7/12/09 Sunday Night Links . . . Gets Real.

by LVS on Jul 12, 2009 8:42 PM CDT in Michigan State Spartans News Roundup

53 DAYS!

Lotsa catching up to do. Here goes:

LSJ Blogs: Hey, Joe: Florida-MSU in Jersey. YES. The most logical location is the new Prudential Arena in Newark, but Rexrode thinks it may be in Atlantic City. I thought that Boardwalk Hall would be too small for something like this, but apparently it's hosting the 2010 A-10 Tournament. The only other venue in A.C. that's large enough is the arena at Caesars Palace, but I think the NCAA may have a qualm or two about that.

The B10 non-con schedules seem to be trickling in. It shouldn't be long until we release ours in full.
Rivals.com College Basketball - Who is the most overrated player in the nation? Raymar Morgan, say two of those who respond.
Weekend Rundown (7-6-09) | UM Hoops.com. Trey Zeigler: 81" wingspan. [shocked face]
LSJ Blogs: Hey, Joe: Cake free, but winning anyway. Rexrode with an interesting rundown of the upcoming B10 season, and how we look as compared to other leagues.
Shannon Brown returning to Lakers - Los Angeles Times. After what he did in the playoffs, he's earned it.
Patty Mills Sidelined After Fracturing Foot -- NBA FanHouse. Of interest to us (and by us, I mean KJ):

Portland makes its Las Vegas debut on July 13 against the Toronto Raptors and players such as Jerryd Bayless, Pooh Jeter and former Michigan State standout Drew Neitzel will assume the point guard duties.

WOO no more Deutschland correspondents needed!
A smattering of start dates in the Big Ten - Big Ten - ESPN
The lineup for Big Ten media days is set - Big Ten - ESPN

Practice starts on August 10, and our representatives in Chicago are ~~Keith Nichol~~, ~~Kirk Cousins~~, Greg Jones, Blair White, and . . . Brett Swenson? Look, I love our kicker as much as anyone, but we're taking him over either or both of our quarterback candidates? Meh.
MSU lands pair of Ohio linemen | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal. "I think he's a good solid recruiting addition," SuperPrep.com editor Allen Wallace said [regarding Michael Dennis]. "He has decent footwork and he's fairly quick, with the potential to be huge. He's one of those guys who could turn out to be a very good player."
Hello, My Name Is: Michael Dennis " JollyGreenGiants. Jolly Green Giants has your information roundup on Friday's second OL commitment. O-line depth is always key, but FWIW, Dennis seems like a surefire redshirt to me. The "potential to be huge" could actually turn into huge with a year of work in the weightroom.
Michigan State's starting QB spot still up in the air | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press. Fluff. Dantonio: "They've been very successful in high school, they have a presence on the field, and they were successful in the spring. We'll go into August and see how it works from there and into the season. But I think it's a good situation."
Michigan State Spartans Non-Conference Outlook | Bleacher Report. "Michigan State has a relatively weak schedule this season[.]" O RLY? Phil Steele projects our schedule as the tenth toughest in the country for 2009. The Bleacher Report rap seems to hold true.
MSU picked for top half of Big Ten, U-M in middle of the pack | detnews.com | The Detroit News. Chengelis has us third. Of course, she also predicted that we'd go 10-2; caveat emptor.
Big Ten WR Profiles - AthlonSports.com. Ranking the B10's best wide receivers. Mark Dell #8 (stop dropping the ball and you'll be higher), Keshawn Martin #9, and Blair White #10.
Incoming MSU LB Chris Norman helps lead U.S. to title | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press. Incoming MSU freshman Chris Norman helps the USA win an international tourna . . . HOLY HELL check out his shirt:

THAT'S what linebackers are supposed to wear.
LB Norman sees titles in MSU's future | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal. More from our newest skull-wearin', international champion linebacker, who certainly doesn't lack confidence about our future:

"The recruiting has stepped up a lot and I was proud to be part of that (2009) class. I think the MSU program is going nowhere but up. You're gonna see a national championship, Big Ten championships in the future."
LSJ Blogs: Hey, Joe: Keep an eye on this one. Rexrode is enthusiastic about RB commit Nick Hill.
Michigan St: No longer second to Michigan - AthlonSports.com. This article seems to be making the rounds around the Spartan interwebs, and it's not surprising: "Now that it appears as if the ascending Spartans are on the verge of passing the Wolverines in the Big Ten hierarchy, or at least pulling even over the long haul."

