SB Nation - Glenn Winston

Alamo Bowl Preview :: Texas Tech Defensive Matchups

Seth C — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:30:23 -0000

28 days ago: Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones, left, passes under pressure from Texas Tech defender Colby Whitlock, center, in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. Oklahoma's Stephen Good is at right. Texas Tech won the game 41-13. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

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SS Cody Davis vs. QB Kirk Cousins:

Cody Davis (Strong Safety / 6-2 / 200 / RS FR) :: There were a ton of question marks regarding how the Texas Tech secondary would perform, especially after the loss of three-fourths of the defensive backfield. In stepped Davis and FS Franklin Mitchem and although the numbers may not be too terribly impressive, 72nd in the nation in pass defense, but in comparison to the rest of the Big 12, the Red Raiders are better than average, good for fifth in the conference. Davis is tited for second, along with CB LaRon Moore and CB D.J. Johnson, with six passes broken up and is second on the team in tackles with 72. The general thought that when your safety is leading the team or near the top of tackles made, something is wrong with the defense, but I would guess that most Big 12 defenses suffer the same fate and the nice thing about Davis, and the entire secondary, is that he will hit. Davis was recently named to the second team All-Freshman Defense by CFN, an honor that is well deserved.

Kirk Cousins (Quarterback / 6-3 / 202 / SO) :: Cousins is only 6th in the Big Ten in passing, but he helped the Spartans lead the Big Ten overall. There's a lot to be said about the receiver situation, but Cousins still has his favorite receiving target in WR Blair White, while WR Keshawn Martin was Cousins' fourth favorite target. Cousins completed 61.5% of his passes, averaged, 8.2 yards per attempt and had a touchdown to interception ration of 2.57 : 1.00. There's this thought that the Spartans are purely a passing team, or perhaps pass a majority of the time, and the truth is that Michigan St. is about as close to even in terms of run to pass as you can get (387 runs and 393 passes). Cousins has only had two multiple interception games (two against Michigan and two against Penn St.) which means that he's not prone to having awful games and throwing multiple interceptions. Counsins best game of the year came against Minnesota where he completed 22 of 25 passes for 353 yards and two touchdowns.

So-So Running Attack: Despite rushing the ball almost fifty percent of the time, the Spartans don't necessarily struggle to rush the ball, but aren't running down opponents either. MSU ranks 79th in the nation in rushing offense and are 7th in the Big Ten at 135.92 YPG (for comparison purposes Michigan St. would rank seventh in the Big 12). The running game is really a committee approach in that the Spartans have 5 players that average more than 20 yards a game, including Edwin Baker (47.14), Larry Caper (40.27), Glenn Winston (34.00), Caulton Ray (22.29) and Ashton Leggett (20.83). The MSU suspensions play a part here as Winston and Leggett are suspended for the bowl game. I'm sure that this will have some effect on the role of the running game, but I'd imagine that the other three players will be more than capable of picking up any slack. The truth of the matter is that MSU is their absolute best when they run as the Spartans average 172 yards rushing in their wins and only 99 yards in their losses and as you would guess, the Red Raiders are their best when they limit the opponent rushing the ball, allowing only 82 yards in Texas Tech's wins and over 210 yards in Texas Tech losses.

Solid O-Line: The MSU offensive line is actually pretty solid, especially from the sense that they allow Cousins to stay upright for most of the game as the unit has only allowed 1.08 per game. This is a fairly veteran bunch as LT Rocco Cironi, C Joel Nitchman and RG Brendon Moss are all seniors while RT D.J. Young is a junior. Texas Tech fans know that one of the keys to a successful season is keeping your quarterback up and having a fairly decent running game and the Spartan offensive line has certainly done that. This will be a pretty interesting matchup as the Texas Tech defense (detailed more below) is second in the country in total sacks and thirtieth in the nation in tackles for a loss. When we look back at the results of this game, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to think that how these two lines play will decide the game.

