It was a little dull, a little vanilla, but Michigan State got the job done against a team in turmoil, the Minnesota Gophers. Now, the Spartans get a much deserved and much needed bye week before the final two-game push of the season.
I really can't find much to say about this game. Really not much to say. I will give credit to Minnesota for playing hard and not quitting. Adam Weber is a talented quarterback, and MarQueis Gray (who split time between quarterback and receiver) showed a real upside, but the Gophers made too many mistakes to make it a competive game. As far as the Spartans go, the coaches probably kept the playcalling deliberately conservative because they could. MSU's focus was to simply get through this game with a victory, as few nicks and bruises as possible, and get the guys healthy for November 20 against Purdue.
Special mention goes to Edwin Baker, who had a tremendous game for the Spartans (admittedly against an extremely weak defense) with 179 yards rushing and four touchdowns. I love the way that kid runs the ball. He is extremely tough and a difficult to bring down--in fact, he delivers more physical punishment to defenders than they can muster against him.
A pretty wild day in the rest of the Big Ten. Joe Paterno picked up his 400th career win as Penn State (a team that is beginning to look extremely dangerous) come back from a 21-0 deficit to beat Northwestern, 35-21. (If football games were only 30 minutes long, Northwestern might be undefeated). In a game that featured virtually no defense, Michigan beat Illinois in triple overtime, 67-65. I caught the last minute of regulation and all three overtimes and will say that the game was wildly entertaining, even if Bo Schembechler is spinning in his grave over the horrendous excuse for a defense that the Wolverines continue to put on the field. Michigan's D had exactly one decent play that I saw, and that was stuffing Illinois on their final 2-point conversion attempt. In other action, Iowa played flat and barely scraped by Indiana, 18-13, and after a slow start, Wisconsin outmuscled Purdue, 34-13.
As I mentioned, Penn State makes me nervous, and I could easily see Michigan State losing there on November 27. I rue the day that George Perles decided that it'd be a brilliant idea to make Penn State a pseudo rival and place them at the end of the schedule, ala Michigan/Ohio State. It has not helped MSU one bit, and it won't help them this year. If MSU had caught Penn State early in the year, the Spartans would most certainly have won against a team with a shaky freshman quarterback. But, as almost always happens with Penn State, the Nittany Lions have improved (and may have found themselves a quarterback in Matt McGloin, who has replaced the injured Rob Bolden, who is still recovering from a concussion). Evan Royster and Silas Redd had big days today at running back, and Penn State's defense is solid if not spectactular. What makes it even more difficult to beat PSU is that Beaver Stadium is always a sold-out madhouse, particularly that last game of the season. Oh, and I forgot to menton that the weather in Happy Valley, in late November, is usually about 30 degrees, snowy, and windy. Thank God this is the last year MSU will have to play these guys the last week of the season, as Big Ten expansion has killed this fake rivalry.
It was really a day for college football for me. Perfect weather for the pigskin, with sunny skies, lots of leaves on the ground, and temperatures in the mid-30s. I'd have loved to have been at Spartan Stadium, but was content to settle for the warmth of my living room and flat screen TV.
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