As a dyed-in-the-wool Spartan, it pains me to say this, but that statement (and the general tenor of the article) is phenomenally stupid. Look, I love the direction our program's heading in. But Michigan is quite possibly--Wolverines would drop the "quite possibly" qualification--the most illustrious program in college football history. They've been a dynasty for 100+ years, and with a few spotty exceptions, consistently better than us. Reasonable arguments can be made that Rodriguez is going to end up being a disaster, and Michigan will take a few steps back. The point remains: in the long haul, they're the benchmark. I hope we eventually pass them, but one crappy season from them combined with a 3rd place finish from us does not a coup d'etat make. Let's keep it in perspective here.
The Battleground: Talking summer recruiting for both U of M and MSU - Terp's Take
U-M vs. MSU recruiting: Different approach, great results, analyst says | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Spartans even up recruiting | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal

Because we don't have anything better to argue about in July.
A new top two for Dior Mathis ($). That said, we shouldn't minimize the importance of this recruitment; if we can nab Mathis, it's huge both on the field and psychologically. Cass Tech has been a Michigan pipeline in recent years (Will Campbell, Boubacar Cissoko, Thomas Gordon, Teric Jones, etc.), and given their annual plethora of top players, it would behoove us to win one or two of these battles. Plus, dude can play.
An Interview With Austin White | mgoblog. Yeah, we shouldn't get our hopes up:

TOM: Early on, everyone really thought you were a Michigan State lock, because of your family ties. How has that changed for you?

AUSTIN: It was never really the case, I’m sure it’s because of my family. I like State a lot, they’ve got great coaches, but just measuring things out I feel like Michigan feels better than State does. It’s hard because I’ve built a relationship with those guys, so it’s tough.
College Football Commentators Include Millen Joining, Nessler on ESPN Saturday Nights, Palmer in ABC Studio. YAY more Matt Millen and Pam Ward YAYAYAYAYAY
Why can't Utah be Nebraska? Because Nebraska won't let them - Dr. Saturday - NCAA Football - Rivals.com. QFT: "So: Big schools overwhelmingly a) Have no interest in tough mid-major games outside of the conference, b) Raise the standard for mid-majors to enter the roped-off, big-money bowl games that determine the so-called championship, and c) Won't let mid-major teams into the conferences, an exclusion that costs the smaller schools millions of dollars every year. Indeed, as Perlman says, this is frequently "the way the world works." And when it works this way, it is called a cartel, and we call on government to enforce its laws to shut it down with haste. That's what Hatch and lawyers from the Mountain West alledge, anyway."
The Seantrel Henderson Sweepstakes - The Daily Gopher. Follow the minutiae of the #1 HS player's recruitment. MSU has offered, but it ain't happening; IMO, the best we can hope for is for him to go out of conference.
Spartan golfer makes the cut | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal. Spartan golfer Jack Newman played impressively as an amateur in this weekend's PGA event: finished tied for 39th at -7, ahead of Davis Love III, Lucas Glover, D.J. Trahan, and many others.
And, finally, Drew Stanton should settle in as the Lions' No. 3 QB - Detroit Lions: News, Blogs, Photos, Audio, Schedule & Stats - MLive.com. He's the #3 QB on the worst team in the league WOOOOOOOOO. But at least he's still a RCMB celebrity.

HT on many of these, as always, to the fantastic Spartan Sports Page. Have a good week, everyone.

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Comments

That shirt

Now that’s what I call a deathbacker.

Seriously, we need to get that field legal.

Light a man a fire, he'll stay warm for a day.
Light a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

by Seer on Jul 12, 2009 10:41 PM CDT reply actions

Toughest sked and Phil Steele

“O RLY? Phil Steele projects our schedule as the tenth toughest in the country for 2009”

I love Phil Steele — he’s the best there is in the preseason mag biz — but there’s a few things he does poorly. Underselling the value of good coaching is one, over-selling the value of recruiting is another, absurdly over-selling Notre Dame is always the case, and strength of schedule is another.

In his 2008 publication, with Cal joining ND in the OOC and Ohio State on the conference slate, he called MSU #13 toughest. Probably pretty accurate as things turned out and a good indication that the 9-4 record was a very nice finish when grading on that curve. But this year, with CMU taking the place of Cal and no Ohio State, we move UP in schedule strength to #10?

I think Western Michigan and CMU are both quality teams, but it’s silly to stack either one up against a road trip to Cal and a homestand in a monsoon against a Fla Atlantic team that was good enough to beat CMU in a bowl game.

Imagine last year’s team playing this year’s schedule against last year’s version of those same opponents, and you probably get an 11-2 finish in 2008 (no loss to OSU or Cal, but still get blasted by PSU and lose to Georgia.) This year’s schedule is NOTHING in comparison to last year.