Brandon Sharpe
Position	DE
Year	SR
Height/Weight	6-3/254
Stats	32 tackles; 16.0 TFL; 15.0 sacks; 3 forced fumbles

I honestly had no idea that Sharpe had this in him. In 2008, Sharpe played 10 games, had 1.0 sacks, 4 tackles and was virtually non-existent. Sharpe didn't have a ton of opportunities in 2008, but he certainly made the most of them in 2009. Sharpe, paired with fellow defensive ends Daniel Howard and Rajon Henley, has had a monster year terrorizing opposing quarterbacks, good for second in the country. In fact, Sharpe really didn't get going until conference play and I believe that he completely missed or played only a handful (maybe 5 or so) plays against TAMU. Of Sharpe's 15.0 sacks, 13.0 came against conference opponents, and although he was shut-out a few games, the defensive line as a whole had at least 1.0 sack every game and during conference play, the defense averaged 3.75 sacks per game.

MSU-TT in the Alamo Bowl: Suspension Impact?

grahamfiller10 — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:52:33 -0000

Tearing on another team's disciplinary or academic problems is usually an uninteresting pursuit that can quickly turn against you. For every Ed Martin (Michigan booster who gave 280k to Chris Webber), there's a Maurice Clarett and a Charles Rogers. So MSU's reputation, although tarnished by the fact that there are gangs of unruly Spartan football players roving around East Lansing, will remain similar to any other major program.

So will there be any REAL impact on the Texas Tech game? What does Leach need to know about Animal House 2: When Players Attack?

Here is a list from TOC of the players suspended over the incident -

Roderick Jenrette, 22, of East Lansing; conspiracy and three counts of assault or assault and battery.

Glenn Winston, 20, East Lansing; conspiracy and two counts of assault or assault and battery.

Frederick Smith, 19, Macomb Township; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

B.J. Cunningham, 20, Lansing; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

Jamiihr Williams, 20, East Lansing; conspiracy and count of assault or assault and battery.

Mark Dell, 20, Lansing; a count of assault or assault and battery.

Ashton Leggett, 20, Muskegon; conspiracy and two counts of assault or assault and battery.

J'Micheal Deane, 23, East Lansing; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

Chris L. Rucker, 21, East Lansing; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

All nine individuals are charged with conspiracy, which is a misdemeanor with a one-year maximum. The other charges are also misdemeanors, and have a 93-day maximum sentence.

You know what happens every time TO gets traded from a a team? Everyone breathes a sign of relief because the negative distraction is gone. Might that be at play here with some of these players? Probably not. Dell, Cunningham, and Rucker were healthy and would have started versus TT if not for the Night of the Long Masks. Although the secondary was generally horrendous, Rucker was an aggressive corner, which is obviously helpful if DC Narduzzi had decided to pull up his corners in bump coverage. Dell and Cunningham were #2 and #3 in reception yards for Sparty, which leads me to believe that 1) Blair White is going to be doubled, 2) we're going to see a TE in a slot position and 3) if a backup WR drops a ball early or runs a wrong route, there is going to be great wailing and gnashing of teeth (H/T: Book of Job).

Is Mike Leach giggling like a schoolgirl ~~in the hopes that Saint Nicholas will soon be there~~ because of the general upheaval that has enveloped the depth chart and pissed off some of the Spartan fan base? Probably not. Vegas will steadily increase that 8 point line for the Red Raiders and overconfidence can grow, which will give Leach incentive to push his troops. Kirk Cousins is still around with his laser rocket arm, though featuring less weapons to throw too. Adversity usually has one of two effects on individuals: Either people step up and play more minutes than usual while making plays...or they wilt under the scrutiny and added responsibility. Blair White and Keshawn Martin are talented enough to play the whole game, while MSU's tight end depth is the best in the Big Ten. Both Sims or Linthicum are quick enough to play slot.

A huge gut check is in line for Michigan State at the Alamo Bowl. Will they go out like Jim Bowie, cursing and firing until bayoneted? Or will the tumult and addition of walk-ons getting PT be too much for the Spartans to endure?

Michigan State Football Players Charged with Assault

Pete Rossman — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:46:30 -0000

From the State News:

The players are Roderick Jenrette, Glenn Winston, Fred Smith, B.J. Cunningham, Mark Dell, Jamiihr Williams, Ashton Leggett, J’Michael Deane and Chris L. Rucker.

The Ingham County prosecutor's office did state that they wanted to file charges before finals week, and here they are. The only one on that list that hasn't been mentioned in the news yet is Deane. For some reason he wasn't punished along with the other players in the altercation, I'm guessing there's a bowl game suspension in the cards (Edit: Deane suspension confirmed, check update #2 - PR). The two players who were punished by Dantonio but not charged with assault were Ishmyl Johnson and Brynden Trawick.

In all, the only aspect of these charges that was unexpected was the assault charge against Deane. Hopefully this can be settled quick and we can put this incident in the past. The announced charges could've been a lot worse - according to one victim's attourney 15-20 players were present, meaning that 5-10 more charges could've been filed if adequate proof existed.

UPDATE: The Detroit News has a list of the specific charges:

The players accused and the charges are:

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Roderick Jenrette, 22, of East Lansing; conspiracy and three counts of assault or assault and battery.

Glenn Winston, 20, East Lansing; conspiracy and two counts of assault or assault and battery.

Frederick Smith, 19, Macomb Township; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

B.J. Cunningham, 20, Lansing; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

Jamiihr Williams, 20, East Lansing; conspiracy and count of assault or assault and battery.

Mark Dell, 20, Lansing; a count of assault or assault and battery.

Ashton Leggett, 20, Muskegon; conspiracy and two counts of assault or assault and battery.

J'Micheal Deane, 23, East Lansing; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

Chris L. Rucker, 21, East Lansing; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

All nine individuals are charged with conspiracy, which is a misdemeanor with a one-year maximum. The other charges are also misdemeanors, and have a 93-day maximum sentence.

UPDATE #2 - Yup, Deane's been suspended, along with another wide receiver, Chris D. Rucker and defensive back Donald Spencer per The State News. On a related note, if you are an MSU student with a fast 40 time and ~~good~~ ~~decent~~ two hands, I'd start checking with the football staff about opportunities for a free trip to San Antonio this January.

Michigan State Football Players Alleged to be Involved in Fight

Pete Rossman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:19:05 -0000

From The State News:

Witnesses and students involved in the incident said a group of 15 to 20 men, who some described as MSU football players, stormed into the dormitory and hit and injured about seven students, some of them women.

And if that wasn't enough:

A communication junior who said he was sent to Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital after being punched in the face, said some of the men wore ski masks, but others were recognized as football team members.

But wait, it gets worse:

The men said they were looking for a man who had been involved in a spat with one of them the night before during an Iota Phi Theta event at The Small Planet, 16800 Chandler Road, Mitchell said.

And here comes the irony:

Mitchell said, above all, he was upset the event symbolizing the end of a week of community service ended with violence.

Wow. From the looks of it, I thought other team members would've learned their lesson from Glenn Winston's four months in jail (~~and before you ask, it doesn't look like Winston's involved - it's hard to run in and out of a fight a month after having ACL surgery~~ EDIT: Or maybe he was: he and Roderick Jenrette have been dismissed from the team per a violation of team rules per the Detroit Free Press. HT: Chris in Kzoo), but that does not appear to be the case here.

This altercation wasn't about a couple punches thrown in the heat of the moment - this ambush was planned, with some of those involved in the attack wearing ski masks in an attempt to hide their identities. More on this later, because I do not want to use the word "alleged" ad nauseam.

However, if members of the football team are found to have been involved in the attack, they, along with anyone else involved, should be gone from MSU. Period.

There's A Game On Saturday?: Sparty Till You Puke

Oops Pow Surprise — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:13:11 -0000

The pinnacle of musical accomplishment? In a word: YES.

Big game today, to put it mildly. Should Iowa pull off another win, they've essentially--depending on what happens to the Boys From Columbus between now--removed the second-most difficult roadblock to running the table. Tut and moan all you want about looking ahead, but the remaining opponents are a road test against OSU and three home games against teams with a combined 5-9 record against BCS conference competition. Not that it's ever safe to coast or anything, but those are becoming games where a loss is plainly inexcusable. No pressure

That all said, there is a game on Saturday, and it's hardly a lock that Iowa wins--Michigan State's favored by a point or two, depending on who you ask. But for just about the first time all season, we're feeling good about Iowa's chances. So good we're a little worried.

With Iowa on offense

Greg Jones. Greg Jones. Greg Jones Greg Jones Greg Jones. The driving force of this MSU defense, Jones is put into position to make plays time and time again, and he usually delivers; the linebacker boasts nearly 10 tackles a game, 7.5 TFL, and five sacks. If he gets into the backfield against Iowa's wishes very often, Iowa's offense will probably stall out often.

