[Bumped, now that everyone's had a chance to wade through all the front page content from the weekend.  Final MSU pass defense stats in 8 conference games: 268.5 yards/game, 59.8% Comp%, 7.6 yards/attempts, 22-3 TD-INT ratio.  There's your first team all-Big Ten QB right there.  Indictment of Dantonio/Narduzzi 4-3-or-bust defensive approach complete? -KJ]

As I am sure everyone knows, the defense has pretty much been in the epic fail category all year.  I am going to talk about our scheme and Penn State's scheme.  Why their defense works and ours costs us several games each year.

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[Bumped.  Enough of this wussy basketball stuff.  Eyes on the prize, baby:

--LVS.]

I am fired up for another big game this weekend.  Michigan State's fake rival comes to town.  Dantonio is 1-1 against the Lions and this is a big game for both program.  PSU has hopes of getting their asses kicked in to a BCS game.  MSU wants to be above .500.  I'd rather be in their shoes. 

This is also a big game in my household as my wife is a Penn State alum.  I would love to rub an MSU win in her face, but she doesn't care about football and I have to live with her.  So, hpoefully its a good game to watch.  On with the preview!

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Or possibly lack there of.  A few notes.   I recommend not bumping this post until it is complete.  Hopefully that will be Wednesday night.  I am attempting to improve the rate of MSUFRs produced by doing a quarter a day rather than everything at once.  I am also including a new metric for the defense.  I am assigning passing yards against whom the play was completed.  IE if a LB was in coverage and pass is complete for 6 yards the metric reads, LB 6, DB 0.  It'll be a cumulative stat for the game.  I believe MSUs pass defense problems are by teams attacking our LBs in coverage.  Its why they go to 4WR sets against our 4-3 defense.  I am also included KJ's super metric about getting disruptive. 

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I like football.  Especially college football.  So, here are my thoughts on this weeks games.  I am still working on the MSUFR for the MN game and hope to have that up before the weekend.

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What better way to celebrate a big win over Western than to go back and look at the Minnesota game.

Since last year during the Michigan game when Michigan was awarded a TD, the Big Ten officiating for football has been on my radar for being bad.  I am sure everyone remembers the play, the receiver was in the air, hit the pylon with his foot and the play was called no catch on the field.  The play was reviewed by the replay official and he awarded Michigan a TD.  The pylon is out of bounds in the endzone, so when the player touched the pylon, he established himself as being out of bounds.  How they screwed that one up is beyond me, but they did. 

After that I have seen a few plays this year that were not exactly stellar calls, or really bad non calls.  So, back to the Minnesota game.

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I had every intention of making a good thread this week but never had time.  I normally try to write up what is going on with college football for the week with the most intriguing games.  I have not had a lot of time lately with the MSUFRs.  And I have also not had a lot of time for the MSUFRs either.  Hopefully I'll be able to get one done soon.  So, here is what I think is important this week. 

ACC
Virginia at Miami. Miami should be able to get an easy W this week. Virginia has been all over the map this year but has never been a great team.

Florida State at Clemson. Clemson has been a surprisingly good team this year. FSU has been shockingly bad. FSU has to win to have th possibility of 7 wins this year. A loss means FSU will be at best 6-6 and on the edge for a bowl game.

Big XII
Not a lot of excitement this week. Texas has a non-conference game against UCF. Other than that, Oklahoma is at Nebraska. Nebraska had a great start to the season, but has really fallen apart after beating Missouri. It will be interesting to see how they play today and if its a bellweather for the rest of the season.

Big East
Only three games and two of them are duds. UConn is at Cincinnati. UConn has been a little dissappointing this year, but I guess that has to be expected after pumping a bunch of kids into the NFL. Cinncy has been a monster and looks to stay undefeated for a possible BCS NC appearance.

Big Ten
I think this week the Big Ten admitted that everyone sucks so they put all the games on at noon except for OSU at PSU. Michigan and MSU need wins to have a chance at a bowl game. Michgian hosts Purdue who has lost in fumble tastic fashion throughout the year but also beat Ohio State. I think this is UMs best chance to get to 6 wins this year. MSU hosts Western Michigan who was drubbed by Michigan to start the season. MSU has been out coached four times this year and it didn't exactly take a lot of effort from their opponents. MSU is trying to avoid losing to two MAC teams in one season.

Iowa hosts NW in a hugely surprising hate game. Iowa has dominated the games against NW but has ended up with an L at the end of the day. NW does have an offense that can attack the Iowa defense. I think the Hawkeyes had their stumble last week and get a W this week.

The only 3:30 game is OSU at PSU. Penn State's only loss this year was against Iowa. Iowa dominated PSU's o-line and put a beating on Daryll Clark. OSU has a better defense and defensive line. I think Clark will throw a couple of INTs this game and the PSU running game will be a dud. Defensively PSU isn't special but plays very disciplined. If they can get to Pryor at all he'll probably continue to make mistakes. I think this game will be low scoring and decided by turnovers. Whoever turns the ball over in the worst spot losses, and I think that will be Penn State.

C-USA
0-8 Rice is at SMU.

MAC
The MAC has already played 3 games this week. Bowling Green nicked Buffalo. Buffalo has fallen apart this year after winning the MAC last year. Temple beat Miami OH. Temple is 5-0 in conf play and 7-2 overall. I still can't believe that isn't a typo. NIU drubbed Eastern Michigan. EMU is 0-9 but has played some great games this year.

MWC
8-0 TCU is at San Diego State. TCU is well on their way to a BCS game but has to stay undefeated to get one. 0-8 New Mexico is at Utah.

Pac 10
Washington State at Arizona. Arizona is one of the teams still vying for a conference title. Oregon who is leading the conf is at Stanford. USC, whom I predicted would not be in the race for the Pac 10 this year, is at Arizona State. USC still has a slim chance of winning the Pac 10.

SEC
A lot of non-conference games in the SEC this week. Furman is at Auburn. An Auburn victory gets them to a bowl game. South Carolina is at Arkansas. Should be a shoot out.

The big one this week is LSU at Alabama. Bama has been lackluster a few times this year and if they don't put it together this week LSU could steal one. I think Alabama with their defense and LSU's lack of offense will be enough to have some 3 toothed hillbillies scream Roll Tide.

Sun Belt
Troy is at 0-8 Western Kentucky.

WAC
9-0 Boise State beat La Tech last night 45-35. <!-- / message -->

[Rebumped due to added content. -KJ]

FInally.  So, upgrades from last time.  I added the new metric that KJ came up with for the defense.  I also cut up videos so that there are several through as opposed to just one at the end.  I will probably be adding a few more in the future so check back after Tuesday for a few more. 

I will be fixing errors and adding updates as time allows this weekend.

Updated:  Added the metrics and Nickel vs Base discussion.

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Looking ahead the rest of this season has teams on the schedule that have now started playing teams the Spartans have played.  Iowa beat Michigan and Penn State so far this year.  Is that good news for the Spartans?

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We have all been wondering about the defensive scheme that was run last year.  I am trying to find video of MSU last year to verify what the defense was doing.  So far, I have one of the Michigan game and the few plays that are shown indicate the defense is the same as last year.  I will link the videos and post more if/when I find them. 

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[Autobump.  Extended analysis--complete with with nickel-vs.-nonnickel chart--at the bottom.  -KJ]

As of right now my lazy bastard self won't be creating any videos.  That could change as quickly as the weather.  If people like the videos, let me know in the comments and I will add some. Play by play courtesy of ESPN.

Edit: Anyone know why the font color changes after I publish?  I set the font color to white for the end of drive summary and after I publish that html code is removed.

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In order to understand if calls to fire Defensive Coordinator Pat Narduzzi are warranted, we must first discuss the role of the Defensive Coordinator and clearly define the job.

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[Autobumped.  WOOOO, more metrics! -KJ]

Hopefully this is another improvement to the MSUFR.  I have tried to define a better scoring system and I am sure it will be an ongoing improvement throughout the year.  I should also be includnig drive totals and color to indicate the end of a drive.  If someone knows the html color code for the correct green please post it in the comments.  Lastly, if someone knows how to convert MPEG 2 video into WMV files I will be able to start putting up HD videos.