BTW: Combining Phil’s blindspots (over-value of ND, schedule strength and coaching) gets you fun results. Last year, he said ND had the #67 toughest sked coming off a 3-9 year and “this year the Irish are on top of my most improved list.”

Okay… They barely crested .500 after beating mighty Hawaii in a bowl game, got shut out by Boston College and provided Syracuse with only its second win against a 1-A opponent. If Michigan hadn’t hired Rich Rod, they’d probably be 5-7 with no bowl at all. Gee, who was at the bottom of the “most improved list”?

And yet, this year, he projects ND to have the #36 toughest sked and now they are a “…darkhorse National Title contender.”

What’s changed? They still have the laughably over-rated Charlie Weis, the schedule is tougher, and they could barely stay above water with a below average slate of competition last year.

I’m not sure anyone does schedule strength well. Phil is the best there is, but he has the same problem.

MSU is a slightly improved team playing what is probably a nicely dumbed down schedule after a tough one last year. It’s no sin. Everybody does it. Enjoy.

by Ken Braun on Jul 12, 2009 11:17 PM CDT reply actions

Thanks for the comment

I do think that #10 is overrating our schedule a bit (especially with a down year in the conference). I used that to illustrate how our schedule isn’t “weak.” And FWIW, with ND improved, and playing Central and Western instead of FAU and Eastern, I think a decent argument can be made that our OOC is more difficult this season than last, even without Cal.

"Do not cheat your team or your teammates. Know your plays. Block. Protect. Add to what we are trying to do."
The Only Colors

by LVS on Jul 12, 2009 11:27 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm disgusted by the Out of Conference schedule.

Aside from ND, I’ve been disgusted by the OOC schedule since it was announced.

Montana State: There is never any reason to schedule I-AA teams. Ever. As opponents, they don’t get us any national respect for our schedule, plus beating them doesn’t count for bowl eligibility. Finally, since the divisions were created in 1978 we were one of five teams never to play a I-AA school (which got us some national respect). Why come off that list?

Central & Western Michigan: At least they had the good sense to move the WMU game back to campus (who set that up, George Perles, in a dream Motor City Bowl match up preview?). Playing two directional Michigan MAC schools instead of one? No matter how good they are, playing two MAC will not get us any national respect from the pollsters and OOC coaches. These are two games that we will be “expected” to win and again no matter how good these teams actually are…losing to them would be catastrophic for our season and any national respect we have built up under Dantonio. SOS anybody?

No out of conference games against a BCS conference (yes, ND is a BCS school…but I think recently it is more helpful to play another BCS conference team). Unacceptable.

I’m also not a big fan of playing Western during the B10 season.

In the future, we should schedule a non BCS conference school (WAC. MWC, Sunbelt) followed by our annual MAC matchup, ND, then we should schedule a mid level BCS conference team (Miss St., K State, Kentucky, Cinn for example) followed by the B10 season. In years where we don’t have ND…Alabama and WVU are nice replacements.

Much as we hate to admit it, national rankings are based on reputation, this OOC schedule won’t help our national reputation.

Wins+National reputation=National Rankings=National TV exposure=Better recruits=Better teams=B10/National titles.

by MSULaxer27 on Jul 13, 2009 12:21 AM CDT reply actions

OOC and $$$

OOC games are on the sked to make money. If you pay Montana St to visit your 76k seat stadium and fill it up, they’ll do it for cheap, you get to keep most of the cash, and they won’t ask for a return visit to their house. Thus, in future years, you can sked more OOC games at home and get even more money.

Like it or not, so long as you can fill up a good-sized house, this is how strong college football programs are built.

FWIW: Alabama – unranked to open the season – nearly made the national title game last year on the “strength” of an OOC that included Western Kentucky, Tulane, Arkansas St and a very disappointing Clemson. In fact, they advanced from #2 to #1 in the polls after blanking Arky St 35-0.

There are many other examples. Small school OOCs on the sked are just th way the world works today.

by Ken Braun on Jul 13, 2009 7:32 AM CDT reply actions

Ah…But Alabama is in the mighty SEC, the “toughest” conference in the nation.

This site: http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/pre_season_congrove_rankings.html
has us going 12-0 and not getting a sniff of the national title game. The way reputation is now we could go 12-0 and have an 11-1 USC and 11-1 Florida go to the National Championship ahead of us.

by MSULaxer27 on Jul 13, 2009 6:01 PM CDT up reply actions