The reason, though, that we stress Iowa's intent on this one is that last week's halftime adjustments against O'Brien Schofield were a clinic in Coaching Adjustment Judo. So Schofield likes to crash the line? Okay, let's let him run himself out of a play then. Part of Stanzi's second-half success (11-13 passing) was that Schofield was too busy not running at Stanzi, instead doing what he--and the Iowa coaching staff--wanted to do. We'll see if Greg Jones falls into the same schematic traps or if his sheer force of talent will overcome. Probably a mix of the two.

The good news is, as Herr Doctor mentioned, MSU's pass defense against actual quarterbacks (sorry, Juice and Montana State Guy) is a little dodgy, to say the least. Okay fine--they're miserable, and this is about the best shape that Iowa's receiving corps has been in all season. Chaney's gone for the year, but Iowa has four capable wideouts and two tight ends playing out of their minds right now. If Stanzi doesn't end up with at least 240 and 2 TDs, something may have gone quite wrong. That or we pulled an OSU-Wisconsin and just scored on a bunch of returns instead, but that's totally implausible.

With Michigan State on offense

Kirk Cousins, he of the Iowa fandom, seems to be entrenched under center (though, whoopee! Keith Nichol plans to play through his injury, and that's when the MSU offensive momentum dies!), and he's a fine quarterback in his own right with a bevy of fine receivers. Blair White, who you'd never guess is white even though it's right there in his name, is the main target and someone jNW was hapless in trying to stop. Then again, they're just Northwestern. If MSU wants to have any success getting White the ball, they're going to have to do one of two things against Amari Spievey:

Throw to White over the top;
Get White lined up on the other side of the field.

That's about it, really; only the most masochistic of offensive coordinators would try to throw a hitch or curl at Spievey, and an in route over the middle is begging for a linebacker's helmet buried in White's sternum. This is all not to say that White will be completely shut down, mind you; he's a good receiver and he'll get his targets and catches. He won't really be effective, though, unless the MSU coaching staff get creative--and confusion over week-to-week creativity is what usually spawns game-day disasters.

As for the Michigan State rushing attack, it figures to suffer as badly as (maybe worse than) Iowa's will. With a torn ACL performing aggravated assault on Glenn Winston's season, the Spartans' top two tailbacks are true freshmen. Lead man is Larry Caper, who has yet to break 100 yards (hell, he's topped 63 once, a 95-yard effort against those poor, poor Illini) and who has not carried the ball more than 16 times in a game. If he tops 15 carries and 50 yards, A, we'll be surprised, and B, barring a big run, it won't be by much.

Also in the mix is Edwin Baker, who's taken snaps in precisely two games and has a decent amount of talent. Neither seem like the types who can gash Iowa and move the chains.

Special Teams

MSU might have the best kicker in the conference in Brett Swenson, but Daniel Murray isn't far behind. Punters Aaron Bates and Ryan Donahue are a wash on statistics, though Donahue has more ability to flip field position on a punt, so a slight edge there but nothing major unless Donahue uncorks a 65-yarder or three. Returners... ehh. Unlikely that they decide a game. All square here, really.

Prediction

So this game's probably going to come down to sustaining drives, limiting turnovers, and good coaching adjustments. Both teams should struggle with the first--though we like Stanzi against the MSU pass defense more than Cousins against the Iowa pass defense; MSU's likely to have problems with the second (Iowa's average turnover margin is about 2 per game higher than the Spartans'); last, a slight edge to Ferentz and the Hawkeyes on the third facet, not out of any disrespect to Dantonio, but just because this has been the staple of the Iowa season thus far. We're calling this one 23-10, maybe 14 or 17 points for the Spartans depending on how they perform in the red zone. This really should be an Iowa win, Vegas be damned, and we don't see a good matchup for MSU outside of rush defense. Should be close, should be fun. Hope the Spartans are ready for sixty minutes of hell, six seconds at a time.

First Down Stats vs. Illinois

KJ@theonlycolors — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:33:54 -0000

More photos » by Seth Perlman - AP

Grinding it out, baby.

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Given the circumstances (#2 QB playing the full game; opponent in state of disarray), I'm not sure how much meaning these numbers have. But, hey, I've got an Excel file to keep up-to-date:

17 rushing attempts for 76 yards (4.5 yards/attempts), 1 TD.
4-11 on pass attempts for 78 yards (36.4% comp%, 7.1 yards attempt), 1 INT.

