One Month Left: Open Thread

by LVS on Aug 5, 2009 12:44 PM CDT in Football Comment 10 comments

[KJ's excited that there are less than 100 days left until basketball season. Psh, I say -- much more important is that today, there's only ONE MONTH until kickoff. I'll turn it over to you guys: with the season fast approaching, what's on your mind? The quarterback situation? The offensive line? The running backs? Whether Greg Jones will devour grahamfiller10's soul with some fava beans and a nice Chianti? Have at it in the comments section, and hopefully Pete and I will be able to tailor our coverage a little better to our readership.

Now, it's picture time. Vee are Zee Only Colors, and vee are here, to pump (CLAP) you up! --LVS]

Michigan_20state_20spartans_medium

(Photo credits: AARoads, Spartan Marching Band, The Detroit News, The Grand Rapids Press, The State News, The Associated Press.)

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season

id like to have a seson similar to last year is all. a new years day bowl game and a win over UM. nothing else really concerns me about the team, just how succesful we will be with what we have currently.

by zachjuett on Aug 5, 2009 1:00 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Season

I thought I was excited for last season to begin, but I find it even harder to wait for kickoff on September 5th, 2009. While I don’t believe we are there yet, I am confident that Coach Dantonio is moving us in the right direction.

I’m a little worried about how the running back by committee plan will work out. I think we had something like 14 yards rushing (combined) in the spring game. Is that a function of a strong defense (the secondary was torched in the same game for a combined 600+ yards) or a weak cast of characters. I’m not stressing the negatives, but until the backs prove themselves in games they are the biggest question marks we have.

I’m sure one of the QB’s will distinguish himself. I’m fine with either one being the starter and I do think that, while Brian Hoyer was somewhat unfairly maligned, either will be an improvement.

I think that a winning conference record is likely as is a second consecutive win over UM. I’m unsure which is better – a non New Years Day Bowl win or another (if it must happen) New Years Day Bowl loss. A win is always nice but the recruiting benefits from a NYD bowl appearance may be better in the long term.

The thing I most want to see this season though is a seventh consecutive win at Notre Dame. I think a win in South Bend this year (while not an easy prospect) would really increase our national prestige (the rest of our OOC schedule is a joke, we skip OSU and UM is “down”). Plus as native New Yorker and Spartan alum I have always enjoyed beating ND the most of any of our usual opponents. It has a soothing and quieting effect on the Notre Dame subway “alums”.

Can’t wait for the season to begin!

GO GREEN!

by MSULaxer27 on Aug 5, 2009 2:26 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That seems to happen every spring game

Mismatched offensive lines + mismatched secondary = Not many rushing yards and a lot of passing yards. I wouldn’t read too much into it.

Co-Manager: The Only Colors

by Pete Rossman on Aug 5, 2009 3:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Higher profile wins

Our biggest wins last year were over Northwestern and a game against Iowa before they were looking good at all.

I want to beat Iowa in prime time. I want the Michigan game in prime time as another win. Hopefully we’re in a position where the PSU game is in prime time as well.

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 Aug 5, 2009 2:33 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The O-Line...

…that’s my biggest concern. The offense will live or die with the line. If Cousins/Nichol can’t get time to throw the ball, and if the line can’t create lanes for emerging RBs, the offense will be than one-dimensional. At least with Ringer last year, even though we were very one-dimensional, we could keep the clock running and maintain a decent time-of-possession. But if both the running and the passing game are anemic, and we sacrifice possession, that’s asking a lot of our defense to keep us in the game even more than they did last season.

by Spartan-Football on Aug 5, 2009 3:13 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Running backs

Nice picture selection. Nice to be reminded of a season without a lot of “shoulda, coulda, woulda” moments… a season where it felt like expectations were met.

I am concerned about the RB situation. I know we’ve got guys to carry the load, but I can’t wait for the emergence of some sort of structure. It was great having Jehuu and Javon in 2007- two reliable guys splitting the vast majority of carries. Who’s going to step up?

Our WR and TE corps is fine… they should hopefully get better as the season goes on and the QB battle is settled.

by Z.K. on Aug 5, 2009 3:33 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Well, when there's six running backs competing for time

One of them is bound to be good, or at the very least, average. It’s the right side of the line that should draw the most concern.

Co-Manager: The Only Colors

by Pete Rossman on Aug 5, 2009 3:43 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

BTW

Here’s the photo from the Official TOC Preseason Organizational Meeting:

[Not pictured: KJ.]

Cheer for The Only Colors: Green and White!

by KJ@theonlycolors on Aug 5, 2009 4:10 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That

is awesome.

Back on the topic: I’m interested in seeing how the DL shakes out. 2008 was definitely a step back from the Saint-Dic/Baldwin DE tandem. I don’t expect a return to that level of production, but it would be nice to have a complement to Anderson. Will Jeremiah grow into the dominant DT we all want?

by Stuka on Aug 5, 2009 4:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Definately o-line

Over the last few days, I watched the 1999 MSU/UofM game that BTN showed. Lloyd Clemons was our feature back in that game, though true frosh Duckett got a little work. Not offense to a former Spartan, but I’d forgotten all about his short MSU career. He looked like a solid, but unspectacular runner and I think if we can find a pair of those, we’ll be fine as far as running the ball.

The o-line on the other hand, I’m worried about. We were real lucky in 2008 to not have any starts missed to injury up front (one missed due to wardrobe malfunction). That line was not great, indeed not as good as 2007’s. This year, we might not be so lucky, even if we do find some solid starters at RG and RT. This might be a transition year, where the better o-line recruits Dantonio has brought in aren’t quite ready to step in.

I know MSU fans have been derided for thinking that Cousins/Nichol will perform better than our departing 5th-year senior, but we’ve seen them play in the spring game and they’re both more accurate passers than Hoyer. We’ll see with the lights really on, but I don’t think we’re being crazy.

by witless chum on Aug 7, 2009 8:26 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs