Click the picture to view the inside of the Boilermaker trophy case

First a disclaimer: I don't truly hate any B1G school. All Purdue alums I have ever met have been nothing but polite, knowledgeable, and gregarious. When I lived in NYC, I helped to form the Big Apple Big Ten Council, a group made up of alumni representatives from each of the (then) eleven other B1G schools and we had a blast. Please understand the fact that their athletic program has been virtually bereft of success in no way diminishes my respect for the fine academic institution that is Purdue University.

Since our Northwestern friends believe that the world (college football) began in 1995 and our latest conquests additions Nebraska and Penn State probably don't care what happened before they arrived on the scene I want to give you guys a history lesson of sorts.

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(Editor's note: Our favorite Pakistani mix master, Chadnudj is recovering from a weekend of debauchery in Las Vegas. This is his column - I've posted it on his behalf.)

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Do I really have to explain what is wrong with this picture?

MSU and OSU aren't traditional rivals. There really isn't a storied history between the schools. MSU has played OSU the least amount of times of any of the schools that were members of the B1G when we joined up for sports in 1953. A mere forty gridiron meetings have occurred between these schools since they both began fielding teams in the late 1880's. MSU and OSU have shared a B1G title in football exactly once never. The series isn't close (27-13 in favor of OSU) and often the games aren't particularly close either. The most you can say about this rivalry is the fact that twice an unranked MSU team beat a #1 ranked OSU team in the ninth game of the season. Once OSU cost MSU a chance to go to the Rose Bowl. OSU suggested we cheated when it happened in 1974 (our secondary violation involved a coach who bought textbooks for a player). We all know what OSU did in 2010.No need to rehash that again.

Still, anyone can hate the OSU athletic program for their entitled, delusional,self righteous, and borderline insane fanbase.

Now wait you say as you look at this picture, "A large part of their fanbase is just a bunch of middle aged Midwestern guys who like to dress up in red and hang around events frequented by teenagers and young men. They're just having fun."

You know who else like to do that? This guy:

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We wanted this:

We got this:

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The odds (mine) and a case for each coach after the jump (alphabetically).

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Since I don't have the ability to go to West Lafayette, put on a signboard that says I ♥ Purdue and walk around campus this is the best I can do. I am here to admit before god and my fellow man that I was wrong in my prediction of Purdue to go 1-11 this football season.

I won't say that I was wrong to make the prediction, quite frankly with the facts on the ground at the time of the prediction I felt that it was the correct one. Not being a Purdue fan, I might have been overly pessimistic. But I will readily admit that the Boilers have played better than I expected that they would have. That they have regrouped after a nearly disastrous loss to MTSU followed by an actual loss to Rice. I have been impressed by their performance against Minnesota (which I saw) and TerBush's stats against the fighting Zookers.

Steal one against UM,UW, OSU or Iowa and you're bowl eligible. The exact opposite of what I predicted.

Whether or not I like Purdue athletic teams, I am glad that Purdue is in the conference. I am proud that MSU is grouped with the prestigious collection of academic institutions that make up the B1G.

Good luck the rest of the way!

Sorry to go all Simmons-esque with the picture attached to this story but this was the image I had in mind after the conclusion of the game tonight.

Call it a draw, call it a toss up, call it a "hanging chad" if you must. After 59 minutes and 56 seconds MSU and UW were deadlocked. Each team kept taking the other teams best shot and kept getting back up off the mat for another go. If this game would have gone to overtime, it would seem only fair. I am biased to be sure, but I think the wrong call was made on the field and the right one was made in the booth, however I wouldn't have been surprised if they called it the exact opposite way (TD on the field, Short in the booth) and sent us to OT. It seems only fitting that it came down to a body twist, a matter of inches and a judgement call. On UW's previous series a judgement call decided that Wilson was not guilty of intentional grounding while commentators thought and replays appeared to show that he was inside the tackle box when he threw it out of bounds. It seems somewhat unfufilling (not the victory) that it ended the way it did. What did we learn?

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Martin, Molk & Koger

Graham discussed what he felt after watching Michigan State University beat the University of Michigan in football for the fourth consecutive year. I thought I might quickly add what this means for MSU and the future of our program.

I have an idea of what the viewers out there might be thinking: "Sure, MSU has beat UM four in a row for the first time since JFK was president. This was one of the least successful senior classes in Michigan history. It's a nice accomplishment, but so what."

You are correct to a certain extent with this line of reasoning. While I do not wish to demean the athletic abilities or character of the men pictured above (they are representative of their class by their selection as captains for the 2011 season) they are in fact the first gentleman in nearly 50 years who can say that they never played in a winning effort against the Spartans. These were men recruited for the most part by the (now) sainted Lloyd Carr and while it is not their fault that were poorly coached, they remain very talented and good athletes.