The rushing numbers are actually better than the average-per-attempt figure would indicate. Excluding a 2-yard TD run, the MSU running backs gained at least 4 yards on 13 of 16 first down attempts. They just didn't break a big run on first down.

Keith Nichol obviously struggled on first down, although his 3 first-half completion on first down went for 25, 14, and 30 yards. So he did keep the defense somewhat honest.

Losing Glenn Winston for the season certainly has a negative impact on the running game, but the consistency in gaining yards on the ground last Saturday would point toward the offensive line getting healthy being a bigger factor than any particular running back. (Still, pleeeease stay healthy, Larry Caper.) If we can couple that kind of consistency with a healthy Kirk Cousins throwing the ball to White, Cunningham, and Dell, then we'll really have something.

Gettin' Familiar With: Michigan State Football.

Rodger Sherman — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:38:50 -0000

Yezzir.

That Leonidas fella probly woulda offed himself had he known his lasting legacy was going to be college students from Michigan yelling "OOOH! OOOH! OOOH!" before third downs and other critical junctures in football games.

On the season: Sparty got off to a pretty bad start. After beating Montana State, they dropped a game via last-second field goal to a Central Michigan MAC attack, then lost by three to Notre Dame in a back-and-forth one, then lost by eight to Wisconsin. All told, they had outscored their opponents by 31 points, but were 1-3. But an OT win vs. Michigan and a rightful win over the depression squad that is Illinois has them at 3-3 and streaking.

Us and them: Surprisingly, this has been a decent rivalry in recent years, if by "rivalry" you mean "they've played absurdly close games." Of course, MSU dominates us all-time, leading the series 33-16, but we've split the last 14 7-7. In 2006, MSU had the biggest comeback in division I-A history, pulling out the 38-35 win after we went up 35-0, and you've probably heard about this and have probably wept about it at least thrice. The next year, CJ Bachér went all (pretends to be LL Cool J, holds hands up to mouth to project) CJ BACHER!!!!! on the Spartans, throwing for 520 yards and five touchdowns, in a 48-41 OT win for the Cats. Last year, a 5-0 NU team had their early season optimism crushed by No. 23 MSU, who ended any Rose Bowl hopes early be dishing us a 37-20 loss.

Offense: If you've got any spare working body parts you're not using, MSU's skill position players could use 'em: Kirk Cousins, who started the first five games of the season, suffered an ankle injury, giving way to junior Keith Nichol, who promptly got injured in week 6. Currently, the two are both listed as starters with a big ol' OR slapped in between them on the depth chart, but it appears Cousins will get the start. He hasn't been half-bad - his worst game on the year was probably a 15-21 two-pick no-td performance against Michigan, and they got the W. Meanwhile, Nichol, who has played in every game in some duty, was 13-25 with a pick against Illinois. Cousins is probably in the top half of QB's in the Big Ten, so I'm hoping that ankle is a lil bit rawer than they're letting on.

Meanwhile, Glenn Winston - MSU's second-leading rusher, a sophomore who was splitting carries after spending 180 days this offseason in the clink - is out for the season, meaning MSU's running rotation in the wake of Javon Ringer is questionable. Freshman Larry Caper has been a vision - 4.6 yards per carry, over 60 carries, including 95 yards rushing on 16 last game against Illinois - but right now, he's their only suitable running back. Right now their second stringer is listed as Caulton Ray, who has 40 carries and 156 yards, but, the point be, that there be some depth issues. In a Northwestern-y twist, none of their running backs or QB's had ever started before this year, and now they have two injured QB's and an injured RB. We'll see what happens.

I'd be worried about the deep ball to MSU wideouts: Six guys have caught passes for more than 30 yards, 8 for more than 25, and seven guys have touchdowns. So there's a lot of people we have to guard. The Spartans' No. 1 target is Blair White, who leads the team in receptions, yards, and touchdowns with 33, 449, and four.

Defense: MSU has a nasty linebacker corps: Junior Greg Jones at the MLB spot is a certifiable beast, with twice as many tackles as anybody else on the team (71, to be exact) 3 sacks, 3 qb hurries, and 6.5 tackles for loss. I would not pick a fight with him. They also have Eric Gordon (relation?) who follows Jones for most tackles, and Brandon Denson.

