Fall and Football, Football and Fall.  Can't have one without the other.
So who are you are watching, and how are they doing?

78 responses total.

I watched a fair part of the Indiana-Michigan game.  Michigan's offense was
_really_ bad: seventeen points, only seven in the second half, and none before
both the special teams and defense had racked up touchdowns.  They have got
to get better if they want to go to Pasedena.

Michigan State did just fine today, beating 9th or 13th ranked Iowa, 
20-10.  The Spartans weren't supposed to be very good this year, but 
are 4-1.  Their lone loss was a pathetic loss to Louisiana Tech by a 
point.  I don't know if my team will compete for a Big Ten 
championship this year but they're doing fine so far.

MSU is only two seconds short of an undefeated season.  :/

Yep.  I heard very little about that game because I was on vacation 
then.  I heard they almost held but lost it at the end.  You can't get 
it back, unfortunately.

However, by beating Iowa, the Spartans doubtless earned their way into 
the top 25.  Good for them.  No one expected they'd ever crack the top 
25.

Next week they play Indiana, the weakest team in the Big Ten.  
(Michigan and Michigan State swap opponents; Michigan plays Iowa.)  
MSU will probably struggle.  But if they win, their next opponent is 
weak team Illinois.  If they win that one, too, they're bowl eligible, 
which was probably their team goal for this year.

(link to sports?)

(Good idea.)

This is item #37 in the Fall 2003 agora, and 125 in sports.

We shall see if U-M can get it back in gear - they'll need to on the road in
Iowa City.  Then the following week in Minnesota.  BTW, that game has been
moved up to Friday night, since the Twins are in the AL playoffs, and might
need the dome to host a baseball game Saturday.

That's going to be quite an interesting UofM/Iowa game.  

I hoping so.  I'm also hoping to watch it.  On television, as usual.

I tuned in on radio just before the end of the first half, and "saw"
Michigan's lead shrink from 20-10 to 20-17 after a long punt runback.
I tuned in with about 7 minutes left in the game, hearing that UM was
now down 30-20, meaning that they had not scored at all in the second half.
They got a long TD pass to pull within 30-27, and the defense held and forced
an Iowa punt.  The offense stalled around midfield, and that was the ball
game.  You can blame it on me, I guess...  ;-)

I don't want to be a John Navarre basher, but the memories that I am going
to have of him are failing to deliver in the clutch when the opportunity was
there, especially Notre Dame & Ohio State last year, Oregon & Iowa this year.

I failed to be impressed by John Navarre at the beginning.  He's gotten
more mobile over the years, but yeah; he doesn't deliver in the clutch.

John Navarre is the 2nd rated QB in the Big Ten right now.  To hear 
people bashing him, I'd have thought he was 8th.

Navarre is not the problem with Michigan, in my opinion.  I think 
Braelin "Brick Hands" Edwards is more of a problem.  Saturday, the 
punting game was much more of a problem.

You can certainly spread around the blame for why Michigan gets behind.  They
don't seem to handle that well, only seem to thrive when playing with the
lead.  But all that doesn't matter when you get the ball back late in the game
with a chance to pull it out.  I would like to see UM / Navarre actually do
that for once.

(since this sports conf. doesn't get a lot of traffic, you may want to request
that this item be linked to the new fall agora...)

(I started it in agora, Kevin.  ;)

(see what "forget" gets you? ;-)

So Michigan just missed scoring a point a minute against Illinois today.  

Those were the days...

Michigan "catches a break" by having Purdue *at* Michigan next Saturday. 
Actually, in general, things have gone Michigan's way re: the Big 10 race,
pretty much.  If they just win their games, their destiny is in their own
hands...

Mostly.  Wow, a football item still on grex.  This might actually get
interesting next week, with all the Michigan State folks floating around (some
of whom actually care about football)...

Michigan looked good today, beating Purdue.  I think this takes Purdue out
of the race for the national championship.

I watched the end of the Tennessee-Alabama game.  *Really* close: five
overtime periods. I saw a touchdown, two field goals, and another touchdown,
with a two-point conversion.  Alabama's last chance at a touchdown fell
incomplete.

Michigan looked *awesome* beating Purdue.  Remember, Purdue was ranked 
#8 in the country in the BCS ranking.  Michigan beat them 31-3, 
completely dominating the game in every way.

Next week is the Michigan-Michigan State game.  They're both going to 
be ranked between #10 and #15 most likely.  They play at noon, at 
Spartan Stadium.  As a Spartan fan, I had started to settle into the 
idea that Michigan State ought to win the game, but if Michigan plays 
like they did today, no team in the country could beat them.

On the other hand... Michigan had one other game where they played 
that well.  They played that well against Notre Dame.  They then lost 
two straight games, to Oregon and Iowa.

Still, today's game was *amazing*.  I expected Michigan to win, but I 
didn't expect them to win like that.

Isn't MSU the only undefeated team in the Big Ten?  That should change next
weekend. ;)

Michigan State is the only undefeated team in the Big Ten, yes.  
They're 4-0.  They did lose a nonconference game to Louisiana Tech.

They play Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State.  It doesn't 
seem likely they'll run the table on those teams.  Penn State is bad 
but the other three are very good, nationally ranked teams.  
However... they have the opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl if they do 
win all their games, or even three of the four.  That would be very 
satisfying; they were not expected to go to any bowl game this year 
after going 4-8 last year and bringing in a new coach.

I'm hoping the Spartans go to a bowl, just not the Rose Bowl. ;)

Well, yeah, the Orange Bowl would be better this year.  I, however, 
would be very much satisfied with the Rose Bowl.

