The final USA Today Coaches Poll was released already. The nation's assembled sports information directors have MSU at 10.

The poll:

1.	Alabama (59)	12-1	1,475	2
2.	LSU	13-1	1,404	1
3.	Oklahoma State	12-1	1,367	3
4.	Oregon	12-2	1,290	5
5.	Arkansas	11-2	1,188	7
6.	Boise State	12-1	1,162	6
7.	Stanford	11-2	1,106	4
8.	South Carolina	11-2	1,084	9
9.	Michigan	11-2	925	12
10.	Michigan State	11-3	912	13
11.	Wisconsin	11-3	911	8
12.	Baylor	10-3	775	16
13.	TCU	11-2	710	15
14.	Houston	13-1	673	17
15.	Oklahoma	10-3	610	19
16.	Kansas State	10-3	602	10
17.	Virginia Tech	11-3	574	11
18.	West Virginia	10-3	554	22
19.	Southern Mississippi	12-2	429	21
20.	Georgia	10-4	345	18
21.	Cincinnati	10-3	248	24
22.	Clemson	10-4	237	14
23.	Florida State	9-4	205	25
24.	Nebraska	9-4	144	20
25.	Brigham Young	10-3	79	NR

Well, that seems mostly pretty okay, minus the complete and total ridiculousness of a world-historical ranking fraud, travesty and bad idea at number nine. But those die were cast earlier in the year.

Speaking of teams we hate, ND's bowl loss put them out of the poll and made our loss to them look worse. Thanks, Brian Kelly. You're swell.

Arkansas managed to have the quiestest possible 11-2 top 5 ranked season. I didn't see the Hogs play all year, but I don't think they belong up there given how bad they got trashed by Bama (38-14) and LSU (41-17). Their best wins are South Carolina and Kansas State.

Our friends the Georgia Bulldogs are damn well better than 20, too.

The Michigan State women's team lost last night to Ohio State, but thanks to our good friends from West Lafayette beating Penn State, won the outright Big 10 title.

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ESPN's* Adam Rittenberg drops Don Treadwell as "an early possibility" to be considered for the Indiana job, along with

San Diego State coach Brady Hoke, former Minnesota coach Glen Mason, Houston coach Kevin Sumlin, (and) Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst

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As demonstrated by this the brass at ESPN would like to kick the majority of football fans in Michigan right in the teeth. And not a nice, gentle kick in the teeth. This is "American History X"-style. By which I mean, assigning Matt Millen to call this game is not nice. Be nice, ESPN, and send the buffoon and his magical-Old-Man-Ford-hypnotizing mustache elsewhere. Does Alaska-Fairbanks have a football team? Are they playing a home date against the University of Kamchatka? Perfect.

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[Bump.  --LVS.]

LVS and some in this thread have suggested that MSU should end its year end tradition of playing Penn State the last conference game. The reasons for doing this are pretty good in one case (a lack of heat in the rivalry), pretty bad, in my opinion, in the other (they keep winning) and pretty ironclad in the third (disdain for aesthetic nightmare that is the Land Grant Trophy).

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Rexrode buried these in the comments on another post on Hey Joe. Now that the number one question has been answered.

1. What's up with Chris Allen?
2. How is Kalin Lucas healing and when will he be able to play basketball again?
3. Is Delvon Roe finally done with knee troubles?
4. Will Adreian Payne's ailing shoulder hamper his ability to get ready for a role as a freshman?
5. Is Derrick Nix's obvious weight loss a sign of a major role increase as a sophomore?
6. Is Durrell Summers locked in for good?
7. Will Russell Byrd play or redshirt as a freshman?
8. Will this Cavs thing make a positive difference for MSU on the recruiting trail?
9. Will MSU add one or two more to its class of 2011?
10. Who would have replaced Tom Izzo?

1. I fall into the view that he's still on campus, so that's good sign. If he really thought Izzo was going to give him the boot, you'd think he'd want to be with his new team already.

2. Fantastic! (Well, it's as good of answer as you can get from anyone who isn't Lucas or his doctor)

3. Ditto 2, but how often do guys do through as many injuries as Delvon has and then stop getting them? Not often, but that did actually happen to me playing high school football. And we know that if Roe can play, he will play.