It is Michigan. It is our biggest rival, so to win four straight against even when down, means something. It doesn't mean that we'll win every game from now on, or that we'll suddenly become the favorites in state. UM has been too good for too long for that to occur. They have too many inherent advantages for them to remain down forever. (All the big boys rebound...Alabama, Texas, OSU, USC...they all come back just as strong as ever...like zombies).

Still, I have mentioned (and will mention again soon) that this is different. That these Spartans are different. What would it have said about our program, about our coaching staff, about what we are building in East Lansing, if we had gone 1-3 or god forbid, 0-4 against a class whose career record stands at 21-22 after Saturday (for historical consideration the 1959-62 class for UM was 17-19)?

I know, as most rational Spartan fans will tell you, that in  the grand scheme of things this streak against this class doesn't mean much. If UM's senior class was 36-7 with three Rose Bowl victories it might mean much more. However, we play them when we're scheduled to and want the best result possible. Our seniors this year gave us the best result possible. 4-0.

Contrary to popular belief I have not been institutionalized nor have I been in hiding due to a contract undertaken by our friends in West Lafayette. Whatever the reason for my absence, I am back just in time for Michigan week.

I know, I know, as the OTE founders from Columbus will quickly point out, Michigan week is the last week of the regular season. But not for us. This game is our most important conference game. This game in many ways shapes the season for both teams. Only once since the B1G began allowing multiple teams to go to bowl games (1975) has MSU not played in a bowl in a season they beat UM (1978 - due to probation). On the flip side, only three times since the Spartans joined the conference in 1953 has UM lost to MSU and won a B1G title in the same season (1969, 1978(MSU co-champs), 1990(MSU co-champs)). 

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Five All-Americans in 1965 (l to r): Apisa (45), Jones (26), Smith (95), Washington (84), and Webster (90).

I. Case History/Opening Statement

A. Case History

We all know what happened last year for the Spartans 11-2 (7-1) B1G co-champs*, hopefully the last shared championship in B1G history. A case could be made that Michigan State University received the short end of the stick when bowl selections were made, but bowl selections are as much for what you have done as for what you did in a season. The horror show for MSU faithful that was the Capital One Bowl left Spartan fans little room to argue that the wrong teams were picked for the Rose and Sugar Bowls. I might suggest that no team in America was beating an angry Alabama team stocked with talent including four future NFL first round draft picks that had four weeks to prepare, but it really doesn't matter. We are fans, we are sure of what is right and what is true and what matters. The MSU football team was overmatched and it underwhelmed on its biggest stage of the 2010 season. 

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Apparently my closing arguments for Purdue ruffled some feathers in BoilermakerNation.  I hope that this update will be more agreeable to our friends from West Lafayette.

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"I hear that train a coming it's rolling round the bend, but I ain't seen the sunshine since... I don't know when"  - Johnny Cash

I. Case History/Opening Statement

A. Case History

After a disappointing final season of Tiller ball in 2008 and equally dismal first season under the just as luxuriously mustached Danny Hope in 2009, the 2010 season was supposed to be different. It seemed to be as on Sunday October 18, 2010, the Purdue fans awoke to their Boilmakers at 4-2 (2-0 B1G) and on the cusp of bowl eligibility. Two of the three home games remaining on the schedule were against a shaky UM team and a historically compliant IU squad. Alas, player's ACLs in West Lafayette last season appear to have been constructed of balsa wood and the Boilers failed to win another game.

B. Opening Statement

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, in two seasons since 1945 that Purdue has been relevant (and or won a B1G title) they have had a transcendent quarterback: Bob Griese in 1966 and of course Drew Brees in 2000. Robert Marve was thought to be the next in that line, except he tore his ACL and then of course there is this. If not Marve, then maybe Caleb TerBush or Rob Henry or Sean Robinson can be the man to lead Purdue back to the promised land of bowl eligibility. Unfortunately, Coach Hope announced that Purdue will use a two quarterback rotation this season and as the axiom states, "If you have two starting quarterbacks, you really don't have any.' 

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In all this talk (again) about the realignment of college football and B1G conference expansion we are seeing some of the same old names: Syracuse, Notre Dame, Texas and Mizzou. Reading the comments section of the latest OTE Potluck I see some new names have been brought to the table: Virginia, UNC, Maryland. Frank The Tank's Slant has done a much better and thorough job analyzing and refuting some of the possible scenarios of what happens when these rounds of musical chairs end. The one thing that is certain in my mind is that it would be a huge mistake on the B1G's part to take any school from a former slave state.

Cump says, "No!"

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In a fitting match-up for this season the last place Michigan Tech Huskies from the WCHA take on our Spartans, who are currently in 10th place in the 11 team CCHA.  It goes without saying that this is a game that in any normal universe, the Spartans should and would win. More after the jump.

