MSU Red Cedar Message Board

Based on . . . . . . .

How about home field advantage?

But for a miracle pay last year they would've won.

They improved during the season, we got destroyed in the end.

Keep in mind that was with Floyd and Rudolph. Floyd was the only WR other than Julio Jones that our secondary couldn't handle all year.

I thought the alki offense wouldn't be a big deal, but I guess ND is very very strict on repeat offenders. If Floyd is gone, that's a major major swing MSU's way.

I will be nervous going into this one just because they run a spread offense and I hate when we face spread offenses. They always have all the talent in the world so they are a threat to break out of their under achieving ways at any time. It would be great if Floyd is still suspended and they are still going through a QB battle when they play us, or did Crist secure it last year? I didn't really pay too much attention to them after our game last year.

Teo is an imposing player even if LeVeon did bitch slap him last year. They lost that DT to the draft, but I do remember them have a lot of of talented BIG D lineman last year. Their DL should be a good early season test for our OL. Notre Dame football has always been the biggest sports mystery to me. They get such great talent year in and year out yet remain mediocre to bad every year.

Rocky, I'm surprised you would call Teo an average linebacker by citing a single play during Teo's 3rd game as a sophomore. I can recall a few times that Jones didn't make a play his sophomore year, but we all know what a player he was.

Other than that, I agree with about everything. Without Floyd, their offense will be screwed up for at least the first half of the year. I think their defense improved a fair bit throughout the year, and should be solid next year, but we should still have the upper hand in that matchup. I see the Spartans having a 7-10 pt advantage w/out Floyd in the game.

Sure you can work kinks out against lesser opponents, but ND will have a head start on us (barely) in how their team plays. Playing bigger (not big, but better quality) teams will quickly show what your team has.

Or it can tire your team out. Look at MSU vs Wisky last year, we ran all over prob the 2nd best and biggest DL in the B10 then were shut down by the likes of NU/PU. When it comes to bball, sure let me put my guys up against the best as soon as possible, but in football if I have to choose between coming off of an FCS team and a Sun Belt team or coming off of a top tier BE team and a B10 rivalry game, I choose the former.

The only teams we lost to last year ran a pro-style O.

Spread teams points against: 14, 17, 31 (OT), 17, 6, 27, 8, 31,

Pro-style Points against: 7, 24, 37, 22, 49

Well said. A team can only "get up" so many times a year. You always hear about let-downs, and "trap games"; those exist because rarely does a team play up to its capabilities 13 straight games. The top teams of last year had their scares, and most even lost a game. Oregon can close against Cal, Auburn had wild games vs. Alabama and Arkansas, TCU nearly lost to one of the crap Moutain West teams, Boise lost to Nevada, tOSU lost to Wisky, who lost to us, who lost to Iowa.

Oklahoma lost to Mizzou AND A&M. Nebraska laid an egg vs. A&M. Bama lost to South Carolina. Va Tech lost to James freaking Madison.

MSU had some scares as well; Illinois was tight at halftime, Northwestern wasn't decided until the final minutes, nor was Purdue.

You could see the effect of MSU playing 10 straight weeks of football without a bye week. One of the biggest advantages we've had over ND for awhile is that they're our first big game, while we're their 2nd (or even 3rd). In otherwords, MSU is as fresh as they can possibly be for ND, while ND is usually slightly bloodied. It evens out by the course of the season, by the last 4 games, everyone is beat up.

That's why I have no problem with our non-conf scheduling going forward. If we played a marquee opponent on top of ND next year, I think we'd be lucky to finish 4-4 in the conference. CMU provides a "breather" (though a real trap game) between @ ND and @tOSU. After that, we get our bye, and 5 weeks of hell: UM at home, Wisky at home, @ Nebraska, Minny at home, @ Iowa.

That 5 game stretch is brutal. In fact, with tOSU, Wisky, Nebraska, UM and Iowa on the schedule, we HAVE to beat a marquee opponent to go better than .500. Tack on ND, and you have 6 major games on next years schedule, and that's before you even touch our game against Persa and NU, who are probably the biggest threat to upset ANY of the top squads.

The kicker is that ALL the Big 10 schedules are rough. Nebraska draws PSU, Wisky and tOSU from the other division for instance. You could argue that those 3 games, plus UM and Iowa mean that Nebraska's game vs. MSU is their 6th "biggest" on the schedule.

Quite frankly next year is going to be a bloodbath in our conference. We picked a good year to have build great depth across the board, with the very talented 2009 class entering their 3rd season. I'll probably go into detail on our depth once spring ball occurs, but I think we're set in the 2-deep at all positions, as long as either France or Treadwell gets moved back to NT. Pray for good health guys, we (and every other Big10 team) is going to need it.

instead of tea leaves, Optiking reads his turds. it's an infallible system.

Certainly no ND fan, but respect them for upholding their standards. Probably one of the reasons they've struggled in recent years and might be different if other schools maintained theirs as high.

Oooof.. One comma can make or break a guy's e-rep.

Keep in mind that Lippe is a troll. He will inevitably fall back on a few points.

1) ND won 4 straight to end the season, including its bowl game (but won't debate the quality of opponents)

2) MSU got blown out in its bowl game (won't compare quality of bowl opponents)

3) It took "little giants" to beat ND last year

3) ND must be getting better, while MSU getting worse (without much evidence other than points 1-3)

Just put him on ignore, it'll save you a lot of time.