Cornerback Chris L. Rucker is somebody to watch out for, as opposed to third-string tight end Chris D. Rucker, who isn't. Rucker (the good one) is a pretty solid lockdown corner but only has one pick on the year, but then again, neither does anybody else on the team.

Although our goal line offense has been pretty gosh-darned inept, I ain't worried: the Spartans have allowed points on 16 of 17 red zone tries, including 11 td's, the only exception being Tate Forcier's, err, forced pass into coverage in overtime of the Michigan game.

If we didn't think our offense needed to be as passing-oriented as possible before this week, well, the Spartans have a mediocre pass defense - 60% pass completion, 13 TD's and only four picks, 226.7 yards through the air per-game - but have an absolutely stout run d: only 3.0 yards per play and only three rushing touchdowns allowed on the year. Let's air that bad boy out, folks.

Anyways. That's all I got for now, but keep peekin.

Wrap-Up: Maybe We Can Dismiss This As Parity

Kevin HD — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:00:28 -0000

via BHGP: The Pictures

Iowa 30, Michigan 28

A first drive Stanziball, good for six Michigan points, set the tone early in this one, but Iowa made up for it by harassing Tate and ended his Disneyland start to the season.

Forcier finished 8/19 for just 94 yards, zero TDs and one pick. Denard Robinson entered in relief and led Michigan on a late scoring drive. The eventual pick by the more mobile of the two freshman quarterbacks sent the Mgofans into civil war over RichRod's decision.

But, like, look at Forcier's numbers? They're frickin' awful, and although Robinson is more of a runner and perhaps not fit for a hurried drive, he was averaging a half yard more per rush than Tate was putting up per pass.

And the turnovers: Michigan had five of them, but as BHGP points out:

Team A: 367 yards, 2/3 RZ opportunities for 10 points, 6 points scored off 5 TOs
Team B: 319 yards, 3/3 RZ opportunities for 21 points, 7 points scored off 1 TOs

Ohio State 31, Wisconsin 13

Ohio State is getting a lot of credit for beating Wisconsin so badly without actually have to do much, but I'm surprised there isn't more of a "dodge a bullet" reaction to this one.

Wisconsin dominated the game statistically, summarized nicely by DocSat:

I think if you'd told the Badgers coming in that they would run twice as many plays as Ohio State; gain twice as many yards; force almost as many three-and-outs (six) as they allowed first downs (eight); and hold Terrelle Pryor below 150 yards total offense and pick him off once while limiting the Buckeyes to one offensive touchdown, I think the Badgers would have taken that game.

The short and sweet of it was this: two pick-sixes and a kickoff return were enough to cancel out any advantage Wisconsin might of had in actual offense.

And what is giving me shivers is the realization that this years OSU-PSU game could quite possibly eclipse last year's version in defensive dominance and offensive conservatism.

Ohio State's defense is clearly elite, but there's nothing to suggest that Penn State (when healthy) can't play in stride. That means the game will likely hinge on offensive miscues exploited by the defense. So the bet becomes: who would you take to make the first major mistake, Pryor on the road or Clark at home? If Paterno has more faith in Pryor having success, he needs to takes chances to win. If Paterno backs his senior quarterback, we're talking 1920s football at its finest.

Michigan State 24, Illinois 14

The wheels have come off, the roof is on fire and the floorboard is wearing thin on the proverbial FAILmobile that is 2009 Illinois Football. This was supposed to be the year things came together -- strong recruiting, an all-star QB and the return of one of the league's best receivers -- only to have the offense lack momentum in every way.

Zook's decision to pull Juice lasted for about a half when he realized that change is not always good. McGee was 2/11 with a 2.8 ypa average. Williams came in and upgraded that average in garbage time: 7/17, 109 yards and a touchdown.

The score was 27-zip with a little over 3 minutes to play. Michigan State wins big but at a cost: starting RB Glenn Winston is out the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Minnesota 35, Purdue 20

via www.idsnews.com

Virginia 47, Indiana 7

WTF, Indiana? Virginia came into Bloomington with three losses to non-BCS teams, one of which wasn't even a D1-A squad, and all they did against the Hoosiers was gain 536 yards, pick up 29 first downs, and get running back Mikell Simpson four touchdowns, which is more than he scored all of last season.

Indiana QB Ben Chappell is insisting "that wasn’t our football team," which is probably what I would say too.

