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LSJ Blogs: Hey, Joe: Dantonio the day after
Cousins still not officially the guy. -
Spartans QBs Kirk Cousins, Keith Nichol both miss opportunities against Central Michigan - MLive.com
Nichol: "Then the game turned and I don't think they wanted to throw me out there and try to start up another rhythm. I wasn't mad about it at all. I am disappointed about the result of the game, but not the quarterback situation." -
Upon further review: Rash of penalties rears its ugly head | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal
"It's very disappointing, and I can't keep track of all of them when they are happening," Dantonio said. "The last one was disappointing, especially when you tell him not to jump offsides and to be cool because it's a (47-)yard kick." -
MSU players and coaches speak | Detroit Free Press | Freep.com
I can't help but notice that both of Narduzzi's quotes in this piece are of the "let me tell you what we did wrong by making an excuse" variety. -
Just a few observations from Saturday’s game against CMU. « JollyGreenGiants
Why didn't the QBs throw to the TEs more often? -
After the Chaos – The Central Michigan Fiasco | Spartan Football
Another noncheerful review of the game. -
Wha Happened? Week Two - Black Heart Gold Pants
BHGP: "Third-best team in the Big Ten, my ass." -
Finally, Dan LeFevour bags a (relatively) big one - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo! Sports
Doc Saturday: ". . . going back to last October, the Spartans are only averaging a hair over 300 yards total offense against I-A defenses . . ."
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Spartans’ Loss Unites Fans of Michigan and Notre Dame - The Quad Blog - NYTimes.com
SOOO glad we could bring them together for just a moment. -
One proud Central Michigan alum revels in upset | detnews.com | The Detroit News
SOOO glad we have unbiased journalists to tell us what's going on. -
The State News : Breslin Center
One happy link: Top 10 moments of the Breslin Center's first 20 years. I was there for 9, 7, 4, and 1. -
Big Ten Game of the Week 1.0 - Michigan State Falls to CMU - The Rivalry, Esq.
"The Spartans should not hang their heads - this was the perfect storm of events leading to Central's upset.."
Bonus non-laconical commentary on that last link: While hanging our heads obviously doesn't do any good, I really have a hard time seeing Saturday's outcome as a fluke. Sure, the events of the final 30 seconds all broke in the Chippewas' favor. But we'd been outplayed by a significant margin for the 59 minutes and 30 seconds that preceded those 30 seconds--outgained by 74 yards and outconverted by 8 first downs. And when it mattered most, we couldn't stop them. Central gained a total of 147 yards to reach the endzone on both of its final two non-onside-kick-commenced drives. We were lucky to be in position to win the game with 30 seconds to go.
Maybe CMU's a top-40 team and this loss isn't quite as bad as it looks right now. But they certainly didn't look like a top-40 team against Arizona a week ago. And you have to beat top 40 teams at home to get to a New Years Day bowl.
Four weeks ago, the headline in this space was "Linking Laconically is wondering what it's good at." The headline was (mostly) facetious, but it captured a lurking fear about this team: For all the pieces that seemed to be in place on paper (15 returning starters off a 9-win season, two starter-quality QBs, young/talented RBs, depth at TE/receiver and in the secondary, preseason conference defensive POTY, top-notch kicking specialists), it hasn't been clear (1) whether the team really had any oustanding non-Ringer components last season and (2) where the big improvement(s) would happen this season.
After 120 minutes of football in the 2009 season, those questions remain answered. Kirk Cousins looks pretty darn efficient. Greg Jones is still a tackling machine. Blair Whie just keeps getting better. Beyond that, there's just not much there to hang your hat on.
So cheer me up: What am I missing? Is there hope? Or was this all just a plot to suck me in to the MSU Football Heightened Expectations Vortex of Doom?