Afterglow Thread: Michigan State 45, Northern Colorado 7

[Edit: I just noticed that I posted this 3 minutes after Pete's recap, which is still right below here.  Hooray  communication!  --LVS.]

In an excruciatingly boring game, Your Spartans handily defeated Northern Colorado 45-7.  Kirk Cousins looked excellent today, going 16-20 for 290 yards and two touchdowns, and Le'Veon Bell once again led the way with 92 yards (8.4 average) and 3 touchdowns.  In the end, MSU doubled up Northern Colorado in yardage: 532 to 266.  And, while the defense wasn't the dominant terrorbeast we were hoping for, they did grab 4 interceptions (2/3ds of their total for all of last season) and generally made big plays when they were needed.  Special recognition goes to Greg Jones, who tallied the first two picks of his remarkable Spartan career.

Going forward, penalties are going to be a major concern: the Spartans had 11 penalties for 121 yards, an atrocious total that surely would spell doom against a solid conference foe.  Additionally, the pass rush will be a concern on both sides of the ball: Northern Colorado had two sacks, narrowly missed getting several others, and MSU failed to sack either of the Bears' quarterbacks.

While the results of this game mostly can be taken with a grain of salt in terms of future predictive value, the positive takeaway nonetheless outweighs the negative for the fourth consecutive week.  Not coincidentally, your Spartans head into the conference season undefeated for the first time since 2007.  We'll talk more about Wisconsin tomorrow.  For now, celebrate, and feel free to use this as your open thread for the rest of the day's college football action.