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The Big Ten opens conference play this weekend so I thought I would write up a preview of this weekends interesting games and my thoughts on the season.  Who will win?  Will there be a surprise team?  Will any team fall from the top of the conference?

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[Bumped, obviously.  Brace yourself.  --LVS.]

I think we agreed to split up the special teams.  Punt coverage, Kick Coverage, PAT/FG defense will be covered with the defense.  Punt return, kick return and FG/PAT attempts will be with the offense.  We are also going to add scoring this week to individual players.  I expect the scoring system to get better defined as we go along so I am not sure if a big positive or big negative means a lot this week.

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[Bumped.  Explain, discuss, rant, cry.  Defend? -KJ]

This is the actual defensive scheme against ND.  I honestly have to question the defensive coordinator's qualifications and job security.  After the last two weeks, it appears he needs to be fired.

I have no idea why the MSU defensive coordinator is against going to nickel or dime coverage.  He keeps playing with 3 LBs on the field in every situation.  No wonder everyone is staying 5 wide against MSU and not even bothering to run the ball.

[Ditto: Autobump.  See concluding thought at the bottom. -KJ]

This was the first time I watched a game to take notes on performance.  I learned something very important, shut the sound off.  When you watch one play 5 or 6 times hearing the announcer say "1st down" or "Central Michigan" over and over again gets old very, very fast.  I do not think the defense played badly, there was just a lot of missed tackles and defenders falling down.  Hopefully formatting this post doesn't take longer than creating the text. 

Update:  I am in formatting hell.  I am going to post this as is then edit it to modify the formatting.  I would prefer to have the information available in a bad format rather than unavailable. Updated: now with video!

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Does anyone know who was on the Lions active roster for the Saints game?

I was looking around and I could not find a list of who wasn't able to play. 

I did not see a stat line for Derrick Williams and I was wondering if he played at all.  Seeing as how bad he is at returning kicks I am guessing unless he can tackle on special teams he won't be playing much, if at all.

Three weeks ago Penn State had 5 monkeys on their back. 

The first was having not played anyone.  Then PSU beat Illinois.

The second was not having played on the road.  Which was alleviated with a win at Purdue.

Last week was not having won on the road in a hostile environment.  Then was the Wisconsin crushing in prime time.

And then there was two.

The first has been building for 11 years against Michigan.  Saturday's game will end that streak and get another monkey off the Lions back.

The last monkey left will be to win at Ohio State. 

These 5 weeks represent and incredible run.  The team was/will be challenged by either the media or history to accomplish something.  To show the team is a contender.  To show that the ghosts of the past are not haunting this team. 

If Penn State wins through this, I honestly could not think of a more impressive 5 week stretch where a team has answered critiques or questions in the national spotlight when the pressure was on.

And by lose I mean win by less than 30.

Yes, it'll be a blowout, but I think it will be more of a letdown win for Penn State.

After crushing Wisconsin last week Penn State will not be as fired up this week.  Its almost impossible to be fired up two weeks in a row.  Look at Alabama.  Huge wins followed by very close wins.

Toledo.  Penn State isn't stupid.  They can look at the Toledo loss and just know they are going to kill Michigan.  The players won't be in this game.  They'll just go through the motions for the most part.  Its unfortunate for Michigan that the motions will be more than enough to win.

The last reason that Penn State won't win by more than 30.   Joe Paterno.  Paterno doesn't run up the score on teams.  After he gets a lead on Michigan, PSU will run the ball in the second half to kill the clock keeping the final score closer.

Since we've had several discussions here on medical redshirts, here is a stroy about Mauk a QB at Cincinatti trying to get one.  He was injured missing his Junior season but came back and played his entire senior (5th year) season.  The NCAA denied his request 4 times for a 6th year.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-cincinnati-mauk&prov=ap&type=lgns

The basic answer appears to be if you play after your injury you don't get a medical redshirt.

 So it does not appear that Still will get any extra years of eligibility beyond his normal 5 years.