by Greg Kincaid
Big Ten Gridiron: Michigan State
The Spartans had a nice turnaround season in 2008, finishing third in the Big Ten and appearing in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando Florida. Javon Ringer stole the show for the Spartans, making himself a Heisman Trophy candidate for most of the season. With him graduating and a few other key players leaving, look for Michigan State to be a little down next season…….but wait, Michigan State is winning the recruiting battle in Michigan.
Yes, that is correct. For the first time in decades, head coach Mark D’Antonio is owning the state of Michigan in recruiting over Michigan University and head coach Rich Rodriguez. Michigan is ranked in the top 30 in Scout.com’s recruiting rankings for this upcoming season, with most of his recruits coming from the state of Michigan.
Sitting at the top of MSU’s recruiting class is an outside linebacker and two running backs. Chris Norman comes to Michigan State from Renaissance High School in Detroit, Mich. Norman gives the Spartans a quick and explosive linebacker that is good at stopping the run. Having good run-stoppers for the Spartans will be the key, as they’ll have to deal with many talented Big Ten running backs.
Edwin Baker and Larry Caper come to Michigan State as the two running backs that hope to fill Ringer’s shoes someday. Caper is the more powerful back that will bulldoze over Big Ten defenses. Caper is quick and will be used in a lot of screen pass situations.
Overall Michigan State is facing a year of question marks waiting to be answered. Look for the Spartans to compete, and make it to a bowl game. However, a Big Ten title does not look good. Look for Sparty to go 7-5 in 2009.
Nittany Lions making a statement in Sparty, Causing a stir up in the latest Power Rankings
Despite earning 11 wins to a weak non-conference schedule for the most part, the Penn State Nittany Lions are making every possible push to show they are a legit NCAA Tournament team. After the Lions squeaked out a 72-68 upset victory at Michigan State Sunday, many Penn Staters are beginning to believe.
With Penn State knocking off Sparty, this leads many people to wonder, “who is the team to beat in the Big Ten?” Penn State sits in fourth place in the Big Ten, but only one game behind the Spartans for first place in the league. Purdue has been playing their best basketball all year after getting off to a slow 0-2 start in the Big Ten.
Minnesota has been another surprise along with Illinois. But with all the shakeup in the last week, the Big Ten Power Rankings have earned a facelift.
Big Ten Power Rankings
1. Purdue
2. Michigan State
3. Minnesota
4. Penn State
5. Illinois
6. Ohio State
7. Northwestern
8. Michigan
9. Wisconsin
10. Iowa
11. Indiana
Casey says
Look at those ‘Mildcats’ climbing the ladder. Rey – whatcha got to say to that?
Wally says
I’ll say something … blind squirrel theory going on there. Hope I’m wrong, but It won’t last.
crossword pete says
All I know is ND better beat MSU or Weis may be gone by October, recruits from Michigan notwithstanding.
Wally says
I’ll go beyond that, Pete. Here are the first 6 games for ND football in ’09:
NEVADA, @ Michigan, MICHIGAN ST, @ Purdue, WASHINGTON, SOUTHERN CAL. Ol’ Charlie better be 5-0 going into the So Cal game or he’ll likely be toast. He must go 9-3 at the very least and look good doing it. There are a coupla challenging road games in the 2nd half as well.
Casey says
Do you think RRod will be able to recover his filing cabinet prior to the ND game? The guy is like Sampson without his hair. Or maybe he was just lucky in Morgantown.
Wally says
I think 2009 will be another down year for the Skunkbears, but it will be better than ’08’s 3-9. (But I wish they’d be 0-12 … you know how I feel about UM).
crossword pete says
Wally, 5-0 is a reasonable bar; we’ll see if Charlie makes it. Re: Rodriguez, a friend of mine has a theory about “hot coaches”. Urban Meyer is a “hot coach” who proved for real. Obviously the jury is very out yet on Rodriguez, but he did start very poorly in Morgantown. Time will tell. All I know is I’d rather have my coach start slow and steadily pick up than start like blazes and then take the fast downhill run (ala Weis). He is (at this point at least) one of the truly overrated “hot coaches”, as are a few other Belichik assts as noted in one of our earlier “threads” discussions. BTW, only thing better than an 0-12 Mich season would be an 0-12 USC season. Wonder how long I’ll have to wait for that. Paul Hackett where are you?
Wally says
Pete —
I have to disagree with you on that last bit, but of course this is just an opinion thing so there is no “right answer”. As a ND fan/alum, my disdain for the Michigan Skunkbears far exceeds that of all other ND rivals. It’s about their proximity to ND, we recruit heavily against eachother, Bo “Let’s kick it to Rocket again” Schembechler, LLLLLLoyd “The Curmudgeon” Carr, the nasty stuff that went on on the early 1900’s, blocking entry into the Big 10, we’re both #1 or #2 in total wins, historical winning %, etc, etc.
Meanwhile, our rivalry with USC actually elevates ND football. It’s truly cross-sectional and has really contributed to making ND the national program it is. True, recently ND has taken the brunt of So Cal’s current power, but it wasn’t too long ago that ND won something like 13 in a row over the Trojans … mostly under Holtz. I don’t like USC and the poodlehead coach, but I respect them and recognize that their existence is good for ND football. The Yankees need the Red Sox … Duke needs Carolina … ND and USC need eachother. ND does not need the Skunkbears … and I would love to see those SOBs go 0-12 for the next decade and drop football. Let Sparty take over the State of Michigan…. ^%#^% the Skunkbears!!!!