And now, ladies and gentlemen, the proverbial thorn in our side. I give you, the Michigan State University Spartans.
Javon Winger has already rushed over 100 times in 3 games; expect to see lots of him. They’ve thrown 75 times too, but their QB has only completed 44%, so expect lots of running. But they are balanced, yardage-wise, averaging ~190 yards on both the ground and in the air.
Not too shabby, but their two victories are against Eastern Michigan and Florida Atlantic. Not exactly Monsters of the Midway. And they lost to Cal, who lost to Maryland, who lost to Middle Tennessee, who lost to Troy, who had their game against LSU postponed due to a Hurricane, so they haven’t lost yet. Thank goodness, or I might have gone on for another several rounds of “6 Degrees of Georgia-Macon”. Ouch, that was bad.
MSU opens its Big Ten season next week, albeit at Indiana, so don’t expect them to be looking ahead.
Good article on Rosie’s new heartthrob, Mike Anello, at the SI web page:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/andy_staples/09/15/michigan.notre.dame/index.html
Interesting stat from last week: score on drives of longer than 14 yards: Michigan 17, Irish 14. So that would point to a lack of consistency on offense. Yes, the weather played a role in the third quarter, and we were playing conservatively in the fourth once we got the 18 point lead, but we still haven’t seen (I don’t think) 2 consecutive drives of 50+ yards.
It will be interesting to see how this team does on the road. One positive they may have taken is just how fun it is to win over a big name (albeit maybe not big talent) team. The boys looked really happy on Saturday; hopefully the win has built some more team unity that will carry through the season.
No golf today, and the game is actually on locally, so I’ll watch in real time. Like I said last week, until we lose, I’ll predict victory.
Irish 23, Spartans 17. Of course that presages 3 field goals for us. I might be a little optimistic there, but we’ll see…
GO IRISH!!! BEAT SPARTANS!!!
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Yes, I agree we will see a steady diet of Javon Ringer today so our run defense will be tested. Your stat on our long drives is right on but here are even more scary ones.
ND rushing offense #97, MSU #31. Total offense ND #96, MSU #52. Oh yeah and our total defense is #70. Look out.
I will put my prediction here, do not have a good feeling about this one. The line is 8.5 for MSU and I think they will win. But we beat the spread so I say MSU 31 - ND 25.
Go Irish and prove me wrong please!
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