, repeat.  Had to get that out of the way.  Many a national pundit picked Wisconsin as a definite Top 10 team and for good reason.  Wisconsin entered the year with a slew of offensive talent, led by QB Scott Tolzien, who was one of the B10's most efficient passers last year.  The Wisconsin faithful have been looking forward to a BCS bowl this season, but so far, they've been slightly underwhelming due to injuries and a defense that hasn't performed to its potential.

Best Player - RB John Clay
Clay has been regarded as one of the best, if not the best, running back in the Big Ten due his steady production and massive size (6-1, 255 pounds...think Jehuu Caulcrick but faster).  Needless to say, Clay is a bowling ball who is close to impossible to bring down just by initial contact alone.  He's on the watch list for the Maxwell Award (most outstanding player in the nation) and it sure to be on the All-Big Ten team come November.  One weak point is that Clay had surgery on BOTH ankles in the offseason and put on extra weight - he's a step slower than he was last year.

Biggest Concern - Injuries
Injuries have plagued this Wisconsin team very early this season, at a time when competition is easy and starters rarely have to go the full 60 minutes of a game.  Nick Toon and David Gilreath (WRs) have missed the last 3 and 2 games, respectively, and they have also lost talented MLB Chris Borland for the rest of the year.  It will be interesting to see if this is a recurring problem throughout the year.


Northwestern Wildcats
First off: Northwestern University is abbreviated as NU.  Not NW.  Are the readers from Northwestern gone?....yea?....ok so onto the NW Wildcats.  Coach Pat Fitzgerald has had some significant success with the  Cats since taking over - a big deal considering their lethargic fan base, small school, and higher academic standards than any other Big Ten school.  This year marks their 3rd QB in as many years, but the turnover has hardly been noticeable.  They've already had two very close wins, winning @ Vanderbilt, 23-21, and a close call against Dan Enos-coached Central Michigan, 30-25.  There are several ???'s all over the depth chart, but there are a few things that are certain...

Best Player - QB Dan Persa
Ok, who saw this coming?  Persa owns the highest QB rating in the COUNTRY, as well as the highest completion percentage, 17th in total yards, and is 8th in yards per passing attempt.    Oh, and he can also run if he wants to.  Northwestern has made a living on short, quick passes over and over to get some success, and Persa's accuracy is one hell of an asset for that system.  The way they've been playing, expect some crazy stats from Persa as the season goes on.

Biggest Concern - Running game
...or lack thereof.  Persa is their leading rusher, at 172 yards in 4 games, but his yards per carry is 3.4.  1st string RB Arby Fields just moved down the depth chart and he's only averaging 2.9 ypc.  If Persa can keep doing what he's doing, it might not be too big of a deal, but if it happens to rain or snow or hail or sleet or get cold in the Midwest (happens occasionally in October/November) the Wildcats are going to have to find a run game to stay competitive


Illinois Fighting Ron Zooks
Ok they're the Fighting Illini.  But I like that name better.  Coach Ron Zook is on the hot seat, mainly because his team has blown ass for years, save for the one 2007 campaign where they got to the Rose Bowl and subsequently demolished by USC, but that's pretty much what happens every year, regardless of what Big Ten team is there.  The Illini lost their opener to Missouri for the 75th time in a row but since then have beaten Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois.  Too bad Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, and Illinois Institute of Technology aren't in the Big Ten, otherwise they'd be a shoe in for champions.

Best Player - RB Michael Leshoure
Leshoure has been steady for the Illini both last year and this year, averaging 6.8 yards per carry.  He's a sizeable back who's hard to bring down and has broken 100 yards in all three games this season.  His strength comes from his ability to hit holes in the line and get between the tackles, but those holes could close up pretty quick against bigger defensive lines.

Biggest Concern - The Rest of the Offense
Although Leshoure pulls his weight well, the rest of the offense has been less than stellar.  1st year QB Nathan Scheelhaase did well against SIU and NIU, but was borderline awful against the BCS foe, Missouri - 9-23, 3 interceptions, 1 TD.  He's going to see defenses like that more and more often in Big Ten play, so his receivers need to get open quickly for Illinois to put any points on the board.  Prediction? The Zooker gets canned.


Minnesota Golden Gophers
I'm not going to write a ton about Minnesota..."if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" applies here.  One thing, though: Thank you for screwing up during your recruitment of Greg Jones.  Jones was high on Minnesota coming out of high school, but due to a head coaching change Mark Dantonio was able to scoop him up.  But yea...football....they lost to South Dakota. and Northern Illinois.  Doesn't bode well for the team and SPOILER ALERT Coach Tim Brewster is on the hot seat, which has to be scorching because it's about 20 degrees in Minneapolis already.

Best Player - WR Marquies Gray
Yes, Quise from MSU's basketball team decided to take up football.  He's also completely altered his physical appearance.  Gray was a QB recruit coming in, but has moved to WR because he's that talented of an athlete that he NEEDS to be on the field.  He's 6-4, big, and can probably bowl a 300 if you ask him to.  He's been the one shining spot in a horrid non-conference season for Minnesota and he is definitely capable of keeping his production up....provided Adam Weber doesn't get sacked 8 times a game.

Biggest Concern - They Lost to South Dakota
Did I mention they look bad???


Wisconsin vs. MSU Preview will be up in a little bit, and the remaining Big Ten teams (UM, MSU, Purdue, Penn State) will come Saturday around noon.  Go Green!