(Actually, UM has a rather pedestrian win over Indiana at home between the
road losses to Oregon and Iowa.)

Let's hope that UM can keep up the intensity of the past 2 weeks when they
travel down I-96 to Moo U.  At least this year we won't have to worry about
a brain damaged clock operator giving the cows an extra second to work with!

MSU fans quit whining about the factors that went against them and 
helped with their loss after a week or two.

Michigan fans may *never* forget the 26-24 loss to MSU in 2001.  
However, they had no trouble getting over the two bad turnover calls 
at the end of the game that gave them an unearned victory over Iowa 
that same year.  (Remember?  The Big Ten apologized for the 
officiating for that game?  Of course you don't...)

I am looking forward to *this* weekend's game.  Neither team was 
expected to be where they are.  Michigan was expected to be crowding 
the top of the Top 25, and be 8-0 at this point.  Instead they're #13 
in the country (according to the BCS) with a 6-2 record.  Michigan 
State was supposed to be 3-5 or worse, but instead they're 7-1 and 
ranked #10.  It may make for a wonferful game.

I'll say this... if Michigan plays like they did against Purdue, 
they'll blow Michigan State right out of Spartan Stadium.  They would 
have beaten anyone that day.  That was an amazing game.

I don't expect that to happen.  I expect a close game.  Because of 
their superior defense against the running game, solid special teams, 
better quarterback, and home field advantage, I expect the Spartans to 
win.

The thing that always gets conveniently overlooked in the "Anthony Thomas
fumbled but the refs didn't call it" whine is that the fumble was caused by
a face mask that also wasn't called.  So let's not dredge that one up as some
kind of half assed "make up" over the homer clock operator at East Moo U.

I don't spend a lot of time complaining about referee errors.  I enjoy 
the game of college football.  I am enjoying looking forward to this 
weekend's game much more, just now, than I am enjoying the win two 
years ago, or MSU's 4 wins in their last 5 home games against U-M.

I'm anticipating a Spartan victory.  The team that ran the ball better 
has won 35 of the last 37 games -- and U-M is not going to be 
successful running the ball against Michigan State this year.  
Turnovers mean a lot, and State hasn't given up the ball in the Big 
Ten season this year.  Not once.  They've taken the ball away 11 times 
and given it up 0 times.

Heh.  Selective statistics will build up a team.  Actually, I'm 
expecting a close, hard-fought game.

Michigan and Michigan State have played common opponents Indiana (S), 
Iowa (S), Minnesota (S) and Notre Dame (M).  (M or S is which school 
did better against each common opponent.)

I think this game is going to be a lot of fun for everyone.  At this 
point, I couldn't be happier about it.  Sunday morning... we will see.

(jep, you mention that U-M won't be successful running against MSU.
I'm not sure of whether I necessarily agree or disagree, but my
understanding is that MSU doesn't have much of a running game at all.
could you comment?  right now, my primary source of news on the game
is the Michigan Daily, which is quite biased in this regard.)

Michigan State has a poor running game by Big Ten standards, they're 
tenth in the conference with an average of 103 yards per game.  
Michigan is 5th in the Big Ten, averaging 143.2 yards per game.

However, Lloyd Carr, coach of U-M lives by the running game, and John 
L. Smith, MSU's coach, does not.  MSU wants to pass the ball anyway.

Michigan was pretty much forced to go to the passing game for their 
win over Minnesota, when the running game was ineffective.  Minnesota 
wasn't prepared for it and let a big 4th quarter lead slip away from 
them.  Michigan State will be better prepared for what happens when 
Michigan can't run the ball.

Michigan played against a passing offense last weekend, Purdue, and 
succeeded by swarming (and flustering) the QB.  Kyle Orton said, after 
the game, he never got the chance to throw the ball long.  I don't 
believe MSU's QB, Jeff Smoker, is going to get flustered.  I think if 
Michigan blitzes MSU like they did Purdue, then Smoker will drop a 
short pass to somebody.  If they don't blitz, Smoker will have time to 
find an open receiver -- and he's got the most accurate arm in the Big 
Ten.  (70% completions in the Big Ten.)  I don't think Michigan has an 
answer for a QB as good as Smoker.

I think MSU is also vulnerable to a strong passing offense.  If 
Michigan throws the ball well, as they do sometimes and don't do other 
times, then this could be a high scoring game for both sides, and 
unpredictable.

In a close game, MSU has the advantage because their kicking game is 
better.  They punt for 10 yards per attempt more than Michigan.  They 
trust their field goal kicker.  Dave Rayner is accurate from almost 50 
yards out.  Michigan does not trust their kickers, especially with 
long kicks.

Michigan does have a better running game.  If they can run the ball, 
they'll probably win.

Michigan State is also prone to penalties.  If the Spartans give up a 
lot of penalty yards, that could be a factor.

High noon!  :-)

A few years ago, a few nights before the Michigan-MSU game, someone
painted green S's all over the diag on the center of Michigan's campus. 
Since then, every year, the guys from Theta Chi bring their couches and
their foozball table to the diag and camp out for several days before
the game. This morning I saw one of them polishing the 'M' with a can of
Brasso.

And Michgan won, by an interception in the end zone!

I was really, really worried.  After that fumble recovered for a touchdown
by State, we were in trouble.  When we gave the ball up on downs with a minute
and twelve seconds left, I got scared.

But the defense stayed with it, and State came up empty with time expired.

Woof!

Luckily for the Spartans, it is just a football game. ;)

Right, basketball season is coming right up.  (-:

(I was surprised at how often and how well U-M [specifically Perry] was
able to run the ball.  I also was surprised at how often the Spartan
receivers simply dropped passes, just like they did in the early season.)

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