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(Writer's Note: After wins over Wisconsin, UM on the road, a tougher than expected Illinois and a thrilling comeback against Northwestern in a hallmark "trap" game, I hope that for this season, we can put to rest the SOS moniker.)

This post might contain information familiar to MSU alumni and fans but might be foreign to our Big Ten brethren.

I'm going to point out very specific events which brought MSU to make program altering decisions on November 29 and December 6, 1999. Decisions which would result in the Lost Decadeof MSU Football. Decisions it should be noted that resulted in the hiring of Mark Dantonio, who just might lead MSU back to heights it has experienced previously. Every school of course, can point to certain"butterfly effects" throughout the history of their programs. Change one thing"here" and everything else down the line changes. Michigan State University is not special in this regard. My intent is to show how we got to where we are today andagain why this "rebirth" of MSU football might be different.

After the jump: The Head Coaches  

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[Bama Hawk - Promoted because it fits my theory of the moment: This could be a special season for Sparty.]

Let's look back in time. Way back, keep coming with me. Here we are: November 29, 1999.

A little more than a week prior, MSU had defeated PSU to finish the regular season 9-2 (6-2 Big Ten). There's talk that MSU might be selected for one of the BCS bowls. For the first time since the land grant trophy was created in 1993, MSU is in possession of all four of its rivalry trophies. Coach Saban is 2-3 against UM, 2-3 against PSU, 3-0 against ND and 2-1 against OSU during his tenure. If you give a coach 5 years to get his players and put his system in place good things can happen. Sure it's been 9 years since MSU's last Big Ten title, but finishing second shows some promise for the future. MSU is poised to make some noise in the conference and on the national stage as the new century dawns.

On November 30, 1999, Nick Saban announces that he is leaving Michigan State University for the head coaching position at LSU.

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After a gopher fan responded on LVS's post ranking likelihood of wins over this years schedule that a Minnesota win over MSU would not be an upset I got to thinking. What do you expect when you see the teams listed on a given year's schedule? I understand of course that times change (for example Wisconsin in 1985 is a lot different than UW in 1998).

My personal expectations follow the jump. Please respond with yours.

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According to the FREEP, we've picked up a commitment from one of our targets Jack Allen - a lineman out of Illinois also coveted by UW and Iowa. I'm glad that we are getting recruits that the other conference powers are after. No more, "he picked MSU over Indiana, Kent State and Eastern Michigan." He's an interior lineman, potentially a center. I don't have any video on him, but I'm sure before it's all said and done, someone will have posted something of him.

GO GREEN!

Here's the link:

FREEP

It's never too early to start thinking about the upcoming football season. The Orlando Sentinel rates the Spartans as the 69th best team in the nation for 2010.

I have a little difficulty in a ranking system that puts us at 69 while placing the program in Ann Arbor at 68. I realize that we have some serious question marks (offensive line, defensive secondary, PK) but we also return one of the best quarterbacks (statistically) in the Big Ten (if not the country). We have a plethora of weapons at wide receiver, tight end and running back. Our defensive line is strong and our linebackers are outstanding. We may give up some points in the secondary (although Adams is back) but we should certainly be able to score them to match anyone we face.

I realize it is year three of Rich Rod (his recruits....) but it seems UM still has some significant issues. Defense. Quarterback. Adapting to the Rich Rod spread...

I'm not suggesting we should be considered National Title contenders (yet!), but if you look at last year's result, incoming recruits who will play, and returning starters it seems to me that we should be ranked at least 5 to 10 spots ahead of Michigan. I'm definitely looking forward to th

Hat tip to Maize and Brew.

Orlando Sentinel

[Bumped. Concerns about MSU passing game in 2010: (1) pass blocking, (2) pass blocking, (3) receiver consistency, (4) pass blocking, (5) Kirk Cousins. - KJ]

This analysis of Kirk Cousins should make us pretty confident in his abilities. If the pass blocking holds up this year like it did last year, quarterback play will be one less thing to worry about. I honestly believe Cousins is set up nicely for a Unitas, Maxwell or dare I say it, if everything goes perfectly... well that probably getting to far ahead of myself.

By the way. Just to reiterate. Look at the photo of Cousins. Doesn't that uniform look awesome!

Here it is:

Evaluating the Mechanics of Big Ten Quarterbacks - Kirk Cousins

[Bumped. Double your SBN MSU football coverage pleasure this week going into Saturday's spring game. -KJ]

It's MSU week at The Rivalry, Esq. Everyday this week they will have a new article about the Spartans. They're previewing the 2010 football season for all the teams in the Big Ten in reverse order of finish. The "good" news is that they've already previewed five teams. The "bad" news is that they still have five to go after us. Here's the link.

NCAA Hockey Bracket

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