Michigan State’s game at Boston College will be the Eagles' annual “Red Bandanna Game”. BC tries to do it around 9/11 each year.

Here's some background info:

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Press release, via AG Nessel:

LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel today announced the closure of the Department’s investigation into Michigan State University (MSU) in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal by a former MSU employee. Nessel reopened the investigation following receipt of more than 6,000 documents that the University had withheld until earlier this year.

In 2018, former Attorney General Bill Schuette formally announced an independent investigation into the University’s handling of the Larry Nassar matter. The investigation was requested by the MSU Board of Trustees, who promised full cooperation. The University then turned over more than 105,000 documents for review but held back over 6,000 documents under a claim of attorney-client privilege.

The 6,014 new documents were provided to the department in March and April of this year.

After finishing a complete review, the Department has issued a report outlining its findings, which includes no new, relevant information. The report states that:

“MSU has repeatedly justified withholding the documents because they contained information that was allegedly protected by the attorney-client privilege. Our review has revealed that this justification was not always appropriate. A significant number, if not a majority, of the documents did not appear to us to be covered by the privilege. Accordingly, there was no justifiable reason to withhold those documents for any period of time, let alone an extended period. Further, the documents that contained, or at least arguably contained, privileged information did not offer any new insight into MSU’s handling of Nassar’s abuse or who knew what about it and when. Indeed, most of the privileged information was not even related to those issues, but instead to tangential issues such as public relations, insurance, and funding.”

“This is a disappointing close to our years-long investigation into the abuse that hundreds of young women were subjected to over the course of more than a decade,” said Nessel. “While I appreciate that MSU eventually cooperated, the withheld documents provided victims with a sense of false hope, for no justifiable reason.

“Simply put, there remains no fulfilling answer to the question of how this abuse was able to be perpetuated on so many, for so long, without MSU, or anyone else, putting a stop to it.

Speaking directly to the survivors, AG Nessel added, “I commend you for your bravery in coming forward and sharing your stories, and for never giving up on the pursuit of justice and transparency.

"While the investigation is closed, this is not where this story ends. You have created a sisterhood that has worked together to create systemic changes, not just here in Michigan, but nationwide to ensure that schools are better prepared to prevent, investigate and stop abuse, to ensure that survivors are believed, and treated better in the judicial system and to change the culture in how sexual assault is seen by the public at large.

"Your advocacy, resilience and your strength have left this world a better place. And while this may not be the justice you sought; I do believe the changes in how we treat sexual abuse on campuses and in courtrooms alike is a form of justice that will impact generations to come all across the nation.”

The Attorney General and members of the Department’s Cold Case Sexual Assault and Domestic Abuse Unit met with victims and their families to share the findings and examples of the withheld documents. The Department is in the process of creating a digital, publicly available folder of all of the documents. Due to the volume of documents, thousands of redactions, and accessibility standards, this process could take up to 12 more months. In the interim, credentialed members of the media may request a copy of the last batch of 6,000 documents from the Department’s media team, and the public can request them from the Department’s FOIA office.

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More names will likely be added as we get closer to Saturday's game in East Lansing between Prairie View A&M and Michigan State, but I wanted to get the recruiting visitors list going with the names we know thus far.

As always, we will add more names to the list as that information becomes available.

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Wow, what a difference a week makes, right? Football is fun again in East Lansing, but I always have a little fun with Bad Betting Advice. The national action is a bit light this week (for the Spartans included) but there are some fun story lines.

From a data point of view, the biggest story is that I am now incorporating data from the FCS-FBS games in the first two weeks. This is always slightly tricky. I fear that it sckews the results, but I think that data actual shows that the results of FCS-FBS games do provide some predictive value. That said, my computer is definitely feeling a bit more frisky.

Check out my picks and my thoughts on the week's action here:

Enjoy

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Coming off a 3-0 weekend at the second annual Kathy DeBoer Invitational presented by Auto-Owners Insurance, the Michigan State volleyball team looks to keep things rolling on Wednesday night when it welcomes Western Michigan to the Breslin Center for a 6:00 p.m. first serve. The Broncos are fresh off of a 31-3 (18-0 MAC) season that saw them advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament following a 3-0 sweep victory over Auburn in round one. Western Michigan Enters the weekend 3-2 in 2024 having defeated then No. 24-ranked Marquette in Milwaukee last weekend.

Wednesday night's match will stream live on B1G+ with MSU students Marin Klein and Ethan Hunter calling the action. Fans can listen in live through MSUSpartans.com or via the Michigan State Athletics app where John Kreger will call the match over the airwaves in his 20th season of MSU volleyball coverage.

ABOUT WESTERN MICHIGAN​

Western Michigan comes into Wednesday night's match with a 3-2 record featuring victories over Loyola Marymount (3-1), Loyola Chicago (3-1) and Marquette (3-1). The Broncos two losses came at the hands of Clemson (3-1) and then No. 13-ranked Kansas (3-0). When WMU defeated then No. 24-ranked Marquette last weekend it marked the Broncos first victory over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 18 Ohio State in 2003.

The Broncos swept the weekly MAC volleyball awards this week with Andelyn Simkins earning Defensive Player of the Week, Keona Salesman earning Offensive Player of the week and Logan Case adding Setter of the Week accolades.

Colleen Munson is in her 20th season as head coach of Western Michigan, owning a 383-225 record in the Brown & Gold and a 435-324 career record. Since taking over, Munson has led the Broncos to 10 20+ win seasons and four NCAA tournaments.

Salesman leads the team in kills (74) hitting .280, followed by Julia Marr's 65 kills on .215 swinging. Mary Clare Brusek is hitting .333 in the middle averaging 2.95 kills/set. Simkins is No. 2 nationally in digs per set averaging 5.95, and Case has posted 11.95 assists per set to date. As a team the Broncos are No. 4 nationally in digs per set (19.00), No. 3 in attacks per set (41.37) and No. 16 in assists per set (13.37).

Western Michigan is a veteran-led team featuring one graduate student, three fifth years (Case, Salesman, Simkins) and two seniors.

SERIES HISTORY
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Western Michigan
- Michigan State is 23-9-1 all-time against Western Michigan with an 11-2-1 mark when facing the Broncos in East Lansing.

- The Spartans have not met Western Michigan since August 27, 2021, winning 3-0 at Jenison Field House. MSU has won eight straight against the Broncos dating back to September 3, 1994.

IOSIA NAMED B1G DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK ​

• Fifth year libero Nalani Iosia was named B1G Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 9.

• Last week Iosia led MSU with 56 digs on 5.09 digs per set.

• Iosia posted 25 digs in Michigan State's 3-1 victory over receiving votes Western Kentucky on Friday night.

• Iosia becomes just the fourth Spartan all-time to earn two B1G defensive weekly honors in a career joining Allyson Karaba (2007-10), Alexis Mathews (2009-13) and two-time B1G Defensive Player of the Year Kori Moster (2011-14).

• Iosia crossed the 1,000 dig threshold in her Spartan career last weekend against Western Kentucky.

• Iosia last earned B1G Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 5, 2023 after her performance at the 2023 Kathy DeBoer Invitational.

Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.