Northwestern 16, Miami (OH) 6

You can't ever beat a MAC school by 10 and be happy, but LTP is already deviling into the archives:

The 1983 White Sox called. They want their slogan back. Northwestern's 16-6 win over Miami (OH) today was a thing of ugly.

[...]

Yes, it was Miami (OH), but it appears our D is getting the locomotive moving in the right direction. We hit hard. We made plays. We should have had a shutout. But man, was that offensive exhibition God awful. LTP will go in to full breakdown tomorrow, but you don't need to be a rocket scientist to know the offensive playcalling, and thus Mick McCall, gets an "F" grade today.

Even with an OOC schedule that would make Tim Curley blush, they sit at 58th in total offense and 49th in total defense.

Wha Happened? Week Six

RossWB — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:37:07 -0000

Yes, there were other games involving Big Ten teams before Kinnick Stadium turned into a turnover-forcing black hole and Rich Rodriguez went apeshit... so Wha Happened?

Some people have too much time.

Ohio State 31, Wisconsin 13
Offense? Who needs fucking offense to not only win a football game but cover a seemingly ludicrous 16-point spread? Then again, if Vegas truly knew Scott Tolzien was going to throw not one but two pick-sixes to Ohio State defenders (although the latter pick six was a truly gorgeous deflection, catch, and runback by an OSU linebacker), I'm never going to bet against them again, because clearly their psychic monkey army is not to be trifled with. Anyway, in the game itself Wisco dominated time of possession (42:47 to 17:13), total yardage (368 to 184), first downs (22 to 8, and 3 of those came on the OSU offense's lone TD drive)... basically any offensive stat you care to look at. But they lost decisively for two reasons: they couldn't convert that offensive dominance into many points and they gave up three critical big plays (the aforementioned two pick sixes and a 96-yard kick return touchdown, which occurred immediately after Wisco had sliced OSU's lead to 21-13 and effectively served as the nail in the coffin for the game).

So what to take away from this game? Well, Wisconsin is fairly legit -- you aren't going to give up 217 return yards and three touchdowns too often and their defense did an impressive job of stifling Ohio State's offense -- and Ohio State's defense is scary. They did a fair amount of bending against Wisconsin, but they almost never broke and they came up with more than enough big plays to win the game. With the Pryor-led offense continuing to flail around like drunken ostrich whenever they play a defense that's at least halfway good, the defense and special is going to have to pick up the slack. So far they seem more than capable of doing so.

Also an apt description of the Illinois offense.

Michigan State 24, Illinois 14
Hey, remember when the Zooker was turning to Eddie McGee to light a spark under the moribund Illinois offense? Remember how he said it wasn't a "knee-jerk reaction"? Right. It sure seemed that way after he pulled McGee after barely more than one half of work and went right back to everyone's favorite massively-domed quarterback named after a beverage. Then again, a quick look at McGee's line (2/11, 31 yards, 6 carries, 11 yards rushing, and one crippling pick-six interception that was STANZIBALL-esque in its awfulness) would reveal why a new knee-jerk reaction was in order. Juice was bad in the early going this year; McGee was, improbably, even worse yesterday.

On the bright side, Juice did lead the Illini to their first touchdown against BCS competition that was scored before the fourth quarter this season. Baby steps, Illinois! At this rate, you'll be scoring first quarter touchdowns by the Cincinnati game at the end of the season! Anyway, Illinois is still terrible and the only reason to watch them is out of a macabre desire to see how disastrous this season can get for the Fightin' Zookers -- and to see if the head cheese himself can escape the guillotine. As for Sparty... ho hum. What does a win over Illinois really tell you at this stage? Maybe the biggest positive is that they finally mustered a solid running game; it took a cast of thousands (or, like, five dudes), but they ran for 193 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 45 carries. Then again, their two main running backs (Larry Caper and Glenn Winston) left the game due to injury (although The Only Colors says Caper is going to be alright). 24 is also the fewest points allowed by the Illini to FBS competition; even the offensively-challenged Buckeyes managed 30 points against Illinois, and they were playing in a monsoon.

This video may be too late to help Purdue, but you can still take its lesson to heart.