5. Wow, I hope so. Nix being a much bigger contributor would be great. Teams are going to try to key on Draymond as an offensive threat this year and having another one would be great.

(Bumped.  Hurrah for news not related to uniforms! - Pete)

(KJ edit: Was thinking/wondering about this while I was sitting in the stadium on Saturday.  Who else, if anyone, deserves to be added to the ring?  Any players from the 80s/90s/00s?)

Via Hondo we see that MSU will add two new names to the west side of Spartan Stadium, Brad Van Pelt and John Pingel.

Mark Hollis is quoted on both guys.

"During their respective playing careers, both Brad Van Pelt and John Pingel were bigger than life sports figures, and it is only fitting to honor them by adding their names to the ‘Ring of Fame,’” Hollis said. “Van Pelt has been labeled the modern day Jim Thorpe by his teammate Joe DeLamielleure, while Pingel has been described as the Doak Walker of his era. As members of the College Football Hall of Fame, they truly rank among the greatest players in Spartan history."

Unfortunately, Van Pelt died last year and Pingel in 1999.

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[Bump.  Football!  --LVS.]

Some spring football links from the usual places.

Rexrode points out that Arthur Ray Jr. is doing drills in shorts this spring. Dantonio says he's going to try to play next spring. Wow. As Rexrode says, even if he never plays, that's awesome. Hey Joe also updates on the offensive line's apparent starters as of now.

In practice Thursday, the OL ones were: LT D.J. Young, LG Joel Foreman, C John Stipek, RG Chris McDonald, RT Jared McGaha. The twos were: LT John Deyo, LG Ethan Ruhland, C Nate Klatt, RG Antonio Jeremiah, RT J'Michael Deane.

That's an interesting group of twos. Is Antonio Jeremiah (listed at 360 pounds) really going to do something on the offensive line, or is it just a function of the spotty o-line recruiting from late period John L. Smith (Deane and Stipek are the only ones around) and the early bit of the Dantonio era (remember the O-line recruit who left campus after a week or something?) The move of Micajah Reynolds to DT (if it's permanent) would suggest that the coaches feel pretty good about Jeremiah, or maybe bad about their non-Jerel Worthy options at NT?

I remember hearing some enthusing about (R-Soph) Chris McDonald's athleticism, supposedly he ran track when he was a high schooler as part of relay team. J'Michael Deane  was talked about last August as the probable starter at RT and then hurt his foot. (His backup status may still be punishment-based) Jared McGaha (R-Junior) was also talked about in the mix at RG and RT last year.

Rexrode also updates on David Barrent, the celebrated recruit from last year, that he's participating in spring practice after having surgery in December.

Hondo reports that Keith Nichol is taking a very high percentage of the snaps at X receiver because of the great strides Andrew Maxwell at QB.

He also says that Dan Conroy and Kevin Muma are having a battle to replace Brett Swenson. At least right now, post-Swenson is a scary, scary time, for those of us who haven't had Tom Wilkinson and his crew in to remove the 2005 special teams memories. Because he's him, Hondo also anoints Aaron Bates as the best punter in the Big 10 (could be) and incoming freshman Mike Sadler as the second-best (that seems unlikely).

The 3-4 defense gets a quick mention, with Dantonio saying it was to get the best players on the field. That makes a lot of sense to me, not only in terms of Will Gholston but in the available people on the defensive line, with people line Blake Treadwell, Tyler Hoover and Kevin Pickelman who might fit better due to size playing a traditional 3-4 end than a traditional 4-3 tackle or end. But, who knows what the actual prevalence will be. Trying new schemes seems like a fine idea after last year. 

In another spot Hondo gives some of his story on last year's defense.

There were some critical points.  One head coach, whom the Spartans played this season and I am a close friend with, assessed the Spartans defensive backfield this way to me, "When you watch the film I really don’t think it is coaching.  They have their guys in the right spots.  You see where guys have good technique and that goes to coaching.  What really is troubling from a coach’s perspective is that they don’t play the ball well in the air.  That isn’t coaching, that is instinct.  Once they upgrade on talent, you can tell the coaching is there."