Minnesota 35, Purdue 20
Purdue is either the unluckiest team in football this year... or they just kinda suck. If good teams make their own luck, do bad teams make their own bad luck? A week after giftwrapping a victory for jNWU, Purdue was back to those same tricks. Once again, they jumped out to an early lead (10-0 this week). And once again, their inability to protect the football led directly to defeat. Three of Minnesota's touchdowns were scored on drives that started at the Purdue 30 or better; one of the other touchdowns was scored off a return from a blocked field goal. Like Ohio State, Minnesota was outgained (402 to 281), but still won comfortably thanks to turnovers and special teams. When their offense did have the ball, Minnesota opted for a surprisingly effective ground-and-pound strategy, mashing the Boilermakers for 207 yards and 4 touchdowns on 44 carries. Wha Happened? man crush target Eric Decker had a largely anonymous day (three catches for 50 yards), although the 47-yard bomb he hauled in helped set up one of the Gophers' touchdowns. For Purdue, this was the latest embarrassing death rattle in a season that's officially gone belly up. For Minnesota, this was a critical win in the pursuit of bowl eligibility; the next two weeks send them to Happy Valley and Columbus for games, which should put them at .500 heading into the home stretch of the season.

AWW SO CUTE.

Northwestern 16, Miami (OH) 6
Oh LOLcats. Don't ever change. 16-6? Almost getting outgained in total yardage? Against the other Miami? Now, some people would cry "glass houses, motherfucker!" Or, "hypocrisy, bitchface!" To them, I would say three things. One, that's just fucking rude. Two, our ugly wins against lesser foes came against better teams. Three, I don't really care. Watching justNorthwestern struggle with inferior competition is just funny. Motherfucking Kent State scored almost twice as many points against Miami as jNWU. jNWU scored 21 points less than Miami has been giving up on average. They completed less than 50% of their passes and ran for barely more than three yards a carry. Again, against Miami (OH), one of the legit worst teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision. You want to talk about "moral defeats"? Look no further.

Much like Indiana football, this is not for the faint of heart.

Virginia 47, Indiana 7
No, that is not a typo. Virginia, the same schizophrenic sad sack outfit that lost badly to I-AA William & Mary a little over a month ago, took Indiana behind the woodshed for one of the most jaw-dropping beatings of the season. Actually, scratch that -- they straight up fed them to the wood chipper (NSFW). How else to explain a game in which they were almost doubled up in total yardage (536 to 272), made Jameel Sewell look like a Davey O'Brien Award candidate (20/30, 308 yds, 1 touchdown, 7 carries, 29 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 turnovers... he had three interceptions against William & Mary), and were down 47-0 at one point in the fourth quarter? Going back to last year, Indiana has lost their last six games against BCS conference opponents (who was their last win against? Guess who.) and they haven't even been remotely competitive in any of them except the Michigan game a few weeks ago. Aside from being a gosh darn nice guy, how does Bill Lynch still have a job?

60% of the time, it works every time. Just like scheduling Eastern Illinois.

Penn State 52, Eastern Illinois 3
Despite what you may have heard, rest assured that there is no truth to the rumor that Penn State is lobbying to have Jake Christensen start for the opposition in all games in Beaver Stadium. But you can't blame them for trying. First visit? 16/29, 146 yds, 1 TD, and a 20-point defeat. Second visit? 13/25, 137 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT, and a 49-point defeat. I'm not positive, but if he comes around again, I think he'll throw four interceptions and they'll win by 100. Something like that - I'm no mathemagician. Anyway, hail to the conquering victors; they won their first game against ranked competition, after all. They ran well (285 yards and 3 touchdowns on 36 carries), they passed well (Clark threw for three touchdowns and 234 yards on 13/19 passing)... they did whatever they wanted.

Back to .500: MSU-Illinois Postgame Thread

KJ@theonlycolors — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:23:08 -0000

More photos » by Seth Perlman - AP

2 months ago: Michigan State's Larry Caper (22) out runs Illinois' Garrett Edwards (20) for a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Champaign, Ill., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Browse more photos »

MSU gets the job done, taking Illinois down 24-14. Larry Caper leads the way with 139 total yards and a TD.

Two reasons for concern:

Getting outscored 14-7 in the second half by a team that showed a complete lack of offensive cohesion.
Injuries: Glenn Winston, Larry Caper, Caulton Ray, A.J. Jimmerson, and Keith Nichol all got dinged up. Winston's (sprained knee) and Nichol's (dislocated left elbow?) injuries looked particularly bad.

Still, our conference record stands at 2-1, which will be good for no worse than a tie for 3rd place in the league at the end of the day.