 

So, basically, the habitual torching was the fault of the players, especially the departing seniors, not the coaching or scheme. We'd certainly like to think that is true, but I dunno. Removing Otis Wiley and Johnny Adams from 2008 to 2009 was really the only change. Was Wiley really that good? He was good and he did make a lot of plays, but that seems too much. The alternative explanation that it was MSU's scheme has the problem that they ran the same stuff in 2008 and 2007 and did quite a bit better. 2008 didn't feature as good of a pass rush as 2007, either.

The Freep gives us a longer article about new QB commit Connor Cook, which includes this explanation (or apologia) on why he only had a scholarship offer from MSU (Edit - also had an offer from Miami of Ohio - Pete). 

"Before he selected the Spartans Cook was hearing from schools like Iowa, Boston College and Connecticut. He said Iowa was the school along with MSU that recruiting him the hardest."

They also had a ranking of the best players in the state at each position. MSU commit Taiwan Jones is judged the best safety prospect and Lawrence Thomas is judged the best overall. So, we should win everything.

[Bumped. Hey, we have a football team! -KJ]

Taiwan Jones is the third player to commit to MSU for 2011. He's listed by Rivals as an athlete and comes from New Baltimore, MI.

Given his size and speed, he's probably a Safety prospect. Per the Spartan Tailgate boards, he's very young for a H.S. junior. Rivals hasn't rated him yet and he's not on any of their watchlists, which apparently means he's unlikely to be rated above 3* by them. Chose MSU over offers from Indiana, Purdue, CMU  and Toledo. Goes to Anchor Bay High School.

[Bumped.  --LVS.]

Per Hondo and Scout (though not Rivals, yet) MSU has added Anthony White, a defensive tackle originally from Battle Creek who played last year at Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas. He has three years of eligibility remaining and Hondo's guy puts him at 6'2" 315.

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[Bumped.  --LVS]

Greg Jones is a semi finalist for the Butkus Award going to the top collegiate linebacker.

Greg, who really needs some kind of fearsome nickname, was one of 16 who made the cut from the intial list of 35. So far he has 85 tackles, including 8.5 for losses, five sacks, a fumble recovery and one pass breakup.

Obi Ezeh from U of M and PSU's Sean Lee both made the cut, which is pretty odd because Lee has barely played because of an injury.

The committee also decided to include Gameday feature cover guy Mark Herzlich of Boston College, in recognition of his courage in battling cancer.

"Mark Herzlich would have been a top contender for the Butkus Award this year had it not been for his illness,” said Hub Arkush of Pro Football Weekly, who supervises selectors.  “The committee is so impressed with his inspirational story of recovery that we wanted to add him as a nominee.”

[I was just about to post something similar.  On Saturday, we're playing a team that's pretty clearly in turmoil; it's nice to be on the other side of the coin for once.  More analysis after the jump.  --LVS]

The Zooker was apparently jealous of MSU's QB situation and decided to one up us, benching Juice Williams and starting Eddie McGee.

"Zook announced the move on his morning radio show Monday, stressing that he doesn't blame Williams alone for the Illini's 1-3 start, but saying he thinks McGee can give the team a spark. Williams is an all-purpose threat who is the Illini's all-time leader in total offensive yards, but McGee is a better pure passer."

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Saw this on ESPN.com, MSU is in the final three of a CB recruit from Indiana, Isaiah Lewis.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4262394&name=Midwest_Recruiting

The link starts about Robert Bolden, but scroll down to the bottom.

Lewis is a three-star prospect per Rivals and he's quoted as saying he'd go to OSU if they offered. If not, it's between Kentucky, Iowa and MSU.

http://michiganstate.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=92082&sport=1

[Bumped.  Hooray, indeed.  --KJ]

On the mlive boards, they were talking about safety Roderick Jenerette being back in the fold for the summer after missing last year for what Dantonio called a personal issue.

Even without, him MSU is looking very good in the defensive backfield.

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